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One of the most topical areas currently for the specification of VRF installations is their specification alongside hydro kits. These units extract heat from a VRF heat pump or heat recovery system to provide domestic hot water. This sees the building using heat that would otherwise be wasted.
From the designers point of view, VRF combined with hydro kit technology presents an opportunity to combine space heating and hot water provision through a single highly efficient system with cooling as an added option where required.
LG floor standing Hydro kit Units can provide hot water up to 80° C from high temperature units, or to 50° C from medium temperature models. The wall mounted units, available in 5.6 / 7.1 / 9.0kW provide domestic hot water up to 60oC.
Multiple hydro kits can be connected to a single Multi V VRF outdoor unit as the system can cope with sizeable loads. This means it is an approach which can work on a range of projects where both heating – perhaps via underfloor for example, and hot water supply are required. And of course the system is also capable of delivering heating and cooling via fan coil units, using any wasted heat from the cooling.
One market that is seeing more interest in this type of system is the multi-residential market, particularly the build-to-rent sector which is mainly apartment-based development. Despite the issues with Covid-19 across the UK at the end of September 2020, there were just over 140,000 apartments under construction in the UK, a large proportion of which were in city centres where there is increasing pressure to move away from heating systems that only add to the air quality problems of inner cities.
Legislation for NOx levels is making the use of traditional boilers or CHP units less attractive and finding alternatives like system such as VRF combined with hydro kits is a pressing requirement for building designers in particular.
VRF technology teamed with hydro kits can readily replace the gas boiler in multi-residential buildings. The ability to provide heating and domestic hot water and cooling – on an electrically driven system is an ideal solution for many.