Mike4 wrote:Yes only an ASHP (as opposed to a GSHP) can provide cooling, but not all will. To provide cooling, an ASHP needs to be of the 'air-to-air' type. An ASHP of the 'air-to-water' type will not (AFAIK) have any cooling capability.
There is a great deal of confusion in the mind of the Great British Public, many of whom are under the impression an ASHP is the same thing as an air-to-air heat pump. We see it constantly in these threads about heat pumps.
I thought I posted this before, but it seems to have vanished.
You are not helping the confusion.
A heat pump has two sides, outside and inside. The outside can be air source or ground source. This determines if it is an air source or ground source. Either source can be used for A/C or heat.
It's the inside that determines if it can be used for A/C. The inside can be directly to an air handler; or it can be to water (with hot water run through radiators or underfloor coils); or you can run the freon through underfloor coils and radiators. If you use an air handler you can have a single central air handler with duct work or multiple room sized air handlers (e.g. mini-splits).
Systems with different heat exchangers in different zones are not unknown.
In theory any interior arrangement can be used for cooling. However there will be condensation if you cool the air below the dew point. In reality this will happen in most climates and particularly in the UK's maritime climate. No one wants wet floors or radiators.
In practice this means no cooling with traditional radiators or underfloor coils, only with a direct air handler is designed to collect and drain the condensate. But a ground-to-air heat pump is just a competent as an air-to-air heat pump as an A/C unit. In hot climates ground-to-air heat pumps are used specifically as A/C units with heat as a secondary function.