Why Combine

Recovery pre-treats the air, lowering the load on the heat pump. The heat pump then upgrades the temperature to what the building needs. Together they cut both capacity and running cost.

Common Configurations

• Plate or rotary recovery feeding an air-source heat pump
• Exhaust-air heat pump (the recovery unit is the evaporator source)
• Desuperheater recovering compressor heat to water
• CO2 (transcritical) heat pump for high-temperature water

Benefits

• Smaller heat-pump capacity needed
• Higher system efficiency (higher source temperature)
• Electrification-ready, lower carbon

Selection Note

Size the recovery first, then the heat pump on the reduced load. Verify the combined seasonal performance, not just the design point.