Barry Haines, Director of Dartmoor Refrigeration & Air Conditioning
What do you do at Dartmoor Refrigeration & Air Conditioning?
We offer low cost, energy efficient heating and cooling solutions for both residential and commercial clients.
How long have you been in business for?
My background is engineering. For the last 25 or so I have been director of Aeris Group Limited, a leading provider of project management, consultancy and engineering services. Dartmoor Refrigeration & Air conditioning is a company within our portfolio set up to deliver energy-saving solutions from residential and commercial Air Conditioning systems to heavy industrial Refrigeration plant.
Where can people find you?
We have an office in Okehampton and cover the whole of the South West.
What kind of customers do you have and what do you offer them?
We have a range of customers from small homeowners to large scale commercial operations.
What is air con? How does it work?
Air conditioning systems and air source heat pumps (ASHP) are a low carbon way of heating your home. Both systems absorb latent heat from the outside air and use it to increase the temperature inside your home.
An air source heat pump specifically works by extracting heat from the external air and elevating its temperature using an electrically driven compressor. The system then transfers the heat created to an internal buffer tank located inside your home, for distribution to radiators and underfloor heating.
In simple terms, both air conditioning and ASHP systems work like a refrigerator in reverse.
How long does it take to install? How much work and disruption is involved?
The external condensers (or ‘outdoor units’) are usually positioned externally at the side or back of your property. Inside, the air conditioning units will either be wall or ceiling mounted. If you install an ASHP, these units will come with an additional buffer to store the heat produced. Air conditioning/ASHP systems are significantly less disruptive to install than ground source heat pumps, as they do not require any groundworks or digging. Everything is installed above ground.
A typical domestic install (3-bed house) will take approximately a week to install.
What are the benefits to ordinary households? Why should it be something people consider installing in their homes, even in wet, cold Devon?
Heat pumps/air conditioning systems are highly efficient as they generate more energy than they consume. Both systems generate less CO2 than many conventional heating systems – therefore, are far more sustainable and green!
You will save money on heating costs compared with older systems and you will have lower operating costs than you would with a gas boiler. Gas is being phased out over the next 5-10 years, so eventually you will not have the option to upgrade/replace gas fired boilers.
Is it expensive to put in and to run?
A typical air conditioning or ASHP system should generate between 2.5-3.0 units of heat for each unit of electricity it consumes, in effect making these systems 250-300% efficient. Therefore, for every £1 you spend on energy, you will obtain £3 back.
Installation costs are greater than a traditional gas fired boiler set-up but the technology is more advanced and the operational savings are far greater in the long term.