How Do Heat Pumps Work?
There are several kinds of heat pumps you can choose from:
Ground Source Heat Pumps and Water Source Heat Pumps work by absorbing the heat from the sun which is stored in the earth or in water between 1m and 2m depth.
Ground Source and Water Source Heat Pumps use a system of flexible pipes containing fluid are buried underground or in water which absorb, then carry heat into your house.
Air Source Heat Pumps extract heat from the outside air temperature wth the help of an air handling system,
Heat Recovery, like that of air source heat pumps, can also be extracted from excess or waste heat within a building such as from a hot loft, a conservatory or in the commercial world from machines exhaust.
All Heat Pumps work a bit like a fridge (BUT BACKWARDS), transferring heat from one source to another.
Benefits
Ground Source Heat pumps tap into a constant heat source rarely affected by surface temperatures, offering you year round heating.
All Heat pumps produce between 3 - 5 times the amount of renewable energy than electricity required to power them.
Heat pumps are best installed with solar water heating to provide a complete hot water and heating solution.
Costs and Payback
Ground Source Heat Pump Systems can cost anything from £8,000 to £12,000+
Air source heat pumps can cost a similar amount when all of the equipment is included but their downside is they are more susceptible to the fluctuating air termperature and can cost you more to run than Ground Source.
Heat Pumps may sound expensive, but remember, one of the great benefits they show is in tackling heating and a large proportion of your hot water.
Heating and hot water can be around 50-60% of your energy bills and so by tackling this your payback will be much better. Whilst the investment is expensive when compared to a conventional gas boiler, the payback is relatively quick and in the right building heat pumps cost less to run than fossil fuel equivalents.
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Ground Source Heating Tends To Suit People Who Are...
Building a new house or housing development
Renovating your garden
Have a well insulated house
Have underfloor heating
Are looking for alternatives to generate heat
Why Are There Such Requirements?
Heat pumps require quality insulation to protect them from the elements outside. Heat Pumps require a much lower operating temperature to heat your house, in harmony with underfloor heating and require 12-24 hours to adjust temperature.
If you install a heat pump in a house with poor insulation and normal radiators your heat pump will be less efficient and potentially cost you a lot of money to run as it will require additional mains back up power equivalent to heating your house with an immersion heater!
Support And Grants
An essential factor in choosing Heat Pumps is whether you have sufficient insulation in your building. If you do not, Heat Pumps are not a good idea.
Provided your property is suitable we will arrange a site survey to assess your property and the surrounding land.
Not all heat pumps work well with traditional existing wet central heating systems. If you wish to consider this you will need to consider extra investment in new oversize radiators.
Next Steps
Check your insulation and read our More Ideas pages and fact sheet for more help. You will also need to find out the size of your floorplan and what is under your soil outside.
When you are ready, please call 0800 619 1262 or write to us via our Contact page.
Fact Sheet
 Download our fact sheet in pdf format by clicking here.
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