Air source heat pumps

Summary: Air source heat pumps guide, advantages of air source heating and disadvantages of air source heating.

Air source heat pumps

Air-source heat pumps use the heat from the outside air and transfer it to your property to be used for under floor heating or radiators. The pump system extracts heat from the air about it and uses this to heat the building. A refrigerant is used in coils, which makes the temperature increase or decrease depending on what is required.

Heat is made when the refrigerant in a cold liquid state is sent through the coiled pipes from inside to outside. The outside air passing over the coils causes the liquid refrigerant to heat up and boil, turning it into a vapour. The vapour is condensed creating greater temperature to be used in heating the required aspects of the building.

Advantages:

  • The efficiency far outweighs that of other heating systems as only 1/3 – 1/4 of electricity is used. Utility bills are reduced considerably.
  • There are few parts to the heating system. This means maintenance is very not required as much as other heating systems.
  • The heater relies on the outside air to create its heat. Apart from the electricity needed to provide power to the pump, no other fuels are required for the system to run.
  • The system can also be used to cool the building in hot weather.

Disadvantages:

  • Electricity is required to power the pump. This means it is not a carbon free system.
  • The heater requires a relatively decent amount of space both outside and inside to run the system effectively. This means that it is quite unsightly. There is some noise caused from the running of the pump also.
  • The cost of installing the heating system is high, though not as high as a ground-source heat pump.

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