Ground Source Heat Pump in Small Victorian House

In July 2009 Nick and Anna from H & R SERVICES (OXFORD) LTD replaced an oil boiler with a 6kw Ground Source Heat Pump in their own home.

"The purpose of this install was to show our customers that Heat Pumps can be suitable for all sorts of properties. We live in a small Victorian semi-detached house with no cavity wall insulation, radiators throughout and a relatively small garden. We have two small children so our hot water requirement is fairly high and my wife often works from home. I felt that, if I could show that a heat pump was a cost-effective heating solution for my home, I could confidently recommend them to our customers.

Due to the size of our garden, we decided to install heat collector panels at a depth of 1.5m. During one morning our entire garden was moved into the field behind our house, the panels were laid on soft sand to prevent ruptures to the pipework and the area was back filled, raked, rolled and seeded later that week. We couldn't squeeze the heat pump into the position where our oil boiler had been so we custom built a plant room on the outside wall of the house where the old oil tank had been.

The Heat Pump was connected to the existing radiators which meant there was only a small amount of plumbing to be done inside the house. Our heat pump has exceeded all our expectations. Even during severe weather our house has been lovely and warm and we have loads of hot water. We have also been really pleased with our electricity bills which are less than our previous electricity and oil bills combined despite recent electricity price rises."