Thread: condo heat pump

1100 square foot condo with very high ceilings had a water source heat pump, which I've never seen before. The heating seemed fine, although they were starving the beast of return air like crazy.

It appears to have 4-ton cooling capacity on AC though, no? See photo of label.

Seems grossly oversized?

No doubt "they're all like that", but I'd expect to see a 1.5 or 2 ton in there.

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What size was the exterior unit?

Originally Posted by Phillip Smith

What size was the exterior unit?

Phillip - There is no exterior unit. It's a water source unit, so it uses supplied water instead of outdoor air. Like I said, I've never seen one before. I guess it's the city version of geothermal heat pumps, which I've also never inspected.

Between the 48 in model number, and the 14 KW cooling capacity (and the gigantic return air size), I believe it is a 4 ton system.

They likely sized the unit based on the heating load rather than cooling since your part of the country is more of a heating climate than cooling, no?
I would expect the unit to feel like a meat locker (cold and clammy) with very high humidity during the cooling season unless they have some provision for partial load like a multi-speed compressor or dedicated dehumidifier.
What is the water source underground loop, well?
Did you see a water pump?

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

They likely sized the unit based on the heating load rather than cooling since your part of the country is more of a heating climate than cooling, no?
I would expect the unit to feel like a meat locker (cold and clammy) with very high humidity during the cooling season unless they have some provision for partial load like a multi-speed compressor or dedicated dehumidifier.
What is the water source underground loop, well?
Did you see a water pump?

Jim - Thanks. I did not see a water pump. I assume the water is provided by the condo building. I don't know the actual source of the water.
Actually this area is probably just as much a cooling climate as heating. It gets really hot and humid in the summer.
My main concern is the meat locker aspect, which I communicated to the client. Since I'd never seen a water source heatpump before, and couldn't realistically test the AC, I just wanted to make sure I was reading the data label correctly and that my concerns about humidity during cooling season were valid.
There were other problems with the HVAC, mainly the lack of return air, so an HVAC tech has to check it out anyway.