If you live in London, air conditioning is a great way to cool your home in summer…but did you know an air
source heat pump can warm your home in winter too?
Unlike gas boilers, air-to-air heat pumps are an energy-efficient way to heat your home, turning each
unit of energy into an amazing four units of heat.
In this blog, we take a closer look at the year-round benefits of having an air conditioning system
installed.
Air conditioning for changing weather
Anyone who lives in the UK knows how varied our weather can be! This year, we’ve had an amazing
Indian summer followed by an overnight temperature change.
If you already have air conditioning, you will have been able to change the setting from cooling your
home in the September heatwave to warming it during October’s cold snap.
How can air conditioning be used for heating?
We all know that air conditioning is used to cool homes in hot weather. Heating your home in cold
weather uses the same technology, but runs it in the opposite direction. During hot weather, an air
conditioning system extracts the unwanted warmth from the air inside your home. During cold
weather, it brings in warmth from the outside air.
Given that the air outside is cold, the idea of using it for heating might sound crazy! But in fact, any
air above -15 degrees centigrade contains some heat. The technology inside the air conditioning unit
can extract that heat and use it to warm your room.
This is how it works:
The fan in the unit on the outside of your property draws air in. Once inside the unit, the air heats a
liquid called a refrigerant – this is a liquid with a very low boiling point. As the refrigerant boils, it
turns to gas which is compressed – this compression further increases its temperature.
Now heated, the air is released into your home to warm it and the process begins again.
Why is this more energy-efficient than traditional central heating?
While a traditional gas boiler might heat the whole of your house, the reality is that you don’t always
need it to. We always encourage our customers to have the air conditioning units installed where
they are most needed, and living spaces and bedrooms are popular choices. So in cold weather, you
can heat these rooms without wasting energy on heating rooms you’re not using.
Another fantastic advantage of an air-to-air heat pump is that it can convert one unit of energy into
four units of heat. This is because it gathers the other three units from heat present in the outside
air.
Why is an air-to-air heat pump greener than a gas boiler?
When you turn on your gas boiler, it heats your home by burning a non-renewable fossil fuel. But
because air-to-air heat pumps use electrical energy for power, there is a higher chance that this
energy will be renewable. Depending on your energy supplier, your energy might come from wind or
solar farms.
However green your electricity is, the fact that you need such a small amount of it to generate each
unit of heat means heat pumps are more efficient and therefore kinder to the planet.
Air conditioning in London homes
Nearly all homes would be more comfortable with an air conditioning system that cools in the
summer and warms in the winter. To find out more about the difference a heat pump could make to
your home, explore our site or give us a call on 01483 570 120.