Heat Pumps

What are heat pumps and why you should get one?

When building a new house or planning home improvements it is essential to select the right heating system, best suited to your home and individual needs and a heating system that is fit for purpose, but sadly this can be a challenge for many people. The goods news, however, is that there are ongoing, significant developments occurring within the plumbing and heating industry almost daily, homeowners have more choice than ever. Ranging from traditional solutions like oil-fired boilers, solar panels, condensing gas boilers and now air sourced heat pumps. As Ireland embarks upon its quest of becoming “Greener” and more focused on reducing our carbon impact, we see air source heat pumps becoming more popular within Irish homes over the past few years. It’s certainly a growing trend in households up and down the country and quite possibly, this could be the best heating system available for your own home. However, we know a decision of this size requires a little more fact finding, to help you out we have created a list of “5 Reasons To Use Air Sourced Heat Pumps” we hope this helps.

1. Smarter, Advanced Technology

Air source heat pumps work under the basic principles of thermodynamics, in which they convert the air of our surroundings into thermal (Heat) energy that can be harnessed in order to supply a home with both efficient heating and hot water. Air source heat pumps such as the Viessmann Vitocal Range is a compact, wall mounted indoor unit, complete with hydraulics and control unit and is quiet and can be installed near the living space. The lines running to the outdoor unit can be filled with water. This requires no certificate of competence (refrigerant certificate) for the installer. The high degree of pre-assembled components and coordinated accessories means the Vitocal 200-A can be installed very quickly. Advanced, smart technological features of these select ASHP’s measure the demands of the home. When more heat or hot water is required, the output of the heat pump increases. When less output is required, the heat pump operates at a lower speed, meaning that you can always have the correct energy requirements at your disposal when needed. The heat pump can even be controlled from anywhere using the Vitotronic 200 control unit via the Vitoconnect web interface (accessory) and the free ViCare app. In addition, they can be combined with Vitovent central mechanical ventilation units.

2. Environmentally Friendly

The heat source used by Viessmann Vitocal pumps is completely renewable / clean. Meaning that it can help lower the level of greenhouse gas has being released into the atmosphere, The result of which as you may already have guessed, is a reduction in the overall household carbon footprint. For anyone building a new home, these products are an environmentally safe asset with many benefits, particularly its compliance with various, current building regulations centred around energy conservation.

3. Running Costs

Performance reviews of an ASHP of is known mainly as the seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) This is calculated by dividing the annual heating demand by the annual energy consumed. We can see SCOPs as high as 5.0 with the Vitocal 200-A and what this means is that for every 1kW of electricity the heat pump consumes, the heat pump will absorb 4kW of additional heat from the outside air and deliver that to your home. Effectively this means the unit is running at 500% efficiency. You only pay for the electricity consumption and as the heat absorbed from the outside air is free; then what you can expect is a huge saving on your heating bills over oil or gas heating technology.

4. Quiet & Compact

As an especially quiet outdoor unit for this range, the acoustic properties of the outdoor units for the Vitocal monobloc heat pumps comply with advanced acoustic design (AAD) specifications. This involves optimising the frequency spectrum so that low sounds are shifted into a higher frequency range. There, they are perceived as less of a nuisance and can be better absorbed by the building substance. The Vitocal 200-A is particularly well suited to densely built-up areas, such as terraced housing.

5.Heat pump grants

One of the major benefits of seeking cleaner alternatives to our energy production, is the allocation of government funding for those to wish to contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. For those seeking to conduct a deep retrofit can also find out if they are eligible for the heat pump grant. This is offered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland which supplies up to €3,500. For more information visit their site www.seai.ie. Alternatively, you can contact other organisations to manage / supply further information on your grant applications. One example of this being Eitas a firm offering deep retrofit application management.

To Find Out more information of Air Sourced Heat Pumps Grants, purchasing or specifications give us a call or supply us with some contact information and we can keep you updated.