Ground Source Heat Pumps

[Chris]

Anyone got one or do you all just burn 50:1 premix in a barrel to heat your houses

[Erin]

I think air source are probably now the better way forward for your average heating requirements, unless you've already got a huge trench in your garden and you don't know what to put in it.

I saw a house the other day with air source heat pump and solar water panels combined into one system. Smart idea.

[Siochair]

Originally Posted by Erin

I think air source are probably now the better way forward.

Unfortunately it seems that air source pumps are only good above a certain temperature with their efficiency dropping dramatically once the air temp is below a certain point.

[Mollers]

Done the maths with builder and architect, forget it. Look at solar, pv, biomass, mechanical heat recovery .

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Siochair

Unfortunately it seems that air source pumps are only good above a certain temperature with their efficiency dropping dramatically once the air temp is below a certain point.

Ah yes, quite possibly. I was viewing it from the persepctive of our local temperate climate in the Channel Islands . 1kW of running cost for 3.5kW of heat output.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by Erin

Ah yes, quite possibly. I was viewing it from the persepctive of our local temperate climate in the Channel Islands . 1kW of running cost for 3.5kW of heat output.

A friend of ours has one and finds that it works ok in said climate, but the recent cold snap was more than it could possibly cope with.

[Siochair]

Originally Posted by Erin

I was viewing it from the persepctive of our local temperate climate in the Channel Islands .

Grrr!!! In that case I imagine it will be fine for most of the year but you will need a more appropriate alternative during really cold weather.

[Maximus]

Can put you in touch with a friend in France mate, real 'Techy'...RESEARCHED like you would'nt believe,spent Thousands,tore up lovely Paddock,took forever,...In the end Bought Wood burning boiler to suppliment the thing!! Great Blurb,F***ing CR**P IN THE REAL WORLD.

[C-NUMB]

Think there are 2 different main types of Ground Source Heat pumps, the one where the collector is close to surface(on a large area) and the second one were a hole is drilled to 100-150 m depth and the collector is lowered down there. Believe the later one is the more efficient one and very popular in Scandinavia. Downside is high initial costs and You also need to have water based heating system(floor or radiator heating) increasing the costs further. What I heard from my neighbours, its working well, despite the fact that further heating (electricity) is need during coldest time of the year. In Sweden think the number of installed system is more than 250 000 units, can't be all crap. But You need to hit the hard stuff to get it working well, so it depends on the soil down under.

The newest trend is to build houses isolated so well that they are based on passive heating(technically no external heat source regularly in use, but isolation is huge). But moisture might be a issue(?) time will tell.

I have neither, as this area is connected to district heating(cooling water from a power plant some 20 km from here) so we just have e heat exchanger in the garage and piping from there to the house. That's also why we have floor heating in the garage that would be normally considered insane....

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by Maximus

In the end Bought Wood burning boiler to suppliment the thing!! Great Blurb,F***ing CR**P IN THE REAL WORLD.

Yep, we're going wood biomass with a bit of solar.