Air Source Heat Pumps

The benefits of air source heat pumps are similar to that of ground source heat systems.

Both systems run on electricity, which eliminates the need for a gas connection or storage of oil or solid fuel. Air source heat pumps have an advantage over ground source heat pumps in that they require less space to install. Instead of requiring the installation of buried underground coils, air source systems can be fitted using far less space and are therefore, more suited to a modern home.
They are also generally much cheaper to install due to the fact that the digging of trenches or boreholes is not required.

How it works

In the much same way that a fridge uses a refrigerant to extract heat from the inside, keeping your food cool, and air source heat pump extracts heat from the outside air, and uses it to heat your home and hot water.

An air-source heat pump has three main parts:

• The evaporator coil

which absorbs heat from the outside air.

• The compressor

which pumps the refrigerant through the heat pump and compresses the gaseous refrigerant to the temperature needed for the heat distribution circuit.

• The heat exchanger

which transfers the heat from the refrigerant to your heating system.
 
In an air-to-water system, the heat produced is used to heat water, which can be used to pre-heat water in a storage tank or circulate through underfloor heating or radiators.
Heat pumps produce hot water that is a lower temperature (typically 35-45C) than standard boiler systems, which makes underfloor heating an ideal option.

Please see our under floor heating page for more information.

The efficiency of air source systems is measured by a coefficient of performance (CoP). CoPs for air source systems are comparable with ground-source heat pumps, and generally range between 3 and 4. This means that for every unit of electricity used to power the pump, 3-4 units of heat are produced, making it a very efficient way of heating a building.

It's even possible for air source heat pumps to extract useful heat from air at temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees centigrade!

Please contact us for further information.