COOLING WITH HEAT PUMPS
A heat pump captures heat from the outside. It can either use this process to warm water, and heat your home, or cool water, and thus cool your home. Lear more about cooling with heat pumps:
INCREASED PROPERTY VALUE: WITH COOLING
It also depends on the current value of your home. According to a Twin Cities appraiser, Alan Hummel, adding central air can increase your home’s value by 10%.
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Additionally, a WWF report, in conjunction with Scottish Power (Better Homes, Cooler Planet) has shown a heat pump could add between 1.7% and 3.0% to the value of your home, or £5,015 (1.7%) to £8,850 (3.0%) based on the Office for National Statistics UK average house price of £295,000 in November 2022.
The Better Homes, Cooler Planet report also estimated that by installing a heat pump in your home you could reduce your heating costs by around 37%. or £1,290.90 on average.
The report also highlighted a heat pump outperforming other forms of renewables, such as electric vehicle charging or solar panels.
cooling WITH heat pumps
ASHPs provide both heating and cooling technology so they can be a versatile solution for year-round comfort. They can reverse their operation, extracting heat from the home and expelling it outside during the summer, therefore acting as a sort of air conditioner. The heat pump works by absorbing heat from the outside environment during the heating phase, and in the cool phase reserves the process, absorbing heat from your home and sending it back out into the outside air.
2-in-1
Heat pumps offer the same comfort as a traditional HVAC system, essentially it is a 2-in-1 unit which can heat and cool.
This is by far the most efficient solution for your home if you’re considering having a HVAC unit to keep you cool in winter.
HEAT PUMPS REMOVE HUMIDITY
Better than a traditional air conditioner, heat pumps also remove humidity from your home, making the cooling feel much nicer.
UNDERFLOOR HEATING
Heat pumps and underfloor heating are a perfect match. In some cases your underfloor heating may not be set up for cooling, and we would need to install an automatic switch system thermostat that can reverse the solenoid operation, so that the floor circuit valves open when a cooling demand is triggered, usually, they only open with a heating demand trigger.
It is also advisable to install a dew point sensor to ensure condensation doesn’t form on your floor if air humidity is high, this is often not a problem in the UK, but there are a few rare days a year where we experience high humidity.
RADIATORS
Radiators are a little more difficult, as traditional radiators aren’t set up for cooling. If you run cold water through them, condensation will form, creating a damp situation in your home, which is far from ideal.
New hydronic radiators with fan convectors are a solution to this, but need to be evaluated within your current radiator system.
Insulating your home is always a good idea, as it means whatever heating system you have will work more efficiently. Generally homes with an Energy Performance Certificate Rating of D and above, with at least a couple of types of insulation (wall, loft or double glazing) should be well insulated enough already, which includes most homes in the UK. If not, you may have to insulate first, which is usually quite straightforward (cavity wall insulations costs around £500 and takes 4 hours on average) and we can help arrange this for you.
Heat Pumps run at a lower temperatures than a typical gas boiler (which makes them greener and cheaper to run), but this may require larger radiators or more radiators to be installed to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.
Most homes need a couple of radiator upgrades, our specialists will confirm any radiator changes required during your home survey, and we can install them at the same time as the heat pump, and because it is tied into the heat pump installation it can be done VAT free.
Heat pumps work even better (lower costs and higher efficiencies) with wet underfloor heating. We can quote for this during our visit also.
EXPERTLY INSTALLED BY THE MANUFACTUER, DIRECT TO YOU
The Adlår installation process has been optimised. As both the manufacturer and installer, we provide a superior service when it comes installation. Following our 5 step process, we provide minimal disruption and work much more efficiently then installers who don’t handle their own product.
HOW DOES A HEAT PUMP WORK?
A heat pump extracts heat from the air outside using electricity, or in the case of cooling by extracting heat from your home.
Air-source heat pumps give you comfortable, consistent
heating and hot water, with the added benefit of:
- Less energy: Heat pumps use 4x less energy than even the
most efficient boilers to generate the same amount of heat. - Less carbon: That efficiency means you’ll instantly slash
your heat carbon footprint by around 70%. Plus, they run on electricity, which
gets greener every year. - Less maintenance: A heat pump can last 20 years – about
twice as long as a boiler – and needs less pricey maintenance.
GETTING TECHNICAL
Heat pumps operate using two circuits. The first is the water system, which contains your hot water, and the second containing a refrigerant. Possible refrigerants include R410 or CO2 (R744), but increasingly propane (R290) or difluoromethane (R32) is used to achieve better efficiencies. Our heat pumps are equipped with R32.
Air from outside is moved over the heat exchanger by a fan, causing the refrigerant to evaporate into a gas.
The refrigerant is then compressed, increasing the temperate to be able to heat your water sufficiently.
The heat in the refrigerant gas is is then transferred to the hot water in the heating system at an exchanger.
The generated heat will move through the home (via underfloor heating or compatible radiators).
The now-liquid refrigerant will decrease in temperature by passing through an expansion valve. Restarting the cycle.
Heating Mode:
COoling MODE:
Learn MORE:
1 Evaporator
2 4-Way Value
3 Fan
4 Compressor
5 Expansion
6 Heat Exchange