Air-To-Water: Hydronic Hype or the Future?
Could it be that Air-to-Water Heat Pumps (AWHP) using hydronic distribution are poised to become the new normal for residential HVAC systems? Can simply switching the thermal distribution fluid from refrigerant to water/glycol have significant positive impacts? As you will learn in this interview with Jim Bashford from SpacePak, the short answer to these questions may well be, simply, Yes.
You don’t have to be a building nerd or an engineer for a question like this to be relevant and important to consider. There are many reasons why AWHP systems make an attractive alternative to our batch of current “normal” heat pumps that rely on refrigerant for thermal distribution. Some of the reasons AWHP are appealing include: (1) reduced refrigerant volumes, thus reduced refrigerant leakage into the atmosphere; (2) larger selection of indoor unit options relative to refrigerant based systems; (3) the ability to support comfort via thermally active surfaces (aka radiant heating/cooling); (4) your home is better future-proofed and more technology-agnostic, and (5) these systems affordably unlock thermal storage (for thermal loads), which can provide energy resilience for their owners as well as dispatchable grid-level energy storage This episode is why you listen to the Building Science Podcast, somehow this multifaceted emerging story has still not hit the mainstream.
Jim Bashford
Jim Bashford is the National Sales and Training Manager for SpacePak. Jim has an extensive tenure in the HVAC Field. Before joining the SpacePak team, Bashford was a manufacturer’s representative for three years working with a variety of HVAC products. He has a total of 23 years' experience in the HVAC industry, including experience as a contractor and business owner where he has many years selling and installing SpacePak products.