Pilot project is not just a load of hot air!

An exciting pilot programme is providing Westlea residents with heating systems that are cleaner and cheaper than they had been used to.

Since late last year, Westlea has been trying out a range of alternative forms of heating at homes in the Purton and Malmesbury areas. The project has found ways of using renewable energy to help make heating more affordable and better for the environment.

“Incorporating new technology into homes when they are built is relatively straightforward because the building can be designed to include high levels of insulation and space for hot water tanks and so on,” explains Westlea's Senior Building Surveyor Steve Francis. “But far more difficult is finding how these new technologies can be ‘retro-fitted’ into existing homes, which are off the gas grid and where the only previous alternative to electric heating has been oil.”

The pilot programme includes:
• ‘Air-to-air’ heat pumps in a block of six flats in Purton, previously heated by electric night storage heaters; one flat is retained as a control property still using night storage heaters.
• ‘Air-to-water’ system installed at a property in Sherston where the only alternative to electric heating in the past has been oil.
• Six homes with electric boilers providing heating through a traditional wet radiator system, with three of these allied to solar panels to provide the households’ hot water.

All of these properties have been monitored for energy usage since they were commissioned in November 2008. “Early results appear to be very promising, particularly as we have just gone through one of the coldest winters for some years,” says Steve Francis. “Most are showing excellent cost savings and certainly much greater benefits for residents in terms of control and comfort.”

Mr and Mrs Woods, of Hullavington (pictured, with Steve Francis), are fans of the new system. “Since the installation of the Mitsubishi air-to-air heat pump, we have not used our storage heaters,” says Mrs Woods. “The new system heats the whole bungalow, is safe, simple, and clean in operation. We have found running costs even on the standard rate to be cheaper than Economy 7 and are very pleased to have been included in the pilot scheme.”

Other residents taking part in the trials are impressed too. “It’s a good heating system and you can put it on when you need it, where the old storage heaters you had to put it on the day before,” says one of those in Purton who is taking part. “The new system is easy to use, provides instant heat and is very controllable. We get the amount of heat we require when we need it,” says a Hullavington resident.

Careful checks on how these systems perform during the rest of the year will help decide whether Westlea can adopt these technologies as alternatives to more traditional heating systems in the future.