Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)
At Energy Saver Lodge we will provide you with all the information you need regarding our air source heat pump systems. Air source heat pumps have been proven to work and to help reduce your energy bills in your property and they work very will with solar panel systems. Air source heat pumps alos come with the added bonus of not only being VAT FREE but they also come with a £7500 BUS Voucher meaning you can get an air source heat pump for a fraction of the original costs. Air source heat pumps are the most energy efficient way to heat your home aside form ground source heat pumps.
Benefits of Air Source Heat Pumps
Heat pumps are a fantastic way to heat your home for so many reasons an Energy Saver Lodge we will list the benefits of having an air source heat pump installed at your property.
​
Low Maintenance - Heat pumps are very similioar to traditional boilers in this regard as they only require an annual service to make sure they are running correctly and efficently.
​
Safety - Heat pump are consided to be safer than normal combustion boilers as they dont ruly on a combustion process of burning gas/fuel to produce heat for your property
​
Longevity - Heat pump have a life span of between 15-20 years giving you peace of mind for a long term releaible heating solutions for your property.
​
Lowers Carbon Footprint - Heat pumps are around 350-400% more efficicent at turning energy into heat than a typical boiler and the fact they run on electric allows that electrcity to be generated from renewable sources such as solar panels making them air source/ground source the most carbon neautral way of producing heat for your home.
​
Saves Money - An air source heat pump typically will cost around the same money to run per year when comparing them to gas but if you compare them to Oil/LPG they can help you save money per year, if you heat your home with electric storage heaters they can dramtically lower your bills for heating.
​
VAT Free - Air source heat pumps where made VAT free in 2022 by the government allowing you to save 20% on ther overall costs.
​
Bus Grant Voucher - You can also claim a £7500 voucher through the BUS Scheme to help reduce the costs of your air source heat pump the only requirement for this scheme is that you be a home owner and have an up to date EPC on your property (which we provide in our process).
How Does An Air Source Heat Pump Work?
General Understanding
An air source heat pump is actuall what we call an air to water heat pump, this heat pump does not pump out hot air to heat your home it heats the water up in your central heating system just like your boiler did. The heat pump uses the same technology as your fridge freezer but its in reverse, your fridge dooesnt actually cool the fridge per say what it actually does is remove the heat froom insde the fridge with a refridgeartion prcoess this why the side of your fridge or the back plate gets hot. An air source heat pump bascially pulls the heat of the air even all way down to -25°C and puts that heat into your radiators or underfloor heating.
Radiators
So there is a misconception on the internet that a radiators have to be the size of wall to make use of an air source heat pump, This is not true this myth comes form the fact if a radiator is a single panel radiator then for an air source heat pump it will need to be made 240% bigger so people assume it needs to be 2.4 x longer than it currently is. The reality do this that the radiator needs to be changed for a double panel radiator and made 20% larger as a rule of thumb. So its just radiators will typically need to be double radiators with a heat pump unless your property is a new build. The reason radiators need to be made bigger is that heat pumps are built for efficeny so the flow temperature (this is the temperature of the water insde your radiator will be 50°C instead of 65°C. So with the reduction in the temperature the radiator will need as bigger surface area to release the heat making radiators perfectly fine to install with an air source heat pump. If an installer does change your radiators this is typically a massive red flag that its not going to work unless you have underfloor heating.
Cylinder
Your air source heat pump will need a cylinder to be able to provide you with hot water, your air source heat pump will heat the water up to 55°C and keep the hot water topped up in your tank. A typically cylinder will be able to hold its temperature for around 24 hours before it will need to be reheated unless you have used some of the water. People often beleive that a heat pump only provides luke warm water this is not true a boiler can provide water at 65°C and heat pump does it at 55°C. Please keep in mind that of you got into a bath with water at 52°C it would only take 90 seconds to scald you (which is the act of burning your skin) its just typically the water cools by the time it gets to the tap or we add cold water to baths so 55°C is more than enough. This also gives you the added benefit of knowing your children will have pretty much 0 chance of bruning themselves with hot water, as it only takes 2 seconds at 65°C to scald you. Source
Other Information Regarding ASHP's
1
Running Costs
The running costs of an air source heat pump installation is not as scary as what you can see poeple saying online this is typically due to bad installations. In reality gas is the worst thing you can compare a heat pump against and in reality they cost around the same to run over the year as each other. If you are on Oil or LPG you will see savings with an ASHP and if you are on storage heaters or other direct electric heating it could lower your bill by 66% on these types of heating systems.
2
Permissions
Air source heat pumps come under permitted development which means as long as the company installing the product do it such a way then no permission are needed unless you are in a listed building or conservation area.
3
£7500 Grant
The government grant offered for an air source heat pump is for all home owners even you are working this funding is not means tested it is for everyone who is installing an air source heat pump.
The only requirments are the following:
1) The customer must be the homeowner
2) The property must have a valid up to date EPC which is provided with the heat pump installation
3) The loft and cavity wall must be done on the property unless its not required.
