A high performance Carrier air-to-water heat pump is delivering comfortable ambient conditions for children and staff at Yew Tree Nursery in Axbridge, Somerset. Carrier’s AquaSnap 61AF heat pump was selected to replace an oil-fired heating system that was proving unreliable and inefficient. The Carrier unit captures low-grade heat energy from the atmosphere and upgrades it to generate hot water for use in the nursery’s underfloor heating, radiators and domestic hot water supply.
“We chose the Carrier system as it enables you to match the exact requirements of an application, rather than simply supplying a standard factory-specification product, as with some other manufacturers,” said Tom Mangnall, who led the project for contractor, Somerset Mechanical Ltd. “The other major attraction was the plug-and-play design of the AquaSnap monobloc. It was delivered fully assembled, tested and charged with refrigerant and only required power and water connections, which saved time on site and reduced installation costs.”
The unit, which has an A+ energy rating, includes a soft-start system for low power draw, and freeze protection to maintain operation when outdoor temperatures dip. Even in temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the unit can provide domestic hot water at up to 55 degrees Celsius. In addition to providing clean, reliable, high performance heating, it freed up space at the nursery, as the bulky fuel-oil storage tanks required by the previous system are no longer needed.
“The AquaSnap 61AF heat pump is compact and very versatile, and ideal for heating and domestic hot water production,” said Russ Tyrrell, senior technical sales engineer, Carrier. “We believe it has huge potential for wider use in the UK, particularly in similar applications that currently rely on oil-based systems. It is an ideal solution for use in homes, apartment buildings, shops, offices, restaurants, hotels, warehouses.”