My Family purchased a Kensa Evo Heat Pump in 2020 and Project Managed its installation. See our guide to Shared Ground Loop Arrays Related Content The pipes are still insulated but only to prevent condensation, not to retain heat.Īs such, there is no heat loss from the system to contribute to overheating in risers and corridors.įurthermore, as the cold side infrastructure extends all the way to the individual property, it is relatively straightforward to add passive cooling to the system. This eliminates any heat loss through the distribution pipework. The ambient heat circulating the building is low temperature (-5☌ to 20☌), and the higher grade heat for each dwelling is produced by the heat pump at the point of use.

In this decentralised approach to district heating, a Shared Ground Loop Array connects ground arrays, such as boreholes, to individual ground source heat pumps in each dwelling. How can ground source heat pumps prevent overheating in buildings?Īmbient Shared Ground Loop Arrays avoid the common overheating, heat loss and energy waste problems associated with district heating entirely. It could even be contributing to associated health problems. Over time, the pipe insulation degrades and often parts of it get damaged, making the problem worse – and of course, these heat losses also have to be paid for in energy bills.Įven if the central plant technology being used to provide heat is energy efficient and reduces climate change and air pollution, it can still worsen the overheating issue within the building. In summer this can cause the building to overheat. Pipe insulation degrades over timeĪlthough the pipes in such traditional central plant district heating schemes are insulated, they will still leak some heat into the building. This method of transferring heat throughout the building raises the temperature within the building, resulting in further overheating. The system doesn’t know when each flat or office wants heating or hot water, so the high temperature circulating the pipework has to be maintained 24/7. In this system, hot water typically circulates at 65☌ to 85☌ through a network of pipes around the building. In such buildings, a traditional district heating system with a central plant is likely being used. Modern properties, particularly apartment and office blocks, are well insulated and tend to have large amounts of glazing, making them prone to overheating. Now, in many modern commercial buildings, the demand for cooling is almost greater than the need for heating. All of these factors highlight the need for cooling in domestic and commercial buildings.

Buildings can overheat for a number of reasons: warmer summers, glazed exteriors, improvements in insulation standards.

System cooling policy