Installation of CO2 heat pumps seen growing in Australia
Automatic Heating, an Australian provider of heating and cooling systems to the commercial HVAC market, expects continued adoption of CO2 (R744) heat pumps in the local market, having already installed more than 100 units from Japanese manufacturer ITOMIC into various commercial and residential (apartment building) projects in Australia with resulting COPs of up to 4.2.
Automatic Heating is a family-owned business that has been operating since 1926. It has been in partnership with ITOMIC for over five years to bring that manufacturer’s product range to the Australian market, with interest growing in New Zealand as well, according to Plaisted.
“The customer benefits from a power reduction, the use of environmentally friendly natural refrigerants, a world-recognized product and componentry and terrific customer support – both from Automatic Heating and ITOMIC in Japan,” said Terry Plaisted, Sales Manager at Automatic Heating, during the ARBS 2022 trade show.
According to Plaisted, there has been an ongoing education process in the local market to drive the uptake of these CO2 heat pumps in both new and retrofit projects. One of the big drivers has been efficiency. By providing heating and hot water in a combined system, the efficiencies of the CO2 heat pump are optimized – even in very cold climates (below -5°C), where HFC-charged heat pumps often become inefficient, Plaisted explained.
In Melbourne, a project was set to install direct electric elements in a building for 95 apartments. The power requirement would have been close to 2,000amps for the building. However, Automatic Heating redesigned the building with a central hot water system using CO2 heat pumps. This drastically reduced the power requirement to only 50amps for the two units installed. Not only was the running cost of these units lower, but the installation cost was too, said Plaisted.
An additional benefit is the compact size of the heat pump, particularly in the smaller 15kW (4.3TR) unit. This is a suitable choice to replace boilers with restricted machine room access. Even the larger 80kW y-frame heat pump can be easily disassembled and moved into a small room thanks to its modular design. It also takes up a smaller footprint than the boilers it replaces.
One of the most popular applications for the CO2 heat pump is in apartment buildings and other residential developments. Another popular use is providing hot water for people who need to shower at the office after cycling to work, for instance. And the latest use is for preheating the water supply for large boilers where there is a large demand for hot water in the system.