Ground Source Heat Pumps in The UK
Our ground source heat pumps are industry leading in the UK, out performing over 85% of all other heat pumps tested by the Carbon Trust. Why would you install anything else?
Ground source heat pumps take stored solar energy from 1.5-2m below ground, which is at a constant temperature throughout the year, compress this residual heat, converting it into higher temperatures for use. The Heat Pumps main consumption of energy is electricity used to drive the compressor, the effectiveness of the electric used in the installation to obtain heat is measured by the Coefficient of Performance (CoP). A CoP of 3 indicates 1kWh of electric is used to obtain 3kWh of heating. The higher the CoP the more efficient the pump is running. A poorly designed and poorly installed system will reduce the CoP, leading to higher energy bills. The system will use more electricity to generate the same output, or the output temperature will drop (cold showers). Beware of undersized collectors and “energy boosters” or immersion heaters built into the heat pump. These will reduce the performance of the heat pump, resulting in far higher electricity bill. You may be getting a bargain at the time, but you’ll pay for it for many years to come.
Ground Source Heat Pump Features
Quality Design and Installation - Our systems are designed using software which analyses heat loss from your building as well as your heating needs to establish your exact requirements. We do not use slinky systems in our ground works, although quicker to install, they underperform by depleting the stored low grade energy, resulting in a lower COP and higher running costs.
Navigator Control - The NAVIGATOR heating control system allows for remote monitoring via a mobile phone and internet. Its features include active weather compensation, total system control, intelligent defrost technology and bivalent control. This culminates in a highly effective and fully controllable heating system.
Hygenix - Our HYGENIX hot water storage systems can provide fresh hygienically clean hot water. This system can act as a buffer tank, integrating several renewable technologies and resulting in a more efficient heat pump.
HGL Technology - Hot Gas Loading Technology, is an IDM patented technology that allows heat pumps to achieve higher temperatures without compromising on COP.
Long service life - Thanks to buffer accumulator and HGL technology, the heat pump runs less frequently, operating at maximum efficiency for longer and avoiding inefficient start up procedure. This extends the life of the compressor, resulting in highly cost effective technology.
Higher Capacity - Our heat pumps are one of a few on the market with twin compressor technology. Households or businesses with single phase electric would otherwise be limited to a 12kW heat pump with manufactures of single compressor heat pumps, therefore needing a backup heat source in larger projects or two heat pumps. Our technology allows our customers the ability to install up to 24kW, in one heat pump.
Great Investment
Get a good return on your investment, with the Renewable Heating Incentive due to begin in June 2011, it is expected to yield an inflation beating return of up to 12%, resulting in most systems paying for themselves within 5 to 10 years. Current estimates of the RHI, predict a price of 7p for 1kWh of heat produced from a ground sources heat pump. Current electric prices of 12p and a heat pump with a CoP of 4 will cost 3p to produce 1kWh, earning you 4p profit for every kWh needed.
Regardless of the Government Incentives, Heat pumps cost 1/2 as much to run as the cost of an oil boiler, typically you would recover the cost of additional expenditure for a heat pump in less than 8 years. This will cut your fuel bills, and reduce your dependence on the ever increasing cost of oil and gas, future-proofing your energy bills to rising costs.
Have I got the space?
Ground source heat pumps do need space to work effectively when it comes to the trench system, alternatively you can use a bore hole to source your heat from the ground but this can get expensive, a more affordable option is an air source heat pump. To calculare the exact amount of land, we research the geological conditions of your site, from national surveys and our site visit, we then enter this information into our software which gives us the exact amount of trench system required. Clay based (wet soil conditions) hold more energy, while sand based soils (free draining) hold less. A rough estimate, is that 2m below ground you can harvest an energy source of between 20-30watts per meter. A 12kw system would require between 600-400m, we allocate 1m2 area for every 1m of pipework, which equates to 600-400m2 .
Designing Heat Pump systems for the UK's climate
All of our systems are designed around your exact requirements. We calculate the needs of your home, and design our systems around you and the location of your site, there are no off the shelf systems. We do not use slinky systems, or 'compact collectors' (Radiators burried in the ground), as they take too much energy from a concentraed source, leaving you with higher bills. Prices for installing heating systems vary according to system requirements and differ from house to house. For an accurate estimate on a custom design please contact us.
