Using warmth from the ground to heat your home.
The heat of a UK summer doesn’t just disappear into thin air. Some of it is absorbed and stored by the ground beneath our feet, which keeps a constant temperature of
around 10 to 14°C all year round at a depth of 10 metres below the surface.
What’s more, ground source heat pumps use this warmth to heat your rooms and even your water.
Ground source heat pumps are powered by electricity, but for every unit of electricity used, three to four units of heat are produced.
This kind of system could provide all of your home’s heating: significantly cutting your bills – and reducing the amount of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) you release into the atmosphere.
A ground loop made up of lengths of pipe is buried in the ground – either in a deep borehole or a long trench. The pipe will be filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze fluid, which is pumped round the ground loop to absorb heat from the
ground.
In the same way that your fridge uses refrigerant to extract the heat from inside the fridge, keeping your food cool, a ground source heat pump extracts heat from the ground and uses it to heat your home. The pump’s evaporator takes in the heat
absorbed by the ground loop and a compressor gets it to the right temperature for your heating system. Only then will a condenser transfer heat from the pump to a hot water tank. In turn, the tank will feed your home’s heat distribution
system – under-floor heating or radiators – to heat your home and, in some cases, your hot water. Ground source heat pumps can work with radiators, but under-floor heating is better as it works at a lower temperature.
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