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Gardening with an air source heat pump

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  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    edited March 2023
    Not in our house, we only have two thermostats, one up, one down. You could adjust the radiators per room, but the doors would have to be closed at all times. The heater that's in the same room as the thermostat can't be adjusted, so other heaters must be based on that one. Also, if you did that, you should leave it that way rather than modifying the pressure in the pipes all the time. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    That’s what I’m thinking Jenny,  are these heat pump systems as good as they tell us,  are they good ‘greenwise’ .

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • JennyJ said:
    Oof!  Never mind the house plants, I think I would expire from heat exhaustion if my house was 21°C in the daytime and 18°C at night! Air coming out of the unit at -13 day and night all winter can't be good for whatever's planted nearby.





    Lol, sorry for misleading. It's not expelling -13 all day or all night or even all hour. It's not running at full pelt all the time. It did that when it was -7 outside which only happened once. We have a buffer tank to stop it from short cycling like that. If you want to set the house to 15 degrees, you can. It would be much better for the planet! But most people hate having a frost bitten nose when they wake up. ;)
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Right, thank you,   that’s good then,  as two people had said it was set to 21 I thought that was it. 
    Is it more economical that gas,  oil is very cheap compared,  but not ‘green’ 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Lyn said:
    That’s what I’m thinking Jenny,  are these heat pump systems as good as they tell us,  are they good ‘greenwise’ .

    It's so great that you're asking these questions! Our main objective was to stop burning dirty fuel, and we have certainly done that. Octopus promises 100% renewable, but to take "pressure" off the grid, we're right in the middle of a solar+battery installation.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Thanks for the clarification! The air that it kicks out must be colder than ambient though (that's how it works isn't it?) so you'd have to be quite careful to only plant bone-hardy things near it.
    I find myself wondering if anyone's invented an air pump system with a "reverse" setting to cool the indoors in summer? I guess that would negate the environmental benefits though.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I think at our age, I wouldn’t bother with the solar, as well as living in a damp usually cloudy area as in living up in the clouds, where we don’t get that good summers.  It wouldn’t be worth the cost but several people around do have them. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • JennyJ said:
    Thanks for the clarification! The air that it kicks out must be colder than ambient though (that's how it works isn't it?) so you'd have to be quite careful to only plant bone-hardy things near it.
    I find myself wondering if anyone's invented an air pump system with a "reverse" setting to cool the indoors in summer? I guess that would negate the environmental benefits though.
    Correct, it takes air in and "squishes" the energy/heat out of it into the house, leaving cold air to come out the other side :D
    Ours is capable of cooling, but it's not set up because we had to promise RHI not to use cooling in order to get the grant. As it's using the same equipment, I don't know why it might be worse for the environment, but I've never looked into it :)
  • Lyn said:
    I think at our age, I wouldn’t bother with the solar, as well as living in a damp usually cloudy area as in living up in the clouds, where we don’t get that good summers.  It wouldn’t be worth the cost but several people around do have them. 

    Dartmoor should be good for it no? Interesting. Yep, it's just not fair that when we'll need solar most (winter) it will be the least effective. We're doing the batteries too, and I hope it goes according to plan. We can charge them with solar and at the super cheap rate at night. That gives a bit of energy when there really is no sun because Australia's got it
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    JennyJ said:
    Oof!  Never mind the house plants, I think I would expire from heat exhaustion if my house was 21°C in the daytime and 18°C at night! Air coming out of the unit at -13 day and night all winter can't be good for whatever's planted nearby.





    Gosh, I would expire from cold exposure in your house! Ours is 21° downstairs and 18° upstairs, but off at night.

    My daughter has a heat pump with underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. In a cold winter the downstairs isn't quite warm enough so they've just had a wood burner installed. It's a big old farmhouse in W. France.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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