Ground Source Heat Pumps
MEEL GROUP - SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS: GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMPS
Exchanging heat with the earth
A heat pump is a low-carbon way to heat your home. It's a sustainable replacement for fossil fuel heating such as gas, oil or LPG and can help reduce your building's carbon footprint.
Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) extract heat stored in the ground and make it into a usable source of heat for your building. They are suitable for use in a wide variety of buildings, providing you have suitable outdoor space. They are particularly appropriate for low environmental impact projects, and, once installed, are free from all carbon emissions.
Efficiency
A GSHP is very efficient. For every unit of electricity used to drive the pump; three to four heat units are captured and transferred. A well-installed system can be 300-400% efficient in terms of its use of electricity.
Heating or cooling
Ground source heat pumps can be reversed in summer to cool your building. This process offers a significant advantage as it stores your surplus heat in the ground until you need to draw upon it again in the autumn.
Zero carbon
Once installed, the ground source heat pump has zero carbon emissions. The electrical pump can also be powered by solar energy to create a totally green solution for the system, which requires virtually no maintenance.
But how
do they work?
At depths of 1.5-2m or more, the ground has a near-constant temperature (around 8° to 12°C in the UK - depending on location). At this depth, there is an enormous store of heat, like a thermal battery, that can be tapped to provide heating for your building during the cold months. The heat is collected by loops of buried pipes filled with a mix of antifreeze and water.
The heated liquid inside the buried loops is pumped into a heat exchanger, where it is used to heat water that can be then employed to warm the building and its water systems.
GSHP systems are particularly effective at powering underfloor heating; they can also be used to release the heat by large surface area radiators.
The heat exchanger can also provide heated water for domestic use.
The system will continue to provide excellent output even during extremely cold spells and needs very little maintenance.
Sustainability Solutions are here to survey your property and its current heating system, assessing the options of integrating renewable energy sources.
Advantages
Ground source heat pumps have very low running costs. The ground naturally stores thermal energy, and even on a very cold day, the ground source heat pump has access to warmer temperatures to help heat your home.
Unlike solar panels or air source heat pumps, the GSHPs operate in a consistent temperature environment underground all year round, night or day. This makes them an excellent renewable energy choice provided that outdoor space is available to bury the required loops.
A green solution
Once installed, the ground heat pump produces no carbon emissions, and the electric pump can be powered by solar energy should you wish, creating a completely green solution. In addition, the system requires next to no maintenance.
Although installing ground source renewables requires an upfront investment, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is highly significant, and the underground loops that source the heat can be expected to last for over a hundred years.
Ground Source Heat pumps are:
- Energy-efficient – providing up to 4x more energy than that used to power the system.
- Qualify for government grants and are not subject to VAT.
- Ideal for off-grid properties that have no access to mains gas.
- Suitable for homes with larger plots of land.
- Quiet, invisible and very reliable.
For domestic installations, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) will support the decarbonisation of buildings and will provide upfront capital grants to support the installation of heat pumps, in homes and some non-domestic buildings. The BUS will be open to properties located in England and Wales from April 2022.
Ask our engineers
Ground source heat pumps require a reasonable size of land. For a detatched new build home with 4 bedrooms 3,955 sq ft of land is required. Ground loops containing a solution of water and antifreeze are laid in trenches of up to 100 metres long and 1 -2 metres deep. If space is an issue a borehole can be used. The borehole must reach a depth of 100 metres.
An air source heat pump takes air from outside your building via a fan. This air is then heated by compression, and is either circulated around the building or is used to heat water in the central heating system.
A ground source heat pump takes heat from the ground or groundwater at 30 feet below ground level. At this level temperature is constant all year round. Ground source heat pumps are more expensive to install as they require the digging of trenches or alternatively deep boreholes to accommodate the heat exchange pipes.
A heat pump is not a suitable solution for all homes. If you have an older property with poor or less effective insulation, a heat pump may not be a cost-effective choice. The benefits of installing a heat pump are very much connected to a building’s ability to retain heat. However, new build and newly renovated properties, are designed with high energy efficiency in mind and would usually be very suitable for heat pump installation. Before installing a heat pump our engineer will visit and assess your home for suitability and provide you with, not only an installation estimate but also an idea of your expected energy costs. The running costs of a heat pump will vary from property to property.
A ground source heat pump will provide good output even during extremely cold spells. The refrigerant fluid in the tubes can absorb heat even in extremely low temperatures of -20C.
Very little maintenance is required. The refridgerant is unlikely to leak and there are no corrosion or degradation issues with buried plastic pipes. The heat pump unit is always installed indoors in the warm and away from damp.
Heating a swimming pool with renewables
Heating a swimming pool with renewable energy is a sustainable and energy-saving solution.
Case Study: Solar PV Panels & Battery – solar panel installers Cheshire Congleton
Solar panel installers cheshire - Adding batteries to a solar panel system increases efficiency and allows you t
Heating your office with an air heat pump
There are several government initiatives and grants to support EV vehicles and EV charging in 2022.
Become greener by insulating your home?
Ground source heat pumps are incredibly reliable and a long-lasting investment in renewable heating.
Get in touch
Let's talk about ground heat pumps..
Please fill in the form and we will be in touch to see how we can help.
