Can radiators working with a heat pump also be used for cooling or maintaining a comfortable home temperature?
Absolutely, yes. It is only reasonable for an expensive heat pump that is already in our possession to be employed to perform both tasks.
Apart from the heat pump, rooms can also be cooled with a ground heat exchanger (which will regenerate the resources at the same time) or even with cold water from a well using an immersed basket heat exchanger.
The heat pump in tandem with a buffer heat tank (in summer it will become a ‘cooling tank’) should constitute one closed system, one circuit, one ‘separate entity’. The heat pump should only work with a water buffer tank, by bringing the water to a desired temperature; higher or lower, as required.
A circulation pump (or zone circulation pumps) with the radiators constitute a second closed system, a second circuit, a second ‘separate entity’.
IMPORTANT RULE: there is no effective cooling without forced air circulation through an exchanger. Warm and colder air must be constantly mixed. Therefore, for cooling, the user must have heat exchangers, i.e. ‘radiators’ equipped with a fan. All fan systems from the REGULUS-system range meet this condition, including wall-mounted and trench ones.
Underfloor heating is not suitable for effective cooling. Cold, denser and heavier air “sticks” to the floor and does not mix with the warm air above. Yes, it will give a ‘cold floor effect’ but it will not bring down the air temperature. If there is no control over the temperature of the circulating water, moisture may condense on the floor and cause mold in less ventilated places (i.e. under furniture, in the corners of rooms, etc.).
Fan coils, on the other hand, require a bespoke installation just for them to protect the building against water condensation with an anti-diffusion cover. They require a condensate drainage system and a fan to operate both – heating and cooling. Regulus radiators, however, with the fan turned off or unplugged, heat like ordinary radiators through natural convection and thermal radiation from their surface and prevail over the others (mainly due to their uniquely low starting energy).
COOLING USING REGULUS RADIATORS WITH FAN
The temperature of water supplying the installation used for dry cooling of rooms should be in the range of 11-20°C. There are three options available:
- Maintaining the interior temperature
Let’s use an example: the temperature inside the house in the morning is 22°C. We want to maintain this comfortable temperature. The air temperature outside rises quickly during the day. In an installation with fans and exchangers, if we start letting in water at a temperature of say 16°C in the morning, we can easily maintain our set temperature with the help heat controllers.
- Slowing down the increase in indoor temperature
If the heat from the outside penetrates the walls of the house at a rate that is greater than the cooling power of our central cooling system, then the cooling system operating since morning will significantly reduce the rate of increase in indoor temperature. Heat controllers may prove helpful in this exercise, as well as lowering the water temperature which is circulating in the installation.
- Lowering the indoor temperature – cooling
If the rooms have already overheated (i.e. the temperature has reached 30°C!), a central cooling installation operating in this way described above will also allow us to perform dry cooling safely controlled by the indoor humidity level. After reaching a humidity level that we consider uncomfortable, the controller – hygrostat will stop the circulation pump and resume it when the air humidity drops.
Additional information: The heating and cooling power of devices with a fan is determined by the EN 16340 standard. In the case of radiators used for cooling, their cooling power was determined for the so-called dry cooling as dT 10°C (17-19/28°C). Depending on the air humidity, dT between the temperature of the cooled interior and the temperature of the cooling medium (i.e. flow water) may be higher than 10°C, which means a significantly higher cooling power. At low relative air humidity (in the range of 35-40%), users reduce the flow temperature to as low as 11.5-12°C.
CENTRAL COOLING WITH A HEAT PUMP
A few or a dozen radiators in such an installation constitute a considerable cooling power, which is sufficient during a heatwave to maintain or significantly improve the indoor thermal comfort. We turn a central heating installation into a central cooling installation! Let me say it again: it is only reasonable for an expensive heat pump that is already in our possession to be employed to perform both tasks.
==
Fan installation support systems offered by REGULUS-system allow you to use your heat pump all year round in cold as well as hot weather. We offer:
- REVERS series – standard radiator + 24 V fan
- E-VENT series – standard radiator + 230 V fan
- All VENT series – DECOR PRO VENT, DUBEL VENT, CANAL VENT
as well as universal ZEPHYR radiator fans
