Heat pumps and fossil-free building heating
Heat pumps for fossil-free building heating are a good alternative now that the government has put down the prohibition against building heating fired with diesel. The advantages of using heat pumps are great.
Firstly, a heat pump will use less electricity than a traditional fan heater. A COP of 3 or 4 is common, which means that for every kW you put in, you get 3 to 4 times out. This in turn means lower operating costs. With electricity prices as we see now, this is a favorable solution.
Secondly, there will often be limits on how much electricity can be extracted from a construction site. Here, a fossil-free heat pump will contribute in a positive direction. If you go over 63A it can present challenges, and if you go over 125A there is almost always a problem.
Different types of heating sources
As mentioned in the article fossil-free building heating there are several heating methods that can be used to boast fossil-free and emission-free. As mentioned earlier, we think that heat pumps used for fossil-free building heating have some clear advantages compared to fan heaters.
The two most applicable heat pumps are air-to-air heat pumps and air-to-water heat pumps. The main difference is that the former supplies hot air directly, while the latter produces hot water.
Which output is best suited to heat pumps used for building heating?
What effect can be expected from a heat pump for fossil-free building heating is always a recurring question. We tend to say that the range of 25-90kW emitted power is a good size. Then you cover most needs, and you stay within the available power as previously mentioned.
The outside temperature plays a significant role, both for the current drawn and the power output. A reduction in the outside temperature of 1 degree normally results in a reduction measured in output power of around 2-4%. For that reason, it is good to know what kind of temperatures the heat pump is designed for, also called nominal power.
