Ground Source Heat Pump Makes a Home Sweet Home

The cold, harsh winter left many of us in a state of home heating inconvenience; burst and frozen pipes were widespread whilst many of us suffered from power cuts and even flooding. Overall, Mr Frost isn't the most popular man around town.

But if you're thinking of a new strategy to keep your home ticking over next winter, have you considered a ground source heat pump?

Unknown to many, ground temperatures remain relatively stable throughout the year, making a ground source heat pump an excellent source of warmth all year round, even in winter.

While ground surface temperatures can dip to -10 or -15 degrees Centigrade, the temperature one metre below the surface remains at around 8 degrees (or between 5 and 10 degrees in any case). This is the depth at which the ground source heat pump coil is located, in a horizontal array system.

In effect, this means that a ground source heat pump will provide low-cost heat to your home, 365 days a year.

In the winter, an air source heat pump system extracts heat from outdoor air and transfers it inside where it is circulated through your home's radiators or underfloor heating. Even cold air contains a great deal of heat; the temperature at which air no longer carries any heat is well below -20 degrees Centigrade.

Ground source heat pumps have been used in Sweden, the US and Canada for nearly 20 years. They're now a mass-market product and costs have plummeted - is it time you looked into ground source heat pump heating for your home?