Monday, February 13, 2012

AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMP... WHAT? 

SOME TECH STUFF.

Of all the technologies I am looking at to heat this house, the Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)  is the most intriguing somehow. As far as I can gather it works on the same principle as a fridge or a freezer, in very simple terms a heat exchanger bringing in warmer air from the outside, compressing it into hot water, and passing this heat into standard radiators. It runs on electricity, so there is an environmental impact, although my plan is to offset this with solar panels to generate some of the power (you may well scoff at this if you're familiar with North Wales weather).  Disadvantages? You have to install the pump somewhere on or near the house, and it does have a visual and more importantly a noise impact. Descriptions of the noise vary according to who you talk to. I've seen internet forums where people say the noise output of these units is quite high, describing it as similar to a washing machine on spin cycle; others say it is no noisier than a fridge.

Other problems I have heard about include the fact that they can act up in very cold weather if they're not sited properly, using electricity to defrost themselves instead of heating me.
I'm having a visit from an engineer / surveyor from the contractor who would be installing the  ASHP in a day or  two and I'll post about this!



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