Air conditioning with heating up to minus 40. Is it possible to turn on the air conditioner in winter: heating and cooling at low temperatures. Heat pump air conditioner: what you need to know

Any air conditioner is designed to cool the air in the room. But in the cold season, for many users, this device works for heating. However, before you start operating the equipment in this way, you need to understand how to properly start the heating with an air conditioner. This information will help prevent errors in the operation of expensive equipment.

The principle of operation of a split system for heating is a decrease (!) in the temperature of the air taken from the street. Air will be taken, for example, with a temperature value of -16, and given back in an even colder state, reaching up to -25. The difference is used for heat transfer: received warm air enters the room.

However, will the device have enough power for the full implementation of such a task? It is important to know: if the temperature on the street turns out to be significantly below zero, then the compressor simply does not have enough strength to heat the air - wear and tear will begin. And if the equipment works at its maximum, it is already fraught with the risk of breakage.

So the first condition is outside temperature. Using an air conditioner as a heater is appropriate for regions with a mild climate. And for most of our country, such equipment should be used only in the off-season, in autumn or spring.

Running an air conditioner for heating in winter can be dangerous and frozen drain hose. In this case, condensate will begin to drain into the building. Today, manufacturers are trying to solve the problem by installing a 20-watt heater in the technique. The blocking system also works well: the equipment turns off when the temperature drops sharply.

The effectiveness of such a process

How economically feasible is it to turn on the air conditioner for heating? It turns out to be quite economical, because the work is based on a heat pump. This is also indicated by the figures: from each kilowatt of electricity, 2.5-4.2 kW of heat will go out. This is about temperature regime ranging from 0-5˚С. The efficiency of the system is calculated up to -15˚С (and for some models such an opportunity is provided even up to -30 degrees).

If we compare the use of an air conditioner with an oil heater, then the latter seems not at all economical: it goes into 1 kW of electricity, while giving out only 0.95 kW of heat.

So how efficient is air conditioning heating? It affects electricity cost. Where it is cheaper to heat with gas, it is not economically feasible to put the air conditioner on heating in winter. But in regions (countries) with expensive electricity, it would be rational to leave the climate equipment in heating mode (but again, with a reservation for weather conditions).

Advantages and disadvantages of a split system for heating

To heat or not with the help of an air conditioner - each user decides for himself in private. But if the decision turned out to be positive, then you can be sure that the air will not dry out, as when using heating appliances. There are other advantages:

• environmental friendliness of application(no CO2 emission);
• heat will be produced three times more than electricity consumed.

But besides improving the microclimate, there are also "pitfalls". You should definitely be aware of them with constant use.

1. Device wear happens 3-5 times faster. This will happen due to thickened oil, which will lose its properties.
2. There is a trend to replace the refrigerant - R410, which is safer for the ozone layer, will be in use. This requires the installation of more advanced compressors.
3. The performance of the device will be two times less than the nominal.
4. Air conditioning for heating in winter often fails.

The best option

A good solution would be to buy devices with inverter. This technique is able to heat the room even at -25˚С outside the window. It is also captivating that it will actually be possible to additionally attach a hydromodule unit to the design of an inverter device for heating. This element can be located both outside and inside the building.

1. If a hydroblock external, then the equipment will work according to the type of heat pump familiar to us. In this case, it makes sense to use the air conditioner only as additional source heat (or if non-permanent residence is expected in the house). If home visits are irregular, then winter period it is necessary to completely preserve (turn off and insulate) the entire system of the device.
2. If a hydraulic block is inside, the equipment can be connected to traditional radiators or " warm floor". A similar principle of operation of the air conditioner for heating will require initial costs at the installation stage, but the reward will be full-fledged heating. Another plus of such models is good maintainability.

How to choose the right model

How the heated air conditioner works will depend on the correct selection of the model. Here it is important to pay attention on the characteristics of COP(ratio of heating power to consumed) and EER(cooling/consumption ratio):

• COP in home models should be 2.8-4;
• for EER, this figure can be 2.5-3.5 units.

The energy efficiency class of the device also matters: in the case of the most priority and economical A, the optimal indicators should be from 3.2 to 3.6 for COP and 2.2-2.4 EER.

Regardless of the recommendations, mount similar view equipment will be needed individually, taking into account the characteristics of the room. At the same time, it will be important to calculate the possible heat losses that come from windows and doors. It is in these places that it would be reasonable to create thermal curtain. A little about control: the equipment will be switched either from the remote control or manually. Heating can be set automatically.

It is important to know such nuances: the first few minutes the device should work as an air conditioner, not a heater. This is necessary to keep warm. outdoor unit and thawed any ice that may have formed in the drainage. The next time this moment will regulate the ventilation speed. Also, many models have a special DeIce function, which will allow you not to confuse the mode of correct inclusion.

And here are some more tips to help improve the performance of the technique.

1. Heated drainage will allow water not to freeze and remove condensate.
2. With the compressor stopped, the heater can be switched on to warm up the oil and prevent it from thickening. In this case, the refrigerant will not be able to flow into the crankcase.
3. If the outdoor unit has fan controller, then it will catch up with the current temperature and prevent freezing of the indoor unit.

So, the heat from the air conditioner is much more cost-effective than from other devices (with a cost of 1 kW, the consumer receives 4 kW). All energy goes precisely to the movement of warm air masses. Many modern devices guarantee Good work and at thirty degrees of frost. However, any split system remains only an addition to the main heating and is not yet ready to take on the full load of providing a comfortable warm atmosphere in housing.

Air conditioners familiar to all of us remarkably create coolness on a hot day, but besides this, many modern models are also capable of heating indoor air. Choosing an air conditioner model for country house it is useful to remember this, because with the help of air conditioning, in some regions, you can get an excellent alternative to traditional water heating. And most of the air conditioners offered to the consumer today are already able to cope with this task with a bang.

A system equipped with a heat pump is called an inverter system, since it can operate not only to create cold, but also to create heat - that is, the system is operable in two directions. Of course, such models are somewhat more expensive (for example, McQuay or Mitsubishi Electric brands), but the payback in the off-season will be obvious, because the heater would require much more electricity to solve the same problems.

There are two ways to implement the operation of the air conditioner in the "heat" mode. Split systems are known to everyone, they will fill the room with heat in a matter of minutes in autumn and spring, when the temperature outside the window is not lower than -10 ° C and not higher than + 10 ° C, and then even turned off heating will not disturb your comfort. The economic benefit is quite significant.

For example oil heater simply converts kilowatts of electricity into kilowatts of heat, while a split system will produce the same kilowatts of heat, consuming only a quarter of this energy from the outlet, and this is money saved.

The essence of this economical heating lies in a fundamentally different heating process than that of an electric heater. Here, electricity is not spent on heating directly, but on ensuring the operation of the compressor, fan and dampers.

The compressor works only on what transfers heat to the room: the refrigerant is heated in the outdoor unit, the compressor pumps it through the pipes into the indoor unit, which is located inside the room, and heating occurs. The fan directs the heated air through the dampers in the desired direction, and it simply mixes with the cold air.

Advantages of split systems

Warm air rushes to the ceiling in a natural convection flow, mixing with cold air, that is, it turns out that heat from nature enters your house, and you don’t need to create this heat by taking electricity through the outlet. Hence the savings. Of course, the indoor unit does not heat up as much, but the mixed warm air will give the same effect, while the air in the house will not be burned out by the spirals and will not be excessively dried by them.

Disadvantages of split systems

There is, however, a limitation. For regions where frosts sometimes occur, namely at outdoor temperatures below -10 ° C, it is not recommended to use air conditioning for heating, there are good reasons for that. Under such conditions, the performance of the split system will drop at least by half, the thickened oil will load the compressor several times more, that is, it will wear it out excessively.

You will need an ozone-friendly refrigerant R410A instead of the traditional R22, and then the compressor will need to be supplied with a more advanced one, and such compressors are rare, not every company can offer one for your air conditioner.

Features of split systems

Some manufacturers of air conditioners carry out major research and development studies to achieve the performance of air conditioners under low temperatures. So, especially efficient split-systems are able to warm up the air inside the house at an outside temperature of up to -20°C.

A special oil heating unit in the air conditioner solves the problem of thickening oil and eliminates the risk of overloading the compressor. An upgraded compressor will allow the use of R410A refrigerant.

Other nuances are also possible negative temperatures air outside. The drain hole of the drain hose is prone to freezing, and in this case, when the system is switched to “cold” mode, condensate will flow into the house. To eliminate this unpleasant phenomenon, again, a low-power heater is installed, which will protect the hose opening from freezing, and will not allow the condensate to freeze at all until it flows out.

On average, the temperature in winter, for example, in the Moscow region, does not fall below -12 ° C for more than a week, so the overall efficiency of using an air conditioner for heating a house will at least not be lower than that of electric heating, and during most of the season it will be undoubtedly higher in terms of energy efficiency.

It is important that rare temperature jumps down, for example, a sharp frost at -40 ° C, will not cause harm to the air conditioner, in extreme cases the air conditioner will turn off - the safety lock system will work. The task of choosing one or another model of air conditioner remains with the consumer.

Split system with heat pump

There is, as noted above, another way to use the air conditioner to produce heat in a private house. To do this, the air conditioner is included in the system together with the heat pump. In this case, centralized or some other heating can be generally discarded as unnecessary, because instead of it a thermal complex will serve to provide the house with warm air.

The complex with a heat pump is developed individually for the house, taking into account the climatic features of the region, and is quite suitable not only for heating, but also for hot water supply. Heating and hot water will be available during the cold season, and in the hot months such a system will effectively create “cold”, that is, a split system with a heat pump can work throughout the year, regardless of the temperature outside the window.

Advantages of split systems with a heat pump

Compared to traditional oil, solid fuel or gas boilers, the air source heat pump is environmentally friendly, at least no emissions carbon dioxide. At the same time, the efficiency of a heat pump is extremely high: the efficiency coefficient reaches 500%, that is, for the spent kilowatt of electricity, the consumer will receive heat or cold in his house for all 5 kilowatts.

An advanced control system for such an inverter complex will allow the user to save a lot on electricity compared to other heat sources: boilers, electric heaters, heat generators, etc. The efficiency of traditional appliances is not higher than 99% (heat / electricity), and the efficiency coefficient of heat pumps can be externally compare with the situation as if the efficiency were equal to 500%.

Split systems based on heat pumps are guaranteed to extract heat from the surrounding air at a temperature not lower than -20 °C. Installing the system in country house does not require any complex earthworks, no special premises for structures. The external unit of the system will simply be located outside, and the internal unit will not require much space, not to mention the absence of a fuel tank and a chimney.

Features of split systems with a heat pump

An external condensing unit will extract heat from the air from the street, transferring it to freon. The temperature in the air-freon system will be increased, then the freon will go through the pipes to the internal heat exchanger-evaporator of the freon-water system. Here, the hydro module will pass the already hot water through the hot water heating system, through fan coil units, through floor heating pipes, etc. For critical situations, an indirect water heater can be provided, connected directly to the heat pump circuit.

Winter is approaching by leaps and bounds. This is felt not only on the street, but also in our own apartments: unfortunately, the heating system often leaves much to be desired, and we have to heat the house on our own. There is another situation: sometimes the batteries heat up too actively, and it is simply necessary to cool the air in the room. In this regard, many people have a question: is it possible to use air conditioning in winter? We answer - it is possible. But with some conditions.

There is a wide range of air conditioners on the market with different specifications so it's not very easy. But something still unites split systems, monoblocks and other devices: in winter they are used extremely rarely. But why?

The point is our famous Russian frosts. When the air temperature changes, its humidity also changes - therefore, excess moisture (condensation) occurs during the operation of the air conditioner. Most air conditioners have a drainage system installed to remove moisture: the visible part of this system is a tube that usually goes outside. If it is too cold outside, the drainage pipe freezes and an ice plug forms in it, which prevents condensate from escaping. Then the moisture has two options: either it seeps into your house through the inner case, or disables the device.

The outdoor unit also suffers from the cold, in particular the compressor - the “heart” of the air conditioner, which compresses the refrigerant (a special substance necessary for the operation of air conditioners) and supports its movement through the rest of the device. A special oil helps him to fulfill his direct duties, the properties of which just depend on the air temperature. If it falls below the limit approved by the manufacturer, the oil will thicken and the compressor parts will wear out.

There is another danger. In heating mode, the refrigerant, despite its name, must not be cooled, but heated. This does not happen at extremely low temperatures. Upon receipt of chilled, i.e. liquid, refrigerant in the compressor, a water hammer occurs - it is this that can render the device unusable.

That's why In winter, use the air conditioner with care and follow the operating instructions.

True, there is one type of air conditioner that can be adapted to work in winter conditions, is a mobile monobloc air conditioner. This mobile floor device can be used in all rooms, taken with you to the country house or transported when moving: the device does not require installation. The only element of the device that should not be in the room is the duct for the removal of warm or cold air. To eliminate the risk of freezing of the air duct, it is worth bringing it into the vent.

In general, the operation of an air conditioner is based on only one principle familiar to us from physics lessons: heat is absorbed during evaporation, and released during condensation.

Initially, the device was intended for cooling, but modern technologies have stepped far ahead, so now heating is the most common function for climate technology. To understand how an air conditioner works for heating, let's first look at how it works for cooling:

1. The gaseous refrigerant enters the compressor.
2. In the compressor, the refrigerant is compressed under pressure and heated to a very high temperature.
3. From the compressor, the refrigerant enters the condenser, where the refrigerant passes into a liquid state.
4. Further, the pressure of the refrigerant decreases, and it enters the evaporator of the indoor unit of the air conditioner, where it again passes from a liquid state to a gas. The refrigerant boils up, it “takes” heat from the room, goes back to the outdoor unit and “throws” the taken heat out into the street.
5. The gaseous refrigerant enters the compressor again and the cycle is completed.

You can use the heating mode special valve- it reverses the flow of refrigerant and, as it were, swaps the condenser and evaporator. Otherwise, the principle is the same.

Before using the heating mode, make sure that the appliance has this function. This is indicated in the instructions, as well as on the device itself - the heating mode is usually indicated by the sun icon.

If a heating mode is provided, look at the lower temperature threshold at which heating can be turned on - usually this is also written in the instructions.

Remember: each thermometer can have an error. Sometimes it reaches several degrees. Therefore, it is better not to use the air conditioner if your thermometer shows a critical mark declared by the manufacturer.

Up to what temperature do air conditioners work for heating

As a rule, air conditioners work properly in heating mode when the air temperature is above -5°C. At lower temperatures, firstly, the heating power drops significantly, and secondly, there is a risk of icing on the condenser or the drainage system of the device. So we do not recommend turning on the heating mode during severe frosts, otherwise due to improper operation You risk losing your climate friend.

However, some models of split systems heat the air at both -10°C and -15°C. The lower temperature limit depends on the type of refrigerant. Inverter models also work at -15 ° C - they have the function of adjusting the intensity of the compressor, which allows it to be more flexible in relation to outdoor temperatures. Of course, the price of an inverter air conditioner is much higher than a conventional one.

The most simple reason, for which heating does not work - the client bought the device without understanding its capabilities. For example, split systems without a heating mode are very popular in latitudes with a warm climate. Therefore, be attentive to all the little things when buying climate equipment.

Does your favorite appliance not heat up in cold weather? This is not surprising. We have already written about the possible dangers of operating an air conditioner in the cold: the problem may be related to a compressor failure, oil, and a drainage system. The wizard will help to understand the problem in detail.

If heating does not occur, do not rush to sound the alarm. Especially when the display shows that the device is working properly. Perhaps the indoor unit just warms up for a long time - this is normal in cold weather. The room temperature may start to rise within 15 minutes after the unit is started.

Another common problem is refrigerant leakage. A leak occurs, for example, due to poor-quality soldering of the inter-unit pipes through which the refrigerant circulates. In this case, a refrigerant charge will be required, which is carried out by the after-sales service.

Even if you know, do not forget that after installation you need to properly care for it. If you do not have time to clean the filters in a timely manner, then damage cannot be avoided.

A small display screen will help pinpoint the problem. AT modern models it usually outputs an error code. The meaning of each code is displayed in the instructions.

If you cannot determine the cause of the breakdown or are not sure that you can fix it yourself, you should call the master.

Is it possible to turn on the air conditioner in winter for cooling

The answer will be the same as the answer to the question about heating - you can. But only if the winter is warm.

Usually, minimum temperature at which the air conditioner operates normally in cooling mode is -5°C. At a lower temperature, the device is subject to all the dangers that we wrote about at the beginning of the article. Therefore, carefully study the technical specifications of the device before using the cooling mode.

In order not to be distracted by the operation of the air conditioner, you can set: with it, the device will turn on and off automatically according to the schedule that you make.

Nevertheless, you always have the opportunity to “strengthen” the air conditioner by installing a winter kit.

Winter kit for air conditioning

Sometimes the air conditioner is equipped with the so-called winter kit. The set includes several devices. They warm up drainage system, prevent thickening of the oil and hypothermia of the refrigerant.

The principles of operation of the winter kit are as follows:

• The temperature sensor regulates the fan speed of the outdoor unit. When the temperature gets lower, the speed slows down. This prevents freezing (and thickening) of the oil and the formation of ice in the housing.
• A significant part of the load of the compressor falls on its start. And if the compressor is also frozen, the air conditioner is definitely not good enough. Therefore, the winter kit provides heating of the compressor crankcase. So the compressor is always ready to start.
• In order to avoid ice plugs, and the condensate is removed without problems, the drainage system is heated.

It would seem that all the problems have been solved, and the dangers have been overcome, if not for one thing. Indeed, the winter kit allows you to turn on the air conditioner at lower temperatures than stated by the manufacturer, but only in cooling mode!

If you turn on the air conditioner with winter set in heating mode, the unit will still not be able to work properly. Moreover, the risk of water hammer increases significantly.