Please see a list of manuals for outdated Kensa Heat Pump products.
Single Compressor Installation and Commissioning
Twin Compressor Installation and Commissioning
High-Temperature Single Compressor Installation and Commissioning
High-Temperature Twin Compressor Installation and commissioning
In 2012, Kensa Heat Pumps launched the world’s smallest ground source heat pump – the Shoebox.
Ten years on, it has provided cheaper and more reliable heating for thousands of people facing fuel poverty, saved 197,400 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of burning 218,405,181 pounds of coal – and been recognised as key to enabling the mass adoption of ground source heat pumps.
David Broom, Managing Director of Kensa Contracting, said: “The development of the Shoebox was pivotal in unlocking Kensa’s opportunity within the social housing and new build sectors. The product facilitated the creation of the Shared Ground Loop Array system architecture which is now accepted as one of the key solutions for the delivery of the mass scale deployment of renewable heat.”
Here’s how the British manufactured miniature heat pump had the biggest impact on the UK’s renewable heating industry:
Its compact footprint removes space issues that prevent the ease and installation of ground source heat pumps in tight spaces – it is the perfect fit for flats! It’s also quiet, similar to a fridge freezer.
With an Energy Related Product (ErP) rating of A+, the Shoebox is very efficient. Kensa’s unique heat pump interface, the Genesis System Manager, is installed in the Shoebox to help improve efficiencies and integration with other home heating controls.
The Shoebox produces hot water up to 65ᵒC and can also offer cooling, which is becoming more popular as new building methods and global warming create problems with overheating.
A report by Aurora, concludes that ground source heat pumps with shared ground loop arrays are proven to offer greater efficiency and flexibility compared to other types of heating.
The Shoebox has saved thousands of people from fuel poverty by enabling social landlords to retrofit ground source heating into their housing stock – often slashing residents’ fuel bills by up to 50%.
As the leading supplier of GSHPs in the UK, Kensa’s Shoebox has become Kensa’s best-selling product and is used in domestic properties and commercial buildings. It’s been used in some of the UK’s largest ground source heat pump installations, including 300 flats for Enfield Council, and 273 for Thurrock.
Alongside the Shoebox, Kensa pioneered the use of Shared Ground Loop Arrays – an ultra-efficient alternative to traditional district heating schemes. It reduces the overall cost of installation for multiple-property projects through economies of scale, reduces overheating, provides independent heating control, and enables the utilisation of waste heat, whilst lowering the impact on the grid when deployed at scale as described here.
Through the installation of the Shoebox and the innovation of Shared Ground Loop Arrays, Kensa Contracting, has pioneered the market for installing mass scale networked heat pumps, making low carbon heating more accessible. 3,758 shoeboxes have been installed into social housing or public sector buildings so far, saving 1,658,415t of CO2e.
Kensa Utilities developed a split-ownership model that cuts costs when the ground arrays are funded separately to the heat pump. Developers or homeowners purchase a ground source heat pump and plug it into the infrastructure only paying a connection fee.
Installation of large-scale Shared Ground Loop Array infrastructure lets whole streets and communities collectively switch to ground source, and the split-ownership model creates the opportunity for a nationwide heat pump infrastructure that mimics the existing gas network. This can be seen in practice in our Heat the Streets project and through this Regen report.
Pond Mats (AIS)
Application Information Sheet
Version 1.0
Explore Kensa’s award-winning range of ground source heat pumps for British properties. All manufactured by Kensa in Cornwall.
Dr. Matthew Trewhella, CEO of The Kensa GroupOn 12th September I wrote a letter to the new Prime Minister calling for a shift in gas and electricity levels to incentivise better long-term energy security.
The letter outlined how we welcomed the significant intervention on energy prices being capped at £2500 per average household for the next two years and how this quick intervention to help consumers is the right thing to do. The previously forecast bills would have left far too many people with impossible financial decisions.
However, we at Kensa believe this also presents a unique opportunity to protect consumers against falling into fuel poverty and allow them to make alternative choices about their energy provision that will enable them to protect themselves against future energy crises. These choices will improve the nation’s energy security, reduce reliance on exposure to foreign markets and provide progress towards our net zero ambitions.
One policy mechanism that would enact this change would be to use the price cap calculation methodology to rebalance gas and electricity prices in line with key commitment 5[i] of the heat and buildings strategy. Adding just 2p/kWh (19.4%) to the price of gas would result in capped prices of 12.3p/kWh and 26.0p/kWh for gas and electricity rather than the 10.3p/kWh and 34.0p/kWh in the current calculation[ii]. This would result in lower unit electricity prices while retaining the £2500 overall cap figure[iii]. This is a non-trivial change but so is spending £150 billion of taxpayer money in a market intervention.
Currently, due to the relative prices of gas and electricity, consumers are not incentivised to use the electricity we can make in this country – and plan to export to others – over the fossil fuels we are importing from abroad at increasingly expensive rates. If the energy price cap was to constrain electricity prices more than gas prices, this would change consumer’s long-term behaviour while still protecting them in the short term.
Interventions to the level that the Dutch Government have enacted (where gas and electricity are approaching the same price per unit), would be too much for the UK market in one step but moves in that direction would ensure that the significant and expensive intervention that has been announced drives as many of our long-term policy ambitions as possible including those on energy security and the climate.
If you support our messages, please do contact us to help us deliver this message to the government.
[i] Heat and Buildings Strategy key commitment 5 states: “Clean, cheap electricity is an everyday essential. We have seen the impact of overreliance on gas pushing up prices for hardworking people but our plan to expand our domestic renewables will push down electricity wholesale prices. However, current pricing of electricity and gas does not incentivise consumers to make green choices, such as switching from gas boilers to electric heat pumps.”
[ii] Current Calculation
| Annual Consumption | Price per unit | Standing Charge | Annual Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 1200 | 10.3 | 28.0 | £1,338.20 |
| Electricity | 3100 | 34.0 | 46.0 | £1,221.90 |
| Total | 15100 | £2,560.10 | ||
| Heat Pump Annual Saving | £115 | |||
Proposed Calculation
| Annual Consumption | Price per unit | Standing Charge | Annual cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 12000 | 12.3 | 28.0 | £1,578.20 |
| Electricity | 3100 | 26.3 | 46.0 | £982.58 |
| Total | 15100 | £2,560.78 | ||
| Heat Pump Annual Saving: | £691 |
[iii] This also further supports the 1.4 million households in the UK with direct electric heating and no gas bill, those who will continue to be the most fuel poor this winter.
Houseboats (FS)
Factsheet
Version 2.0 | Updated: 31/01/2023
Over the last 18 months, Kensa has delivered an extensive body of evidence-based work and a stand-out communications campaign uncovering more detail about the potential of street-by-street installations of ground source heat pump technology into communities.
The findings were written into a whitepaper which Kensa presented to the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) at their 2022 Technical Symposium and was heavily peer-reviewed in a process that took six months.
The paper is available for CIBSE members to download and the key points are summarized below:
A realistic and viable blueprint for the widespread roll-out of low carbon heat pumps is needed if the UK achieve its heat decarbonisation goals and scale up to meet the ambitious heat pump deployment targets of 600,000 per year by 2028, as set by the government.
Kensa’s paper states: “In 2021, approximately 85% of UK domestic heating was provided through networked gas. This is not compatible with a net zero future and the way we heat our homes has to change dramatically.”
Whilst Networked Heat Pumps/Ambient Loop Heat Networks are not a new concept and smaller systems have been installed successfully, so far this is still not a mainstream solution.
Dr Manju Mishra, SAP Specialist at Kensa and co-author of the paper, said: “Our work aims to break down the perceived barriers to the widescale electrification of heat and showcase that Networked Heat Pumps can achieve decarbonisation goals at scale for the lowest cost. We were therefore delighted to have our findings published by CIBSE and recognised by highly-respected peers.”
Manju continued: “It is one thing to make low-carbon heating technologies available, but it is entirely a different matter to achieve their installation in homes and their adoption for use on a mass scale. This project is not just theorizing – we have developed a model based on real-life urban communities – and provided a blueprint that can be rolled out across the country.”
With Kensa’s experience of designing, installing and operating networked heat pump solutions at scale, we have considered the practical implications of bringing this solution to a real community. This proposal for an integrated urban energy system is modelled on real flats, houses and buildings in a real community in and around a real Green Street, in central Glasgow (G40).
We looked at every property, building and dwelling in Green Street and developed a suitable scope for the study having understood the area and surrounding region’s needs and opportunities.,The data set of 881 buildings encompass
ed a mix of new-build and existing terraced and semi-detached houses, bungalows, flats.
“In the data set, house annual space heating varies in the range of 9000-13000kWh whereas flats are in the range 4000kWh to 9500kWh. Based on the aggregated data on energy consumption for each dwelling, the total annual consumption and emissions from the existing dwellings were compiled, as per the table below.”’
Through the detailed study of the Energy Performance Certificate’s (EPC’s) of 881 sample homes with a Whole Life-Whole Cost-Benefit Analysis, research revealed that ‘fabric first’ is not always the most economical way to reduce household emissions.
Heat pumps can meet any level of heat demand and the better insulated a property is, the more efficient any heating system is and therefore more cost-effective to run. However, some homes may find it hard to reach a certain level of fabric efficiency and in some cases, it would be more effective to install low carbon heat pumps as a primary measure.
Kensa’s paper states: “An initial assessment of EPCs demonstrates poor fabric performance of the dwellings. Construction type indicates that insulation to upgrade fabric conditions would require expensive Solid Wall Insultation (SWI). A sensitivity analysis was conducted to compare the insulation cost per kWh saving versus the heat appliance cost per kWh saving…The sensitivity assessment shows that more carbon or kWh/£ primary energy is saved through low carbon heat measures, rather than insulation measures.”
Using a Whole Life – Whole Cost Benefit Analysis, Ambient Loop Networked Heat Pumps were identified as the lowest cost, lowest carbon decarbonisation pathway, especially in this type of high-density urban area, where the model allows whole streets to rapidly switch to the technology.
Kensa’s paper states: “From this high-level study, it is found that by installing and funding the deployment of networked heat pumps via an infrastructure that mimics the gas network, using a split ownership model, net-zero carbon can be achieved for the lowest societal cost and a significantly lower investment than other possible technologies.”
By installing the underground infrastructure required for ground source heat pumps a whole street at a time in advance of connecting individual properties, entire communities would be able to switch to renewable heating when they are ready to transition. This would happen in a way that mimics the original roll-out of the gas grid.
It is important to note that ground source heat pumps, rather than their air source variants, were identified as the optimum technology for the Networked Heat Pump system proposed in this study.
This is because sub-surface ground (and water) temperatures remain fairly stable night or day, all year round, whereas the efficiency of air source heat pumps is hugely compromised in cold weather when the air temperature drops, which coincides with when heat demand is at its peak. Any heat pump rollout programme featuring large numbers of air source heat pumps will require far more backup generating and storage capacity than ground source.
Kensa’s paper states: “It is evident that the combination of higher system efficiency and better load shifting flexibility with Networked Heat Pump on Ambient Loop Heat Network provides about 60% more saving in terms of fuel cost over ASHP and around 65% more savings compared to Gas boiler.”
By taking advantage of dynamic tariffs (which vary electricity charges depending upon the time of use), it is possible to avoid the peaks of grid strain and shift load to the times when the grid can best accommodate it, and when electricity is cheaper and lower carbon.
Kensa’s paper states: “In the heat model, Load Shifting or the use of a Time of Use Tariffs has been assumed to enable savings of 35% (30) cost for Networked Heat Pumps and 10% cost for stand-alone Air Source Heat Pumps. This anticipates that all heat pumps could shift load half an hour either side of peak periods, however, Networked Heat Pumps would be able to shift a greater proportion of load to night-time. Since Air Source Heat Pumps would suffer a performance detriment if they were to shift load to night time, when it is usually colder, and also would not be desired to run at times when lower noise would be preferred.”
The paper also recognises the potential for Networked Heat Pump systems to provide cooling – an important factor given that hotter summers and a trend for buildings to feature large amounts of glass, mean that overheating is a growing problem, especially in urban areas.
Kensa’s paper states: “In new builds…[there is]… a three-fold increase in cooling demand…in both the UK and Europe. These changing trends in demand may challenge the profitability of traditional high-temperature DH infrastructure…The impending legislative requirement to prevent buildings overheating…Req. O1: Overheating Mitigation Regs:40B 2021 edition, are leading to market conditions most favourable for ambient network systems.”
This type of system can utilise ‘passive cooling’, where the ground temperature allows cooling directly without the use of heat pumps. The by-product of extracting heat from the ground during the winter months is a large volume of pre-chilled ground (at temperatures of between 2-8*C), which is perfect for cooling.
Kensa’s paper states: “This ability to integrate waste energy sources, which improves system efficiency, substantially reduces primary energy demand and hence reduces total greenhouse gas emissions, further enabling the transition to net zero.”
When analysing non-domestic properties in the surrounding area, Kensa found local schools, sports centres, commercial and municipal buildings that could provide consistent sources of waste heat from cooling, air conditioning or refrigeration.
Kensa’s paper states: “An important feature of the model is the inclusion of waste heat and the constant increased performance of heat pumps from the availability of waste heat…When the source loop is maintained at a temperature of 15 or 20 degrees the performance of a Network Heat pump is improved…elevating SCOPs to 6 or 7.”
The stumbling block for the widespread adoption of ground source heat pump technology has traditionally been the cost of installing underground infrastructure needed to extract renewable heat from the ground. Kensa has developed a split-ownership model which provides a viable pathway for a subsidy-free replacement of the gas grid network.
Kensa’s paper states: “One particularly significant benefit of this solution is the opportunity for the infrastructure pipework to be installed using a split ownership model. Under Split ownership model, the infrastructure is funded, owned and maintained by an energy or water company, local authority or private investor removing the cost from consumers who pay a standing charge similar to gas. This model significantly moves the emphasis of funding the transition from Government to the private sector to enable lifetime lower running costs for users, providing a suitable long-term return for investors and eliminating carbon emissions.”
The project work associated with Kensa’s paper sought to address the challenge of communicating the benefits of large-scale ambient heat networks to relevant stakeholders.
‘Welcome to Green Street’ was presented through a mobile augmented reality (AR) experience taking users on a virtual trip down Green Street (modelled on the real Green Street in urban Glasgow), as it switches to heat pumps in a virtual makeover to demonstrate how the UK’s current gas grid can be replaced with renewable heating. Work is currently in progress for a desktop version.
Kensa’s paper states: “The main intention of the “Welcome to Green Street” project is to explain the definition of an Ambient Heat Network, such that policy makers, laypersons, and industry professionals alike, can understand the broad overview of a proposal for the decarbonisation of heat. The purpose of the digital assets created for this project is to demonstrate the nature of an ambient heat network in a very simple manner, and to convey the multiple benefits of this system.”
Kensa’s paper states: “Within this extensive and ground-breaking body of work, the practical implications of bringing this solution to a real community have been considered and stakeholders have been engaged widely. The primary conclusion of this study is that in consideration of achieving the installation of 600,000 heat pumps a year and achieving net zero, there is a viable, and valid opportunity in replacing the gas grid with ambient heat networks.”
Subterranean manifolds are prefabricated and designed specifically for use with ground source heat pump installations. They provide security and a central position to connect the heat pump’s ground array pipes together. Manufactured from tough, resistant polyethylene, they are available in a range of sizes and with differing numbers of inlets and outlets with control valves, flow meters and fill and purge ports.
In this video, we cover how to connect a ground array to a subterranean manifold, from positioning to electrofusion.
