Reply To: Ground Source Heat Pumps

[jyn]

biggest problem would be that the window reveals are already deep and this would make them even deeper.

That’s exactly our situation. It makes it awkward to open/close them but the extra-deep window sills are a great place to put Stuff. We used plywood for the sills in the end – gives a nice look.

This is the kind of imaginative solution I would like for our house. Adding oil fired central heating is the obvious solution, but seems a bit retrograde

We fitted oil in 2015 – ran out of money after unexpectedly having to replace all the first floor joists and had to move in. It’s a good boiler but it’s big, noisy, the exhaust stinks and it’s decidedly not the way of the future.

A high temperature ASHP should be able to take its place, albeit running about 2.5x as long per day as the boiler. We still have glazing and insulation improvements to do however. My ill defined plan is to plumb an outside log burner in to a second coil (what is typically solar thermal input) on the thermal store. I’d start with a cheap, simple unit and see how it goes. Or perhaps something like this inside the garage – http://www.ludlowstoves.co.uk/product/klover-utility-boiler

One thing I wouldn’t consider if you are over 50 is a wood chip burner. Their hoppers need filling every few days with heavy bags of biomass. If you get one aged 50 and are tied to it for 20 years by the RHI, you’ll be lifting bags weekly aged 70 – and more frequently in the coldest, most horrid weather. I sometimes wonder how many retirees are going to get bitten by this.