Mr Parris:
A timely and excellent article. Sir, you must ask...why are the rest of your countrymen living in the Dark Ages?
Almost all new houses in Canada use heat pumps. It is required by some jurisdictions.UK building methods and mindset are a century out of date.
It is no coincidence that some of the more positive comments come from Sweden, a society that embraces innovation.
Sweden also exports housing and technologuy, as does the World Leader: Canada.
[The Canadian Centre for Housing Technology is Canada’s advanced housing research and demonstration facility. The Centre has been created to accelerate the development and application of improved technologies for the Canadian housing industry and to facilitate world-market access to Canada’s leading edge housing solutions.
CCHT’s Mission
* Accelerate the development of new technologies and their acceptance in the marketplace.
* Provide technical support for exports.[...]]
stephen saines, Toronto, Canada
I am thinking of installing a ground source heating system and just cannot find any details on installers and suppliers in the UK. Can anybody please help with such information
Charles Bayley, Bovingdon, UK
We live with a ground source heat pump providing our heating. It is installed in heavy clay, and the area for the piping covers part of our lawn, (takes about10/15mins to mow the area). The house is an old stone house, and we have conventional radiators, rather than under floor heating, which would be preferable. We have laid the piping so that it runs on 2 levels, with about a foot of earth between the layers. We are also experimenting with more efficient radiators, rather than our original ancient objects!
I was snug and cosy last winter. The garden is much improved from its make over, and there was not much mess in installing the heat pump.
It is worth thinking about using solar panels/ windmills in conjunction with heat pumps, and Hidden Energy were very helpful in thinking up alternative ideas.
We reckon the pay back period will be about 5 to 7 years.
Jane Allen, Northants
Jane Allen, Daventry, UK
Living in Sweden, we as most of our neighbours, all I must add living in houses of up to ninety years old and none less than fifty, have installed what translates from Swedish as "mountain heating". Very similar in design to Matthew's, it provides copius heating at very reduced prices. In a climate far harsher than U.K., central heating is a continous from October through until April, (as I write I can see whispy snow flakes still falling!). Yet, since installation, our heating costs are roughly 30% of the equivalent household relying on electrically powered central heating, the source of which comes primarily from HEP in our area.
As a Brit I was skeptical at first although feel I must champion the cause as the financial rewards over the coming years, even for the more environmentally challenged, make this form of heat generation extremely attractive. Save money and the environment, I fear this sounds almost smug!
Stephen Martin, Strangnas, Sweden
I'm building a house in France and installing an air/water heat pump. With 78% of electricity supplied by atomic power stations; one cannot reduce ones carbon footprint much lower. And I drive a Toyota Yaris, rated the second most green car on the planet (from birth to ashes) after a Chrysler Jeep (would you believe).
Cost of energy consumption is rated to cost about half or less of a gas or electric heating system.
The drawback is that it is an expansive piece of equipment to install, almost double a standard central heating system and is, according to the supplier, not suitable (cost effecectively) for heating domestic water.
M. Butcher, Weston-super-Mare, England
Cold fusion is coming, in the meantime, try Llama wool beanies and socks.
Richard Grosvenor, Cheshire, England
A friend of mine has a stream passing through his garden - not enough flow to drive a generator. But could it be used to drive a heat pump?
Anthony Cutler, Malvern, Worcs/UK
How much is it all costing? Can it pay for itself over a reasonable period at today's fuel prices?
Richard Ehrman, Oxford,
reversing the domestic refrigerator theory is correct for the system,but the fundemental part of a a high performing refrigerator is the quality insulation around the freezer and sealing of the door preventing warm air getting in once the freezer is at temperature so the compressor works less or a smaller compressor is used. Same theory for Matthews house improve the insulation you cant lose.
Dave Tilley, Peterborough, cambs
Surely with global warming houses will need less heating anyway? I live in the Turks and Caicos Islands and no-one here has central heating - nature provides all the warmth we need
Joe Sobey, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
No one can beat the Law of Coservation of Energy. If energy is removed at a greater rate than it can be supplied by the sun, the ground temperature will be reduced and grass and crop growth will stop.
this has been found where people have installed such systems in their gardens. Put your faith in uranium and hydro power like Sweden, France and Switzerland
Paul , Northwich, england
I believe Buck House has had this for years. One little point. If the Earth is warming, should this not be reversed to cool the house?
Desmond taylor, Houston, USA Texas
We installed a pump which take in the air and distributes the heat to the water filled radiators in the house.
Investment cost was 63000 sek= £4500.
We have halved our energy costs.
This in Sweden where the climate is harder than in England.
In England it would be even more economical to install
this system.(Beats stealing the oil from Iraqis:))
Karl Dentolfte, krokom, sweden
I`m still trying to get my head around the pumping in and the pumping out.It all sounds a bit iffy to me.
vague, edinburgh,
I think you have been somewhat patronising of your readers’ intelligence. You could have usefully provided a simple relative costing and said something about how the heat exchange compares with or differs from solar heating.
Henry Percy, London, UK
Sorry Matthew, a dreadfully patronising piece. Perhaps you should remember that a lot of your readers still live in a two up, two down, in inner city 'wherever' and will never have the opportunity to own a second home let alone indulgently spend the National debt on making it ecologically friendly.
judy, Liverpool, england
If the use of these 'heat pump' systems spreads, all taking heat from the earth, might there not be a danger of global cooling?
RobertW, Gerrards Cross, Bucks
I suppose the saddest part of this tale is your desciption of it as a "Holiday Cottage". I am sure the dozens of young , hardworking families who can't afford one home in the area they work, let alone two, look on enviously at you and your abused chequebook.
"Let them eat cake."! or would "Lodsa money" be more appropriate.
Van de Merve, Somerest,
Mathew it would be interesting to know to what extent you should be thanking the size of your cheque book for helping to heat your house.
If the true total cost of planning applications, amortisation of the installation cost, maintenance costs and runnning costs are correctly accounted.
During WW2 the Swiss, in isolation, developed a lot of expertise in reverse heat pump technology, as well as in low flow and low head hydro power generation, so that today they are less than 10% dependent on fossil fuels for electricity generation and there is plenty of expertise available in this field. It is encouraging to know that, 50 years further on, in England people are beginning to discuss it!
A word of warning. It is probably impossible for a family to depend on reverse hear pumps for all their heating and hot water, it will only supply a steady base load which will need augmenting with some other form of heat source, probably an oil fired boiler, the cost of which needs to be added in.
j.kelleway, bern, switzerland
Matthew, you do well what journalism is for, to inform and educate under the guise of entertainment. I hope you receive lots of invites to spice up tired Physics lessons with similar explanations of less understood technology, free of the tiresome quantitative stuff like Joules and coefficients.
Have you thought of adding a few Yak to your flock of ‘wooly sort of fleecy hairy goats, with indolent expressions and undulating throats’?
I’m told that when it’s ‘well rancid,’ the butter is good with tea (as an alternative to milk) and with muesli instead of yoghurt. It might even be a key to the longevity of some mountain folk. Research needed.
Look at using LED lighting on a low voltage solar generated circuit. A light emitting diode uses a tenth of the power of a low-energy bulb for equivalent light output, and at more than 100,000 hours mtbf should last and last.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
What a fantastic idea :)
Karen Sampson, Adelaide, Australia
Costs and recovery Matthew. Or is this just for the "fortunate few"?
Bruce, UK, Malvern, UK
Mr Parris:
A timely and excellent article. Sir, you must ask...why are the rest of your countrymen living in the Dark Ages?
Almost all new houses in Canada use heat pumps. It is required by some jurisdictions.UK building methods and mindset are a century out of date.
It is no coincidence that some of the more positive comments come from Sweden, a society that embraces innovation.
Sweden also exports housing and technologuy, as does the World Leader: Canada.
[The Canadian Centre for Housing Technology is Canada’s advanced housing research and demonstration facility. The Centre has been created to accelerate the development and application of improved technologies for the Canadian housing industry and to facilitate world-market access to Canada’s leading edge housing solutions.
CCHT’s Mission
* Accelerate the development of new technologies and their acceptance in the marketplace.
* Provide technical support for exports.[...]]
stephen saines, Toronto, Canada
I am thinking of installing a ground source heating system and just cannot find any details on installers and suppliers in the UK. Can anybody please help with such information
Charles Bayley, Bovingdon, UK
We live with a ground source heat pump providing our heating. It is installed in heavy clay, and the area for the piping covers part of our lawn, (takes about10/15mins to mow the area). The house is an old stone house, and we have conventional radiators, rather than under floor heating, which would be preferable. We have laid the piping so that it runs on 2 levels, with about a foot of earth between the layers. We are also experimenting with more efficient radiators, rather than our original ancient objects!
I was snug and cosy last winter. The garden is much improved from its make over, and there was not much mess in installing the heat pump.
It is worth thinking about using solar panels/ windmills in conjunction with heat pumps, and Hidden Energy were very helpful in thinking up alternative ideas.
We reckon the pay back period will be about 5 to 7 years.
Jane Allen, Northants
Jane Allen, Daventry, UK
Living in Sweden, we as most of our neighbours, all I must add living in houses of up to ninety years old and none less than fifty, have installed what translates from Swedish as "mountain heating". Very similar in design to Matthew's, it provides copius heating at very reduced prices. In a climate far harsher than U.K., central heating is a continous from October through until April, (as I write I can see whispy snow flakes still falling!). Yet, since installation, our heating costs are roughly 30% of the equivalent household relying on electrically powered central heating, the source of which comes primarily from HEP in our area.
As a Brit I was skeptical at first although feel I must champion the cause as the financial rewards over the coming years, even for the more environmentally challenged, make this form of heat generation extremely attractive. Save money and the environment, I fear this sounds almost smug!
Stephen Martin, Strangnas, Sweden
I'm building a house in France and installing an air/water heat pump. With 78% of electricity supplied by atomic power stations; one cannot reduce ones carbon footprint much lower. And I drive a Toyota Yaris, rated the second most green car on the planet (from birth to ashes) after a Chrysler Jeep (would you believe).
Cost of energy consumption is rated to cost about half or less of a gas or electric heating system.
The drawback is that it is an expansive piece of equipment to install, almost double a standard central heating system and is, according to the supplier, not suitable (cost effecectively) for heating domestic water.
M. Butcher, Weston-super-Mare, England
Cold fusion is coming, in the meantime, try Llama wool beanies and socks.
Richard Grosvenor, Cheshire, England
A friend of mine has a stream passing through his garden - not enough flow to drive a generator. But could it be used to drive a heat pump?
Anthony Cutler, Malvern, Worcs/UK
How much is it all costing? Can it pay for itself over a reasonable period at today's fuel prices?
Richard Ehrman, Oxford,
reversing the domestic refrigerator theory is correct for the system,but the fundemental part of a a high performing refrigerator is the quality insulation around the freezer and sealing of the door preventing warm air getting in once the freezer is at temperature so the compressor works less or a smaller compressor is used. Same theory for Matthews house improve the insulation you cant lose.
Dave Tilley, Peterborough, cambs
Surely with global warming houses will need less heating anyway? I live in the Turks and Caicos Islands and no-one here has central heating - nature provides all the warmth we need
Joe Sobey, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
No one can beat the Law of Coservation of Energy. If energy is removed at a greater rate than it can be supplied by the sun, the ground temperature will be reduced and grass and crop growth will stop.
this has been found where people have installed such systems in their gardens. Put your faith in uranium and hydro power like Sweden, France and Switzerland
Paul , Northwich, england
I believe Buck House has had this for years. One little point. If the Earth is warming, should this not be reversed to cool the house?
Desmond taylor, Houston, USA Texas
We installed a pump which take in the air and distributes the heat to the water filled radiators in the house.
Investment cost was 63000 sek= £4500.
We have halved our energy costs.
This in Sweden where the climate is harder than in England.
In England it would be even more economical to install
this system.(Beats stealing the oil from Iraqis:))
Karl Dentolfte, krokom, sweden
I`m still trying to get my head around the pumping in and the pumping out.It all sounds a bit iffy to me.
vague, edinburgh,
I think you have been somewhat patronising of your readers’ intelligence. You could have usefully provided a simple relative costing and said something about how the heat exchange compares with or differs from solar heating.
Henry Percy, London, UK
Sorry Matthew, a dreadfully patronising piece. Perhaps you should remember that a lot of your readers still live in a two up, two down, in inner city 'wherever' and will never have the opportunity to own a second home let alone indulgently spend the National debt on making it ecologically friendly.
judy, Liverpool, england
If the use of these 'heat pump' systems spreads, all taking heat from the earth, might there not be a danger of global cooling?
RobertW, Gerrards Cross, Bucks
I suppose the saddest part of this tale is your desciption of it as a "Holiday Cottage". I am sure the dozens of young , hardworking families who can't afford one home in the area they work, let alone two, look on enviously at you and your abused chequebook.
"Let them eat cake."! or would "Lodsa money" be more appropriate.
Van de Merve, Somerest,
Mathew it would be interesting to know to what extent you should be thanking the size of your cheque book for helping to heat your house.
If the true total cost of planning applications, amortisation of the installation cost, maintenance costs and runnning costs are correctly accounted.
During WW2 the Swiss, in isolation, developed a lot of expertise in reverse heat pump technology, as well as in low flow and low head hydro power generation, so that today they are less than 10% dependent on fossil fuels for electricity generation and there is plenty of expertise available in this field. It is encouraging to know that, 50 years further on, in England people are beginning to discuss it!
A word of warning. It is probably impossible for a family to depend on reverse hear pumps for all their heating and hot water, it will only supply a steady base load which will need augmenting with some other form of heat source, probably an oil fired boiler, the cost of which needs to be added in.
j.kelleway, bern, switzerland
Matthew, you do well what journalism is for, to inform and educate under the guise of entertainment. I hope you receive lots of invites to spice up tired Physics lessons with similar explanations of less understood technology, free of the tiresome quantitative stuff like Joules and coefficients.
Have you thought of adding a few Yak to your flock of ‘wooly sort of fleecy hairy goats, with indolent expressions and undulating throats’?
I’m told that when it’s ‘well rancid,’ the butter is good with tea (as an alternative to milk) and with muesli instead of yoghurt. It might even be a key to the longevity of some mountain folk. Research needed.
Look at using LED lighting on a low voltage solar generated circuit. A light emitting diode uses a tenth of the power of a low-energy bulb for equivalent light output, and at more than 100,000 hours mtbf should last and last.
dr venables preller, Warminster, UK
What a fantastic idea :)
Karen Sampson, Adelaide, Australia
Costs and recovery Matthew. Or is this just for the "fortunate few"?
Bruce, UK, Malvern, UK
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