Heat Pump Design
"A detailed and accurate heat pump survey and heat loss calculations are the key to ensuring a successful, efficient heat pump system"
The air source heat pump design stage is so incredibly vital as an undersized heat pump system will never be able to meet the space heating and hot water demand of the property and an oversized heat pump will never be working hard enough to generate heat efficiently.
Unfortunately both these scenarios will also mean the system owner paying higher bills. Not to mention under and oversized systems will shorten the life of the heat pump; your investment.
It used to be the case that air source heat pumps were specified based on rule of thumb, but customer, installers and relevant bodies soon realised that this was resulting into bodged installations and inefficient systems.
Now, with governing bodies such as the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) in place, heat pump designers and installers are required to justify the size of the unit proposed and adhere to rigorous installation quality.
Ensuring that an air source heat pump system is designed on an individual, property-by-property basis is the best way to guarantee that a renewable heating system will run efficiently and cover 100 percent of heating and hot water demand.
What is the process for designing an Air Source Heat Pump system?
The process for heat pump design is to evaluate the energy efficiency and heat demand of the property, be it a small terrace or Buckingham Palace. This is usually done in the form of a heat loss calculation.
The heat loss calculation will usually be carried out following a heat pump site survey, for retrofit systems. This also can be completed from building plans, in the case of new build and self build projects.
The aim of a heat loss calculation is to calculate the total heat demand of the property, from here a correctly sized heat pump system can be specified.
In order to carry out heat loss calculations, information on the following will be gathered with a heat pump survey:
- General property information such as build date and EPC availability
- Information on hot water consumption and desired room temperatures
- Existing heating system
- Room dimensions
- Window sizes, specifications and general condition
- Radiator sizes, specifications and locations
- External door locations, specifications and general condition
- Roof light specifications
- Wall types and insulation
- Floor type and insulation
- Roof type and insulation
- Number of floors
- House fuse rating
- Details and condition of the existing heating and hot water distribution system
- Property location and elevation
"It's important to understand that the design considerations for air source heat pumps, compared to standard fossil fuel heating systems, are very different"
Other aspects of air source heat pump design to consider
In addition to the heat loss calculation, there are other things to consider when designing and specifying a heat pump system.
For example, the efficiency of a correctly sized heat pump can be impacted by installation. Air source heat pumps, typically, need a metre of space in front of the unit and 200mm behind in order to inhale and exhale the air efficiently. If this isn’t allowed, for whatever reason, efficiency can be lost.
As air source heat pumps are designed to run at lower flow temperatures than traditional fossil fuel heating systems, the ideology is to reduce water temperature flowing through heat emitters in order to maximise the benefit and efficiency of a heat pump system. Considering desired room and hot water temperatures will impact total heat demand and it’s important this is taken into account at the design stage.
The results of good design
The result of good air source heat pump design is an efficient heat pump system that is capable of covering all of a property’s heat and hot water demand, regardless of outside temperature.
The life expectancy of the heat pump unit is increased as less strain is put on the system. This will also reduce the noise output of the unit. Correct design is also a key component of validating manufacturer warranties. Furthermore, an efficient system will be more cost-effective to run.
SiZe Matters will only recommend a heat pump system if we are certain it will provide you with the degree of heat required.
As such, we will only generate proposals for our customers following an initial site survey or based on a set of accurate building plans. Both of these tools allow us to accurately and confidently put forward a solution that we can guarantee and prove will meet demand.
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