ᐅ Active cooling function heat pump or air conditioning in new construction

Hello,

Our new build project is starting in July, and we have a question at the moment. Our new house will be equipped with a Vaillant ground source heat pump, which can optionally be used for cooling (active cooling). We are unsure whether this type of cooling will be sufficient or if it is better to invest in a split air conditioning system. With active cooling, you can probably only reduce the temperature by 2 to 3 degrees, while an air conditioner can achieve a much greater cooling effect.

We have also heard that the cooling function of the heat pump mostly results in "cold feet," since it works through the underfloor heating system. Of course, we understand that a split air conditioning system involves more extensive construction work and is significantly more expensive. The active cooling would cost us about 3000 € (approximately $) and the split air conditioning system (4 indoor units + outdoor unit from Toshiba) around 10,000 € (approximately $) including installation.

What do you think? Can you give us advice or share your experiences?

Save yourself the unnecessary expenses of cooling through the underfloor heating system and invest in shading and a fully functional air conditioning system. This topic has been discussed many times. Conclusion: cooling via underfloor heating is barely effective or not effective at all.

I can only agree with Mycraft on that. Save your money and do it right with a split system.

Quick side question: Why does active cooling come with an additional cost? I have a Flexocompact ground source heat pump. Active cooling is usually included as a standard feature from the factory. However, for passive cooling, an extra heat exchanger module needs to be installed (I believe it costs around 1200 EUR for a simple plate heat exchanger). Passive cooling is nice, but it’s questionable whether you get that 1200 EUR back in savings.

Without the cooling option, you can still actively cool. By the way, the coefficient of performance is significantly higher in cooling mode due to the favorable temperature conditions compared to heating. And when you come barefoot into the house from the summer heat, having a cool floor is very pleasant.

I would also argue that active cooling with a ground source heat pump uses less electricity than an air conditioner.

HAL06120 schrieb:

I would also claim that the active cooling of the brine-to-water heat pump consumes less electricity than an air conditioning unit.

Definitely, and significantly less. This is simply due to the nature of the system, and the electricity consumption can be directly correlated with the output.

This discussion has come up quite frequently lately... take a look at some older threads.

I believe almost everyone here agrees on active cooling using an air-to-water heat pump. Passive cooling has the advantage that it costs almost nothing to operate and consumes very little energy. This ecological and economic benefit is lost with the active method, so in this case, I would suggest using an air conditioning system directly instead of active cooling through the heat pump.