RENEWABLES
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Pump it up: pairing heat pumps with radiators
Pairing heat pumps and radiators does require a bit more thought, but they can be good partners, as Steve Alldritt, technical director for energy efficiency at City Plumbing, explains
12kw-r32-ashp-category
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eat pumps and underfloor heating go together like fish n chips or Ant n Dec – it’s a match made in heaven. However, many property owners are retrofitting air source heat pumps (ASHP) thanks to Government
incentives like the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales, and the Home Energy Scotland loan. When retrofitting a heat pump to an existing property, installing underfloor heating can be complex, impractical, and costly for some homeowners. In these scenarios, it’s important to consider using radiators instead.
Key factors
When using radiators, consider the characteristics of each room to determine how easy it is to heat and how well it retains that heat. Top of your list should be the quality and type of windows – single glazing is the nemesis of heat pump systems and sometimes the property might also require upgrades to older double-glazing systems. Secondly, you should check the size of the wall cavities and the amount of insulation within them. In addition, ensure that the loft insulation is at least 200mm thick. The size, shape and ambient temperature of the room should also be part of your calculations – a box bedroom will usually have a higher ambient temperature than a large living room. Thirdly, make sure you inspect the pipework. If the system includes microbore pipework drops, you can forget about radiators.
Size matters
When it comes to specifying radiators to work with a heat pump, size matters. Radiators suitable for this type of heating system often need to be larger than a conventional emitter system. This is because of the lower flow temperatures associated with heat pumps. One of the reasons for the drive to swap out boilers
for heat pumps is that pumps are far more efficient. Boiler systems operate at approximately 70 to 80°C, whereas heat pumps have a flow of around 40 to 50°C. Therefore, you need to ensure that the radiators are big enough to provide the appropriate level of warmth in each room of the home. However, in some cases, the property’s thermal characteristics might mean that the existing radiators are suitable for the job. In these instances, you should power flush the system to remove any sludge or debris that might impact the airflow. Where the existing radiators aren’t suitable, the obvious choice is often to
install fan-assisted radiators – but be aware that they require an electrical connection. Fan-assisted radiators are an easy way to blow warm air around the room and distribute heat more evenly while keeping energy consumption low. If
Softline Compact K3
26 July 2022
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