Can anyone please explain to me what the difference is? I've looked at all kinds of stuff but still not sure. I see a lot of places in SA selling heat pumps for hot water but elsewhere in the world they use heatpumps for cooling and heating houses. I did notice they say its a lot more efficient that an AC. 

 

I'm curious to know how the pipes/ ducting works as an AC just has refrigerant run in pipes but as far as I understand theis has air "pipes"

 

Can we buy these in SA? Do they work around CT? Is it worth the higher cost? Ducting on an existing or new built house? Where do you buy these things?

Edited October 12, 20241 yr by BarendD

My 2c, the simplest to avoid getting lost in terminology and how it gets applied, is in SA to speak of an aircon for room temperature control and making sure in the specs it has dual heating and cooling functions. Many modern aircons do anyway.

In other parts of the world an aircon seems to refer to cooling-only devices, as opposed to heat pumps that are ducted for both heating and cooling of rooms, so it's effectively usable all year round.

And as you said, a heat pump in SA generally refers to air-to-water-heat transfer devices, but you also get heat pump tumble driers that transfer heat from air-to-air. But nobody calls his fridge a heat pump though it works on a similar air-to-air principle just with the heat transfer directed outward of the appliance.