Air conditioning is basis of total energy strategy

LATEST ISSUE PREVIOUS FEATURES MBS Focus

Published: May 2007

When the owners of this house in Kent installed air conditioning as part of its refurbishment, they made good use of rejected heat to heat the outdoor swimming pool. The air-conditioning system also provides energy-efficient space heating.

Heating costs for a 4-bedroom house in the grounds of an equestrian centre near Dartford in Kent have been halved compared to the previous combination of boiler and radiators. In addition, comfort cooling is provided in the summer, and heat removed from the house during cooling cycles is used to heat the outdoor swimming pool.

H&H Services installed a system based on Mitsubishi Electric’s City Multi 2-pipe VRF heat-recovery system coupled to a PQFY heat-pump boiler to heat the swimming pool, instead of the air-conditioning system rejecting heat to atmosphere.

Andy Hubble of H&H explains, ‘Exact control of the swimming-pool temperature is achieved by the inverter-driven compressor, which only consumes as much energy as needed to continually match the pool heating demand.

‘In the winter, the air conditioning provides heating to the house and gym. The swimming pool is covered for the winter months and thus has a very small heating requirement.’