Heat pumps are used in houses, apartment blocks and housing estates, in commercial buildings such as hotels, schools and offices, in greenhouses and livestock farms, in factories to make use of waste heat, and for pool heating, product drying and on ships. What these applications have in common is a need for heat at moderate temperatures and, in most of them, for cooling in summer. A heat pump moves that heat from the outdoor air or from water without burning fuel, and the same unit heats, cools and prepares domestic hot water depending on the season.
Below we explain what matters in each application and where each product of the AD range fits.
Homes: detached houses, villas and flats
The home is where heat pumps are used most often. A single outdoor unit feeds underfloor heating or radiators in winter, cools through fan coils in summer and prepares domestic hot water all year round. One system thus replaces the usual trio of combi boiler, air conditioner and electric water heater.
Two things decide the choice for a home: how cold the local winter gets and what water temperature the heating system needs. The AD residential series are therefore divided by design outdoor temperature. Poyraz delivers its rated capacity at −7 °C, Boran at −25 °C, Vaha at +2 °C and Ayaz at −30 °C; all four are built in 12, 14 and 16 kW. A new house with underfloor heating usually needs 35–45 °C water, while an older building with radiators often needs 55 °C or more. Boran produces 65 °C water and Ayaz 75 °C. You will find every series on the AD heat pump models page, and how to settle on a series and a capacity in our heat pump selection guide.
In a flat the real constraint is space, and the indoor unit solves it. The wall-hung HİD / HİT is the size of a combi boiler and hangs on a balcony or corridor wall. The HİDRA floor-standing unit holds the hot water tank in the same cabinet. In homes without fan coil pipework, HİDREM cools through air conditioner indoor units.
Apartment blocks, housing estates and mass housing
Multi-unit buildings can go two ways. In the first, each flat has its own heat pump: the outdoor units sit on the roof or on balconies and each household pays its own electricity. In the second, a single central system serves the whole building or estate and the cost is shared out through heat meters. A central system keeps the plant and pipework in one place and spares the façade a crowd of outdoor units.
The 20 and 24 kW V series suits small estates and semi-detached villas, and the 28–56 kW W series outdoor units suit larger blocks; W units are combined to build up capacity. In mass housing projects, the 200–1,200 kW Mega central system can heat and cool every dwelling from a single unit. In holiday estates on the coast, the Vaha series offers a practical answer, since up to three indoor units can be connected to one outdoor unit.
Hotels, schools and commercial buildings
In commercial buildings the heating and cooling load varies widely, both through the day and from season to season. In a hotel, hot water demand peaks in the morning and cooling takes over in the afternoon. In a school the load drops almost to zero at the weekend. In commercial projects, being able to adjust capacity in steps therefore matters as much as the capacity itself.
W series commercial outdoor units are built in six capacities (28 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 56 kW). Several units run together and some drop out when the load falls; the system connects to building automation and can be monitored remotely. Business centres, hotels, dormitories, schools, sports halls and factory office buildings are typical applications for this series. For smaller commercial spaces such as restaurants, shops, showrooms or guesthouses, the V series is enough.
Greenhouses, farms and livestock
In a greenhouse the aim is to hold the temperature the plants need to grow throughout the winter. In livestock buildings, barns and care areas are kept at a steady temperature. What these buildings share is large volume and high heat loss: wide glazed or covered surfaces, a heavy ventilation demand and a large difference between day and night temperatures.
At this scale we use the Mega central system heat pump. Mega is sized separately for each project in the 200–1,200 kW range and modulates its capacity steplessly between 10% and 100%; its COP ranges from 4.20 to 5.60 depending on operating conditions. Being air-source, it needs no borehole or well and can be installed on rural land. For greenhouses and livestock buildings, the target indoor temperature and the ventilation demand are part of the calculation from the start. Horse farms and stud farms are among Mega's applications too.
Industry: waste heat and process hot water
Factories release large amounts of heat at temperatures too low to use directly: cooling water from furnaces and compressors, exhaust air, the condensers of refrigeration units. A heat pump can use this lukewarm source and raise its temperature; the resulting water goes to washing lines, preheating or space heating. When the source is warmer than the outdoor air, the temperature lift the heat pump has to provide shrinks and efficiency usually rises.
One example of putting waste heat to work is the Çetin Civata project: we completed and handed over a system that recovers the waste heat of the bolt production furnaces to heat the factory's social areas. Plants that use hot water directly in their process can look at the W series, and applications that need water above 70 °C at the Ayaz series.
Sometimes no standard product fits and the heat pump has to be designed around the machine itself. For SarMakina in Kocaeli, we built and installed a custom heat pump to order for a machine that purifies acidic water. Work of this kind is handled as OEM and project-specific production.
Pools, drying and ships
These three applications each need their own calculation, so we have written a separate article for each.
Pool heating
Pool water is usually kept at 26–28 °C. That low temperature lies in the range where a heat pump works most efficiently. An outdoor pool gets a longer season and an indoor pool can be used all year. Capacity is calculated from the pool's surface area, its cover and the season; the details are in our article on the pool heating heat pump.
Product drying
In heat pump dryers, fruit, vegetables, nuts and aromatic herbs are dried in a closed loop, at low temperature and with controlled humidity. The colour and aroma of the product are preserved, and the moist air is not thrown out together with its heat. We explain the method in our article on heat pump drying.
Ships and boats
Seawater is a good heat source because its temperature barely changes through the day. It is used to heat and cool cabins and to prepare hot water, while tight space, vibration and salt water bring their own design requirements. The details are in our article on heat pumps on ships and boats.
When does the calculation need extra care?
A heat pump does not give the same result everywhere. In these cases the choice needs more care:
- Very high water temperature: In processes that need water above 75 °C, the heat pump often takes on the preheating and another source completes the last stage.
- Old, poorly insulated buildings: The heat loss is calculated first; if necessary the radiators are enlarged or a series that delivers a higher water temperature is chosen.
- Outdoor unit location: The unit must be able to draw and discharge air freely. A unit squeezed into a narrow recess draws back the air it has just cooled and loses efficiency.
- Noise limits: If a bedroom window or a neighbour's façade is close, the unit's position and sound level are planned from the start.
Let us choose the right product for your project together
Whatever the application, a quote starts with the same information: the heat demand of the building or process, the required water temperature, the local climate and the installation site. Share these through our quote form and we will settle the right series, capacity and indoor unit with you.
