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Classic Cottage - Air Source Heat Pump and Heat Battery System Installation

Existing Homeowner's Project

Client: Michael and Trish Hawes - Cornwall Date: 15th June 2019 Category: ,

Background

A characterful old cottage, in the Cornish countryside, but the heating and hot water system needed significant improvement. Solid walls, un-insulated floors, and a mixture of old single and double glazed windows means this house is hard to heat efficiently and economically. 

Heating was provided by an old oil boiler which required some repairs hot water was produced by and oil fired rayburn which also provided some additional heat. Both systems were highly inefficient and expensive to run and were planned to be removed. 

A new bathroom had been recently installed and the shower required improvements to the hot water system to operate effectively. 

Our customer needed a new heating and hot water system and was keen to invest in the right renewable heating solution to keep the house warm and provide good long term energy and carbon savings.

Higher Bissoe Cottage renewable heating installation by Abode

Solution

Due to the poor insulation levels of the property, it was critical to understand how much heat the property would need. Our customer therefore paid for a site survey and detailed heat loss calculation to be produced which identified the following key issues; 

  • Confirmed the amount of heat required and at what temperature it must be delivered. This enabled us to identify the most appropriate long term renewable heating solution that would efficiently heat a property of this type. 
  • Low incoming water pressure resulting in slow running hot water taps and the new shower not working 
  • High heat losses that could only be satisfied by high temperature heating 

We installed the following products:

Installed a Daikin hi-temperature unit to provide all heating and hot water. The system provides higher output temperatures than most heat pumps, with only a small decrease in operating efficiency.

Key benefits;

  • The house can be heated intermittently in the same way as a boiler, and not try to heat the house for too long a period, wasting heat and money. 
  • Radiators can be reduced in size when compared with a low temperature heat pump

Upgraded existing radiators to provide the required heat output.

Additional radiators were installed into areas currently without heat. An accumulator tank was installed on the incoming main water supply. This increases the water pressure into the house, resulting in high pressure hot water and great showers.

Installed a Sunamp heat battery. A heat batter is an innovative storage system for heat energy. The unit stores energy from the heat pump to produce hot water, but provide significant benefits over a traditional hot water cylinder.

Key benefits;

  • Much less internal space required 
  • Does not go cold, so is much more energy efficient 
  • The heat pump can charge the battery with off-peak electricity for significant running cost savings 
  • No stored hot water means no risk of bacteria build up 

The unit has been configured to be able to be charged with free electricity when our customer installs a solar PV panel system in the future for even greater energy savings.

 

Result

  • A warm house 
  • Fast flowing hot water and showers 
  • A renewable heating system estimated to provide annual energy savings in excess of £500 per year  
  • Renewable heat incentive (RHI) tariff payment of £9,100.00 paid over 7 years 
  • Estimated carbon savings of 34% per year 

Installation Photos

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