air to air ASHP in a loft?

[Other-Power]

Hi all,

I have been able to get hold of an air to air ASHP http://www.ecoheatpumpdistribution.co.uk/.

It is a 3kWt unit claimed COP of 3 plus a 1kW boost function through a direct electric heating coil.

The unit is designed to be fitted into a wall, which I think is a cracking idea, thing is I have no wall I can put it on, end of terrace onto the road and not able to fit on the gable wall.  Solid 3 foot thick walls.

Im not to flush with money atm and money I have got is being spent on insulation for the walls (50mm all round).

I have a couple of rads upstairs on a backboiler from a wood burner but could do with instant heat and panel heaters cost to much to run.

I have no gas.

I am thinking of putting the ASHP in the loft and ducting air to it from outside via the fasia boards.  I will then duct the hot air and the return into the bedrooms below.

I know there are a couple of people on here with ASHP in their lofts, the misses is saying noise will be to much, how can this be got around?

My idea so far is to suspend the unit from the timbers on a giant inner tube from a lorry or similar and or use bungies.
The unit weights ~40kG.

I would be intrested of other ideas or thoughts please?

cheers

Jon

[knighty]

I think... you're probably better off waiting and trying to get something else better suited to your house...


it looks like it will be hard to duct the air in/out of it... and if you manage to suspend it in air to cut down on vibration the ducts will need to be flexible too

it will need quite a lot of airflow to the 'outside' bit... the idea being it's easier to try and pull a little bit of heat from a lot of air than a lot of heat form a little bit of air

if you duct into the bedroom, you'll need ducts down to the floor or you'll end up with a pocket of warm air at ceiling hight and the rest of the room will be cold

just the fan noise will probably be too loud for you to have on when you sleep

 sorry to be so negative - but if I were you I'd rather find this stuff out sooner than later


you might be better off selling it and the putting the money towards another heat source or more insulation ?

if you only need it to take the chill off the bedroom overnight/in the morning, have you thought about E7 power and a night storage heater ?

especially if it's only really needed in winter... the COP of the heat pump will fall in the winter closing the performance gap considerably
(especially when you have the wood stove to do the rest of the heating)

put the money towards solar thermal ?

or sell it and buy a heat pump better suited to your needs ?  if you're only looking for something in the 3kw range most modern air con systems work as heat pumps too ? (and only need a couple of pipes and a wire through the wall)
(probably too noisy for the bedroom again)


if you post up a rough plan of your house / insulation / heat sources I'm sure someone will be along to tell you there experiences and point you in the right direction :-)

[martin]

I agree - flog it quick and buy some night-storage heaters!  - work very well, make no noise and are much under-rated!