Heat pumps can vary in appearance depending on what type of heat pump they are because the type of heat pump affects how the heat pump is made, what features the heat pump has and whether the heat pump is installed indoors or outside.
Here are some visual examples of heat pumps and how they look so you can get an idea.
What an Air Source Heat Pump Looks Like
Generally, air source heat pumps look very similar to a large air conditioning unit. Air source heat pumps have a hard, often metallic, external housing called the cabinet an externally facing fan and a grill guard.
Unlike air conditioning units which are often wall mounted, air source heat pumps tend to be installed on a platform on a flat, stable and solid surface due to their weight.
This is the NIBE S2125 air source heat pump on display in the Science Museum in London. The heat pump is installed externally and extracts heat from the air to increase the temperature of water which is stored in tanks within your home or directly enters your heating system.
This heat pump is capable of delivering temperatures of up to 75°C while operating in external temperatures as low as -25°C.
This particular heat pump is fairly large, 1070 mm x 1130 mm x 820 mm and weighs approximately 163KG.
Parts of an air source heat pump
The parts of the air source heat pump on display here are:
Fan: which draws air over the condenser to facilitate the heat exchange of outside air to internal water pipes
Grill guard: the fan grill protects the fan from sucking in objects which are too large and could damage the heat pump.
Cabinet: The external metal cover of the heat pump which protects the inner workings from the elements
Brand name: also visible in this picture the NIBE branding and model designation.
The parts on display are
How a Ground Source Heat Pump Looks
Ground source heat pumps can look very similar to a modern boiler or, in the case of larger units, similar to size and style of a modern freestanding fridge freezer.
On display at the Science Museum, the Kensa Shoebox is one of the smallest ground source heat pumps on the market.
It measures up at 585mm x 610mm x 595 mm and weighs about 113KG.
The Cornish heat pump at the Science museum is made by Truro based U.K. manufacturer Kensa based on their own heat pump designs.
The “Shoebox” ground source heat pump, so called because of it’s size, is on display in the Science Museum as part of an exhibition dedicated to future technology which is important in the decarbonisation of human energy technology.
The Shoebox heat pump offers one of the smallest and quietest ground source heat pumps available and is commonly found in flats where a shared loop array or networked heat pump system has been installed.
Ground Source Heat Pump Parts
There are very few externally facing parts of a ground source heat pump. Those which are externally facing are generally just;
- the heat pump cover: generally a hard metal casing to keep the heat pump inner workings safe and free from damage where it has been installed.
In the case of the Shoebox heat pump, it is so small it could, theoretically be installed in a boiler cupboard or kitchen cupboard.
Air Source Heat Pump vs Ground Source Heat Pump Size
Here is the NIBE air source against the Kensa ground source heat pump next to each other for an indication of scale and size difference.
In this case, the air source heat pump would be installed outside and this part of the ground source heat pump, similar in size to a boiler would be installed in the home, with the ground loop system outside or with boreholes to source heat from the ground.
