Oakham Treasures Museum

Closed Loop (Trenches) Ground Source Heat Pump
Services installed:
Renewable Technology
At a glance
2019

Completion

£438,500

Lifetime savings

2,930 tonnes

Carbon saved

*Projected over a 20-year lifespan based on installation costs and energy prices at the time of installation.

The property

This site is one of the largest privately owned museums of retail and farming history in the UK with an impressive display of vintage tractors and farm equipment (which our team had had to navigate around very carefully!) Cotswold Energy Group were responsible for a full turnkey package of mechanical and electrical works, which encompassed design, supply, install and maintain.

The site was running entirely from electric heating which was both expensive and did not create homogenous heating through the building. Cotswold Energy Group were brought in to consult on better ways to manage the heat demand of the building.

Our approach

After several surveys and scientific ground-type analysis, it was concluded that a Ground Source Heat Pump would be the most efficient way to heat the building and it was identified that the system would be eligible for Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.

After performing room by room heat loss calculations which primarily consider ventilation changes and the fabric of the building, the total heat load of the site was determined to be 235kW, based on achieving 18oC throughout down to -1.6oC (using Cardiff as the closest location for Design Ambient Temperature). Cotswold Energy Group decided to cover this load using 4 x 60kW NIBE heat pumps in a cascade formation. The internal heat distribution requirement was covered by a series of bespoke fan convector units.

The results

Upon analysis of the thermal conductivity for the ground type in which the collectors were proposed to be located, it was determined that the 240kW system needed 10,800m of ground collector pipework, which could be laid as 36 x 300m loops. This configuration required 36 x 150m trenches at 1m wide, spaced a minimum of 1 metre apart and at a depth of 1.2m

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