RE: Re[2]: Turn your home into a mini power station...

["Mick Furlong" <hiltoneltd@xxxxxxx>]

I was considering a heat pump to drive my UFH but for the reasons below
decided it wasn't a cost effective option. They work yes but the pay back
period is just too long when measured against the initital cost especially
when you factor in maintenance and possible parts replacement. Be a bit
careful with some of these companies because not all will include
excavation
costs etc. You also need a fair chunk of land to bury the pipe in unless
you
want to drill a bore hole.

I would have possibly gone for it if a river was accessible to use as the
geothermal source, these are easier and cheaper to install and I think are
more efficient.

Mick
-----Original Message-----
From: W T Taylor [mailto:bill-taylor@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 21 October 2003 19:09
To: Shmern
Subject: Re[2]: [ukha_d] Turn your home into a mini power station...



S> The Geothermal (Heat pump) technology looks good, very good in fact.
Im
S> seriously considering it for my impending build. But will want to
see/speak
S> to people who have it installed. Anyone here dabbled with it ?

Several years ago I was seriously interested in heat pumps. The first
problem that I found was that the few people who supplied these things
couldn't be bothered to talk to their potential customers!

I think you'll find that, like all the other things in the BBC
article, they are not economically viable. The article says that the
only running cost is that of the pump; the trouble is, its a powerful
pump. The best efficiency you can expect out of a heat pump is about
3:1. Put in 1Kw of electricity to get 3 out. I would expect a real
installation to be more like 2:1. Using that figure your heat is going
to cost you at least 2.5p/kWh which I think you will find is pretty
similar to natural gas and oil. The installation costs are pretty
enormous, and I would expect the payback period to be significantly
greater than the life of the pump. When you look at them closely the
same argument applies to most of the other technologies mentioned in the
article.

Bill