An Air Source Heat Pump is often described as a refrigeration system that works backwards. In much the same way as a domestic fridge takes the high temperature energy out of the fridge an places it outside of the fridge as warmer air, an ASHP takes outside cooler air, compresses it to a higher temperature and uses it to heat your house. The system is very efficient and completely renewable other than the electricity required to run the system. Again, similar to GSHP, for every 1kW of electric energy used to produce heat, around 3-4kW of heat energy is produced. The system works with outside air temperatures down to about -15 degrees Celsius, although lower outside temperatures do reduce the efficiency of the system. The systems require little maintenance, similar to GSHP, and have an expected lifetime of around 25 years. Again, similar to GSHP’s, the Air source heat pumps are more suited to under floor heating as they work at lower temperatures than existing boilers, and rely on constant flow energy to heat the house/building. For this reason they are not suitable for older houses that have an old radiator heating system.
Home pages of interest in this section are:
Pages of interest in this section:
- What is an Air Source Heat Pump?
- How do ASHP’s work?
- How much energy do ASHP’s produce?
- How much do ASHP’s cost?
- Cash Flow Analysis of ASHP’s
- GSHP’s versus ASHP’s
- ASHP’s in Conjunction with Solar PV
- GSHP’s and ASHP’s in practice
