Swimming pool and domestic heating and heat pumps

30.01.2009 - ezinearticle.com

One of the most basic facts of the world we live in today is that we spend an ever-increasing amount of time indoors. Whether we rest motionless in front of our televisions and computers or stay active while avoiding the vicissitudes of the weather outside, the quality of our indoor air is increasingly important. Installing a heat pump is one way to go about improving that air.

The best and most efficient central heating or forced air heating and cooling system will keep a house warm in the winter and cool in the summer, insuring the comfort of its inhabitants. A unit that is well-maintained by the homeowner and kept in good repair by qualified heating contractors operates at peak efficiency and provides the best cost-to-benefit ratio in energy consumption for its brand and model. It will also blow dust into the house.

Heat pumps work by transferring the heat in the air. Depending on the season, this transfer will deposit warmth inside or outside to maintain the desired internal temperature. An even more efficient and environmentally friendly version is sourced in the ground and pulls heat to or from the ground depending on need. This is a more complicated and expensive version, but in the long run does pay for itself.

Heat pumps can be installed ductlessly, and some can also be equipped with gas furnace back-up to provide increased heat in colder climes. In areas like Atlanta where the cold is rarely too intense, heat pumps are ideal. Depending on the version, the pump can heat water for the home or be set up to work with radiant heat systems that supply heat or cold to the floor and/or wall panels, from which it radiates into the room.

The impact all of the above mentioned ways of heating and cooling a home is important to air quality in two ways. The first is the most obvious and one of the big selling points-that of a reduced carbon footprint. By reducing the negative environmental influence, the air quality outside is improved, which means fewer pollutants to be kept out of the house.

The second way is what was mentioned at the outset of this piece, which is that with the transfer of energy in the air, and especially with a radiant heat-system, there is a reduction of dust inside the home. This has the side advantage of reducing the amount of cleaning one has to do on any given day and eliminates some of the basic maintenance required for a standard furnace.

This is not to say there is no air movement with a heat pump, but the heat transfer reduces that process. So does the lack of a cold-cycle as it exists in many standard furnaces, which also acts to blow dust through the house.

With pollen counts and other allergens seemingly more aggressive in their attacks on people’s sinuses every year, the air itself has become increasingly hazardous to breathe. Finding a reputable and licensed heating and air conditioning contractor to install a system that is more energy efficient and produces a reduced degree of dust is of benefit to everyone.

Calyenty eco heat pumps

29 - January - 2009 - ACR News

SANYO Air Conditioners is launching a training programme to teach acr engineers how to install its carbon dioxide-based ECO heat pump systems.

The courses are to be launched initially at three centres across the country from this April, but there are plans for more training centres to come on board during the year.

The courses are scheduled to take place at:

Sanyo headquarters in Whyteleafe, South London,

Oceanair Distribution site in Bristol,

Easy Air Conditioning site in Birmingham.

Sanyo is subsidising the cost of the course to encourage good attendance.

The one-day course includes practical experience of working with carbon dioxide refrigerant-based systems, designed to deliver low-cost heating and hot water in domestic and small commercial applications.

Devised by industry trainer Martin Hook, the course highlights the differences between carbon dioxide and HFC-based technology, demonstrates the applications and benefits of the CO2 ECO system, and covers design, installation and maintenance of air-to-water heat pumps.

Attendance on the course qualifies installers to apply for government incentives for renewable technologies on the high efficiency products.

Sanyo plans to add more training centres in the north of England during the year.

For more course details call 0845 6126364.

Calyenty eco heat pumps

Well we tried to pursuade him to do it otherwise, but being a stubborn Brisbanite he insisted, and hey, the client is always right, right?

A swimming pool heat pump is a bit like a fridge or an air conditioning unit, only in reverse, well when you want to heat the water they are anyway. This technology has been around for years, I had a comment left on one of my first blogs from an American who had had a heat pump for over 50 years! The great thing is that this technology has improved significantly recently which has made them perfect for pool heating, and indeed house and domestic hot water, although that’s a blog subject for another day.

The challenge is this: an 8m x 5m pool, which is about as small as they get in these parts, contains on average about 50 tonnes of water. Most people like to swim at temperatures of between 27 and 30 degrees C, and at this time of year at night it often drops to freezing and below.

Achieving this with gas, oil, or standard direct induction electrical heating is expensive, well if your budget dictates that over 300 euros a week is expensive it is anyway. So roll out the heat pump.

Calyenty heat pumps can reach efficiencies of up to 1:7. This means that for every unit of electricity that the unit consumes it can produce seven times the equivalent in joules of heat. We recommend for most regions of Spain and Portugal, where we have most of our customers that if you heat your pool between April and the middle of November you will keep a comfortable swimming temperature for roughly the equivalent running costs as one week using traditional fuel types!

How does it do that?

Well the energy consumption goes into running a fan and a compressor. The compressor compresses refrigerant gas that runs through a series of tubes that are built into the sides of the heat pump, this part of the unit is called the condenser. The fan draws ambient air across these tubes and the energy that is present in the air passes into the gas where it becomes very hot. This heat passes into the swimming pool water where the two meet in a chamber called a heat exchanger.

Simple. Well it works fine as long as there is plenty of ambient air to pass through the vanes of the unit, which is why we normally insist that they are positioned outside. But Australians being Australians like to give us poms a challenge now and again and we recently had just that when our valued customer insisted that his shiny new heat pump must be positioned inside a small machine room near the pool.

Well we’ve done it. As you can see from the pictures there is a large barred entry point for the air to enter the room and a big galvanised duct to exhaust the air out, so hopefully the heat pump isn’t going to recycle already cooled air - it goes live very soon, so we’ll soon find out.

Please customers, take our advise, Calyenty pool heaters are extremely quiet and very beautiful so really don’t need to be hidden away, put them somewhere where they can be admired, coveted even, and where they will work to the maximum of their potential efficiency!!

Exhaust Cowling

Doorway with barred gate to allow sufficient air flow

Calyenty engineers working on internal swimming pool heat pump heater installation

29 01 2009

By Oliver Reavey

Oliver Reavey is the Commercial Director of Calyenty SC. Calyenty is Europe’s premier pool heating supplier, Calyenty installed over 300 heat pumps across Europe in 2008

Building Results Inc - Jan 29 2009

Most homes in the U.S are heated by a central air furnace, and cooled by an air conditioning unit. While these 2 units have been very effective in making your home a comfortable place to live for many years, they are also the biggest energy users in your home. For homes that are in extreme climates, there are not many options besides these two for keeping your home at desired tempatures through out the year. But for homes in moderate climates, a heat pump is recommended for the efficiency in which they run.

A heat pump uses refrigeration technology instead of fuel to provide warmth and cooling. Conventional heat pumps move heat from warm to cold spaces, and vice versa, to cool a warm house in the summer and heat a cool house in the winter. By transferring heat instead of producing it, they can do their job far more efficiently than furnaces and air conditioners.

An air-source heat pump transfers heat between a house and the outdoors. In moderate climates, energy bills can be cut by as much as 30 to 40 percent. In non moderate climates, such as the northern U.S. where it gets quite a bit colder in the winter, the efficiency drops quite a bit because not enough heat can be extracted from the ambient air, in which case auxillary heat from non-efficient heating elements in the system is usually necessary.

Another type of heat pump is the geothermal (ground-source) heat pump. This transfers heat between the ground to your house. Even though this type of heat pump is quite a bit more expensive, it runs very efficiently in more extreme climates.

Calyenty eco heat pumps

Energy Solutions - Renewable Energy

Date: 27/01/2009

Various applications could benefit from a new pumping technology, ranging from domestic central heating circulator pumps to irrigation systems in developing countries. Jon Severn reports on the Non-Inertive Feedback Thermofluidic Engine (NIFTE) that is currently under development.

Pumps can be relatively large consumers of energy, which is a problem when energy costs are high or there is a need to operate a pump in a location where there is no grid-supplied energy. Traditionally the answer has been to suffer high energy bills in the former situation and, for off-grid applications, use technologies such as wind turbines or photovoltaic cells that have a high capital cost and low efficiency.

However, there is now an alternative technology being developed that is simple and costs little to manufacture, yet it is highly effective and can operate using low-grade heat energy - such as waste heat or solar energy. This type of heat pump has been termed the Non-Inertive Feedback Thermofluidic Engine (NIFTE).

The NIFTE technology and pumps are being developed by Dr Tom Smith and Dr Christos Markides, who have formed a company called Thermofluidics. Thus far they have been supported by competition prize money and government grants, and they are currently seeking further funding to continue the development.

NIFTE heat engines are described as being analogous to RC (resistor-capacitor) feedback electronic oscillators that do not depend on inductors to generate and sustain oscillations. By following similar design principles, the researchers have developed NIFTEs that require only small amounts of thermal or viscous dissipation, and can therefore sustain large pressure amplitude oscillations with high efficiency. Furthermore, the NIFTEs benefit from a high power density.

Being capable of operating across low temperature differences means that NIFTEs can utilise low-grade heat (such as solar thermal energy) or waste heat. This is in contrast to most other types of heat engine that cannot operate on such low temperature differences. The low-grade heat on which the NIFTE pumps operate is both abundantly available and cheap to obtain, which makes the actual efficiency of the pump less important, as their feasibility is determined by their efficiency per unit production cost. Fortunately NIFTE pumps can be manufactured from low-cost materials such as plastics and polymer foams, using low-cost production techniques including injection moulding and extrusion. Only a smalll number of precision moving parts are required, typically just a pair of non-return valves.

How the NIFTE pump works

The NIFTE has two vertical cylinders (1 and 2 ) that are connected at the top (3). Another connection at the bottom incorporates a restriction or throttle (4). The system is part-filled with a working fluid (shown grey), which can be water or another fluid, depending on the temperature of the heat source and heat sink available, as well a the application requirements. For example, in an irrigation pump the working fluid will be water, the same as the fluid being conveyed; in a closed-circuit heat pump application, the working fluid could well be something else.

In operation, the top section of the left-hand cylinder (the ‘displacer’ cylinder) is heated until the liquid boils, whereupon the pressure of the resultant vapour (colourless) forces liquid in the right-hand cylinder (the ‘power’ cylinder) down into the fluidic transmission block (7). Because this liquid is coupled to the pumped medium, the pumped medium is forced out of the pump (8).

This discharge results in the liquid-vapour interface in the right-hand cylinder falling below the liquid/vapour interface in the left-hand cylinder. Gravity then causes liquid to move from the left-hand cylinder to the right-hand cylinder via the throttle (4). As the liquid/vapour interface in the left-hand cylinder then moves lower into the cold region (9), vapour condenses, the pressure drops, and replenishing liquid (10) is then sucked into the right-hand cylinder via the fluidic transmission block.

The cycle repeats in an oscillatory fashion, with a net pumping effect. Although the direct output is pulsed, an accumulator can be used to smooth the output.

Note that in the majority of applications the pumped medium provides either the heat source or (more often) the heat sink, and is therefore circulated around the hot heat exchanger (6) or the cold heat exchanger (9), respectively.

Applications

Given their mechanical simplicity, low energy consumption and potentially low purchase cost, NIFTE pumps could be applicable for a wide variety of tasks. These range from irrigation and pond pumps to central heating circulating pumps and power showers. Geothermal pumping is also an attractive application, and there are industrial applications relating to hot water circulation and steam cleaning.

So far Smith and Markides have focussed on two applications, one commercial and the other philanthropic. The commercial application is a central heating circulation pump and the philanthropic application is an irrigation pump.

In their laboratory within the Cambridge University Engineering Department the researchers adapted a 19kW domestic heating boiler (condensing combination type) and progressively developed the NIFTE pump from an initial output of 400 litres/hour in September 2007 to 1100 litres/hour in May 2008. In this system heat is taken from the existing burner flame by means of a simple heat exchanger, with waste heat being rejected into the hot water that the pump is circulating through the radiators. The pumped water is the same as the NIFTE working fluid. Note that the pump is self-starting, with a small number of oscillations required before the pump achieves its normal operating state. Depending on the design of the pump and the application, the start-up time can be set to be anything from a few seconds to several minutes. Likewise, the pump stops by itself when heat is removed from the hot heat exchanger, with the run-down time depending on the pump design and application.

In common with almost all pumps, the NIFTE achieves its maximum flow rate at zero head, though the associated efficiency is low. As the head is increased, and the pump works against a greater load, the flow rate decreases until eventually the pump stalls and flow ceases.

For typical one-bedroom apartments/flats with one bathroom, the maximum heating capacity for the central heating system varies from 10 to 20 kW. Electric circulator pumps in such systems are required to pump between 500 and 800 litres/hour at dynamic heads of 0.5 to 1.5m. Systems installed in typical two- or three-bedroom semi-detached houses with one bathroom and an en-suite deliver 15 to 25 kW and incorporate circulator pumps capable of delivering 600 to 1000 litres/hour at heads of 0.5-3.5m. Since circulators operate within a closed loop that does not exhibit a static head loss, the quoted heads are due to viscosity in the piping rather than any height differences. The demonstration NIFTE installed on a 19 kW boiler has been shown to flow 1100 litres/hour at nominally zero head, 1000 litres/hour at 1 m head, 900 litres/hour at 2m head and 800 litres/hour at 3m head.

The researchers have established that the flow rate achievable by a NIFTE pump scales with the heat available and the diameter of the power cylinder (2 in Fig.2), until the capacity of the heat exchangers to exchange heat at the temperature differences set by the application is saturated.

Other NIFTE pumps have been built, one of which stalled at heads of approximately 4m and another that had a stalling head that is estimated to be around 20m.

Solar-powered irrigation

graphic

In this application heat is taken from a solar hot water collector by means of a heat pipe or thermosiphon and supplied to the hot heat exchanger of the NIFTE. The NIFTE rejects its waste heat into the water that is being pumped, as with the central heating circulator application.

According to Smith and Markides, the potentially large market for solar-powered pumps is currently restricted by the prohibitive cost of photovoltaic (PV) cells, hence only small and diverse applications benefit from solar pumps. However, the researchers say that studies by the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations have estimated the need for 30 million solar-powered water pumping systems around the world, and the researchers believe that the market for low flow-rate agricultural applications alone is worth over £2billion (around US$3billion or EUR2.5billion).

NIFTE pumps are said to be particularly well suited to pressurising surface water for relatively low flow-rate applications such as drip irrigation. Drip irrigation consumes up to 70 per cent less water than conventional irrigation practices. The current market for drip irrigation is thought to be worth approximately £300million (around US$470million or EUR370million), mostly in the USA, and is growing at 15 to 20 per cent per annum due to increasing use in Southern Asia.

In the solar water pump application, the NIFTE pump would be thermally coupled to an array of solar hot water collectors. Compared with conventional PV-powered electric pumps, the NIFTE arrangement is said to offer a number of significant advantages, such as a lack of moving parts, low capital cost and high power density.

Smith and Markides have already built and tested a rudimentary solar-powered NIFTE pump in which the hot heat exchanger takes its heat from a thermosiphon capable of modelling the solar collectors. This prototype has not yet been investigated extensively or optimised, but already flow rates of 620 litres/hour have been achieved with 600 W of heat at zero head and 480litres/hour with 600 W of heat at 1m head. The test apparatus is capable of providing up to 3kW of heat, simulating approximately 6 m2 of typical flat plate solar collectors. Given the rate of progress to date, the researchers are confident that the NIFTE solar pump will be capable of flows of about 750 to 1000 litres/hour and 5 to 10m heads.

Further applications

Aside from the two applications outlined above, there are numerous other potential applications for NIFTE technology. One area has been termed thermally-powered pressure boosters, with examples being steam cleaners, power showers and espresso coffee machines. In these applications, the NIFTE pump could replace electrical pumps and heaters, offering the advantages of greater reliability and lower capital and operating costs.

Another area of interest is absorption refrigerators. Compared with vapour compression refrigeration systems, there is no need for a mechanical compressor and a NIFTE-powered absorption refrigerator could operate without mains electricity. Solar-powered NIFTE absorption refrigerators could, for example, be used in developing countries to maintain the temperature of vaccines.

Smith and Markides’ company Thermofluidics is currently seeking to grant licenses, provide consulting services and/or establish development partnerships and collaborations with industrial partners with a significant market share in each application area to help bring the technology to market. The company does not intend to become a manufacturer, but the potential advantages of this technology are likely to be attractive to a spread of manufacturers currently relying on conventional technologies.

Swimming pool heating specialists

Jan 29 2009 - Free Article Zone

Preparing a swimming pool for the upcoming winter season may seem to be a daunting job but with a high quality winter pool cover, the task can become simpler and easier. With the use of a winter pool cover, you can keep your swimming pool protected during the cold season. During the winter season, the liner of the pool suffers badly and usually, you have to replace it during the spring season. This is particularly applied if your pool is above the ground level. But by covering the pool during the winter season, the liner of the pool lasts longer as the cover protect its elements from the miserable and long effects of the winter season. Protecting swimming pools with winter covers is easier and smarter than replacing the liner after the winter.

A winter pool cover keeps all the debris, leaves and tree branches away from your pool, thereby reducing your preparation costs and cleaning up costs significantly that you need to otherwise spend during the spring season. While choosing a winter pool cover, there are wide options available to meet the requirements of different swimming pools sizes. There are winters covers that can fit almost every size of pool and are available in different range of prices.

While purchasing the winter cover, one the major factors that you should look into a winter pool cover is that it should be rot and mildew resistant. Apart from that, it must also include cable and winch too.

Preparing a swimming pool for the winter is not that difficult but what most people do is to drain out the pool completely thereby leaving it exposed to the harsh elements of winter. This can be an easy solution but may cost you a lot later. A winter pool cover can be a wise investment whose benefits can be seen during the spring season. It has also to be kept in mind that swimming pools are never or rarely used during the winters. By covering your pool with a winter pool cover, you will find it in the good condition to be again used during the spring season.

About the author:
Myself author of swimming pool magazine http://www.poolsearch.org - a swimming pool & hot tub planning guide for swimming pool, above ground & in ground swimming pools.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com

Swimming pool heating specialists

Council considers u-turn on Athy pool fencing crux

Published Date: 28 January 2009
By Lisa Deeney - Leinster Leader

KILDARE County Council (KCC) may reverse its decision to erect controversial fencing around the new swimming pool and leisure centre in Athy amid harsh criticism at a town council meeting last week.
The council and its spokesman came under attack at last week’s Athy Town Council meeting, so much so that town manager Tom Boland came to the defence of the council spokesman on several occasions.

the council spokesman in last week’s Leinster Leader.
“They are no friend of Athy when they demean our town council in the media… a non-elected representative who decides to be the voice of Kildare,” he said.

Speaking last week on the issue, council spokesman Charlie Talbot said the council had no plans to remove the fencing around the swimming pool. He said it was “disappointed” that attention on the pool seems to have focused on the fence and on fault finding with it “rather than on the fact that Athy is to have a state-of-the-art, professionally-run, recreational facility which will create employment in the area”. He added: “The new pool in Athy is a good and welcome development. It will provide a much-needed recreational facility and create employment. The vast majority of people in Athy welcome the new swimming pool and want to enjoy it – that is the reality.”

Many Athy town councillors took strong offence to this statement. Cllr Aoife Breslin (Lab), who opposes the fencing claiming it is “an unauthorised development”, is calling on the council to withdraw the remarks.

“Kildare County Council has misjudged us yet again by making flippant remarks to journalists. We are elected officials expressing our view and I am asking the manager for an apology. We work for the people of Athy. I welcome the pool but local residents have concerns, that is the only issue and as a public representative I was raising the issue. I want Kildare County Council to withdraw the remarks… Mr Talbot sits in his ivory tower and looks down on us, looks down at Athy.”

Cathaoireach Cllr John Lawler (Lab) agreed, saying the remarks were “condescending” and “disappointing”, “especially when we were told a meeting would take place in November”.

Town manager Joe Boland said the criticism against the press officer in particular was “unfair”. “It is not in his nature to be condscending. He is a very sincere man.”

He added that “every effort” has been made to take on board the concerns of the community.

“With the provision of a pool, there had been a lot of work involved and a lot of effort made by Kildare County Council officials,” he added.
The council is now set to meet Greenhills residents this week to present drawings and discuss the controversial fencing. The meeting, which is taking place this morning (Wednesday), indicates it may reverse its policy and alter the swimming pool fencing plans. An initial meeting between council officials and Athy town councillors last Friday was described as “constructive” and “positive” by both parties.

The issue began in October last year when the council erected palisade fencing around the boundary of the new swimming pool at a cost of N75k. It failed, however, to inform residents or local councillors in Athy, despite the existence of a swimming pool liaison committee.?

Residents of Greenhills are strongly opposed to the fencing around the public amenity that lies opposite their homes. They say it is an eyesore and are considering protesting outside Aras Cill Dara over the issue. Athy town councillors have given the residents their full support.

Swimming pool heating specialists

Posted on 01/28/2009

Pool owners could face stricter enforcement

By CHASE WRIGHT

cwright@thestamfordtimes.com

STAMFORD — The city took steps Tuesday to enacting tighter regulations over homeowners’ swimming pools and added its own enforcement provisions for those not in compliance.

The new regulations mimic the requirements of the Connecticut State Building Code, which was recently amended in November. Those regulations put tighter scrutiny over pool heaters, energy conservation, suction fittings and drainage.

“The genesis of this is that we found ourselves unable to enforce swimming pool enclosures,” said the city’s director of operations Ben Barnes.

Previously, the city charter required enclosures around swimming pools that fit specific dimensions to make the body of water inaccessible to small children. Pool enclosures are still required, said Barnes, but the new ordinance adopts the state’s regulations, which are updated periodically, and allows the city to pursue civil citation against those in noncompliance with the rules. A single incident with a Stamford homeowner shed light on the city’s inability to enforce its own rules, he said. Bob DeMarco, the city’s building official, said there have also been numerous complaints sent to the building department about homeowners who don’t enclose their pools.

“(The ordinance) is largely due to complaints,” said DeMarco. “Now we can honor the complaints.”

At a meeting of the board of representatives’ legislative and rules committee Tuesday evening, city Rep. John Zelinsky, D-11, proposed the penalty for noncompliance be in the form of a $200 fine, which the remainder of the committee unanimously approved.

According to the swimming pool ordinance, every day a pool is found to be in noncompliance with the state building code will constitute a separate violation. Pool owners could face $200 fines from the city each day they fail to bring their property up to code. A letter of warning will be sent first once a violation is spotted.

“Our goal isn’t to raise money,” said Barnes. “Our goal is to bring pools into compliance.”

The ordinance requires a 30-day grace period to allow for corrections to any violations that occur during the first six months after adoption.

The entire board of representatives will vote over publication of the ordinance on Monday. Adoption could occur as early as March.

The city’s law department has the ability to negotiate fines down, said the director of legal affairs, Thomas Cassone. The department lessens land use and zoning fines through negotiation regularly, he said.

While there are thousands of pools in Stamford, particularly in the North Stamford area, Barnes anticipates there won’t be more than dozen violations a year.

Owners of older pools with broken fences or no enclosure will be those most affected by this ordinance, he said.

“The problem with enclosed pools is a serious one,” he said. “It can be a real hazard to young children.”

Swimming pool heating specialists

By Kamini Padayachee - January 26 2009 at 07:11AM - IOL

Woken by a loud crash outside his Umbilo home, a senior Durban police officer ran out to discover the front of a BMW in his swimming pool on Sunday.

Superintendent Jay Naicker said his sleep was interrupted by a loud noise on Sunday morning.

“It was about 3am when I heard a loud bang. I thought it was a car that had gone off the road and crashed.

“I ran out of the house to check, but then I heard the house alarm go off and I realised that the crash had been at my house.”

Naicker said he then found a BMW with its front end in his swimming pool.

“There were a lot of police officers around my house and I thought they had been chasing a hijacker. The car’s front wheels were in the pool. It had crashed through the boundary fencing and then landed in the pool. The electric wire on top of the fence had also come off, which caused the alarm to go off.”

Naicker said the driver of the car fled the scene after the crash.

“The driver of the vehicle was driving recklessly in the Umbilo area in the early hours of the morning. Metro police officers spotted it and chased. The vehicle then smashed into my boundary fence,” he said.

“If the car hadn’t gone into the pool, it would have crashed into the house. The driver managed to escape from the scene after the crash.”

He added that the owner had been traced to the Umbilo area.

“Police located the owner, who also lives in the Umbilo area, and he told us that his son had borrowed the car. He said his son lived at another address.”

Naicker said the driver had already left the other address when officers went looking for him.

“The identity of the driver is known and police are searching for him.

“Police are investigating charges of reckless and negligent driving, malicious damage to property and failure to stop after an accident. Officers have also discovered that the car did not have a licence to be on the road.”

He said the cost of the damage to his fence and pool was still being assessed.

kamini.padayachee@inl.co.za

Swimming pool heating specialists

Monday 26th January 2009 - By Claire Marshall - Gazette

RURAL households that use solid fuel could be in line for a slice of a £90,000 pot of money to install new eco-friendly heating technology.

Stroud District Council has decided to spend the money on a scheme to install ground source heat pumps into properties that cannot access gas.

The pumps are a relatively new environmentally friendly technology to the UK, which use the warmth of the earth to heat water.

The scheme will help a mix of vulnerable and able-to-pay private sector households and £10,000 of the money will contribute to the WISE Homes Renewables Scheme, which offers grants to help people improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

The ground source heat pumps have been trialled in Coaley where several homes are heated with oil or solid fuel.

Cllr Francis Roden, cabinet member for housing, said: “Solid fuel is expensive, difficult to control and bad for the environment. We have been looking at the ground source heat pumps that were installed in Coaley.

“Four of the houses have recorded fuel bills of between £600 and £300 for the year and the average was £400, which we think is very good. We have been told by one resident that the pump has been very effective and easy to maintain.”

However Dennis Andrewartha, district councillor for Cam, said he was concerned about using a new technology that relies on electricity.

He said: “I find this scheme very worrying. It is commendable that the council is doing something about fuel efficiency, but ground source heat pumps are known to be some of the worst technology for cost efficiency.

“The pumps rely on electricity and if costs soar this could leave people with high bills.

“The council installed insulation into the buildings at the same time as the heat pump and this would have made a significant difference to the amount of heating so it is not really a true test of the equipment.”

Cllr Andrewartha pointed out that more sustainable energy sources would be biomass or solar power.

The scheme will start in Frampton-on-Severn, which has no access to gas and has 54 homes that are heated by either oil or solid fuel, the highest number in the district.

Calyenty eco heat pumps