|
|
|
Heat Pumps for the Grocotts |
|
|
|
Nu-Heat designed and supplied heat pumps for a series of installations for the Grocott family in Shropshire. The Grocotts own and manage the Grocontinental international and storage business which has an annual turnover of £21million. Father Ray Grocott is Chairman and his children David and Linda are joint Managing Directors. The family is very energy-focused and interested in renewables. Having worked extensively in Europe they have a good grounding in alternative housing and the practicalities of heat pump technology. The installations carried out for the family who live in off gas properties comprised an air source heat pump with underfloor for Ray's home, two air source heat pumps with underfloor and solar for David's home and a ground source heat pump with underfloor and solar for Linda's home.
Ray's home is a new-build, the last property to be built on the Prees housing development, one of the first of such developments to benefit from heat pump systems (and installed by Gareth). Ray's property is quite unusual; he could only get planning permission for a bungalow, so most of the lower half of the house is built below ground. Gareth Wilson of Wilson Plumbing & Heating worked with Nu-Heat to design a heating system based around a NIBE air source heat pump. The atypical set up of the house required a high / low temperature split as the ground floor needed to be cooler than the first floor, the opposite to usual!
Linda's home was set to be renovated, and she was clear that she wanted a sustainable heating system. A NIBE ground source heat pump was specified by Nu-Heat, as there was plenty of land for to lay the ground loops. Linda was so pleased with the performance that she has since commissioned the installation of a Hitachi YUTAKI air source heat pump for her gym/sauna extension.
At David's home, a ground source heat pump had previously been installed by an electrical company, and was not working efficiently. Additionally the system drew water up from a well which was rapidly drying out. The solution put forward by Nu-Heat comprised the linking of two Hitachi YUTAKI ASHP in series, one to feed the main house and the other to feed the remainder of the house and the annex. The integrated system included underfloor heating and solar thermal. There was no record of this linking having been achieved before, so Gareth approached the installation with great care to ensure that the system would achieve optimum performance. Installation was carried out during the summer months so there was no disruption to heating requirements. The hot water changeover was completed within a day. As this system was so unique, the handover was carried out over a number of days; the customer was present when the set-up was undertaken and was given comprehensive instructions on how to use and programme the system. After installation, Gareth returned to the property on a few occasions to make final tweaks. The Grocott family are delighted with the heat pump installations.
|
|
|
|
|
