On 30/09/2019 12:41, newshound wrote:

Current air source ones are optimised for AC rather than heating.

That's because they are more efficient when the air is hotter therefore
much better for cooling your home in the summer. They are more suited to
hotter countries where AC is common place.

don't question that they will be more costly both to install and to run.
For much UK housing ground source is simply not going to be available
(short of drilling deep bore-holes, which might just be an option but
not one I am keen on).

On a new build this is what needs to happen as on most modern estates
houses have near zero garden area. A horizontal system may require in
excess of 800 square metres. Ground sourced pumps need to be carefully
designed to achieve a thermal balance and not to actually cool the
ground faster than it can recover. There must be a limit to how many
boreholes you can sink, for multiple houses on an estate, in a
relatively small area.

And then there is the threat of ground water pollution, perhaps longer
term, as these systems become old.


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