Heat pump gives green energy to Old Battery
When the Needles Old Battery on a headland overlooking the Isle of Wight’s famous lighthouse needed a new heating system, the National Trust, which owns the site, opted for an air-source heat pump from Dimplex. The LI 16 TE unit provides heating and DHW for the visitor tea room and National Trust offices at this popular visitor attraction. It was installed by Dimplex accredited installer Clarke’s Mechanical to replace an oil-fired boiler.
The heat pump is located in the old oil-storage room, now converted to a plant room. To minimise costs, the existing wet heating system was re-piped and used with the new system.
Paul Taylor, contracts manager with Clarke’s Electrical, explains some particular considerations of the installation. ‘The Old Battery site is exceptionally exposed. The headland has recorded wind speeds of over 100 mph in extreme conditions, so the whole system needs to be tremendously robust. We specified extra capacity in the system to be certain of avoiding any shortfall in the very harshest conditions. Although the Dimplex heat pump is installed under cover, we also fitted rain guards over the air intake and outlet for added weather protection.’
He continues, ‘The Dimplex team was very helpful with specifying the right equipment for this unique installation. In particular, the renewables specialists were really supportive when it came to commissioning the system, as we had lots of questions on how to achieve the optimum performance.’
There is a display to show visitors how the equipment works, and the system has visible meters to show the energy savings being made.
