Ground source heat pumps Help and information on all topics relating to your central heating, air conditioning and ventilation issues.

[Runny Egg]

Anybody out there interested in ground source heat pumps, how they work, what they cost to install run etc etc

[Loffa]

Im interested, im an engineer and have been looking at entering a bpec course in ground source heat pump installation (about £400) and a solar one as well. Whats your experiences? Do you think its worth getting certified? Very interested in renewables just not sure if there is enough of a market for it yet?

[sparx]

Hi,
looking into them as our solar panels less that useful in winter, and have spare coil in cylinder to connect to.
seems 2 basic systems , one requires VERY deep bore to gain any direct heat with powerful pump to circulate fluid.
Other more popular type use a lot of pipes buried shallow depth under lawn or in pond etc. with a heat exchanger eg a fridge type compressor/evaporator unit which gives approx 4kW output heat for every 1kW electricity input as apposed to 3 out for 1 in for an air source type.
Cost will vary depending upon where pipes can be buried, eg under lawn, drive, in pond or anywhere else that can be used to draw replaceable solar energy.
Whichever method the heat output will be at lower temp. than normal boiler type temps. so is best suited to underfloor heating which runs at lower temps than rads.
I would like there to be a seperate forum for 'alternative energy' questions since many now interested in subject
regards SPARX