[Closed] Where to sell a ground source heat pump

Try the Buildhub Self Build Forum, they have a sales page

Why would you want to change from ground to air?????

Maybe the Navitron forum? You'll probably have to register.

I read earlier and tried to resist asking, but…

Why would you want to change from ground to air?????

Seriously why?

I'm intrigued as well.

Thanks all, as to why they're changing it:

They had it installed about 10 years ago - they've not got much land so the pipe work needed lots of joints - now buried under about 1.5m.

Due to the soil being mainly clay at that depth it expands and contracts with temp changes during the year (you can see the garden rise and fall by a couple of inches). This has lead to the joints slowly leaking and the system needing topping up with fluid every month - that's now increased to every week. They've tried digging down to tighten the joints but that's not worked.

The company that installed it have gone bust so they've not got much come back there.

Would a bore hole not be a much better idea than air source? It's better than flat laid any how which is better than air and, barring the hole, they already have all the kit.

Would a bore hole not be a much better idea than air source? It’s better than flat laid any how which is better than air and, barring the hole, they already have all the kit.

This ^ . 2 or 3 boreholes would be perfect. Keep the existing system, then all that is needed is to connect the new pipes in the boreholes to the unit, and fill them up.
Probably a more efficient way of heating too compared to all the existing pipe being 1.5m down.
If you are on rock under the clay, then all bets are off, and air source may be the most economical way, but I'd exhaust every option to keep ground source, air source is expensive to run.

Thanks for elaborating on the need to change from GSHP. Just curious as weighing up both systems and had always understood GS to be superior, if more expensive to get started. Makes sense though if the installation has essentially failed.

We have an ASHP - the house is so well insulated we haven’t had to turn on the heating. We’re on solid rock, so GSHP would have been tricky, but according to our builder who’s installed a few the extra costs of installation are barely covered by the savings made. I expect if you have an older, less well insulated/less airtight building then the increased efficiency of the GSHP will be in its favour.

CoPs of groundsource are consistently better than air when you need it, but down well install costs are pretty horrendous.

Compression fittings on a loop that undergoes thermal cycling is a terrible idea. Its inevitable they would have suffered loosening. They should have been welded and tested prior to being buried.

I'd not be surprised if that was the route cause of the original installer going bust.

I'm not sure why they discounted a bore hole, I'm sure they would have looked into it. Being on the west coast of cumbria it never gets really cold so air might be ok (I know very little about it).

I don't know how far the clay goes down

If you are going to have a borehole there is no reason to worry about depth to rock. Ours is 110m deep and the rockhead was about 8m. Easy to install the circulation pipe in the rock and grout it in. With hindsight my only question might be whether it would have been better to have two 55m boreholes.