Heat Pumps Today

Info www.unitherm.co.uk or www.bbheatpumps.co.uk www.acrjournal.uk/heat-pumps 29 C A S E S T U D Y BB Heat Pumps Plant Room club house plant room that saw the heat from the pumps circulate through the pipework and via two individual plate heat exchangers into the cylinders to heat up the water. Instead of the 80°C plus temperatures the old immersion heaters used to heat to, these heated the water to 55°C saving significantly on the lost heat from the cylinders. The 5000 litres of water in the tanks are needed due to the volume of water required for the showers. BB Heat Pumps had to incorporate elements from the old traditional system, designing a system that didn’t have to replace everything and could keep the large cylinders in place along with the ‘domestic’ tanks in the loft space. As a result, they incorporated the two-custom made plate heat exchangers from UK Heat Exchangers to transfer the heat generated from the heat pumps across to the cold feed of the two 2500 litre cylinders to act as a ‘pre-heat’ circulation via a bronze pump. Immediate benefits The immediate benefits of the new system are clear. The old system was costing just short of £210 per weekend in electricity. After three weekends of usage, the heat pump - which is hot water only - had used £48.64 of electricity as opposed to the old system that would have cost £104 a weekend, multiplied by the three weekends – a total of £312– a saving of £262 over the three-week period. The £207 a week incurred by the old system was just for the showers – it didn’t include the cost of the kitchen, toilets and heating. Their new heat pump - which heats the other 2500 litre cylinder, the 300 litre cylinder that services the referees showers, kitchens, WC’s and the central heating for the club house - had used £272 in the same three week period – around £90 a week - less than just heating one large cylinder for a single weekend prior to the new installation. Instead of having to turn the immersion heaters on 36 hours before showers were needed, for a two o’clock kick off match where the showers are needed at 4pm, the timer switches the immersion on at 3pm and gives the tanks an hour-long water temperature boost – highlighting the financial benefits of heating up warm tanks rather than starting from cold. This boost is also needed of course to address concerns relating to Legionella in standing water tanks, and the boost ensures bacteria is killed at the higher temperature. “The benefits are immediate and impressive from a cost and effectiveness point of view” says Paul Dunk. Caspar Speakman from Unitherm Heating Systems says this approach may be the template for many other rurally based rugby clubs: “Rugby grounds are very often built on the outskirts of towns and villages up and down the country and being off the mains, have to rely solely on electricity or oil fuelled systems to provide the heating and hot water for what are often fairly draughty and elderly buildings. Using LG air source heat pumps in conjunction with a system like that utilised at Brighton can see improved heating and hot water supplied at a fraction of the cost and such a project – as with the Brighton one - will see pay back within two to four years of installation – probably closer to two than four once the additional insulation goes into the club house. If that is funded by a no interest or low interest loan it brings it very much within the reach of many clubs who might have thought they could not afford such an investment.”