I have a bit of a conundrum and would welcome your thoughts.
House currently has a 8Kw air source heat pump (ASHP) and a 10Kw electric heater in series with it.
ASHP works perfectly in the summer to heat the water and warm the house. When the temp drops below a preset level the 10KW boost heater kicks in as well. This works to a point but the colder it gets outside the less heat the ASHP can produce. This means that for parts of the year the house is unacceptably cold.
The heat used to be supplemented by a coal fire but the owner of the house can no longer lift the coal.
The aim is to do away with the 10KW boost heater and fit in a gas boiler so that for the coldest parts of the year the ASHP can be switched off. The ideal situation would be for the ASHP to do most of the work in the moderate parts of the year with some help from the gas boiler to keep things topped up.
I appreciate the ideal situation would be to fit a large thermal store and feed the ASHP and gas boiler into that however the cost of doing that is rather higher than we would like.
Does anyone have any ideas of how an ASHP and a gas boiler could be combined to work together throughout the year?
House is a rather sprawling bungalow with a heatloss of around 24Kw (Depending on how you calculate it) and 17 radiators of varying size.
Current system is a Y plan with 200 litre vented hot water tank.
A complex question but I would very much appreciate your comments.
House currently has a 8Kw air source heat pump (ASHP) and a 10Kw electric heater in series with it.
ASHP works perfectly in the summer to heat the water and warm the house. When the temp drops below a preset level the 10KW boost heater kicks in as well. This works to a point but the colder it gets outside the less heat the ASHP can produce. This means that for parts of the year the house is unacceptably cold.
The heat used to be supplemented by a coal fire but the owner of the house can no longer lift the coal.
The aim is to do away with the 10KW boost heater and fit in a gas boiler so that for the coldest parts of the year the ASHP can be switched off. The ideal situation would be for the ASHP to do most of the work in the moderate parts of the year with some help from the gas boiler to keep things topped up.
I appreciate the ideal situation would be to fit a large thermal store and feed the ASHP and gas boiler into that however the cost of doing that is rather higher than we would like.
Does anyone have any ideas of how an ASHP and a gas boiler could be combined to work together throughout the year?
House is a rather sprawling bungalow with a heatloss of around 24Kw (Depending on how you calculate it) and 17 radiators of varying size.
Current system is a Y plan with 200 litre vented hot water tank.
A complex question but I would very much appreciate your comments.