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Heat Pumps Meet Hot Water Home Heating!

In home comfort, heat pumps continue to make lots of waves. Ductless mini-split heat pumps, heat pumps for central forced air systems, and heat pump water heaters, meet your newest colleague: Heat pump boilers! Breaking news, there are now heat pumps that can warm homes that are heated by hot water (think baseboard heaters, radiant floor heat, and more). They’re relatively new to the market and we’re taking a conservative approach, but homeowners are already requesting quotes and supply houses are delivering them.

In this post from our plumbing and heating team at Save Home Heat Company, we’ll take an introductory look at the Ambient Heat Pump System, the air-to-water heat pump from our longtime hot water heat manufacturer-partner Burnham, aka. U.S. Boiler Company.

What Is a Heat Pump Boiler?

A heat pump boiler is similar to traditional hot water boilers in that it powers a system that heats a home by means of hot water. However, as opposed to burning a fossil fuel such as natural gas or propane, these boilers incorporate a heat pump, powered by electricity, to heat the non-potable water in the system.

The Ambient Heat Pump System, from Burnham, employs a unique outdoor condensing unit, housing a compressor and all related components in a sealed system that’s charged with environmentally friendly refrigerant – and an indoor storage tank, as its two primary components. The compressor located in the outdoor unit has a variable-speed design, which is highly efficient and similar to the ones used in our most popular mini-split and central heat pumps from Mitsubishi and Lennox. The outdoor unit is ultra quiet, producing operating sound levels as low as 39 db.

How The Burnham Heat Pump Boiler Works

A little about theory of operation: When the home ‘calls for heat,’ the outdoor condensing unit is activated and the compressor and the components in the outdoor unit, making use of the phase-change properties of the refrigerant in the system, work together to create heat,. That heat is delivered indoors in the form of a heated non-toxic anti-freeze solution, which is used to heat the storage tank, which then is used to heat the home.

Primary Components of the Burnham Ambient Heat Pump Boiler System

Outdoors, the unique condensing unit, technically known as a “monobloc heat pump,” contains virtually all of the components used in the refrigeration cycle, including the compressor, exhaust fan, condenser coil, evaporator coil, other related controls and valving, plus a heavy duty heat air-to-water heat exchanger. Unlike central and mini-split heat pumps that heat and cool a home using forced air, a monobloc heat pump is not a split-system design.

Indoors, the system features a 40-gallon storage tank that contains non-potable water, or in some cases, a non-toxic antifreeze solution. The water in this tank, which is heated either by the heat pump or by backup electric heating elements in the tank – or if used in a dual fuel application, potentially by the existing gas boiler – is circulated around the home to provide heat in the usual, traditional ways (baseboard heaters, etc.). In some system designs, a water-to-water heat exchanger may also be employed indoors. There’s a variety of ways that the Ambient heat pump can be customized to fit with existing hot water based heating systems.

A user-friendly touchscreen controller, with a range of monitoring and management capabilities, also comes with the system.

Heat Pump Boilers from Burnham & U.S. Boiler Company

The Ambient heat pump boiler system from Burnham can function as a standalone heating boiler – if heating needs are modest enough, an important caveat – or as part of a dual fuel system, working together with the

existing gas boiler to reduce fossil fuel consumption and ease the burden on the gas unit, while still getting the home heating job done properly. These boilers are also a good fit for applications such as snowmelt systems, radiant floor additions, garages, and workshops.

Hot Water Heating Expertise in Metro Denver, Boulder, and Loveland

Heat pump boilers are relatively new on the scene and we look forward to seeing what expanded offerings come down the pipeline, including greater heating capacities (we hope). Early reports ‘from the field’ from our suppliers are promising and our team will continue to keep an eye on these new heat pumps as more units are installed and more time passes.

In the meantime, serving the Denver Metro, Boulder, and Loveland areas, we’re happy to provide quotes for these boilers or any home heating solution that our highly experienced team at Save Home Heat feels make sense for you to consider. Our focus remains squarely on listening carefully to our customers and making recommendations that we feel are in their best interests. Clearly and fully answering any of your questions, and enabling you to make informed decisions, is deeply engrained in our company DNA.

Please give our team at Save Home Heat Company a call today to assist with any of your home services needs, and thanks for keeping us in mind for all things water!

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