"Never heard of Damvent nor do I know their products." Its's a regular comment. The purpose of this article is to change that and why you should consider Hybrid Heat Pump AHU's.
Everyone knows what an Air handling unit is but only a few people know, understand or specify Hybrid Heat Pump Air Handling units.
Despite having been established in the UK for the last 10-years, the Damvent Hybrid Air Handling unit brand is still relatively unknown. Specifiers find it difficult trusting an unknown brand and products especially when competing with many other larger manufacturers and without knowing the use case applications, and case studies.
The UK Air Handling market is highly competitive, and unsurprisingly many consultants and contractors are loyal to the same AHU brands they have known and used for years and therefore are resistant to change.
The UK also has some of the largest number of UK air handling unit manufacturers and a growing number of foreign manufacturers having seen the buoyancy in the UK commercial construction market. Nearly all offer heat recovery and many offer an external heat pump option at extra cost.
Lowest cost is often the deciding factor as to who gets the order and that often means some companies are cutting corners. Damvent have chosen quality and differentiation over cost.
The psychology behind your decision making
Imagine being invited to try out a a new TV or car that is completely new to you It may be bristling with new things but can you trust it will do what you want? Do you keep an open mind for the new and latest technology or do you revert to what you know and trust? Will you wait to see who else has been there or bought one? Of course you will.
So Why Damvent?
Damvent were established in the 60's are not one of these conventional Air Handling manufacturers. In fact in 2007 they stopped making standard Air Handling units because the market became so saturated and price driven. They decided it was best to change direction and innovate with new technology.
Since then they have been manufacturing a range of Hybrid Heat Pump Air Handling units. What are they? Click here for a description
Damvent have supplied over 1,800 of these hybrid heat pump air handling units throughout the UK and Europe. Have they all made a mistake? Of course not.
Several UK M&E consultant's and contractors have understood and adopted the advancements that Damvent have made in hybrid heat pump heat recovery ventilation technology, and have specified and installed these Damvent hybrid units at numerous well known UK locations including The Shard, Princess Margaret Hospital, The Royal Marsden to name a few.
A Full list of the UK sites where Damvent systems have been installed can be found here
Why Hybrid? Application and Use Cases
A Damvent Heat Pump hybrid heat pump air handling unit is commonly selected instead of a conventional Air Handling unit, as the standard inbuilt heat pump reduces the cooling/heating loads from other cooling or heating systems such as VRF's, chillers etc.
Additionally the built-in rotary sorption heat recovery recovers up to 80% of the extract air and humidity with the evaporator in the heat pump recovers up to 100%.
All Commercial, Industrial, retail and hospitality properties will always require an element of fresh air and an AHU is designed and purchased separately as an extra to the main cooling/heating system.
Types of units available
Smaller footprint Damvent hybrid heat pump Air Handling units are often smaller in size by taking up less space that traditional air handling units.
So what's different? Take a look at this graphic below.
Click on the image below to open the full graphic
Are you prepared to keep an open mind and consider a Damvent hybrid heat pump air handling unit?
You can get full technical information on our specific Damvent MAX E-3 webpage