In recent years, heat pumps have emerged as a promising new form of technology with a relatively low environmental impact. Moreover, they have presented householders with an opportunity to reduce their heating bills. Heat pumps can heat a building by 'pumping' heat from either the ground or the air outside: an intriguing process which utilizes principles that are somewhat analogous to those employed in the domestic refrigerator. Armed with the practical information contained in these pages, homeowners will have the necessary knowledge to take advantage of this potentially low-carbon technology to heat their properties. Now in an updated new edition, Heat Pumps for the Home describes what a heat pump is, how it works, the different methods of pumping heat and the importance of an appropriate and well-planned installation. It also provides you with the information that you need in order to make up your own mind about whether a heat pump might be appropriate to your own circumstances, and also demonstrates what you need to do to in order to make the system work efficiently.
About the Author: John Cantor studied mechanical engineering and started his working life in the refrigeration industry. A keen environmentalist and practical engineer, he became interested in heat pumps in the early 1980s and subsequently designed and built three ambitious projects heating community swimming pools at Lazonby, Greystoke and Askham, which were still operating well over twenty-five years later. Since then, he has installed many different systems and this has provided him with a wide and varied range of experience. He was a heat pump inspector for the first round of government Clear Skies grant initiatives, has tutored a number of heat pump courses, has written many articles on the subject, and now spends much of his time as an advisor and consultant.Gavid D J Harper is the author/co-author of a number of books including Domestic Solar Energy (Crowood, 2009) and Small-Scale Wind Power Generation (Crowood, 2010). He writes extensively on sustainability issues a\nd is currently researching the subject of reen business models for sustainability for a PhD at Cardiff University Business School. Gavin is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and holds two honours degrees from the Open University and three masters degrees.