Cyprus has sunshine and plenty of it but we do get cooler winters and this means we need to heat our homes, and for the last thirty years or so this has been done in various ways: log burners, open fires, gas and oil central heating systems and in recent years Air conditioning units have been used. However this century has brought us Heat Pumps.
There is a push by the world governments to use heat pumps to lower emissions.
Cyprus has been using the sunshine to heat its domestic water for a very long time with huge success. With the increasing popularity of solar panels being fitted to homes to generate electricity it makes sense to harvest some for our heating needs.
Heat Pump Central Heating Systems in Paphos Cyprus
So what is a Heat Pump?
A Heat Pump is just like an Air Conditioner except that it can heat your home via underfloor heating or radiators. The idea is that the Heat Pump will extract heat from the atmosphere and exchange it into your central heating system, heating your radiators or floor, that is the simplistic version.
The idea of a Heat Pump especially with underfloor heating is to give a low grade heat over a longer period and slowly building up a comfortable steady ambient temperature making it cozy and warm.
The fact that Cyprus has lots of sunshine does help the argument that a well fitted photovoltaic (PV) arrangement will offset the cost of gas or oil keeping your heating bills lower. But you do need to do the math and make sure that the electricity your PV is producing will give you more then the heat pump will use, bearing in mind that Cyprus electricity is not cheap! in some cases it may not be enough, but accumulated credits can be used up and it will at least take the sting out of your heating bill.
With this in mind and with a well insulated building it will work very well indeed.
Can I replace my old boiler with a new Heat Pump?
The answer is of course... But there are things that need to be considered first.
1, what kind of central heating you already have, is it with radiators fixed to the wall or do you have underfloor heating? if you have underfloor heating or (UFH) for short then it should be quite simple. UFH requires less heat input into the system typically around 30 to 40 deg c and this is normally set over a long period to slowly warm the floor so the heat pump is ideal for this.
2, if you have wall mounted panel radiators then a couple of things need to be considered because they work at higher temperatures, sometimes 70 to 80 degrees . The 'Hero Xs' can output up to 75deg c this heat pump should cope quite well, otherwise the radiators will need to be upgraded in size which isn't ideal.
Will I need to upgrade my electricity supply?
In most cases the power supply to the house should be OK, but this does need to be checked out first, the smaller heat pumps use a single phase supply and consume around 5 kw but the larger ones will need a three phase supply. This will be looked at during the survey. A dedicated supply will need to be installed for the heat pump.
if you have photovoltaic solar panels then this will need to be calculated too, to see if you have enough capacity and to make it worthwhile.
As mentioned above good building insulation is also a good idea otherwise your house may struggle to get up to temperature. Today here in Cyprus there are quite a few companies the can accommodate this.
Will the Heat Pump be easy to control?
Sendo Heat Pumps come with a control panel that can be installed indoors and is designed to control the whole system, it is used to set temperatures, modes and parameters, basically anything involved with the heat pump.
However your old system probably has its own controls that you are used to, so these can be used to control times and room temperature .
The heat pump also comes with WiFi and can be run from the Sendo application for those of you that are familiar with smart controls in your home. This could be useful for switching it on and off from places outside the home.
Can I use a heat pump for cooling my house?
The Heat pump has the ability to cool the hose too by reversing the refrigeration cycle this will be used to pump cooler water through the floors or radiators, how effective this is is yet to be proved, but I think with the underfloor method it would definitely cool the floor but I do suspect that there would be condensation issues, a portable dehumidifier would help in this situation but personally I would stick to my wall mounted ac units that way the humidity will be drained off outside.
The heat pump can also be configured to heat the hot water cylinder again because they are designed for low grade heating I suspect it might not be that good. Here in Cyprus most houses have solar hot water systems that are excellent and free to heat, alternatively you are likely to have a hot water element for the cloudy days.
Introducing the Sendo Hero-X
Sendo Hero-X DC Inverter Air Source heat pumps transfer heat from the ambient air to water, providing high-temp. Hot water up to 60°C. The unique high-temp. The heat pump is widely used for house warming. With innovative & advanced technology, the heat pump can operate very well at -30℃ ambient temp. With high output temp’s up to 60℃, which ensures the compatibility with normal sized radiator-based systems without supplementation. Compared with traditional oil /LPG boilers, Sendo Hero-X DC Inverter heat pump produces up to 50% less CO2 whilst saves 80% running cost.
Our heat pumps are not only highly efficient, but also easy and safe to operate.
(from the sendo manual)
7. American Copeland compressor ensures outstanding performance, ultra-energy efficiency, durability and quiet
operation.
8. Self-diagnostic control panel monitors and troubleshoots heat pump operations to ensure safe and reliable operation.
9. Intelligent digital controller with friendly user interface and blue LED back light.
10. Separate isolated electrical compartment prevents internal corrosion and extends heat pump life.
11. The heat pump can operate down to ambient air temp. of -30℃。
12. Outlet Water Temperature (OWT) Selection.
The recommended design OTW ranges for different types of heating systems are:
• For floor heating :30 to 38⁰C.
• For fan coil units :35 to 45⁰C.
• For temperature radiators panel :45 to 50⁰C.
General Features
1. Low running costs and high efficiency
·A high coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 5 results in lower running costs compared with traditional ASHP technology. No immersion heater supplement is required.
2. Reduced Capital Costs with Simple installation
3. High Comfort Levels
·High storage temp. results in increased hot water availability.
4. No potential danger of any inflammable, gas poisoning, explosion, fire, electrical shock which are associated with other heating systems.
5. A digital controller is incorporated to maintain the desired water temp.
6. Long-life and corrosion resistant composite cabinet stands up to severe climates.
So what are the costs involved?
Replacing things these days are never cheap especially when it comes to heating and cooling and this does need to be considered before going forward. The cheapest heat pump starts from €4000 plus installation costs and support materials. There may be extra costs for upgrading your electricity supply possibly from single phase to three phase for the larger units also the cost of your solar Photovoltaic array needs to be considered if you don't already have it installed.
The benefits though can be very good, no more gas or oil bills and we've all seen how much this has gone up over the years. If your solar system is large enough then no electricity bills either. there are other benefits too like no smelly oil spills or gas wasted because of a tiny leak and the noise levels are very low and this is not to mention the reduction of pollution.
So all in all maybe a heat pump system is a good fit for you.