Ground source heating/water.

Aggieboy

Had this installed in my new place. Just been around to the 'new' barn where I've had it running to get it commissioned. Really pleased. Virtually free heating and water - it's the way forward. Anyone else got it/thinking about it?

Pross

It's a great technology but most people probably haven't got enough area of land to make it worthwhile. I think you can compensate by going deep instead but gets pricey then.

Aggieboy

Pross wrote:

It's a great technology but most people probably haven't got enough area of land to make it worthwhile. I think you can compensate by going deep instead but gets pricey then.

I've laid 3 large coils, but bore holes have become a lot cheaper. A friend who eventually fitted an older vertical plate system (?) 6 years ago was quoted £16,000 for the bore holes, he told me. A friend of his has just been quoted around £4,000. Savings on LPG, oil etc, if you were to stay in the property, and RHI could easily make it worthwhile.

Kendal Black Drop

Our garden was too long and thin to make ground source heat pumps practical, so we had an air source heat pump put in the back yard.

Now, instead of getting home to a freezing house and shivering while a gas fire warmed up I have radiators on a low heat all the time. It's made a big difference.

Aggieboy

Kendal Black Drop wrote:

Our garden was too long and thin to make ground source heat pumps practical, so we had an air source heat pump put in the back yard.

Now, instead of getting home to a freezing house and shivering while a gas fire warmed up I have radiators on a low heat all the time. It's made a big difference.

That's my intention having ensured the property is extremely well insulated.

Kendal Black Drop

Aggieboy wrote:

That's my intention having ensured the property is extremely well insulated.

Hmmm. Insulation, that should be my next step...

ilm_zero7

ground source is excellent, especially if you also have wind solar - it will be the next project

linchun38

I think you can compensate by going deep instead but gets pricey then.

tim_wand

What differentation does there have to be between the ground temperature and the temperature of the fluid in the coils?

What happens if theres a massive ground frost or are they buried so deep it doesnt effect them? is there some kind of back up system.

Is the heating underfloor or wall standing.

Is this going to be your primary energy source or are you having Photo Voltaic cells as well ( if so did you get in before the subsidy was cut)

Sorry about all the questions Aggie, just the potential of such systems really interests me.

Sounds like a great project, I would love to build a house form the ground up featuring all these greener/ energy efficiency features, In fact I think it should be part of the building regs for any new build over £250k.

p9uma

We are having air source fitted this year, my neighbour owns www.solartech.org.uk, and we are having it fitted by his firm, it should save us about £500.00 pound a year.

team47b

Nice heating solution Aggieboy

Here insulation is called isolation, gotta keep that nasty heat out, not in!

Aggieboy

tim wand wrote:

What differentation does there have to be between the ground temperature and the temperature of the fluid in the coils?

Basically, the cold water/anti freeze mix is pumped to the coils where low grade heat (year round 8-10 dgs) warms the mix by a few dgs and takes it back through the system where alchemy takes place :shock: I even know of a sytem where the coils have been placed underwater in a river bed.

What happens if theres a massive ground frost or are they buried so deep it doesnt effect them? is there some kind of back up system.

Stable heat at about 11/2 metres. You can have an immersion fitted but that defeats the object and the company stand by their g'teed product. It's really a stand alone system producing 4kws heat for 1kw used by the heat pump. As I posted earlier it's obviously good to put in/use very efficient insulation.

Is the heating underfloor or wall standing.

Every part of the property has underfloor heating. I also have a thermostat in every room, including the bathrooms and halls.

Is this going to be your primary energy source or are you having Photo Voltaic cells as well ( if so did you get in before the subsidy was cut)

I have no cells but may have a couple put on the garages in the future. Happy with no heat/ hot water bills at the mo. If you're interested in fitting the system the Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) lasts for 20 years and pays £800 to £1250 pa. I'm still waiting for my tariff but I think it'll be just over £1,000

My only source of heating apart from log burner in living room.

Sorry about all the questions Aggie, just the potential of such systems really interests me.

Sounds like a great project, I would love to build a house form the ground up featuring all these greener/ energy efficiency features, In fact I think it should be part of the building regs for any new build over £250k.

I think I'm correct in saying new builds from 2016 are not allowed fossil fuel systems.

Hope that helps. You can pm me if you want specifics to save boring people on here

pinno

Ground source is a fantastic idea - a school in Bucks is completely fuel independant dur to a combo of GS and solar, but then they did exploit achres of playing fields.

I fitted a woodburner with a wet back 3 years ago (carbon neutral). Not only is it a dry heat unlike the gas we had before, we have constant hot water, it saves us somewhere in the region of £800-£1000 per annum. In the summer we boil kettles for washing up and the shower is electric. Total cost to fit: approx. £800. If you get a builder to do it, you would probably have to triple that. All I needed was a certified plumber to connect it up. There are legal requirements that you must adhere to or else you may invalidate the insurance, but you can do it yourself.

McBain_v1

I live in a bog-standard 4-bed detached on an estate and so the potential to install such innovative solutions was not foremost in the developer's mind when this area was first built out in 1999 I suspect Insulation and reflective panels behind the radiators is my first step. Not enough land for ground source heating and roof is orientated the wrong way for solar panel installation. Still, my day job is developing large-scale renewable energy installations (wind farms, biomass plants etc) so at least I'm doing my bit that way

Aggieboy

McBain_v1 wrote:

I live in a bog-standard 4-bed detached on an estate and so the potential to install such innovative solutions was not foremost in the developer's mind when this area was first built out in 1999 I suspect Insulation and reflective panels behind the radiators is my first step. Not enough land for ground source heating and roof is orientated the wrong way for solar panel installation. Still, my day job is developing large-scale renewable energy installations (wind farms, biomass plants etc) so at least I'm doing my bit that way

If you really wanted it an alternative to horizontal piping, slinkies - consisting of coiled pipes buried in a trench - can be used. Or, as discussed earlier bore holes.