Can heat pumps provide cooling?

Can heat pumps provide cooling, to deal with overheating on warm summer days?

Yes, advanced heat pumps can provide both heating and cooling.

Surprisingly, cooling can be provided with the correct heat pump control solution via the underfloor heating. The control system watches over temperature and humidity within the house, providing a sufficient amount of cooling water to the floor and thereby avoiding condensation.

With ground source heat pumps free cooling can also be provided from the ground collector at minimal running cost. Heat is then rejected into the ground which in the heating mode becomes a heat source again. This can dramatically increase the seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP). The system can provide both heating and cooling at the same time, ultimately doubling the efficiency.

When a desuperheater feature is included for high temperature hot water heating, domestic hot water is generated as a byproduct, even in cooling mode.

The cost of the additional cooling feature is relatively low, between €200 to €400 for air source and around €1,000 for the ground source systems, and provides extra comfort in summer months.