Sunday 11 November 2012

It's an Air-Source Heat Pump Jim, But Not as We Know it


Hay has renamed the oven mitt, Romney.

Been having problems over the last 4 weeks with the air-source heat pump tripping. I suspected it was something to do with overheating of the warp-core, a paucity in the quality of the dilithium crystals or flux density fluctuations in the gravimetric couplings. The engineer sent to have a look thought it was a couple of micro-switches which hadn't been set properly. He was right and all is now hunky-dory.

I have to say that this under-floor heating is marvellous - the house is warm, but there's no indication of where the heat is coming from; it's just nice and cosy. Also the house is heated with water at only 45 degrees and setting the room thermostats to 18 degrees is more than ample. Once a week a thermostat cuts in and an immersion heater warms the water to 65 degrees to kill any Legionella. 

During the day the power to the air-source pump (and everything else in the house) comes from the solar PV array, and if the sun is around in the mornings or afternoons then the solar thermal panels heat the water in the tank.

I'm altogether well-pleased with the system.

At some time in the future we may invest in a rainwater capture system and use the water to flush the loos.

Still can't see us being in the house before Xmas, as the bathrooms still need lining with limestone and the bathroom furniture fitting, the oak flooring needs to be laid, the spiral staircase needs erecting and the cooker/range and backup wood-burner need to be delivered and installed.

If everything arrived tomorrow, then there would be a good chance of getting in before Xmas, but scheduling deliveries is problematic and everything remaining is on the critical path to completion - sequentially.

We went into Bristol yesterday to do some clothes shopping. There should be some theraputic emporia in the middle of towns where women can go just to fondle clothes - it's all the ever seem to do in shops. I'm convinced at least two thirds of shop assistants' time is spent re-folding the stuff women rumple up with all their fondling. We men only ever fondle or try clothes on if our womenfolk are with us - otherwise we just buy what we consider to be our size, and if it's wrong, then tough, it just goes to the back of the wardrobe.


6 comments:

Lovely's Blot said...

Sounds like you have really made progess. We are now considering Air Source instead of Geothermal as the set up costs are so much lower. Do the heat pumps make a lot of noise. That was what put us off initially as they say they are as loud as a washing machine.

Chairman Bill said...

No way Linda - I'd say as loud as a large fan heater.

If you have it under a window, then you may just hear a hum, but if located well away from windows there should be no problem.

Chairman Bill said...

PS - they struggle below -5, so I'm told, so it's a good idea to have a backup.

There again, if you have solar thermal too, then that helps. Also ensure that if the air-source cuts out, then the solar PV cuts in to heat the water via an immersion heater. That's not always done in the setup.

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Unknown said...

A water-based floor heating system generally requires more depth space for the pipes, making it the trickier of the two to install retrospectively, as there might not be enough space for floor heating beneath your flooring.