A unique Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) fed ‘boiler & buffer tank -free’ standalone swimming pool ventilation air handling unit
Our government has announced that by 2025 all new homes will be banned from installing fossil fuel boilers and will instead, be heated by low-carbon alternatives. The ban is inspired by an attempt to reduce Britain’s carbon emissions.
So what are the alternatives?
Direct electric heating
This is very expensive it will cost 4-5 times the cost of heating your home by gas. This should only be used as a top up or back up solution.
Hydrogen boiler
Boiler manufactures have produced boilers that will work on natural gas, but could be converted to Hydrogen. I believe these will be available for delivery soon.
On the face of it this sounds like the most sensible solution, but how we produce this hydrogen without creating a lot of CO2, and whether the existing network can be fully be converted is still under discussion.
Whichever way we go, hydrogen will be more expensive to produce and, therefore the gas bills will be higher.
Heat pumps
Heat pumps have the advantage that the technology exists and is being used now, unlike the hydrogen boiler. There are three main types of heat pump, ground source, air source or bore hole. Some are more efficient and, others cheaper to install, which you chose will depend on your budget and the amount of land you have access to.
The conventional way of using a heat pump is to produce hot water, which is then used in standard heat exchangers to heat the air in the rooms, or for, domestic hot water. The heat exchangers may need to be bigger because if the heat pump is to work efficiently the temperature of the water produced needs to be quite low.
Heating water adds a stage to the process and, every time you add a stage you introduce inefficiencies, it also produces low-grade heat which is no good if you are trying to heat domestic hot water to 60 oC; or indeed a pool hall to 30 oC. The advantage of heating water is that with one outdoor unit you can provide heat to numerous indoor components.
The alternative is to heat the indoor components directly with the refrigerant from the outdoor unit, thus eliminating one of the stages, with the added advantage of being able to provide cooling.
This is where the Recotherm Aerum model comes in.
This is not a replacement of our Aeris range, which is available with a heating coil suitable for low grade heat from a heat pump, whether it be ground or air source.
What we are offering here is an alternative that removes one of the phases. In an air to water heat pump the heat is removed from the ambient air passed into the refrigerate, then to the water and, finally from the water to the pool hall air.
The Aerum range of units are fitted with a refrigerate coil so the heat is taken from the air to the refrigerate and then directly to the pool hall air. It is therefore more efficient and because we are coupling this coil to a top branded outdoor unit which comes with a 5 year warranty we know that servicing and maintenance is readily available throughout the country.
So, you get all the features you normally associate with the Aeris range
- Very high build quality
- State of the art controls
- A pleasant fresh air environment in the pool hall
- Technical backup
But with the added advantage that the unit is a standalone package and can provide a significate amount of cooling in the summer if this is required.
Heat pumps are more expensive than boilers and the installation needs to be carried out by specialist refrigeration engineer so this isn’t a cheap option but if you are looking for a stand-alone unit that will be energy efficient and will meet the new regulations then this could be the solution you have been looking for.