Our Lodges are Environmentally Friendly
Our three lakeside lodges are heated using heat generated from the lake with under floor heating and solar- panelled, wood-shingled roofs.)
Each lodge has a ground source heat pump system which provides all of the heating and hot water, installed by CA Heat Pumps Ltd. The heating system comprises of underfloor heating on the ground floor and radiators on the first floor.
A heat pump works by utilising the natural heat energy produced by the sun. This energy is absorbed into the earth's surface, water and air which act like giant heat stores.
There is a ground loop array or heat collector, which is made up in a 'pond cage' sunk in the lake. This absorbs the low temperature heat from the lake and transports this heat to the heat pump location.
At the heat pump, the collected heat from the lake is passed over the 'evaporator heat exchanger' - here the heat is absorbed by the refrigerant gas within the heat pump. The refrigerant in the evaporator is colder than the heat source obtained from the lake; this causes the refrigerant gas to evaporate.
The refrigerant gas is put through a compressor which vastly increases the temperature and pressure of the gas. The hot high pressured gas is passed over another heat exchanger called the condenser. Here the heat is passed onto the heat distribution side which is a mixed heating system with underfloor on the ground floor and radiators upstairs; or it will heat the hot water cylinder.
The refrigerant gas which has passed over most of its heat is pushed through an expansion valve where the gas expands and therefore drops in pressure and cools. This cold refrigerant needs some more heat to start the whole refrigerant cycle again and so when the heat pump is operating, the collector within the lake is always replenishing the heat that the refrigerant requires.
The lake is a constant supply of heat because the sun or incoming energy from the springs and surrounding land will always re- charge it, hence the term 'renewable energy'. Even in the depths of winter when there are a few inches of ice cover the incoming source temperature will rarely fall below 3oC - more than enough to keep the refrigerant cycle going.
