What the Beck? Historic home heated by river heat pump

A stunning waterside property in the village of Crakehall near Bedale, North Yorkshire, has been fitted with an innovative water source heat pump system which generates its energy from Bedale Beck.

Graham Senior and his family have lived in the property for 11 years, but decided to carry out major renovation work, which included replacing their previous oil fired boiler with a heat pump from Danfoss. The property is a substantial six bedroom listed stone built former mill, which mainly dates back to 1740.

Graham Senior said: “I had done lots of research on renewable energy as we were spending over £5k per year on oil, which was rising every year. As part of our renovations, we wanted to make our bills more affordable and to tap into a renewable energy source. Because we have a river close by, a water source heat pump was the perfect option. As this is quite a specialist installation, we needed an installer who really knew what they were doing and we visited a similar installation where AV Commercial had installed a water source heat pump for a visitor attraction and fish farm near Skipton. We were really impressed, so asked them to design and install a system for us!”

He adds: “Michael Valovin was really knowledgeable about heat pumps, which was great as he could advise what would work best for us. It is early days yet as the system has only just been fitted, but we are hoping to reduce our heating bills by at least fifty per cent per year. With the savings we will make on oil, combined with the RHI when it is introduced in spring 2014, the heat pump system should pay for itself in around five years, hopefully less.”

AV Commercial designed a system which includes two DHP-L 12 kW ground source heat pumps fitted in an open loop method to extract water from Bedale Beck, which at the closest point is 12 feet away from the property. The system draws water into a well and then pumps it into a plant room 150 feet from the river, where it enters a 1,100 litre settling tank with reverse washable filter and two heat exchangers deliver heat from river water to the brine loop. The house itself features a Danfoss 400 litre hot water cylinder and a 200 litre buffer tank.

Mr Senior required an Abstraction Licence from the Environment Agency, which is essential for anyone using more than 20m3 from a natural water source.

Michael Valovin from AV Commercial explains: “Water source heat pumps are becoming increasing popular, because they are the most efficient type available. The water in the Beck has a relatively high temperature – of around 9 degrees centigrade in summer, down to 5 degrees in winter, which means that it optimises the running of the heat pump. Using a water source system also meant there was much less need for ground works that with a ground source system, which made it more cost effective and quicker to install. We are confident that the Senior family will make major savings on their heating over the next few years and will enjoy the comfort of having a constantly warm living environment.”

The two 12 kW heat pumps supply the property with space heating through under floor heating and oversized radiators in some areas of the property. The heat pump also supplies the home’s hot water needs.

Chris Dale from Danfoss Heat Pumps, said: “It made perfect sense on this project for the Senior family to take advantage of natural resources near the property. Water source heat pumps provide a high coefficient of performance, which results in exceptional energy savings and a very natural and sustainable way to provide heating and hot water for a property.”

Open loop water source heat pumps are a tried and tested method in Scandinavia and other Northern European countries, where there are many properties located close to water.

Danfoss has built its reputation on manufacturing high quality heat pumps for both commercial and domestic applications. The company has a network of approved installers throughout the UK, which it supports through training, as well as with technical and design advice, commissioning and after-sales service.

AV Commercial has 10 years’ experience in the heating industry, including four years in the design and installation of heat pump systems in the North of England. The company supplies system designs, installations, and any required associated services to both residential and commercial building projects of any size.

For installations within the North of England, contact AV Commercial via the website www.ag-energy.co.uk or telephone 0113 2172973. AG Energy is a trading name of AV Commercial.

More advice can be found on the website www.heatpumps.danfoss.co.uk or by calling: 0114 2703900.