The ground source heat pump was delivered on Monday and we have spent the last couple of days getting it installed. Most of the pipework is now installed, however, there is probably another day’s worth of pipework to go. The electrician is due in tomorrow to start wiring it up.
We hope that the system will be up and running (although in a limited capacity) by the end of the week. This will mean that we should have heat in the building over the festive period. Because we have laid new concrete floors these need to be dried out – and slowly otherwise we risk them cracking. We also want to dry out all the wood (particularly the oak) very slowly – otherwise there is a risk that this will crack too.
As you can see from the photograph below, this kit takes up a lot of space. We have done the best job we can of reducing the amount of space it occupies (including installing a couple of steel beams to hold the tanks), but even so the utility room does look more like a plant room at the moment!
If you are planning on installing this kind of kit, it would be wise to ensure that you have enough space for it. Our house isn’t small and we are struggling to provide enough space. It needs significant planning well ahead of installation time. This isn’t an issue that the providers make particularly clear when selling the kit (surprise, surprise!).
The ground source heat pump (the unit that looks like a fridge/freezer) is a Nibe 1145. There is probably another day’s worth of pipework still to go in. These systems are complex and take up significant space – this is starting to look like a plant room!