ASHP with conversion thoughts..

I have an unused Granary for conversion to residential. It is a mostly redbrick and grey stone construction. It is within a 'quadrangle' and has a river pretty close by (10m) on another side; not alot of space around it!

Given it will have the current levels of insulation installed, heat loss should be fairly low, although very likely not as low as a modern build construction. I am likely to go with UFH on the ground floor throughout.

Siting a gas tank could be do-able although it would have to be some 30-50m away, and require digging up the yard for pipework etc. An oil tank would be more tricky due to the nearby watercourse etc, probably a no-no.

There is a large expanse of roof, so some solar panels for secondary heat would be a likelyohood.

So, has anyone real life experiences of using Air Source HP's, both in terms of output, useability, install and run costs compared to oil/ gas etc?

I have 3ph available.

Your thoughts thank you gentlemen.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..
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May well be a better source of heat for your pump than air. Depends how big this "river" is... Probably have a number of hoops to jump through for the EA compared to AS.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Yes.

I posted on this, back a bit.

I haven't considered putting a heat exchanger directly into the river as I would expect serious issues with obstructing debris and blanket weed. The proposal put to the EA was to pump water from a shallow well close to the river bank, through the exchanger and return via an existing ditch. The response was to refer me to the existing rules on licensing and charges.

Ideally I need a ditch, close to the river, with a significant flow:-)

If this ever gets off the ground, buried pipe is non controversial.

Somebody mentioned that they thought the Houses of Parliament were once heated by Thames water?

regards

>
Reply to
Tim Lamb

^^^^^^^ and now heated by hot air ! ;-)

Reply to
Me Here

Doesn't the pipe only need to be close enough to the river for the river water heat to replenish the soil heat that the pipe extracts?

What I'm after is a cheaper heat pump, along the lines of one of the split air con devices but able to supply 30C water from 5C soil, about 10kW(t).

In the meanwhile I'm awaiting a second quote for a natural gas supply, initial one is GBP5k.

AJH

Reply to
andrew

I wondered about this, but figured -without investigating with the EA, but having had EA dealings in the past - it would be almost impossible to get permission. The river has an ample flow of water, and its less than 20foot away...

Tim.

Reply to
Tim..

In message , Tim.. writes

You can abstract up to 20 cu.m and return up to 10cu.m without a licence or payment. Somebody kindly did the sums assuming a 5deg.C drop as only a few kWh/day.

regards

Reply to
Tim Lamb

what's this 20foot of ground like? is there a drop down to the river?

JimK

Reply to
JimK

Yes, the ground falls steeply away towards the river- there is no danger of flooding. The ideal plan would be to build up some of this ground to form a small parking, and decking area.

Acouple of photo's here taken from the road bridge; the river would be just out of shot on the bottom left:

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Reply to
Tim..

Dear Tim You asked for the thoughts so here goes!

Firstly, most of us would give our eye teeth to be near a river as this property is. To me its a complete no brainer. You need to design and install a collector at the right depth on your land. What is the right depth? well my thinking would be that it is that depth that you find fills up with water due to the proximity of the river. My only worry would be if there is any flint around in which case you should forget the idea of a GSHP. So how about getting a trenching machine in from the local farmer and doing a trial pit as close to the river as you can and see what water you get at what depth. Once that is established, design a wide bore pipe collector (the widest range acceptable to the machine) to minimise on cost and maximise collection fluid as you will have the best possible thermal transmission with the river water so near by. Were you very very subtle in the design of this system with respect to depth and location it *might* just be that some river pressure could be induced to flow in your underground collector which being 4 inches of sand with the soil put back on top (keep the top soil separate and reinstate) will allow a good flow of water round it. Next and probably more important is to design your insulation on the house. Forget building regs - they are always 20 years behind the times - design for the 22nd century and put your money in that. Use the smallest heat pump you can get. On the floor for UFH go for a large-ish bore pipe at 150 cc and a cement screed on as much insulation as you can afford up to 300mm. I opted for a simple weather stat but depending on use you can zone it and do all sorts of fancy things. For DHW I opted for multi forms of heating input with a buffer tank. Solar, wind generator, electric immersion and Heat Pump. Its your call. If you really want to get fancy have a buffer for CH and use a wood burner but that is only a back drop if you have no electricity (a sensible precaution with the energy *policies* of the last 20 years of governments in UK) but not currently economic. If you have a wood burner for aesthetic use then great get a back burner and buffer as well What is the end use of the building? much depends on that chris g

Reply to
chris

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