Air to Air heat pumps

colm5

Hi folks,

Was wondering if anyone has any experience with air source heat pumps providing space heating in the home through hot air circulation such as in the links below.

Was thinking about this as an alternative for a conventional wet system which needs replacement in an old dwelling and would welcome any experiences from people using these and how effective they are, plus are they effective in old buildings etc..

Rather than a conventional wet system, just one of these pumps on each floor and a combi boiler for hot water, and so eliminating the cost of the plumbing system replacement plus radiators. Additionally, these should operate cheaper than a gas system per kW ouput.

http://heatpumps.scanhome.ie/
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/hom...-air-heat-pump

Thanks
Colm..

Outkast_IRE

Iv only installed them in Air to water variants and the last few very cold winters people found them very expensive to run and not great to be honest, they spent a huge amount of time in defrost mode where they are just heating the unit itself to protect against cold etc.
So with the air to water variant anyway people found the colder the outside air temp the unit had to work incredibly hard to heat the home.
It might be hard to find people who have these , so be extremely wary of what anyone selling them tells ya .

The First Guru

This is used in Europe quite a lot, Not caught on in Ireland yet mainly due to the fact that we do not need cooling, Very cost effective to run. I have it in part of my house and running costs are minimal compared to oil. Generally very flexible to install. Come across a few houses with it. P.M me if you want details of contractor who installed it.

heinbloed

This is used in Europe quite a lot, Not caught on in Ireland yet mainly due to the fact that we do not need cooling, Very cost effective to run. I have it in part of my house and running costs are minimal compared to oil

Cooling in Ireland? With oil?! That's a polytunnel to be suplied?

The combi pumps (heating OR cooling) are extreme inefficient !!!

Don't pm me....(smiley).

The First Guru

Apologies, I should clarify. The Air/Air heat pump is used for mainly heating and is more efficient than oil to run for heating.

In smaller dwellings it is much more efficient in the real world as much smaller capacities can be output as 1 room at a time can be run and the outdoor unit can invert to match the demand so running costs are minimal.

jockcass

The First Guru wrote: »

Apologies, I should clarify. The Air/Air heat pump is used for mainly heating and is more efficient than oil to run for heating.

In smaller dwellings it is much more efficient in the real world as much smaller capacities can be output as 1 room at a time can be run and the outdoor unit can invert to match the demand so running costs are minimal.

Any new opinions on efficiency and costs of air systems ?

kleebes

I have an Air to water heat pump which works well but with low heat output I find that I need some extra heat upstairs so purchased an Air to air heat pump as back up (to stop draughts from upstairs) the trouble I am having is finding anyone who knows anything about them and who might be able to gas it up. Three years looking now so it appears that in Ireland there is no point in trying "new" technology! (if its not turf dont bother!)

TPM

the downfall of air source heat pumps is humidity and we have lots of that in ireland.

air source heat pumps can work reasonably well at low dry temps because without the humidity in the air they cannot ice over so in turn dont need to defrost. and it is the defrosting that drives running costs mad

kleebes

it doesnt answer my question. is there anyone in Ireland who can gas it up? or are we so far behind the uk that we should give up?

kleebes

My air to water pump works well and is not too dear. Burning turf is far to wasteful in manhours and expense of disposal at 22c per kilo

TPM

kleebes wrote: »

it doesnt answer my question. is there anyone in Ireland who can gas it up? or are we so far behind the uk that we should give up?

Where are you located

kleebes

Cloughjordan 10 miles north of Nenagh

TPM

kleebes wrote: »

Cloughjordan 10 miles north of Nenagh

Don't think the crowd I know will travel that far, would probably be expensive if they fiddle anyway