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• The power of your solar panel system – there's no point buying a higher capacity battery if your system will never generate enough electricity to charge it
• How often you think you will need to charge your battery
• Your budget
• Whether you care about having the latest technology and a recognisable brand name

There are two main types of air source heat pump: air-to-water and air-to-air. They work in different ways and have different advantages and disadvantages. Make sure you do your research so you know which one is best for you. Alternatively a registered installer will be able to determine the best type for your property.

Are you currently considering installing a ground source heat pump in your home? Well, a heat pump can be a great alternative when compared to gas or oil boiler, however, you may also be worried about the operating efficiency of this heating system if you live in a cold climate or during the winter months. However, in reality, there’s nothing to be worried about!

A ground source heat pump works by incorporating the natural heat that’s typically found in the ground or groundwater. In other words, this type of heat pump doesn’t make use of fossil fuels to heat your home while it can also minimize carbon emissions that may pose a huge risk to the environment. This makes a popular option especially amongst home and property owners who are very environment conscious and prefers to utilize more renewable sources of energy.

However in a place such as the UK where the temperature can drop to around -10℃ during the winter months, it may get you thinking whether there’ll be enough heat in the ground to warm up your home. Let’s have a look.

In the UK, the temperature of the ground doesn’t normally fall less than 10℃. This is still enough heat for the ground source heat pump to warm up your home. In other words, as long as you purchase the right one, your ground source heat pump will continue to work just fine during the cold months. Due to the fact that every heat pump varies, you will need the right equipments so as to ensure the heat pump works well throughout the winter. This is usually not an issue in the UK, but same can not be said of colder places like Canada and North America.

If you’re thinking about installing a solar thermal system in your house, it’s always important to put into consideration numerous factors before you proceed. While some solar thermal systems are suitable for use at home, there are also some that are suitable for businesses or organizations which normally requires a big amount of hot water like hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals and many more. You’ll also find some types available in the market that are suitable for communities to satisfy communal hot water demands.

It should, however, be noted that solar thermal systems do not have the capacity to produce all the hot water demand of a house. In the UK, an average household will need an annual water heating of between 3000kWh to 5000kWh. Whereas, a solar thermal system is only able to meet about 40 percent to 60 percent of this demand.

With that in mind, it’s also worth noting that during the summer months when the solar radiation is at its peak and hot water demand is relatively lower when compared to other seasons, a solar thermal system may be able to provide all of your household’s hot water needs. This implies that during this period you may not find the need to operate your boiler at all. However, during winter or colder months, when you have a higher hot water demands in contrary to a lower solar radiation, a solar thermal system will only be able to take care of about 20 percent of your household’s hot water needs. And that ultimately implies that during this period, you’ll need to rely more on a alternative or backup source of heat like gas, coal, electricity, oil or LPG.

Air source heat pumps work by absorbing heat from the outside air and transferring it inside to heat up your property.

An air source heat pump has an outdoor unit containing a refrigerant. This absorbs heat from the air and passes into a compressor, where the temperature is increased. The heat then transfers either into water, which feeds into your wet heating system, or into air, which is dispersed around your property.

Air source heat pumps need electricity to run, but this is to power the compressor rather than directly generate heat.

If you’re thinking of adding a solar battery to your home, you might be wondering whether or not it’s going to work in a power cut. If yes, then you’re not alone as this is one of the most common questions asked when it comes to solar batteries. In this post, we aim to provide you with a detailed answer to solve this concern once and for all.

The answer to this question is, it depends. The main reason why your solar batteries will usually not work or provide your home with the much-needed back up power is as a result of the several threats it poses. You should be aware that both your solar panels and battery are connected to the main grid. When a power cut occurs, your engineers will have to operate on the grid. If the solar panels or batteries are in operation at the period there’s a high chance the engineers would be electrocuted by the electricity that’s being produced. As a result of this, solar inverters are usually designed to automatically switch off once a power cut occurs. However, it should also be noted that if your solar battery possesses backup functionality, you’ll be able to make use of your solar energy in the event of a power cut. In other words, what determines if your home battery would work in a power cut is the availability or otherwise of a backup functionality.

Furthermore, you might also wish to know if your solar panels will continue to charge the battery in a power cut. Well, this depends on the type of backup system you possess. There are some more affordable batteries that are designed to automatically release their stored energy upon the detection of a power cut. And this is mostly because the battery inverter is usually smaller than the solar inverter which allows the energy from the solar inverter to the transmitted to the battery - risking an overload. However, if otherwise, then energy can continue to be transmitted to the battery until its fully charged.

Many domestic biomass boilers are no bigger than a standard gas boiler. However, they do require a flue, a feeder and a space to store the fuel. These can be designed to suit many different properties and will fit in lots of homes or a garage or outbuilding.

Air source heat pumps work by taking heat from the air and using it to heat your home. They absorb heat from the air into a fluid, which then goes to a compressor where it gets hotter. This heat is then used to warm up water or air, which is distributed around your home.

First and foremost, you should know that heat pump is simply a device whose primary function is the transmission of thermal energy from one spot to the other. A good example can be found in the refrigerators whereby the evaporation as well as cooling of a liquid is incorporated to lower the storage compartment’s temperature. In recent times, this whole technology is utilized to draw the potential thermal energy present in the air outside and transmit it directly to the home or property where it’s going to be compressed and the heat transferred with the help of a number of coils. This is exactly what an air source heat pump does as it absorbs heat from the air and convert it into a higher temperature using a compressor. How the air source heat pump works is really simple, it’s just like a refrigerator but in reverse. Let’s take a look!

• The air source heat pump extracts heat present in the outside air into a liquid refrigerant at a reduced temperature.
• The pump then compresses the liquid to increase its temperature with the help of electricity. Once done, it then compresses it back to liquid so as to free the heat stored.
• The heat released is then directed to the radiators or under floor heating, while the ones left would be stored in the hot water cylinder.
• The hot water that’s stored can be used for showers, baths as well as taps.

Overall, the air source heat pump is an efficient way to make your home warm. It makes use of electricity to function, but it should consume lower electrical energy than the heat it generates.