Air Source Heat Pump
How it works
Air source heat pumps extract heat from the outside air in much the same way as your fridge extracts heat from its own interior. With the ability to work even when the outside temperature is well below freezing point, an air source heat pump converts the energy within the outside air into heat, giving a comfortable temperature inside your home and reducing heating costs by, on average, 50% when compared to traditional systems.
Air source heat pumps are ideal for use where it is not possible to drill a borehole or lay under-surface collectors for a ground source heat pump. They are generally used to complement more traditional heating systems, and typically deliver up to 80% of the space heating and hot water requirements for a building, with a more traditional back-up system delivering the balance on the coldest days or during peak demand periods.
Available in two basic types; air-to-water systems provide heating to your home through radiators or an under floor system, while air-to-air systems provide warm air which is circulated to directly heat your home, although do not have any water heating capacity themselves.
The benefits of air source heating
- Running on electricity, air source systems mean that there’s no need to pay for gas, oil or solid fuels to heat your home.
- Systems provide far higher efficiency space heating than conventional electric radiators would do
- For every unit of electricity used to run the pump, around three to four units of heat energy are typically produced
- Air source pumps offer many of the benefits of ground source systems without needing any ground collector installation.
- Systems installed now will pre-qualify for payments under the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive, effective from April 2011
Typical costs
Costs to install a typical air-to-water heat pump system into an average sized property would start in the region of £6,000 fully installed
An air-to-air system might cost from as little as £1,750 to have installed - plus the costs of whatever additional hot water heating system (immersion heater, water boiler, etc) would be most suitable for you
Assuming that this average property is also well insulated, then annual running costs for such an air-to-water system are likely to be less than £800, which would be around £700 less than if the same property had an electric heating system
Renewable Heat Incentive
The Renewable Heat Incentive is the new Government funding mechanism designed to incentivise people to generate their own heat-energy at home (or work) via renewable sources
This new legislation will come into effect from April 2011, but all systems we install in the meantime will automatically pre-qualify under the scheme – please don’t hold back!
A major improvement over the previous one-off grant system that has now been discontinued, the RHI will repay you a set amount per kilowatt of heat energy generated by your air source heat pump system, every year, for up to 20 years!
What’s more, these annual payments will be inflation-linked and tax-free!
Unlike traditional heating sources therefore, you are very likely indeed to achieve full payback versus investment on any air source heat pump installation within the fixed RHI tariff period.
Please do contact us for more details – there’s simply never been a better time to invest in renewables!
