Article Date: 20th January 2012

Mitsubishi Electric - Chevin Housing Offers Tenants A Cosier Low Cost Future

Air Source Heat Pumps - Heat Pumps - Air Conditioning

30 homes are looking forward to a cosier new year following the replacement of their electric storage heaters with air source heat pumps.

Chevin Housing Association operates across Yorkshire, Humberside and the North Midlands managing over 8,000 homes and is a member of the Together Housing Group. Having trialled the Ecodan® heat pumps in three of its properties, the social housing landlord has chosen to use a £175,000 grant, awarded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, to fit more of these pumps to its homes.

The move forms part of a drive to help alleviate fuel poverty amongst Chevin’s tenants whilst providing them with a comfortable, low cost, but efficient heating system which requires very little maintenance.

Each of the units has an intelligent operating system that uses a series of sensors both inside and outside the home. These sensors constantly talk to each other and adjust the output from the heat pump to maintain a constant temperature inside the home.

“Our tenants find the electric storage heaters expensive to run and inconvenient to use,” said Sam Sykes, Head of Asset Strategy at Chevin. “The new air source heat pumps are much more economical and offer a constant, even, temperature throughout the house.

“Gone are the days of arriving home to a cold house or flat and having to heat it from scratch. The new system keeps the temperature at a constant level and allows each tenant to decide on their preferred setting through a thermostat.”

Tenant, Lyndsay Rothery, one of the first to trial the new Ecodans said: “The new heating system is fantastic. The electric storage heaters were inefficient and very costly to run so I used to go to bed around 6pm when the weather turned cold, as it was the only way I could keep warm.

“Not any longer though, the new system gives me complete control and I can set the heating to a level that is comfortable for me and every room stays at the same constant temperature.

“I have a few health issues and the new heating system has helped with some of my symptoms. Being able to keep warm all the time is wonderful and as the Ecodan is so much more economical to run than the old heaters, I don’t even have to worry about the bills anymore.”

Mitsubishi Electric’s Ecodan units harvest renewable low grade energy from the surrounding air and upgrade it into useful heat, which is then used to supply the property with all of its hot water and heating requirements. The renewable technology is both fuel efficient and low carbon, helping to meet Government targets of substantially reducing the UK’s carbon emissions by 2050.

“We think that Lyndsay's experience totally justifies our decision to trial this form of heating and are delighted to be able to fit more heat pumps to our homes,” explained Mr Sykes. “Our belief is that air source heat pumps are a much better solution for our tenants. They provide warmer homes at a lower cost than the current storage heaters and we hope that other Housing Associations will be encouraged to follow in our footsteps.”

For further information regarding the Mitsubishi Electric range of Ecodan air source heat pumps please email below:

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