Air Source Heat Pumps

A heat pump uses the principles of thermodynamics to absorb energy from the surrounding environment and convert into usable energy and provide heating for our homes. There are a variety of heat pump products available - The Grant Aerona range features Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP).

There are two types of air source heat pump – ‘air to air’ and ‘air to water’. The Grant Aerona uses an air to water system which utilises heat energy captured from the air in ‘wet’ heating system radiators or underfloor heating. The process uses the same vapour/compression cycle that extracts heat in a domestic fridge. A refrigerant with a low boiling point is exposed to external air temperatures in an evaporator. The liquid boils off to a gas and absorbs the latent heat energy of the air. This gas is then compressed increasing the heat content in the refrigerant, before passing through a heat exchanger where it condenses back to a liquid state while transferring the heat to the water of the heating system. The liquid refrigerant is then re-circulated through the evaporator and the cycle is repeated.

Yes, the heat source used by Grant Aerona heat pumps is entirely renewable which helps reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and, in so doing, lowers the carbon footprint of the household.

Grant’s latest ASHP uses R32 refrigerant which has a GWP which is considerably lower than other typical heat pump refrigerants such as R410, thus complying with the upcoming legislative targets. In addition to having a lower GWP figure of 675, R32 is a single-component refrigerant which means it has no temperature glide. Refrigerant blends that have two or more components exhibit temperature glide but as R32 only has one molecule in its formation, its saturated liquid and vapor temperatures are the same. By removing the risk for the refrigerant to suffer from glide, the system can recharge and recycle with greater ease, making it more efficient.