Sustainable energy and heating installation company Warma UK has launched a new online tool that helps users see, hear, and feel what living with an air source heat pump would be like.
Using nothing more than their existing central heating system, a smart phone and a bluetooth speaker, Warma UK say it’s possible for people to see a heat pump in place at their home, hear what it would sound like, and feel the way it gradually heats their home to an optimum and consistent temperature.
The company, which specialises in securing and installing grant funded energy efficient measures including heating, insulation and solar power, says it understands that moving away from gas and oil boilers is a big commitment not everyone is willing to take, and their new tool is designed to enable people to try before they buy.
Warma UK has teamed up with Dr Mike Fell from the University College London’s Energy Institute to promote this new tool and simulate how a heat pump would perform in a user’s home.
Firstly, users can see what a heat pump will look like through an augmented reality feature. With just a smart phone or tablet, users can place a heat pump outside their home to get a realistic idea of how it’ll look once installed.
Next, to understand the sound they make. Warma UK says by following a couple of simple steps and using a Bluetooth speaker, it’s possible to hear what an air source heat pump will sound like when running at full power.
Once users have seen and heard a heat pump at their home, it’s time to feel how it would perform. By turning down a boilers flow rate it’s possible to simulate the way a heat pump gradually heats a home and maintains a consistent temperature, again full instructions on how to do this through is shown on their Test Drive a Heat Pump page.
Warma UK believes full transparency about heat pumps and their performance is vital if the UK is to achieve its target of getting people to switch from gas and oil heating systems.
The company says there is a lot of misinformation in the public domain about heat pumps and its performance and they are determined to put the record straight and demonstrate how heat pumps can benefit not just the planet, but users wallets too.
In addition to its Test Drive a Heat Pump tool, Warma UK is actively promoting innovation agency Nesta’s new ‘visit a heat pump’ scheme, which enables people see an air source heat pump in action and have their questions answered by heat pump owners across the UK. Interested parties can register their details at Nesta’s site https://www.visitaheatpump.com/ to find a heat pump near them to visit and hear directly from heat pump owners to get first-hand reports of things like cost and performance.
