Positioning an ASHP

[Stones]

I'm looking at an A2W ASHP for my new house. At present the intended location of the ASHP is a 2 metre wide path that runs between the gable end of the house and the garage. The path is a 'through' corridor.

Looking at manufacturer (Panasonic) instructions suggests a rear minimum clearance of 100mm and a front minimum clearance of 1000mm. The ASHP itself is 300mm wide, so I do have enough room to position the ASHP, meet the rear and exceed the minimum front clearance distances. 

The question I have been pondering is whether I will in effect be creating a 'cold corridor' (between the gable end of the house and the garage) which will drive down the CoP of the ASHP or otherwise negatively affect the operation of the ASHP.

Any thoughts? 

[Jeremy Harris]

Our ASHP is in the corridor along the North face of our house, situated on the corner.  Behind it is the big retaining wall, around 3m high and around 1.2m or so from the face of the ASHP .

 

In practice it seems to work fine in this location, but rarely needs to run at anything like full output, so that probably helps.  This is what it looks like, with the water treatment plant shed next to it, poking out the back of the house:

[Stones]

That's very helpful thank you.  I suppose when you think about all those alleyways in cities, with multiple A2A heat pumps, they still operate effectively.  There will be a clear through flow for air so I'm probably worrying over nothing.

[jack]

On 5/22/2016 at 15:50, Stones said:

Looking at manufacturer (Panasonic) instructions suggests a rear minimum clearance of 100mm and a front minimum clearance of 1000mm. The ASHP itself is 300mm wide, so I do have enough room to position the ASHP, meet the rear and exceed the minimum front clearance distances. 

Are you sure it's 100mm at the rear?  We have the smallest ASHP that Panasonic makes (5kW) and I'm pretty sure the minimum recommended clearance was 300mm.

[Jeremy Harris]

Ours is specified as minimums of 200mm rear clearance, 300mm side clearance, 1000mm front clearance, so maybe they are all a bit different, depending on how air flows through them?

The intake on ours is at the left hand side and across around 3/4 of the rear, so maybe units that only have an intake at the rear need more clearance.

[Mikey_1980]

Our ASHP is specified at 500mm rear, 350mm Side and 1000m Front its an ESP varimax, I am fairly sure when I was looking nearly all of them were a 300mm minimum from the rear.

 

[jack]

Ours is the same (layout that is) as yours Jeremy - left hand side and 2/3s or 3/4s of the rear.  I'm just really surprised that the same manufacturer has such different suggested spacings, especially given that ours is only 5kW and seems to be the same size and layout as all single-fan monoblocs in the Aquarea range. 

[jack]

9 minutes ago, Mikey_1980 said:

... I am fairly sure when I was looking nearly all of them were a 300mm minimum from the rear.

 

That's my recollection too!

[Stones]

I've been having a look at various makes and they all seem to differ.  The minimum distance isn't really the issue however, as i do have the space to correctly position all of the different makes I have looked at.

[Jeremy Harris]

Although the manual for ours says 200mm minimum rear clearance, you would really struggle to fit it with that small a gap, as the flexi pipes won't really bend around that sort of radius (and, as I found, you need to have a loop to stop vibration transfer).  300mm seems a sensible minimum, and is probably around the distance between the rear of ours and the wall.

[reddal]

I've got an AC system (same kind of technology as ASHP) with the external unit about 200mm from a wall. The guy that serviced it said it was a bit close - but no major issue. His concern was only about being close to the wall it might get clogged up with leaves / debris back there - which would be a problem.