Air Source Heat Pumps

What is an air source heat pump?

Air source heat pumps are a fantastic renewable technology that take heat from outside and transfer it into your home. When sized correctly, it will provide 100% of the heating and hot water requirements to your property.

Why should you consider an air source heat pump?

The two main reasons that our customers make the switch are;

• Environmental – Customers want to move away from fossil fuels and make their property eco-friendly and lower its carbon footprint
• Financial – To reduce the running costs of their property

What heat pumps do we install and why?

We only install heat pumps manufactured by Vaillant.

Vaillant are among the most highly regarded heating companies in the world and have been at the forefront of the industry for over 140 years. Their heat pumps are beautifully designed, super-efficient, quiet and come with the best heat pump warranty in the UK (7 years, parts and labour). We have been installing Vaillant air source and ground source heat pumps for more than 10 years (having tried many others in the years prior) and have developed an excellent relationship with the company and a strong knowledge of the various products they supply.

Surveying and designing the right system for your property

We will always carry out a survey of your property and provide a quotation free of charge. This will allow us to provide a heat loss report and therefore correctly design the heat pump system to your property.

What we do on our survey;

• Check the general feasibility of having an air source heat pump system installed as not all properties will suit one
• Check insulation levels within the property and to find out more about its general construction
• Check window sizes and glazing levels
• Inspect the existing boiler and heating system to see if this will also need upgrading
• Access the available space within the property to locate the hot water cylinder
• Access the available space externally to locate the heat pump unit
• Discuss and answer any questions that you may have about the installation

Air source heat pump installations

Here you can find a little more information on what to expect when your air source heat pump is installed:

1. Initial walk through – Our engineer will meet our surveyor on site and walk through the installation with you, going through the points listed below.
2. Removal of existing boiler and/or hot water cylinder – The first job will be to drain the heating system and remove your existing boiler and hot water cylinder if you have one.
3. Adaptation to existing pipework – Our engineer will then adapt your existing pipework to allow for the hot water cylinder to be installed, they will also install new pipework to the external location where your air source heat pump will be located.
4. Installation of the new hot water cylinder and Air Source Heat Pump – After the new pipework is in place, your hot water cylinder will be installed and so will the air source heat pump.
5. Electrical works – One of our in-house electricians will usually arrive on day 2 and/or day 3 to carry out the required electrical works for the air source heat pump.
6. Antifreeze – When refilling the system, we will add antifreeze into the system, this helps to protect the external pipework from freezing in the Winter.
7. Commissioning – Once the work has been completed, we will program the system around our design factors and input the heating and hot water requirements / timings of your property. We will also walk you through how the system works and where you can access the settings menu on the Vaillant digital display.

Are heat pumps renewable?

Air source heat pumps do not directly burn fossil fuels, they use electricity and turn it into usable heat for your heating and hot water system. The expected lifetime of the external unit is 12-15 years, however when maintained well you can expect it to last longer than this. The majority of the components within the heat pump are made of metal which is easily recyclable. The combination of these factors mean that they can be extremely eco-friendly.

We know that electricity can be produced from renewable sources such as wind and solar. So, the real question to consider is where your electricity comes from;

1. Option 1 – Produce electricity on site via solar panels, in this circumstance your property will be super sustainable and eco-friendly. We also install solar panels!
2. Option 2 – Your next option is to purchase electricity from the national grid. In 2023 renewably produced electricity accounted for 39.5% of all electricity within the national grid. However, there are some suppliers who only supply electricity from renewable sources.

Heat pump efficiency

Depending on certain design factors, we tend to see that the SCOP (seasonal coefficient of performance) of our air source heat pump system is between 3.0 and 4.0. This means that for every 1 kW of electricity used by the air source heat pump between 3.0 and 4.0 kWh’s of heat is produced. This means that an air source heat pump is between 300% and 400% efficient. In certain conditions the SCOP can be as high as 5.03

In comparison, a traditional gas or oil boiler is between 65% and 75% efficient. Meaning that it’s SCOP would be between 0.65 and 0.75.

The Vaillant air source heat pumps that we install will continue to work in temperatures down to -20ºC, therefore the British winter is absolutely nothing to worry about and your heat pump will continue to work.

Phone
01872 271953

Address
Unit 2b Trevisome Park,
Chiverton Cross,
Truro,
Cornwall,
TR4 8UN

Opening Hours
Monday – Friday: 8am – 5pm
Saturday – Sunday: CLOSED