Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Heat Exchanger definition

What does Heat Exchanger mean? A heat exchanger is an item of plant that transfers heat between two media (usually fluids) without direct mixing, typically across tubes or plates. In legal practice across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, this is descriptive engineering terminology rather than a term defined in legislation or case law, but it is frequently specified in contracts, safety cases and permits. Key legal considerations include: classification as pressure equipment; conformity assessment and marking (UK: Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 and UKCA/CE marking; Ireland: European Union measures implementing the Pressure Equipment Directive); in‑service inspection and written schemes of examination (UK: Pressure...

Ground source heat pumps: technology, system options, site constraints, regulatory and planning consents, sizing, costs and current UK incentives

Published by a LexisNexis Energy expert

Practice notes

What are ground source heat pumps?

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are central heating and/or cooling systems that transfer heat between the building and the ground. They draw on stored solar and ground energy, raising it to a more useful temperature for the heating system. In summer, they can remove heat from the building and release it into the ground to provide cooling. This practice is common in China, Japan, the USA and parts of Europe. For further details on global GSHP patterns, refer to the Renewables Global Status Report.

How ground source heat pumps work

Soil temperature varies by location, but in the UK it stays stable at around 11–12°C once you go below roughly 5 metres. At this depth the ground forms a large thermal store, absorbing the sun’s heat in summer and giving it back in winter. GSHPs capture this low-temperature energy and amplify it to a higher, more usable level to heat water or air inside a building. A schematic (Figure 1) illustrates a GSHP operating in heating mode...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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