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Ground Source Heat Pumps
Ground Source Heat Pumps offer a versatile solution to heating and cooling requirements. They reduce Carbon Footprint and offer a saving to maintenance budgets.
They are ideal for Heritage properties and conservation areas, because they minimize the aesthetic impact.
Ground Source Heat Pumps offer great benefits:
- Can be a combination heating/cooling and hot water heating system
- Some can save you up to 50% on your water-heating bill by preheating tank water
- Made of mechanical components that are either buried in the ground or located inside the home
- About the same size as a traditional heating/cooling unit
- Can cut energy consumption by 20 to 50% and reduce maintenance costs
- Keep the air warmer in the winter (90 -105¡ F) and at a more consistent temperature throughout the home,
- eliminating the hot and cold spots common with other systems
- Very quiet, providing a pleasant environment inside & outside
- No noisy fan units to disturb outdoor activities
- No exposed equipment outdoors; children or pets cannot injure themselves or damage exterior units
- No open flame, flammable fuel or potentially dangerous fuel storage tanks Simultaneously heat & cool different parts of the same building
- Very quiet--users do not know when the system is operating
- Can be set up in multiple zones, with each zone having an individual room control
- Greater freedoms in building design due to 50-80% less mechanical room space
- No outside equipment to hide, eliminating vandalism and roof top units
- Pipes have 50-year life expectancy
- All electric, which eliminates multiple utility services
- Expel boiler and chiller maintenance
- Ground heat exchanger is maintenance free and will last 40+ years
GSHPs offer great savings:
- One of the most efficient residential and Commercial heating and cooling systems available today
- Heating efficiencies between 50 to 70% higher than other heating systems and
- Cooling efficiencies between 20 to 40% higher than available air conditioners
- Reduces costs in operating and maintenance expenditure
- Investments recouped in only a few years
- Positive cash flow; energy savings usually exceed the cost of the system
- Very competitive on initial costs and lower lifecycle costs than most HVAC systems.
- Savings of 25-50% on energy consumption
- Lower peak demand, lowering your operating costs
- Water heated with waste heat from air conditioning at no cost in the summer and at substantial savings in the winter
GSHPs are environmentally friendly:
- Conserve natural resources by providing climate control efficiently and thus lowering emissions
- Minimize ozone layer destruction by using factory-sealed refrigeration systems, which will seldom or never have to be recharged
- Uses underground loops to transfer heat, with no external venting and no air pollution
- Conserve natural resources by providing efficient climate control and thus lowering emissions
- Very energy efficient, with the earth providing over 70% of the energy required to heat and cool
Residential and Commercial
A Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system can be installed in a residential or commercial structure of any size, anywhere. GSHPs can be installed on almost any size plot: under lawns, landscaped areas, driveways, or the house/building itself. An existing building can be retrofitted with a GSHP incorporating any ductwork that maybe present.
The USA Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have both endorsed ground source heat pump systems as among the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly heating, cooling, and water heating systems available. In a 1993 report, the EPA concluded that geothermal technologies represent a major opportunity for reducing national energy use and pollution, while delivering comfort, reliability and savings to home and Business owners.
How it works
There are three important elements to a ground source heat pump:
- The ground loop
This is comprised of lengths of pipe buried in the ground, either in a borehole or a horizontal trench. The pipe is usually a closed circuit and is filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze, which is pumped around the pipe absorbing heat from the ground. The ground loop can be:
- Vertical, for use in boreholes
- Horizontal, for use in trenches
- Spiral, coil or 'slinky', also for use in trenches
- A heat pump
In the same way that your fridge uses refrigerant to extract heat from the inside, keeping your food cool, a ground source heat pump extracts heat from the ground, and uses it to heat your home. A ground source heat pump has three main parts:
- The evaporator, (e.g. the squiggly thing in the cold part of your fridge) absorbs the heat using the liquid in the ground loop;
- The compressor, (this is what makes the noise in a fridge) moves the refrigerant round the heat pump and compresses the gaseous refrigerant to the temperature needed for the heat distribution circuit;
- The condenser, (the hot part at the back of your fridge) gives up heat to a hot water tank which feeds the distribution system.
- Heat distribution system
This consists of under floor heating or radiators for space heating and in some cases water storage for hot water supply.
Other Systems
There other systems we can advise on available which maybe more suitable to your installation and requirements these include:-
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