How Does Air Source Heating Work? Air source heat pumps (ASHP) rely on vapour compression, transferring the hot air from a place to another exactly in the same way as a refrigerator does. An air source heat pump is an environmentally friendly alternative to a traditional boiler. An installation comprises of a ‘monobloc’ unit outside of your house, a hot water cylinder inside your property, and would connect up to your existing radiators or underfloor heating.
No, modern units generally produce from 50 to 55dB. These sound pressure figures lie between the noise level of a domestic 'fridge and normal human conversation. careful installation positions produce no sound that can be heard within the property as the pumps are not sited under bedroom windows.
Absolutely! Most installations use the primary circuit of the heated water from the heat pump to circulate round the house through radiators or underfloor heating as well as through a coil in a specially designed cylinder. This coil transfers heat into the insulated cylinder into which cold water is fed at the bottom, heated to 50ºC and pushed to the secondary circuit from the top of the cylinder to the taps and showers on demand. At this temperature less mixing with cold water is required at the taps compared to the traditional hot water temperature of 70ºC.
A heat pump for a house is about the size of a large fridge. More powerful heat pumps for commercial buildings do not increase in size or price as much as they do in power output.
Yes. This is a very effective conversion as the 4kW solar PV system will supply the electricity required for the compressor and the fan in the heat pump unit thereby minimising your reliance on mains electricity.
This apparent conundrum is explained as follows: Electric heating is done by resistance to current through a wire generating heat. A heat pump only moves already existing heat from one place to another using 25-30% less electricity to run a pump and fan. So it easier and therefore more efficient to move existing heat from air to water than it is to create heat in a cold coil of wire in an electric element. The heat energy in the air and ground is already there from the nuclear fusion in our nearest star, the type-G, yellow dwarf we call the Sun.
At 1m away from a neighbour's door or window of a habitable room, the sound level must not be higher than 42dB. The heat pump must be 1m inside the boundary of the installed property.
You can use the radiators in the house with an ASHP, but the water temperature in the central heating will not be as high as the originally designed sizing required so the radiators will need upsizing accordingly. This is by a factor of about 30% and can be achieved by moving the larger existing radiators into the smaller rooms and fitting new bigger radiators into the larger rooms.
No, they are considered permitted development although a listed building/conservation area setting may need local council confirmation.
Hot enough for showers, baths, washing dishes and clothes at between 40ºC and 50ºC (body temperature is 37ºC)
Depending on your usage, but if you need 15,000kWh (units of electricity) of energy every year and your heat pump has an efficiency (COP) of 3 then you will use 3 time less energy in the form of electricity to run the pump. i.e 5,000kWh or 5,000 units of electricity at eg.14p per unit. In this case, £700.
Our team of qualified, trained and experienced plumbing engineers and electricians install heat pumps. Each install is different, drawing on expertise and know-how gained over time to produce a tailored product solution to each customer's particular circumstance.
You will receive quarterly, tax-free payments from Ofgem, for 7 years, for heating your home with renewable energy. Your payments are calculated using the heat demand figures from your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), and therefore you must have a recent EPC dated within two years of the commissioning date of your heating system. We will arrange an EPC for you as part of the installation.
It must be remembered that you do not use heating on warm, sunny days, when there will be the most difference between in temperature between the south and the other sides of your property. This makes little difference in reality. It is just as important when choosing a location to try and minimise pipe runs between your cylinder and the monobloc.
Yes, but you will need larger radiators, sized for the typical 45°C to 50°C water temperatures obtained from efficient ASHP systems. If your house is well insulated they may be suitable. Your installer will need to check how big they would have to be and the space they would take up. Modern die cast aluminium radiators are very efficient and smaller than conventional radiators. Upstairs is usually less of a problem as bedrooms are normally kept at lower temperatures.
Yes, but if used in this way the heat pump return water temperature should be set to suit the radiator system and a mixing valve used to reduce the under floor supply to the design temperature.