Ground source heat pump at Dauntsey’s School, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire
Dauntsey’s School, located on the northern edge of the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, is a leading co-educational independent boarding school and day school for 11-18 year olds. The school’s buildings date from 1895, but WDS were contracted to install a 50kw ground source heat pump system on a new school pavilion and sports hall.
The problem
The new pavilion and sports hall had large a footprint of over 800 metre square. Such a large building running on a traditional fossil fuel system would be costly and energy inefficient to heat. WDS suggested a ground source heat pump would provide the most efficient and cost effective solution to heating the building while keeping carbon emissions and heating bills low. The building also contained several changing rooms with shower facilities, meaning that plenty of hot water was also a priority.
The solution
WDS Green Energy designed, supplied and installed a 50kW ground source heat pump system using a 50kW Dimplex SI50TE heat pump. WDS worked with contractors Wheelers of Westbury to connect the heat pump to an existing horizontal array of 600m of horizontal collector pipework already in place on site, as well as a new array of boreholes containing a further 1300m of vertical collector pipework. WDS also installed a 1,000litre hot water buffer tank with built in 9kW immersion heater to guarantee plenty of hot water.
The benefits
This ground source heat pump is an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional oil or LPG heating systems, being three times more efficient and much cheaper to run. Ground source heat pumps require much less maintenance than LPG or gas systems, and also qualify for the Government backed Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The RHI rates for a non-domestic property like Dauntsey’s School mean the cost of the system would be made back within 10 years, thereafter producing tax-free income, all the while saving money on heating and hot water bills.
