Air Source Heat Pumps

[Fluff34567]

I bought a house with a heat pump but it has underfloor heating , the house is from 1995. Its extremely quiet and the unit is inside. Will get more pics later though the European systems are different to what the UK would have.

Here are some pics keep in mind it's for floor heating so a bit different so water flow temp is around 30C , I believe a radiator needs around 60-70c . Its inside in the basement so the ducts are air in and out. Today the air difference is about 8c, but that changes depending on load, requested temp etc.

BE AWARE THEY ARE POWER HUNGRY!

Pics are electrical control, distribution manifold for downstairs with 7 circuits, upstairs is duplicated, the storage tank , and finally the installation its 120cm square.

 

[DXX]

I would imagine the best solution if you have the ground area would be a ground source heat pump serviced by solar / battery storage.
That said the investment pay back time would probably dictate that you do it the better side of 50 years of age and don’t plan on moving house.

 

[True Romance]

 

[True Romance]

Here are some pics keep in mind it's for floor heating so a bit different so water flow temp is around 30C , I believe a radiator needs around 60-70c . Its inside in the basement so the ducts are air in and out. Today the air difference is about 8c, but that changes depending on load, requested temp etc.

BE AWARE THEY ARE POWER HUNGRY!

Pics are electrical control, distribution manifold for downstairs with 7 circuits, upstairs is duplicated, the storage tank , and finally the installation its 120cm square.

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Jesus how BIG is your house? That plant room is bigger than our whole house!

 

[Fluff34567]

I would imagine the best solution if you have the ground area would be a ground source heat pump serviced by solar / battery storage.
That said the investment pay back time would probably dictate that you do it the better side of 50 years of age and don’t plan on moving house.

Ground source makes a massive difference, be aware that instead of surface area you can also just go deep.. my neighbour has one that's approx 800m deep

 

[dubber36]

Interestingly as per David above new builds now have no real choice, as we can see no way of getting through the new building regs and sap10 with a gas boiler!

Gshp only viable on much larger houses due to installation costs

That's the conclusion I came to with my energy assessor the other day. The developer that I have designed houses for wanted to use oil for the small, rural site due to lack of mains gas. Oil would just about squeezed through the SAP before June, but not a chance now with the new regs. With sufficient insulation, some PV and a woodburner, gas will just about comply, but oil has certainly had it's day in new build.

 

[Fluff34567]

Jesus how BIG is your house? That plant room is bigger than our whole house!

The plant room is 15m² wide angle lens makes it look bigger. I have a nuclear fallout bunker in the basement as well , it's a Swiss thing

House is 270m² but a volume of 1400m³ but getting away from topic.. heat pump.makes place in a designed new build but not in an older house.

 

[DaveCrampton]

Thanks for all the useful replies. We have had our first solar PV quote, at the same time as ASHP install quote, with a company in Glasgow.
ASHP comes in at £18k with a £7k Gov grant, a £2.5k interest free loan and us paying the rest. £8.5k our of our own pockets!
Solar was quoted at £13k. (Spec further down)

A friend locally had a similar size Solar PV install in the spring which was £7k. I don't know if prices have rocketed or if the Glasgow company are just not cheap.

Our Viessmann boiler is £1500 to replace before the plumbers costs.
I was chatting to someone who says they think gas boilers will not be allowed to be installed after 2025!? Is this true? If so it may be better just to get our last bite at this cherry?

Our thoughts are now along the lines of:-

* Add more insulation in the loft, cheapest initially.
* External insulation is the second option we will go with. Our house has roughcast with stone chips (think 70s concrete garages look) which is looking tired, so we plan to have it removed and external insulation panels bolted on. Then new roughcast applied.
* Solar is next, and I'm looking for quotes to compare with our initial quote £13k! (10 x 450W PV with 5kW battery, a hot water tank & an inverter But our roof may need to be inspected. I certainly have replaced a few tiles after finding cracked tiles when I was cleaning the guttering of leaf and seed debris.

Our garden is large but I don't know how much land we need for GSHP pipe laying. The only company to quote to date does not install GSHP.

Thanks again. Lots of valuable information from you all. Lastly my wife is bloody paranoid about mould due to moisture/condescension and we can't have one night without at least one window opened. Perimenopause doesn't help either. Our duvet is 13 on my side and 5 on hers!!

 

[paddy26]

Regarding mold/condensation you can look at mechanical heat recovery ventilation (mhrv) or similar ventilation system.

 

[Bav]

ASHP comes in at £18k with a £7k Gov grant, a £2.5k interest free loan and us paying the rest. £8.5k our of our own pockets!

The loan is interest free, but still repayable, so you'd be paying £11k (?) and what's the payback period, if any, on this investment?

Regardless of the payback and subsidies, if that's the cost for a typical ASHP installation, then the whole "initiative" (aka hairbrained virtue-signalling scheme) is dead in the water. No doubt inviability won't deter HMG from forcing through legislation, but the elderly will die and middle-income families will be keeping warm via rioting, insurrection and the burning of politicians.

 

[dubber36]

Personally I'd insulate the hell out of the house and fit an efficient gas boiler. You'll never see the money back on a ASHP 'investment', neither will it add any noticeable value to the house.

As for ventilation, you can swap your kitchen and bathroom extract fans for ones that tick over all the time, and as normal when turned on fully. They run virtually silently, so can be used at night.

 

[DXX]

My neighbours had a damp house, eventually they fitted a forced ventilation fan in the roof space and it fixed the issue by creating a very slight positive pressure in the house. Obviously it consumes power and would be best served by a small solar / battery installation.

 

[Bav]

...neither will it add any noticeable value to the house.

If ASHP doesn't work effectively, it will detract from the value of a house.

 

[Bav]

I was chatting to someone who says they think gas boilers will not be allowed to be installed after 2025!?

Are you (were they) sure about this?

I googled "when will gas boilers be banned uk" and got this as the first result...

​

EDIT: link: UK Gas Boiler Ban - Everything You Need to Know.

 

[Ali-G]

Regardless of the payback and subsidies, if that's the cost for a typical ASHP installation, then the whole "initiative" (aka hairbrained virtue-signalling scheme) is dead in the water.

Domestic heatings version of the electric car?

 

[paddy26]

Thanks for all the useful replies. We have had our first solar PV quote, at the same time as ASHP install quote, with a company in Glasgow.
ASHP comes in at £18k with a £7k Gov grant, a £2.5k interest free loan and us paying the rest. £8.5k our of our own pockets!
Solar was quoted at £13k. (Spec further down)

A friend locally had a similar size Solar PV install in the spring which was £7k. I don't know if prices have rocketed or if the Glasgow company are just not cheap.

Our Viessmann boiler is £1500 to replace before the plumbers costs.
I was chatting to someone who says they think gas boilers will not be allowed to be installed after 2025!? Is this true? If so it may be better just to get our last bite at this cherry?

Our thoughts are now along the lines of:-

* Add more insulation in the loft, cheapest initially.
* External insulation is the second option we will go with. Our house has roughcast with stone chips (think 70s concrete garages look) which is looking tired, so we plan to have it removed and external insulation panels bolted on. Then new roughcast applied.
* Solar is next, and I'm looking for quotes to compare with our initial quote £13k! (10 x 450W PV with 5kW battery, a hot water tank & an inverter But our roof may need to be inspected. I certainly have replaced a few tiles after finding cracked tiles when I was cleaning the guttering of leaf and seed debris.

Our garden is large but I don't know how much land we need for GSHP pipe laying. The only company to quote to date does not install GSHP.

Thanks again. Lots of valuable information from you all. Lastly my wife is bloody paranoid about mould due to moisture/condescension and we can't have one night without at least one window opened. Perimenopause doesn't help either. Our duvet is 13 on my side and 5 on hers!!

Did they give a cost breakdown of the 18k?

 

[Sackmycook]

Personally I'd insulate the hell out of the house and fit an efficient gas boiler. You'll never see the money back on a ASHP 'investment', neither will it add any noticeable value to the house.

As for ventilation, you can swap your kitchen and bathroom extract fans for ones that tick over all the time, and as normal when turned on fully. They run virtually silently, so can be used at night.

Do you have a link for one of these. The one in my utility room sounds like a Russian helicopter....

 

[dubber36]

No. My energy assessor was telling me that we'd need them in a new house to get it through the SAP. I'd never heard of them before.

 

[DaveCrampton]

I have started on adding lots and lots of insulation to the loft. Out came the old wardrobe doors and side panels which sat on the joists with an inch of original 70s insulation. In went 10 x 200mm Eko roll today.


And as we all know the advantage of a Transporter is lots of room to collect it!