- AIR CONDITIONING HEATING
Let’s talk about air conditioners first. Air conditioners are basically essential heating appliances for every family. However, the defect of air conditioners that has been criticized by consumers for a long time is precisely its slightly weak heating capacity. Friends who use air conditioners in winter must have felt this way: the air conditioner is very good in summer, but the heating effect is not so good in winter. Either the room is not warm, or it is dry and dry? Very uncomfortable. In fact, this kind of problem with the air conditioner is not a problem with the quality of the product itself. There is an old saying in the air-conditioning industry: (air-conditioning) cooling is a duty, heating is a passion. The effect of cooling and heating is related to the physical characteristics of the air itself: the density of cold air is higher than that of normal temperature air, and the density of hot air is lower than that of normal temperature air. Therefore, in summer, the cold air has a high density, and it is easy to sink to the bottom of the room, and we will feel very cool; but in winter, the hot air from the air conditioner basically floats on the ceiling, and it is difficult to sink to the ground area where we move. It’s also why you feel warm when you’re standing with your arms up, but cold when you’re sitting on the couch or lying in bed.
(PS: Some good air conditioner manufacturers have already noticed this problem. For example, Daikin has a model (pictured below), which specially changes the traditional “side out and down back” air outlet to “bottom out and side back”. This way the hot air can be sent more directly to the ground, reducing the occurrence of hot air floating above the room.)
Schematic diagram of the air return mode of the special machine for the lamp trough of Daikin central air conditioner
In addition, if you use air conditioning for heating in winter, you will feel dry mouth and skin after a long time. This is because when air convection transfers heat, the wind will take away moisture from the user’s body surface, resulting in problems such as dry mouth, dizziness, chest tightness, and dry skin.
But air conditioning also has obvious advantages: air conditioning can take into account cooling and heating. And the installation threshold is low, and it is very convenient to add or replace the airframe later; so the air conditioner is still the heating product with the widest audience on the market.
- ELECTRIC HEATING
For friends who do not have collective heating, the affordable and easy-to-use little guy “electric heater” in heating equipment should be the “old face” next to air conditioners. The electric heater does not need to be installed, and it can also be moved around, which is very convenient to use. For the southern region where the cold winter is not long, electric heating seems to be enough. At least in terms of “heat”, electric heating is much better than air conditioning.
The problem of the electric heater is also obvious: the heat dissipation area is too small, which is the flaw of the electric heater. The place near the electric heater is very hot, but once it leaves its radiation range, the temperature drops instantly. In addition, everyone must have had the experience of putting their feet on the electric heater, and then retracting their feet under their buttocks because of the heat. The heating element of the electric heater has the risk of scalding the user, so extra attention must be paid to its safety. Another point is that the electric heater is a pure electric heat exchange, which will consume more electricity.
- WATER RADIATOR HEATING
The old-fashioned winter heating artifact, the northern friends must be most familiar with this heating method. Compared with the direct blowing of hot air from the air conditioner, the principle of the water radiator is radiation heat dissipation. The advantage is that it is more comfortable to use and will not cause discomfort such as dryness and fire; but it also has obvious flaws: just like electric heaters, The surface temperature of the radiator is high. If there are children at home, it is easy to burn your hands. In addition, the heat dissipation area of the radiator is not large enough. The side of the radiator wall dissipates heat toward the center of the house. The middle is cold and the sides are hot, creating a The temperature of the room is not uniform enough; in addition, the aesthetics of the water radiator is average, so you have to find a way to hide the radiator in the corner when decorating. No matter how you hide the water radiator, it will still occupy a certain amount of wall space, and the water floor heating equipment The immovability will also cause certain difficulties for the later homeowners to adjust the layout of the house. Therefore, it is not suitable for friends who have high requirements for loose space and flexibility of house layout.
- FLOOR HEATING
Floor heating is the heating equipment that I want to recommend in this article, because among many heating equipment, floor heating is probably the only one that has achieved the “unification of the north and the south” and is loved by all the “cold people” unanimously – many collectively heated buildings in the north Choose floor heating, and many families in the south who do not have collective heating will also choose floor heating when decorating. The reason is that from the perspective of comfort and aesthetics, floor heating is a heating device with no obvious shortcomings. The floor heating is soft and even in temperature, unlike the air conditioner that has strong wind convection, which brings about the problem of dry air. Unlike electric heaters and water radiators, there is a problem of uneven temperature. And the installation is concealed, does not occupy the room area, and has little influence on the aesthetics of the interior decoration. Floor heating first warms the feet and then warms the head. The heat decreases evenly from bottom to top. When it reaches the user’s head, the temperature is moderate and slightly cool. This temperature distribution is not only comfortable, but also in line with the health-preserving theory of “warm feet and cool roof” in traditional Chinese medicine.
In addition, the floor heating now supports remote setting and adjustment through the mobile app. Some well-established HVAC manufacturers will connect floor heating, air conditioning, and fresh air into one system to easily solve the problem that floor heating cannot be cooled. Users can centrally control the air-conditioning, floor heating and fresh air systems at home, cooling in summer and heating in winter, improving the heating experience in winter. At the same time, the centralized control form of various devices also provides convenience for subsequent product maintenance.
In addition to supporting remote control, the current floor heating is also doing a good job in temperature control. Like the air conditioner, each room can be independently controlled on and off; it can also automatically adjust the water flow and floor heating temperature according to changes in the outdoor temperature. Also saves energy.
In addition, many floor heating brands now use environmentally friendly air energy as a heat source, which is much better than some traditional heating equipment in terms of power saving. For example, I use Daikin’s air-energy floor heating in my home. The COP exceeds 4, which is equivalent to consuming 1 part of electricity and getting 4 parts of heat. Compared with ordinary gas-fired boilers, the monthly heating cost can be saved by about half. So what I want to tell you here is: the power consumption of floor heating is not as high as you think. If your home does not have collective heating and has not yet been decorated, I personally suggest that floor heating can be taken into consideration.
