The house in Enfield, Co Meath was heated with LPG which O’Donoghue found too expensive to operate. “When Feargal researched a suitable heat source for his renovated home he was influenced by the Toshiba Estia and paticularly the unrivalled efficiencies Estia offers compared to the competition,” said Derek Phelan of Toshiba suppliers GT Phelan.
O’Donoghue – who was looking for a heat pump to meet his space heating needs but wasn’t concerned with hot water – waited until Estia was launched in Ireland in 2010 before making enquiries to GT Phelan, Toshiba’s sole Irish distributor. The company, based in Bray, Co Wicklow, assisted him with product selection, and suggested an approved installer to engineer a solution for the project.
Underfloor loops were installed throughout the ground floor, with low temperature radiators providing heating to upstairs bedrooms. No additional energy saving measures were applied to the building. When Estia was installed it was configured to operate in conjunction with the existing boiler, to allow the boiler to provide heat whenever external air temperatures fall below -50C. The Toshiba system was also fitted with an energy metre, allowing Feargal to monitor the power consumed.
The final bill for installing the Toshiba air-to-water system amounted to €7,000, minus a €2,000 grant. The total fuel burn using LPG (January to December 2010) amounted to €4,200 while the total electricity bill (January to December 2011) amounted to €1,380 – a reduction of over €2,800, representing a two-year payback. O’Donoghue is clearly impressed. “The Toshiba air-to-water system is simple to operate and has reduced my energy bills by approximately 60%,” he said.
The Estia model HWS1403 produces up to 14kW heat and operates with a COP of 4.50 at an air temperature of 7 degrees C and a water supply temperature of 35 degrees C, with a maximum power input of 4kW.
GT Phelan has a long track record of environmental stewardship stretching back over 20 years. Company director Derek Phelan introduced a system for the safe disposal of refrigerant gases in 1992, a system which the company subsequently rolled out across all installers. “At GT Phelan we’re genuinely committed to reducing carbon emissions, and to keeping our impact on the environment to a minimum,” Phelan said.
Contact: Derek Phelan, GT Phelan. Tel: 01 – 286 4377; email: derek@gtphelan.ie; www.gtphelan.ie. ■
