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When is an air to water heat pump for a house viable?
Oil
fired boilers versus air to water heat pumps If
your home is off the gas grid and you are using oil for heating then air
to water heat pumps are a good option for a replacement. With oil and
gas prices rising and fuel bills spiralling in the UK air to water heat
pumps offer a cost-effective way of heating your home and giving you
domestic hot water for a fraction of the cost. It is hard to know if oil
prices will continue to rise but the cost saving from switching to air
to water heat pumps have never been fully explored or explained by the
manufactures. The payback period for a air to water heat pump could be 8
years if you are a heavy user of oil and the service costs on equipment
could be a massive saving. If you use the air to water heat pump as a
direct replacement then the radiators will need to be changed to the new
style high efficiency radiators as the system temperature is around 60
DegC. Gas fired boiler versus air to water heat pumps Gas
boilers continue to be the most popular way of heating a home in most of
Europe. If your home is on the gas main it is by far the easiest and
cost effective way of heating a home but not necessarily the most
ecological. If your heating system has failed and you are weighing up
the options of a air to water heat pump versus a gas boiler then
generally most people choose the later as it is by far the
cheapest. With a gas boilers available from £800.00 and a air to water
heat pump boiler £6000.00+ you would have to be a dedicated to spend
the extra money. Where air to water heat pump boilers may fall short Air
to water heat pumps have a few small issues that make them fall short of
a unobtrusive, out of site out of mind heating system. Air to water
boilers require a outdoor unit the shape of a rectangular box rather
like a air conditioning unit to collect the heat from the outside air
which needs to be mounted on a outside wall or generally out of the way.
The outdoor unit has a fan blade which periodically spins and produces a
small amount of noise along with the internal compressor. This is
generally around 50 Decibels which can be heard from 1 meter away. The
units are limited by the amount of heat they can collect on cold days in
sub 0 Deg C conditions and their efficiency drops which means they tend
to work harder to harvest the heat in the cold air. This isn't a problem
if the air to water heat pump boiler is sized correctly i.e. with a
little extra spare capacity for winter conditions. But many systems on
the market are installed by plumbers who find it hard to comprehend COP
versus ambient temperature which means many systems can be in correctly
sized to counter the harsh winters. Daikin are now bringing out air to
water heat pumps with a SEER
Seasonal energy efficiency rating which makes it easier to
size equipment. When air to water heat pump boilers are worth installing Air
to water heat pumps have their place and that is generally for off grid
applications where oil or bottled gas is being used and electricity is
the only heating option. As building regulations are but in place air to
water heat pumps will eventually be installed in many new builds and
renovation projects. Existing plumbing and pipes can be used if
renovating buildings but your radiators may have to be upgraded if not
using a high temperature air heat pump such as Daikin Altherma. With
COP's (coefficient of performance) rising, energy ratings for air heat
pumps are now close to 5 time initial electric input which make then
almost as good as ground source without the need for ground pipe
installation. Comparable payback time The best way to see if it is worth it for you is to count the cost of your oil or gas energy usage over the year. Air to water heat pumps at current prices cost the same to run as a gas boiler but require very little servicing. There are no exact comparison figures out from the main manufactures when comparing air to water heat pumps versus gas/oil but we are currently testing a oil boiler replacement project so we will keep this page in mind for updates.
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