Heat Pumps Today

Info Vaillant .co.uk/unbox www.acrjournal.uk/heat-pumps 25 C A S E S T U D Y Making the plans a reality Vaillant’s aroTHERM plus heat pump was specified to meet the heating and hot water requirements of the new houses in Parklands Grove. Using the natural refrigerant R290, the heat pump has a global warming potential of just 3 and an ErP rating of A+++, making it the perfect solution for the new, sustainable homes. The use of R290 also means residents can achieve greater comfort levels, as it enables the aroTHERM plus to run at a higher flow temperature of up to 75°C. This allows the domestic hot water to be stored at a useable temperature and legionella cycles can take place without the need for a backup heater. To provide further support to the technical team, the heat pumps were all positioned outside the homes, below the rear kitchen window, to ensure good access for servicing and repairs. The positioning also helped to minimise the aesthetic impact on the surrounding environment and maximise usable garden space. In addition, Vaillant’s VRC 700 wired controls with an outdoor weather sensor was installed. Designed to work with sustainable technologies, the VRC 700 can decide on the most ecient way to heat the property, taking into consideration the weather outside and the customer’s energy taris. An easy-to-use thermostat was also fitted within each of the seven properties to ensure that residents would be able to control the heating in their new home without complication. Maximising space for hot water As the seven homes on the Parklands Grove development are all two-bedroom properties, space was at a premium, and the heating system needed to oer a compact design to maximise space. Vaillant identified that a slimline pre- plumbed uniSTOR hot water heat pump cylinder, that connected to the aroTHERM plus heat pump, would be the perfect solution to provide hot water for Parklands Grove. At 150 litres capacity and a 435mm diameter, the slimline pre-plumbed uniSTOR is ideal for space-prohibitive installations. In addition to its compact size, the uniSTOR cylinder oers high performance as it has a smooth bore coil – purposefully placed to ensure optimum heat transfer in a compact design. Combined with a low-standby loss of 1.8kW per 24 hours, residents can rest assured they will get consistent hot water temperatures even during high demand periods. In the know Vaillant supported the installation of the heat pump system on-site alongside NCHA’s own engineers and provided in- depth user training to all NCHA Housing Ocers, to ensure they could confidently explain the heat pump system and controls to tenants. With heat pumps still being regarded as an emerging technology, it became clear that tenants would need more information about the system than they would for a boiler. This led to the creation of NCHA’s Heat Pump User Guide, and was supplied to tenants when they moved into the property. Striving for zero emissions Solar panels were installed on the Parklands Grove development to help power the heat pump system with green electricity, backed up by battery storage to make the most of the green PV energy. Electrical connection points have been also set up outside each property to accommodate the installation of electric vehicle charging points in the future. The Parklands Grove development has boosted its environmental credentials by not being connected to the mains gas grid, with a heating system that is zero emissions at the point of use, using no fossil fuels. Ian Soar, Site Manager at NCHA, said “With the Future Homes Standard coming into eect in 2025, It’s understandable that some housing providers may be nervous about embarking on building new low carbon homes now, but we have shown through the Parklands Grove project in Ollerton that, with the right support, it is possible to develop aordable, low carbon homes for the social housing market. “NCHA are using this scheme to pilot, analyse and review alternative energy installations to inform our future developments. We will use this data to inform how we can reduce energy costs to make our homes more sustainable, future proofing them for the next generation.”