Heat Pumps Dorset - Air and Ground Source

Air Source Heat Pumps and Ground Source Heat Pumps are becoming an evermore popular and energy efficient way of heating a home.  Low Carbon Energy Centre in Wimborne, Dorset are an MCS Accredited Company and Mitsubishi Approved Installer, we can offer bespoke installations depending on your needs rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. The Mitsubishi Ecodan heat pump consists of an external unit which is completely self contained. The unit harvests the energy from the air temperature and can even function down to -15ºC. It is connected to the domestic heating system by a simple flow and return pipe and obviously requires an electricity supply. A ground source heat pump works on the same princple but obtains its natural energy from ground coils or ground water.

How does a Heat Pump work?

A heat pump works on extracting latent heat energy from either the water or from the air and moving it across an evaporator. Inside the evaporator is a refrigerant which boils at low temperatures. As this refrigerant boils it is moved round a closed circuit by a compressor which compresses these hot gases until they reach high temperatures and high pressures. Once in this state they pass over a heat exchanger which is also known as a condenser and it is here which we gain our usable heat energy. We now have a lower temperature refrigerant at high pressure so it enters a pressure relief valve and turns back into an (almost) liquid state. It is then pumped back through the evaporator to repeat the cycle.

Advantages of a Mitsubishi Ecodan Air Source Heat Pump

With conventional boilers 1kW of input energy provides less than 1kW of output energy or heat. With Ecodan, every 1kW of input energy is converted up to 4kW of output energy , depending upon ambient air temperatures. This can make the Ecodan up to 4 times as efficient as a gas or oil boiler and is becoming a natural choice for low cost heating and hot water. With the government proposals for the Renewable Heat Incentives (RHI) a heat pump will be eligible and the customer will receive a payment for every kW of renewable heat produced. To find out more see F.I.T.S and R.H.I.

No gas supply, flue or ventilation is required and heat pumps are ideal for non gas grid areas. They are also a key part in achieving required levels in 'The Code for Sustainable Homes'.

For more information on either Air or Ground Source Heat Pumps contact Andy, Chris or Caroline at Low Carbon Energy Centre.