Heat pumps are well suited for heating and cooling most types of multi-family buildings and this application is getting more and more common.
Heat pumps can directly heat the air or the water in the heat distribution system such as radiators, fan coils or a floor heating system. They can also be used for heating of domestic hot water (DHW), used for washing, dishing and showers. Some heat pumps are only dedicated for DHW heating, some provide space heating in parallel.
The most common heat pumps in multi-family buildings are:
- Air-to-water heat pumps – some extract heat from the outdoor air, some from the exhaust air
- Liquid/water-to-water heat pumps – often used to extract heat from the ground
- Domestic hot water heat pumps – using air or liquid/water as heat source
- Air-to-air heat pumps – for efficient space heating, cooling and climate control
- Liquid/water-to-air heat pumps – for air based distribution systems such as ducts or air handlers
There are endless types of system configurations for heat pumps in multi-family buildings, ranging from one central heat pump in the building serving all the apartments, to systems with one heat pump per apartment, extracting heat from a common liquid circuit of the building.
Project 62: Heat pumps for multi-family residential buildings in cities focus on heat pump ́solutions for multi-family houses in high-density cities including new buildings as well as retrofit. The project has created a Solution Matrix to categorise, describe and visualise the possible solutions for heat pumps in multi-family buildings using a holistic approach.
Want to know more? Visit the Introductory Information section of the website or the “Multi Family Buildings” section of the knowledge hub for a deeper dive into more technical material.
