There are many advantages of heat pumps over other heating systems ranging from reduced running costs and excellent efficiency gains to combining with Underfloor Heating systems. Below are just a few heat pump advantages for you to consider.
Using Heat Pumps to reduce running costs
One of the advantages of heat pumps is that they are much more efficient than burning oil or gas with average savings of over 60% for ground source heat pumps and 40% for air source heat pumps. As a result, a heating system using heat pumps will provide a realistic return on investment over a much shorter period of time.
Combating unstable fuel prices
Oil prices are susceptible to large price hikes and are increasing again, particularly during the winter when you need your heating the most. Heat pumps remove this problem providing cost-effective, reliable heating whenever you need it. Due to their efficiency they also use much less energy and therefore provide protection against fuel costs rising in the future.
Increased efficiency
The efficiency of heat pumps is beyond question. For every 1kW of heat moved into your house via ground source heat pumps, only 0.25kW of electricity is consumed. This gives an efficiency of 400%, sometimes stated as a Co-efficient Of Performance (COP) of 4:1. In the case of air source heat pumps, you can expect a COP of 3.3:1 which is a still a huge improvement on boilers which have only around 75% to 80% efficiency rates over their lifespan truly demonstrating the advantages of heat pumps.
Grant schemes for Heat Pumps
There are a number of renewable energy grants which you may be able to benefit from when installing heat pumps including the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which launched in April 2014 aims to provide further air source heat pump advantages and ground source heat pump advantages by making payments to owners of these systems for the energy they produce, much like the Feed-in-Tariff for Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) systems. Payments are tax-free, index-linked and last for a period of seven years. The tariff is set to increase in April 2017 as annouced by the Gov in 2016 for more information please see our Renewable Heat Incentive page
Minimal scheduled maintenance
Heat pumps are extremely reliable with minimal regular maintenance required. Our heat pumps have a planned life span of 15+ years with no loss of efficiency which again demonstrates one of the many advantages of heat pumps especially when compared to boilers which can lose up to 2% efficiency for each year of operation and have a usable life span of only around 12 years.
O&M Packages
We offer full O&M packages with our heat pumps. The packages can be for up to 5 years and can include an annual check and service, 24/7 telephone support and call out service and online monitoring.
Lower environmental impact
Coupling your heat pump to a green electricity supply such as solar photovoltaic (solar PV) can provide your heating, hot water and electricity demands with zero Carbon Dioxide emissions.
The safety advantages of Heat Pumps
People often don’t consider the dangers that conventional heating systems could pose, particularly as the systems age. Heat pumps can eradicate these issues as they don’t use volatile or combustible substances.
Low risk of accidents
Almost 150 people a year are killed by home explosions and carbon monoxide poisoning linked to faulty boilers. Our heat pumps are completely free from any contaminants which may cause harm to the environment and they do not emit any noxious gasses which could harm you or your family.
Easy installation
Ecosphere have a fully qualified team of heat pump installers who have installed more than hundreds of heat pumps to date. You can also have access to our support team if any problems arise.
