Heat Pump Technology
For millions of years, the sun has provided all the energy required to support life on earth. Most of this energy is not being harnessed and is just passing us by. If we can utilise just a mere fraction of this energy, we can move away from using fossil fuels to heat our homes and help put a stop to the destruction of our planet. One of the ways in which we can do this is by using ground source heat pumps.
The earth is continually absorbing heat from the sun and this heat is stored in the ground. All year round the ground temperature is between 8°C and 14°C at depths below 1 metre. A ground source heat pump is designed to use this constantly renewed energy to supply your domestic heating and hot water requirements. There are 3 types of heat pump:
Open Loop Ground Source
Open loop systems are the most efficient and take the heat out of groundwater that is abstracted from an aquifer. As the water is in direct contact with the ground, there is no heat loss between surfaces. The water is abstracted from a borehole and pumped through a heat pump; where heat from the water is extracted by the heat pump, cooling the water by approximately 5 degrees before returning it to the ground. Not all areas are underlain by an aquifer that is viably accessible.
Closed Loop Ground Source
Closed loop systems pump an anti-freeze solution through pipes buried in the ground. The loops can be installed either horizontally or vertically, the overall length depending upon the conductivity of the ground in which they are installed. Heat losses between the anti-freeze solution and loop pipe; the loop pipe and grout surround; and the grout surround and ground reduce their efficiency. Back-up heating is usually recommended for use with closed loop systems
Air Source Heat Pumps
Air source heat pumps are the cheapest but least efficient, taking heat out of the air and hence less effective in cold weather when needed the most. Back-up heating is always recommended when installing an air-source heat pump.
H D Services install Soleco open loop ground source heat pumps, manufactured in the UK by Thermal Engineering Systems and designed to extract heat from underground water and transfer it to your hot water and heating systems. The water can also be used to provide effective summer cooling at a fraction of the cost of running a conventional air conditioning system. This will require a third-party ventilation system, details of which are available upon request.