BetaTalk - The Renewable Energy and Low Carbon Heating Podcast

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Nathan chats with his friend Dave who runs and owns Condensate Pro and now Primary Pro.
Primary Pro is a polyethylene product which comes pre painted making it easier to use than class O insulation. He has also developed Bond & Seal which can be applied all weathers unlike the contact adhesive which is used for Class O.
The conversation is a useful resource for people wanting to understand the types of pipe insulation available and how to install it correctly, especially for heat pump pipework which is outside
Topics

• weather resistance and weather proofing are discussed along with UV protection.
• polyethylene and Class O
• Nitrate Rubber Foam
• Closed cell insulation
• Clipping insulation

VISIT A HEAT PUMP WITH NESTA check out this new initiative

Acknowledgements:
Thank you to all the podcast listeners.
Thanks to this seasons sponsor Farnell UK
Thanks to the European Heat Pump Association for their support

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Ladder and Step Ladder safety and common exam questions

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Measuring Heat pump system design with Brendon from HeacolLink to slides for the test can be found hereTHE TEST RIG
Brendon discusses how he first designed the test rig with Ulster University for testing the heat pump he had built which is specifically adapted for UK climate, the UK's building stock and how the homes in the UK are commonly heated e.g. a combi boiler.
When RHI was first introduced, it required heat pumps to have costly certification and sadly Brendon's heat pump had to be put on the back burner... after all, Brendon is extremely busy installing heat pumps for people and has been putting heat pumps in for many years.
(Note, if you are an investor in innovation you'd do well to contact Brendon to discuss this heat pump)
The test rig uses a 500L thermal store to simulate the internal of a property "it's got inertia, it's got thermal capacity and it's got buffer "
A plate heat exchanger connecting the thermal store to the heat pump simulates a radiator system which can have temps and flow rates changed.
Brendon describes how this set up is able to run different testing than the excellent Energy House at Salford University and benefit from quick responses to different heating stratagies and scenarios.
TESTING SYSTEM DESIGN

1. testing a heat pump system with 3rd party controls and buffer tank
2. testing a heat pump system with weather compensation and buffer tank
3. testing a heat pump system with weather compensation and no buffer tank e.g. open zone or what has been called direct in the test which can be found here

The test simulated a house with an 11.5kW heat load.
With the first test the heat pump had to run at 50 degree Celsius flow to maintain an internal temp of 21 degrees.
In the second test the flow temp dropped to 45d.
The final test, with open zone system, no buffer and controlled with manufactures wether compensation controls only required a flow temp coming from the heat pump of 35 degrees C

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Nathan dives into the history of heating systems and looks at why chemical inhibitors were introduced to prevent corrosion.
He also points out that manufactures are possibly misinterpreting the building regulations e.g. they are getting confused with a requirement within the building regs and the guidance contained in an approved document.
It also takes a look at the Benchmark system and questions if it is fit for purpose. Is it biased towards maintaining growth of the chemical inhibitor companies?
The episode also looks at how a 1960s home could be heated from single panel radiators with just a flow of approx. 53°C...

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In this episode Nathan's guests myth bust heat pumps. He is joined by Bean from the Ground Source Heat Pump Association and Heat Pump Federation; Robin who is also from the GSHPA and Bill, a heat pump specialist. All 3 guests are engineers with a vast amount of knowledge with heat pump technology.
Heat pumps are a recognised technology for helping the UK decarbonise heat and reach net zero. Unfortunately, there does seem to be some myths about what they can and can not do.
Here are the myths around heatpumps we discussed:

1. Inverter driven compressors are more efficient than fixed speed compressors. Bill starts us off with this one. As you will hear, inverters are efficient but again it comes down to design. Different heat pump designs and applications may benefit from fixed speed compressors.
2. Heat Pumps are maintenance free and free energy. Kind of two myths rolled into one.
3. Heat Pumps need to run all the time. Robin starts this one off by discussing an energy savings trust study and Bill finishes with a German study on ground loops.
4. A high temperature heat pump can just replace a boiler. Again, you will hear, the guests discuss design. Low temperature heating is becoming more realised in the industry along with hydraulic design. Bean alludes to the new qualification the CIPHE are producing regarding this and also talks about some of the problems we find with underfloor heating (UFH) installation work
5. Heat Pumps only work in new builds. Bean discusses how as an installer he was installing heat pump systems into grade 1 and 2 listed buildings. The topic of hybrid heat pump systems is brought up. All guests and Nathan considered the fact that boilers are not needed as back up. In district heating systems it may make sense but we can design heatpump systems to not need boilers
6. Heat pumps only work with underfloor heating Robin discusses how some heat pump installations have been cancelled because of a notion UFH was needed for heat emitters. A problem especially in the non domestic sector
7. Fitting a larger ground loop fixes most problems with ground source heat pumps Again we hear the importance of hydronic design and understanding pressure drop
8. You need a room thermostat in every room to comply with building regulations and for efficiency How do we control heat pumps and comfort. Listen to Nathan's guest talk about weather compensation and other forms of control
9. Low Loss Headers should be used on all heat pumps Hydronic separation, flow rates and delta t is par for the course in this chapter
10. All heat pumps are noisy Will heat pumps make frustrate our neighbours?
    

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