What is the difference between air source heat pump and water source heat pump? Which one is better?

I believe many people have heard of air source heat pump, ground source heat pump and water source heat pump, but which one is better and more suitable for them? Everyone has their own advantages, but they are often not specific, which makes you ambiguous and don't know how to choose. Now I will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of these three kinds of heat pumps to you. You can choose by yourself according to your own use site and method, so that you won't be confused when chatting with the sales company.

Let's talk about the air source heat pump that is hot because coal is changed to electricity;

1, air source heat pump:

The air source heat pump is driven by a motor, which uses the heat in the air as a low-temperature heat source to exchange heat through the air conditioner condenser or evaporator, and then extracts or releases heat energy through the circulation system, and uses the unit circulation system to transfer energy to the needs of users in the building.

Schematic diagram of air source heat pump operation

Advantages:

1, wide application range: the applicable temperature range is -7 to 40℃, which can be used all year round, and is not affected by bad weather such as rainy and snowy weather and winter nights, and can be used normally.

2. Low operating cost: outstanding energy-saving effect; Compared with solar water heaters with gas, electricity and electricity auxiliary heating, the annual cost is the lowest.

3, environmental protection products: no pollution, no combustion emissions, no harm to the human body.

Disadvantages:

1. Because the air source is dispersed energy, the heating speed is slow and the thermal efficiency is not very high.

2. Air-source heat pumps are prone to frosting and are limited by the region. In the extremely low temperature environment of-10℃ or lower, there is little heat energy in the air, and the heat energy that can be converted is limited, and the working efficiency will be greatly reduced.

air source heat pump

After analyzing the air source heat pump, let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the water source heat pump.

Water source heat pump is a low-grade thermal energy resource formed by shallow water sources on the earth's surface, such as solar energy and geothermal energy absorbed in groundwater, rivers and lakes. It adopts the principle of heat pump and realizes the transfer of low-level heat energy to high-level heat energy through a small amount of high-level electric energy input.

Advantages:

1, water source heat pump is convenient for centralized management, and one or more water-heat heat pump units are set according to the park scale and phased construction, which is convenient for phased management.

2. Hydrothermal heat pump can provide heat source and cooling in summer, which can meet the cold and heat source demand of public buildings.

3, no waste, clean and environmentally friendly. Water source heat pump uses the energy of groundwater resources. Water-source heat pump saves more than two thirds of energy than electric boiler, and more than half of energy than oil-fired boiler, reducing carbon emissions.

Disadvantages:

1, water utilization conditions, in order to protect groundwater sources from pollution in some cities, pumping and utilization are prohibited; Water source heat pumps using river and lake water are also affected by many factors such as seasonal water level decline. There are many restrictions on the use conditions of water source heat pump.

2. The initial investment of ground source heat pump is relatively high, the system is complex and the installation is difficult. Ground source heat pump requires high design, construction and construction site management, and requires the participation of professional and technical personnel.

In fact, the installation of water source heat pump has certain conditions, and the restrictions of ground source heat pump are similar. Now I will tell you the advantages and disadvantages of ground source heat pump in detail.

3, ground source heat pump:

Ground source heat pump refers to all heat pumps that use the earth as cold and heat sources, including ground source heat pump (i.e. ground coupled heat pump), groundwater heat pump and surface water heat pump (including water from rivers, lakes and seas). Strictly speaking, ground source heat pump is a kind of water source heat pump.