Sartrouville

This pilot project became a textbook solution which has been replicated with regard to French Building Codes RE2020 and RE2025 – M. Cilleros (Groupe intuis)

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Lessons learned 

  • The system copes well with minus degree temperatures and offers the benefits of a high-temperature system, meaning that it can be used for new build and retrofit application, with a range of emitters.
  • It also means it manages water temperature effectively to protect against water-dwelling bacteria.

Key facts

BuildingHeat Pump and Source
LocationSatrouville, FranceNumber of HP3
Construction2021/22Installed power3 x 80kW
Heat distributionwall-mounted radiatorsOperation modemonovalent
Heated area8,400 m²Heat sourceair
No. of apartments63 Modelintuis Heat Pump ZéPAC + HRC
level of insulationvery good
Heating sytemDomestic Hot Water
Heat demand– kWh / (m²a)DHW demand– kWh / (m²a)
Type of systemcentralType of systemcentral
Heating
temperature
55 °CMax. temperature65 °C
Circulation system
Other information
Storage tank 3000lCOP3.5
Sound level63 db(A)RefrigerantR290

Description of the technical concept

It was important that the heat pump units, to be installed on the roof, were low enough so as not to be visible from outside the building. Another key requirement was that high-temperature hydraulic radiators could be used, to avoid the additional costs of a traditional gas installation.

Group intuis (part of Glen Dimplex) provided a solution which was able to meet all of these requirements: an air source and centralized heat pump system. 

The size of the system was determined using specialized software. A central heat pump system, integrated into the building, was selected. This has three monobloc units on the roof and a controller in the basement.  Once the technical details had been approved, installation of the outdoor units, which had been specially adapted to fit discreetly on the roof, started in September 2021. This was followed by the installation of the indoor unit in the basement in February 2022.

One of the main strengths of this system is the indoor control unit which can be used to manage the heating and hot water requirements together, and so avoids oversizing the installation. The domestic hot water and heating coupling is managed so that domestic hot water needs are prioritized before the system switches to space heating.

There is an equal distribution of effort between the outdoor units. Operation is 100% thermodynamic down to -20°C, meaning there is no need for gas or direct electric back up. The very low noise level – at around 63 dB(A) – was also a factor in the customer’s decision-making process.

FR002 Satrouville

  1. Pictures: ehpa – https://www.ehpa.org/news-and-resources/publications/heat-pumps-and-high-rise-homes-case-studies-from-across-europe/ ↩︎