The use of heat pumps for domestic heating

R.D. Heap and C.J. Blundell

Utilisation des pompes de

chaleur pour le chauffage
domestique
On indique les besoins auxquels doit faire face une
pompe de chaleur satisfaisante pour le chauffage
domestique en Grande-Bretagne et on fait ressortir
les d#fauts de quelques ~quipements existants en
s'appuyant sur les r#sultats de mesures dans des
installations pilotes.

The requirements to be met by a successful domestic

heating heat pump in Britain are outlined, and the
deficiencies of some existing equipment are
highlighted, based on measured results in pilot
installations.
One possible improved heat pump system is
For a heat pump to be successful, it must appeal to
both the customer and the manufacturer. The
requirements to be met bya domestic space
heating heat pump in Britain are considered below.
and the deficiencies of the presently available, US
manufactured equipment for this application are
discussed. There is a clear need for the
development of new heat pump units for the British
market. The characteristics of one such unit, which
is currently being developed to demonstrate the
effectiveness of appropriately designed equipment,
are detailed below.

Heat pump requirements

Genera/ requJrements The requirements which a
heat pump must meet if it is to be suitable for a
large British domestic market are as follows:
1. There is no need for cooling in the majority of
British houses, and there is no tradition of
mechanical ventilation. Winter conditions are
mild (-1C design outdoor temperature). These
factors mean that a successful, mass-produced
unit will use outdoor air as a heat source, and will
require a defrost mechanism other than cycle
reversal.
2. There is strong competition in the domestic
heating market, particularly from low cost North
Sea gas. A heat pump therefore must not have
The authors are at the Electricity Council Research Centre,
Capenhurst, Chester, CH1 6ES, UK
Paper presented to IIR Commission E1, Belgrade, Yugoslavia

102

01 4 0 - 7 0 0 7 / 7 9 / 0 2 0 1 0 2 - 0 3

$02.00

On d#crit en d#tail un syst~me de pompe de chaleur

am#lior# possible, assurant le chauffage par air
d'une rnaison dont les pertes therrniques pr# vues
sont de 4 b 4,5 kW. La chaleur est distribute par un
syst~rne de sections de gaines plac~es ~ un niveau
~lev~, bon march#, et le d~givrage se fait par une
combinasion de m#thodes nouvelles. On a construit
une installation exp#rirnentale qui est en cours
d'essai en laboratoire et dans une maison
exp~rirnentale inoccup~e.

described in detail, providing warm air heating for a

house of 4-41/2 kW design heat loss. Heat distribution
is by a low cost, high level stub-duct system, and
defrosting is by a novel combination of methods. An
experimental unit has been built and is being tested
in the laboratory and in an unoccupied research
house.
too high a capital cost, and must have a high
overall COP. These conflicting requirements
necessitate a high level of design expertise,
3. Both the interests of the Electricity Supply
Industry in maintaining its load factor and the
economic interests of the customer discourage
the use of heat pumps which require excessive,
direct electric, supplementary heat. Dual-fuelled
systems incorporating heat pumps are
uneconomic. This means that any domestic
space heating unit must meet at least 65% of the
design heat loss of the building -1C outdoor
temperature and then the supplementary heat
use will depend more on house occupation
patterns than on weather.
4. Higher standards of thermal insulation must
always be considered first if a heating system is
to be operated economically, so that the heat
pump must have a suitable capacity for houses
with a higher standard of insulation than is
required by current UK Building Regulations.
Alternatively, it should be suitable for
straightforward installation into existing houses
of older types of construction.
5. For general installation, the unit must operate
from a single phase electricity supply, and
conform to normal UK distribution practice. This
means that it must draw a starting current no
larger than that normally associated with a one
horse-power motor.

International Journal of Refrigeration

Table 1. Heat pump performance

Tableau 1. Performance de la pompe de
Thermal
output
kW at OC

COP of available
equipment

5
10
15

1.5- 1.8
1.8 - 2.2
2.1 - 2.3

chaleur

COP feasible
by redesign
2.5
2.7
2.7

Table 2. Noise levels

Tableau 2. Niveaux sonores
Site of
installation

Measured sound pressure level at

2 m, dB (A) re 2 X lO-SNm -2, (after
subtraction of ambient background level)

Oxted
Alton
Capenhurst

56
58
57

6. The unit must be quiet, both to the customer and

to his neighbours, and it must be reliable, with
adequate guarantees and maintenance
contracts.
P a r t J c u / a r r e q u i r e m e n t s Within the general
requirements above, the unit currently being
developed b y t h e authors is designed to be
relatively cheap and easy to install in existing
housing, and is suitable for whole house heating to
a good background level (say, 15-16C whole
house mean temperature) in houses insulated to
give a design heat loss of 4-4.5 kW. It is also
suitable for new housing with a heat loss within or
below this range.

Available equipment
Equipment w h i c h is now available in Britain is
almost all US manufactured, reversible, cooling
equipment. Whilst well suited to commercial
applications in which there is a cooling need, it is
not well suited to domestic use.
Heap 1 has examined the operation of three such
units in British houses, and has found a number of
shortcomings.

The performance, particularly of the smaller units,

is inadequate. This is due to design for cooling, and
could be overcome by redesign, as is shown in
Table 1, and has been demonstrated by Blundell 2
The methods of defrost control on some units are
inadequate, leading to excessive numbers of
defrosting operations under frost-free conditions.
Overa full UK heating season, 1 200-1 6 0 0 defrost
cycles were observed, compared with 4 0 0 - 8 0 0
cycles in trials in the US 3. This increased frequency
of defrosting could lead to reliability problems.
Starting currents of up to 100 A on single phase
units are unacceptably high for most domestic
premises and are likely to cause excessive voltage
fluctuations in neighbouring supplies.
Noise levels, particularly of outdoor fan coils, are
higher than would be acceptable at average British
housing densities. Levels measured at a distance of
2 m from o u t d o o r coils are given in Table 2.
A level of 50 dB(A) may be generally acceptable,
t h o u g h even this could be too high for intermittent
operation at night.
In addition to these shortcomings, units are only
available in sizes above about 5 kW output, which is
too large for much of the potential market of
housing with improved thermal insulation.
The c o m b i n a t i o n of all these factors makes it clear
that there is a need for new or redesigned heat
pumps for Britain's houses.

Improved heat pump design

An improved heat pump for domestic space heating
is being developed, which meets the requirements
listed above. It is a heating only unit, using outdoor
air as a source and providing warm air to the house
t h r o u g h a ground floor, ceiling level, stub-duct
system. A visual design exercise shows h o w t h e
unit, w h i c h is mounted on the outside of the house,
might appear (Fig. 1 ), and the basic c o m p o n e n t
layout is shown schematically in Fig. 2.
At average winter conditions (5C outside) the
design output is 3.21 kW, with a COP of 2.84. It is
suitable for a house of 4-41/2 kW heat loss, with
supplementary heating provided by separate, direct
electric heaters in rooms where rapid response
might be required, such as in bedrooms and the
bathroom. If successful, the design could be mass
produced, factory charged and tested, and sold as a
packaged unit.
Improved performance despite the relatively small
design capacity has been achieved by careful
optimization of heat exchanger sizing, as described
by Blundell 2. This results, in this particular case, in
a d o u b l i n g of the condenser coil area by
comparison with the available equipment.

Fig. 1 Heatpump appearance design exercise

Fig. 1 Dessin de/a pompe de cha/eur

Volume 2 Number 2 March 1979

The compressor is an off-the-shelf hermetic unit

with a typical input of 1.0 kW. and has a starting
current within acceptable limits. It is energised via a
time delay relay to prevent simultaneous fan and

103

and d e f r o s t i n g is t e r m i n a t e d when the coil

t e m p e r a t u r e , T,, exceeds a p r e d e t e r m i n e d level, 7-.:*.
These o p e r a t i o n s are s u m m a r i z e d in Table 3.

~ ~
/

""

--

Indoorfan
Condensercoil

Expected control settings are D T * = 10-15K,

'T~* = 3-5C, To* = (Ta* - 2)C, but o p t i m a l settings
will be d e t e r m i n e d e x p e r i m e n t a l l y .

Development
- - Compressor
r - - Return air inlet
/
with filter

~~"

c o Evoporot
, _ _ . .o,
///A

--

Outdoorton

H
Fig 2 Component layout

programme

One unit of the above design has been c o n s t r u c t e d

in the laboratory, and, is to be fully tested both in a
c a l o r i m e t e r and in a house installation. Few results
are available at the t i m e of writing, but p r e l i m i n a r y
i n d i c a t i o n s s h o w that both the o p t i m u m charge and
c a p i l l a r y length differ from calculated values, and
will require e x p e r i m e n t a l o p t i m i z a t i o n on a triala n d - e r r o r basis. This o p t i m i z a t i o n will be carried
out in the calorimeter, and assessment of the
defrost control system will be carried out with the
unit installed in an u n o c c u p i e d research house.

Fig. 2 Schema de montage

Conclusions

c o m p r e s s o r starting. A f u r t h e r 0 . 1 4 kW is required
to operate the fans, t h o u g h this may be exceeded in
the d e v e l o p m e n t unit if o p t i m a l f a n / m o t o r
c o m b i n a t i o n s cannot be o b t a i n e d from m a n u f a c turers' normal ranges. A c e n t r i f u g a l b l o w e r
is used indoors and an axial fan outdoors, but
design studies suggest that mixed f l o w fans may
offer p e r f o r m a n c e i m p r o v e m e n t s , and these will be
assessed later,

The d e f i c i e n c i e s of available e q u i p m e n t in meeting

the r e q u i r e m e n t s for a d o m e s t i c space heating heat
p u m p in Britain have been demonstrated, and a
n e w l y designed unit has been constructed w h i c h
o v e r c o m e s these deficiencies This unit is based on
i m p r o v e d heat e x c h a n g e r sizing and a novel defrost
c o n t r o l system, and could prove to be an i m p o r t a n t
e n e r g y saver in the future.

D e f r o s t i n g in cold w e a t h e r is by means of direct

electric heaters e m b e d d e d in the o u t d o o r coil, and
in milder w e a t h e r d e f r o s t i n g is achieved w i t h o u t the
heaters by stopping the c o m p r e s s o r and c o n t i n u i n g
to circulate o u t d o o r air over the coil. The e m b e d d e d
heaters are rated at 4.5 kW and have proved
e x t r e m e l y effective at removing frost rapidly

Heap, R.D. American heat pumps in British houses

Etektrowarme International35. A2, A77-A81

The need for defrosting is sensed by the increase in

t e m p e r a t u r e difference, DT, between coil and air
t e m p e r a t u r e s to a level above a preset level, DT*.
The method of defrosting (electric heaters or
o u t d o o r air c i r c u l a t i o n ) is d e t e r m i n e d by w h e t h e r or
not the air t e m p e r a t u r e , T~, is b e l o w a set point, T~*,

References

Blundell, C.J. Optimising heat exchangers for air-to-air

space heating heat pumps in the United Kingdom IntJ
EnergyReseareh 1 (1977) 1,69-94
Edison Electric Institute Heat pump ~mprovement
research project final report, EEl Publication 71-901 (May
1971)
He is an Associate Fellow of
the Institute of Mathematics
and its Applications, a
Member of the Chartered
Institution of Building Services, and a Member of the
Association of Supervisory
and Executive Engineers.

:::

T a b l e 3. C o n t r o l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s

Tableau 3. Caract~ristiques de la r ~ g u l a t i o n
Operation
Conditions
Outdoor fan

Normal running

(DT<DT*)
Cold weather
defrost

Operates with
indoor fan
Off

Indoor fan
and
compressor

Defrost
heater

On room
thermostat
control

Off

Off

0n

(DT>DT *, TJ<
Mild weather
defrost

(DT>DT*, T,~>
T~,*)

104

0n

Off

Off

R.D. Heap graduated in

mathematics and worked for
a few years on the physical
testing of polymers. Since
1 967 he has been a
Research Officer at the
Electricity Council Research
Centre, where he has
developed storage heating
equipment, studied energy
use in houses, and has been
responsible for evaluating
and developing heat pumps
for possible domestic applications. His book 'Heat
Pumps' will be published
early this year

. . . . . .

Chris Blundell is a Research

Officer at the Electricity
Council Research Centre,

where he has worked on heat

pump development for three
years. He joined the Centre
after obtaining a BSc degree
in physics at University
College, London in 1975. He
is an Associate Member of
the Institute of Physics

I n t e r n a t i o n a l Journal of Refrigeration