Urgent article query--seeking input on LG Hydro Kit for VRF

Nadav Malin

CEO

Green Commons, LLC

LEEDuser Expert

586 thumbs up

February 13, 2020

Hi! Please see this query from our Products Editor, Brent Ehrlich. Feel free to reply here on the forum with any leads or insights. AND, if you will to go "on the record" for this article, please contact Brent directly to set up a phone or email interview. (He's on a tight deadline with this.) Thank you!

I am looking for some feedback on LG's new Hydro Kit, which attaches to VRF systems to produce hot water via a refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger. It just won an award at the AHR conference. Heat exchangers are not new, yet I have not seen one on a VRF and it makes me wonder why. Seems that recapturing heat that would otherwise be vented and replace fossil fuel use is a good idea. I could see them being useful in applications that demand a lot of hot water: hospitality, kitchen, laundry, pools, etc. Is it typically just difficult to install/commission? Does this system mitigate that problem? Is it an inefficient way to produce hot water/not worth the effort? What are the pluses and minuses? Does anyone have experience with these or similar technology?

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Luke Leung

Principal

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Thu, 02/13/2020 - 17:13

The idea above was included in our MEP SDL letter. The idea is not new, but good, since the heat pump can leverage the waste heat from cooling to 2-3 COP in heating versus conventional gas or electrical water heaters will be less than 1. Mammoth made this in China (3in1), there are student dormitory projects in Canada using similar. The system can produce air cooling, domestic hot water, and radiant heating. Daikin also make that, but in their European market, not in US. The capacity range of the equipment is a consideration, they are not small enough for a tiny apartment to have its own unit, so, there are projects that have to combined a few smaller apartments to share one unit. The hot water temperature is another consideration, some does not get to 140 F, which is a concern, but the LG above is interesting it has a "high" temperature option, not sure how "high"