Air Source Heat Pump

Presentation
Andrew Knill
Monmouthshire County Council

What Made Us Consider

Air Source Heat Pumps?

Increased Number Of Complaints From

Tenants About Their Solid Fuel and
Electric Storage Radiators Systems.
Sharply Rising Cost Of Oil (Winter 2005)

Solid Fuel Complaints

Older Tenants:
Unable To Carry Coal
and Ashes
Quite Expensive To Run
Home Help Often Required.

Younger Tenants: Unable To Control

System.
High Running Costs. Dirty To Operate.
Danger To Children.
3

Electric Storage Radiator

Complaints

Unable To Control:
Too Hot In The
Night and The
Morning.
No Heat Left By The
Evening.
High Running Costs.

Monmouthshire County Council

Breakdown of Heating Fuel
Types
January 2005
Number Of Properties

Gas
Oil
Solid Fuel
Electric

3045
58
227
310

Percentage

84
2
6
9
5

Cae Capel, Great Oak, Near

Raglan.

Small rural site of 6 two bedroom bungalows

heated with modern slim-line electric storage
radiators.
Properties were built with cavity wall insulation
and the loft insulation had recently been
upgraded. The windows and doors were single
glazed with aluminium frames.
Tenants were all old aged pensioners and had
been campaigning for an alternative form of
heating for a long time. Their main complaint
was the existing systems were expensive to run
and the radiators ran out of heat by the evening.
6

The tenants wanted LPG or Oil Heating.

The site layout meant that communal LPG or

Oil storage tanks would have to be provided
as there was insufficient room for individual
tanks to be located in the gardens.

The tenants request was turned down

because of bad previous experiences with
communal storage schemes. (mainly
metering, fuel contamination and tanks
running out of fuel)

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11

15

13

11

CAE CAPEL, GREAT OAK

12

After further consultation with the tenants it

was agreed to provide them with a wet
central heating system with radiators fuelled
by Combined Electric Primary Storage Units.

The units chosen were the Gledhill

Electomate 2000s

The systems were to use Tariff 10 electricity.

The tenants were to be set up on the Easy

Warm scheme to ensure their fuel bills were
capped and affordable.
13

Enquiries were made to the electricity

supplier over the capacity of the network in
June 2005.
It took until October 2005 before a
quotation was received.
The quotation was for the sum of 7,500 and
specified a minimum lead in time of 3
Months as a new transformer would be
required in the village.
The quotation was immediately withdrawn
by the electricity supplier as they claimed
they needed more information about the
Combined Electric Primary Storage Unit.
14

The Dilemma

A major internal refurbishment program was

due to commence on the site at the beginning of
January 2006. The work was to include kitchen
and bathroom refurbishment, new central
heating systems and electrical rewiring.
It quickly became clear that we would be unable
to upgrade the electricity supplies in time.
By coincidence we acquired a HeatKing Air
Source Heat Pump Brochure which under
different circumstances may have been set
aside.

15

What caught our eye in the brochure was

that even at an external temperature of -10
Deg C the coefficient of performance (COP)
of the Heat
Pump was 2 !!
HeatKing BWarm 8000 COPs
At Water Flow Temperature Of 50 DegC

4.5
4.0
COP

3.5

50 DegC

3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
-15

-10

-5

10

15

Ambient Temperature (Deg C)

16

Cae Capel Bungalows:-Floor Plan

KITCHEN

LIVING ROOM
External
Store

A/C

BATHROOM

HALL
BED 1

BED 2

STORE

17

Installation Of Air Source Heat Pump Central Heating At Cae

Capel, Great Oak
Heat Loss And Radiator Selection
ROOM NAME

Hall

Lounge

Cloaks

Bath

Bed 1

Bed 2

Kitchen

TOTAL

ROOM HEAT LOSS Watts

507

1887

124

712

1064

664

1041

5999

Flow Temperature DegC

50

50

50

50

50

50

50

Return Temp DegC

45

45

45

45

45

45

45

Mean Temp DegC

47.5

47.5

47.5

47.5

47.5

47.5

47.5

Room Temp

18

21

18

22

18

18

21

D T Mean Temp Diff

29.5

26.5

29.5

25.5

29.5

29.5

26.5

Correction Factor @ DT

0.41

0.36

0.41

0.35

0.41

0.41

0.36

RADIATOR OUTPUT REQ.

1,223

5,191

299

2,055

2,567

1,602

2,864

DT

Correction Factor

25DegC

0.338

30DegC

0.423

18

HeatKing BWarm 8000 Pump Duty

At Water Flow Temperatures Of 50 DegC
12

Duty (KW)

10
50 DegC

8
6
4
2
0
-15

-10

-5

-3

10

15

Ambient Temperature (Deg C)

19

Locations Of Heat Pumps

Must Be Located Outside

Bolted Securely To A Wall Or Concrete Base
Consider Effect On Circulation Routes
Allow Adequate Room For Air Flow And
Maintenance
Take Into Consideration Noise From Unit
(Provide screening etc. if necessary)
Provide Soak away Or Drain For Condensate
Avoid Long Pipe Runs (particularly external
runs) To The Unit.
20

Clearance For Access and Good

Air Flow
HeatKing Bwarm8000

100mm
Min

100mm Min

1500mm Min

600mm
Min

21

22

23

HP

HP

15

13

11

HP

HP

HP

CAE CAPEL, GREAT OAK

24

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Schematic Of Air Source

Heatpump At Cae Capel, Great
Oak
Drain off Cock

Thermostatic Radiator Valve

Peglar Full Bore PB 300T QT Valve with Stub Handle
Peglar Gate Valve Or Full Bore QT Valve

Air
Flow

Expansion and Saftey Valve Kit

Heatking 8000

Air
Flow

Pressure Differential Valve

s

To Vent

Filling Loop

Flow

s
s

Where indicated with an s bends must be slow

and preferably formed insitu where possible
All bends to main flow and return to be slow
Diverter Valve

SafetyValve

Hot Out

s
s

s
s

s
Re tu rn

T
s

Cold In
s

29

Approved installers, Installer

Training
All of the Heat Pumps we have installed have

been fitted by our own Corgi registered

engineers.
The training requirements are relatively
simple. We ran a 1 day installation training
course for our engineers and supervising staff.
Our engineers are able to install the units and
attend to minor faults but are not able to work
on the refrigeration circuit.
Any faulty units are swapped over and
returned to the manufacturer for repair. The
manufacturer has provided us with a spare
unit and provides a collection service.
30

Typical Installation Costs Of Air

Source Heat Pump Systems (2
Bed Bungalow)

Heat pump 3500

Radiators and pipework
1450
Wiring & Controls CH & HW
550
Hot Water Cylinder
750
Builders Work
650
Total
6900

31

Grants

Currently there are no grants available for

Air Source Heat Pumps.
VAT on the cost of the heat Pumps is 5%
We have however received a one off grant
from the
Welsh Assembly Government via the Home
Energy
Efficiency Scheme (HEES Wales) to extend
our trial of Air Source Heat Pumps.

32

Estimated Comparison of
Energy Requirements, Cae
Capel
SAP Running
Energy
Type Of System

Rating

Cost *

Requirement

CO2

GJ

Kg

Electric Storage Radiators

and Electric Immersion
Heater

61

328

30.65

3525

Air Source Heat Pump

& Electric Immersion
Heater

67

286

16.69

1919

Calculated Using SAP 2001

Savings

42

13.96

1605

* Electricity Costs SWALEC 2005

33

Estimated Running Costs Of Air Source

Heat Pumps From Actual Meter
Readings
Annual Electricity Costs Heating and Hot water

Actual Electricity
Costs
Estimated Non Heating &
Mar 2006-2007
HW (40% actual)

Estimated Heating &

Hot water Only

338 lowest

135

203

600

240

360

390

156

234

569

228

341

725 highest

290

435

Average Cost

315
34

Air Source Heat Pump

Reliability

Fitted a total of 19 units since February 2006

3 Units failed to work on commissioning
1 Unit broke down within 7 days of installation
1 Unit broke down after 8 months running
Of the 9 units fitted since last January none have
yet broken down, indicating that early reliability
problems have been addressed
We keep a spare unit in store which can be
swapped over
in a couple of hours. The faulty unit is then sent
back to
the manufacturer in Yorkshire for repair
35

Some Of The Advantages Of Air

Source Heat Pumps Over Other
Systems

Heat production is fully controllable

Can be used on standard 60A electricity supplies
No bulk storage of fuel is required
50-75% of energy produced is renewable *
Sealed units mean no specialist knowledge
required
Operation and Maintenance requirements are
very low
Long life expectancy typically 20 years+
Low water temperature reduces risk of burning
36

Some Of The Disadvantages Of

Air Source Heat Pumps Over
Installation costs
are generally
high
Other
Systems
External units are noisy and require careful sighting
Capacity has to be very carefully matched to load
Output decreases as external temperature decreases
Radiator outputs need to be between 2-3 times
greater
Unable to heat water and central heating at same
time
Unable to fully heat hot water (efficiently)
System needs to be filled with expensive antifreeze

37

Schematic Diagram Of Central

Heating Only Air Source Heat
Pump Installation
Expansion and Saftey Valve Kit

Drain off Cock

Peglar Full Bore PB 300T QT Valve with Stub Handle

Air
Flow

Safety Valve

Air
Flow

Thermostatic Radiator Valve

Peglar Gate Valve Or Full Bore QT Valve

Filling Loop

Heatking 8000

Pressure Differential Valve

s

s
s

Flow

2KW In Line
Electric Water
Heater
Only Used On Systems
Between 6-8KW

s
s

Where indicated with an s bends must be slow

and preferably formed insitu where possible
All bends to main flow and return to be slow

Re tu rn

T
s

38

What Is An Air Source Heat

Pump ?

39

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Coefficient Of Performance

The coefficient of performance of a heat

pump is the ratio of energy given out to the
electrical energy put in.

For a heat pump with a COP of 3 you would

expect to get 3KW out for every 1KW you put
in.

1 KW would come from electricity and 2KW

would come from heat extracted from the air.
41

Coefficient Of Performance
Against Ambient Temperature
HeatKing BWarm 8000 COPs
At Water Flow Temperatures Of 35 & 50 DegC
4.5

35 DegC

4.0
COP

3.5

50 DegC

3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
-15

-10

-5

10

15

Ambient Temperature (Deg C)

42

What Is An Air Source Heat

Pump ?

43