A Banbury based gas heating specialist has successfully completed his first ever installation of an air-source heat pump (ASHP) using one of ESBE’s renowned 4-Way valves, as part of a significant energy upgrade to his own home which, being off-gas grid, had formerly been reliant on an oil-fired boiler. SMH Gas Specialist Ltd. was originally set up by Mark Hall’s father back in the eighties and has built up a strong reputation serving customers across Oxfordshire and beyond, mainly being involved with high end domestic houses and renovations.With the main part of the property comprising a 300-year-old brick structure, with much later extensions in both solid wall and cavity wall construction, the heat loss calculation generated a worrying figure of 20kW across the 250m2 home.Significant fabric improvements were therefore required across the building envelope before even a high-performance heat pump could be considered.However, having recently completed a course at the renowned Northampton Heating Academy and Heat Geek training, Mark also sought to find efficiencies by employing the ESBE valve to help address the costly ‘defrost cycle’ which affects most ASHP set-ups in colder weather.
Mark explained: “Because we mainly undertake moderate scale domestic gas installations, my first experience of fitting an ESBE valve was in building a plant room for someone else to accommodate a heat pump, but last year ESBE’s Managing Director, Darren Myers, invited me on a trip to see the company’s manufacturing plant in Sweden, which I thought was awesome. So, one of the main reasons I went for the Viessmann Vitocal 150-A, 13 kW heat pump is that they have the ESBE 4-Way valve which not only handles the inflow, then the heating and hot water side, but the fourth port goes to an integral 16 litre buffer tank – housed within the internal unit – which is used just for the defrost cycle. Therefore, the system is not pulling heat from the house when it needs to dispel the frost build up, which is more of a problem in our moist British climate, than say on the continent. It is a problem that affects both comfort levels and system efficiency and the ESBE valve is at the heart of the solution.”
Having carried out fabric upgrade, which included installing cavity wall insulation in the more modern extension and sheep’s wool insulation between the floor joists, as well as topping up the loft insulation, it meant the heating load could be met by a single twin fan heat pump – delivering space heating and hot water for a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house.
Now ready to reoccupy the renovated home, Mark reflected: “Once we're in the house and heating the place fully and using hot water, we expect to achieve an overall efficiency of 400% - against a UK average figure of around 300%. Coupled with the OVO heat pump tariff offering 15 pence KWh any time of the day, we’re expecting the house to be warm 24/7, and cost a lot less than the intermittent oil heating previously installed.”
“The ESBE 4-way valve in the Viessmann indoor unit improves performance of the heat pump. This is due to the unique way the defrosts are done very quickly, not pulling energy from the house. This means it maintains performance, heating the house for longer - without breaks to defrost - when you need it most: when it’s coldest outside.”
The ESBE range of advanced hydronic products is available UK wide through its distributor partners, while the company offers both technical support and training for its growing number of installer customers.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:DARREN MYERS, MANAGING DIRECTOR UK & IRELAND.ESBE LTD.SUITE 34, HARDMANS BUSINESS CENTRE, NEW HALL HEY ROAD, ROSSENDALE BB4 6HH.
TEL:07990 783701EMAIL: darren.myers@esbe.eu-WEBSITE: https://esbe.eu/uk
