Ground source heat pump

[CatUnderTheStairs]

Anyone with any experience or view Such? Moving to a 1920s semi that has oil heating and gas cooking.

We briefly looked into it, but have discounted it for the following:

Would destroy the garden to lay the piping required, our garden was very carefully planned, has different levels, and is well established.

If the alternative deep borehole was used, might hit old mine shafts.

The heat generated would be lower than we can achieve through other means, so we'd need some kind of top up in the house anyway.

We also briefly looked at biomass, but the installation costs were very high (as is ground source heat), although they should be offset by the government incentive plans. The other thing was the storage required for the pellets and the equipment itself was too much for our space.

We're looking to replace our oil boiler, but the more eco friendly alternatives just aren't there yet for our needs. Very disappointing, I'd rather be helping the environment, but I think the industry just needs to develop further.

We have one. Even in our drafty single-glazed farmhouse it works well - because we have underfloor heating throughout.

Unless you have plans for a full refurb and installation of underfloor heating I wouldn't recommend. Heat pumps (ASHP or GSHP) work best producing constant warm water rather than hot - as such you would need much larger radiators than with an oil system.

Also you need a large area of garden for the traditional ground loop - at quite a depth.

We have air source heat pumps. Yes, the hot water isn’t quite as hot but we didn’t change all the radiators from our oil fires system. However we had plenty of capacity! We run underfloor heating off it too and we are happy but we have no gas in the village and getting an oil tanker to us required if parking in someone else’s drive. We had to change to be self sufficient.

We already had a lovely garden and decided air source wasn’t for us. It does need a lot of ground and it’s hugely disruptive. Best for big houses in grounds that are being refurbished.

I have Biomass.

Have a danish pellet boiler. Yes, expensive, but the RHI payments cover the whole cost of it basically.

I can service it myself, always works, and it if jams I pings me a text saying "I can't fire atm' so I turn on the cleaning mode and it clears.

Went from £2k to £3K of oil to £600 on pellets per year.

My dads new build has it, works perfectly, will pay itself off so worth it. BUT he has a couple of acres behind the house, you need a LOT of space to make it work well, and it’s very expensive to install, would have thought hard on a pre-built house?

I’m doing a new build but having an air source as the space and expense is too much.

@Anonymous1419

I have Biomass.

Have a danish pellet boiler. Yes, expensive, but the RHI payments cover the whole cost of it basically.

I can service it myself, always works, and it if jams I pings me a text saying "I can't fire atm' so I turn on the cleaning mode and it clears.

Went from £2k to £3K of oil to £600 on pellets per year.

Sorry to revive this zombie but I’m moving to Shetland to a 300 year old building and there’s no gas, electric is v expensive. Which danish pellet boiler do you have, please? And this is for your heating and hot water too?