UPDATED: Air Source Heat Pumps/Air Con - Full Info & Guide, is it cheaper to run than mains gas?

JackMar

Obviously you work for Husky then and you haven't invested in over £8000 in a ASHP

richardc1983

JackMar wrote: »

Obviously you work for Husky then and you haven't invested in over £8000 in a ASHP

What? Rather than put a pointless post why don't you give facts?

JackMar

We have all the facts and figures to go to Trading Standards

richardc1983

JackMar wrote: »

We have all the facts and figures to go to Trading Standards

Ok then, good luck.

Pretty pointless coming on here if your not gonna explain your own situation to anyone. How does that help others.

JackMar

We bought a Husky Heat Pump in June 2011 for £7400 after ripping out a brand new year old Worcester Bosch Gas Boiler. We had a year of trouble with the pump not working more than it worked. They had undersized the pump initially it was a 12kw and then they uprated to a 16kw twin fan. This works after a fashion but have had to install a multi fuel burner to supplement the heating as our lounge is no where near as hot as it used to be with gas.

If its 5 degrees outside, the ASHP is on all the time and is only capable keeping it at 20 degrees. The cost of running the ASHP with 11 radiators and the ASHP set at 45 degrees runs at 7kw at 12p a kw which works at 84p an hour. Whereas our 42kw gas boiler run at 22p an hour. The heat output on the radiators was 70 degrees where as the max on the ASHP is 35.

In addition to this we have already spent £400 on coal to keep our lounge comfortable plus the cost of installing the multi fuel burner.

Before the heat pump was installed our electric bill was £1100 and for gas it was £1340 = £2440. Whereas now the first years running costs of the ASHP is electric £2430, coal and wood was £330 and gas £160 = £2920.00 which is £480 more for a colder house.

This year we will be running at the total utility bill of at least £3000.

Thankfully this year so far we haven't suffered the freezing conditions we did last year because if this ASHP goes below freezing it will cost even more money to run.

lovesgshp

Interesting. Do not know the Husky unit though. Is the buffer tank for the rads set to the right temp, is the DHW coming out at whatever level set, i.e. 50C.
If your rads are only heating to 35C, then there could be a mixing valve problem, pump control set-up issue or a number of other issues.
If Husky changed the unit to 16kw in 2012. then surely that is still covered in the 2 year guarantee?

TiredGeek

JackMar wrote: »

ASHP are noisy and double the expense of gas central heating - avoid at all costs

Balanced and valuable information from an expert. I hope we all pay careful attention

matelodave

I can't understand the logic of ripping out a brand new gas boiler - if the heating system had been designed for a gas boiler then it's unlikely to work effectively with a heat-pump without increasing the sizes of all the rads, improving the insulation and learning how to drive it properly. I would guess that there are very few situations where changing a gas boiler for a heat-pump would be cost effective - possibly if you are using LPG and the gas boiler is on it's last legs it might be worth considering, but you'd need to do some very careful sums to see if it was worth it. You can buy lots and lots of gas for the difference in price between a boiler and a heat pump.

It's hard to dispute the logic that it doesn't work in his case, because it looks like it's not suitable. You can't really compare a 42kw gas boiler with a 12 or 16kw heatpump. He should therefore be chasing the installer to get it sorted out - possibly by reinstalling the gas boiler - rather than criticising heatpumps in general.

He's obviously been given poor advice or not understood what he's bought and feels that he should vent his anger & frustration on an unsuspecting world.

pd001

matelodave wrote: »

I can't understand the logic of ripping out a brand new gas boiler - if the heating system had been designed for a gas boiler then it's unlikely to work effectively with a heat-pump without increasing the sizes of all the rads, improving the insulation and learning how to drive it properly.

It's hard to dispute the logic that it doesn't work in his case, because it looks like it's not suitable. You can't really compare a 42kw gas boiler with a 12 or 16kw heatpump. He should therefore be chasing the installer to get it sorted out - possibly by reinstalling the gas boiler - rather than criticising heatpumps in general.

He's obviously been given poor advice or not understood what he's bought and feels that he should vent his anger & frustration on an unsuspecting world.

Good post, with easy to understand points, and well made.

I agree with matelodave, It does seem as though JackMar may have been badly advised or missunderstood the advice he was given..
Direct quote as follows...We bought a Husky Heat Pump in June 2011 for £7400 after ripping out a brand new year old Worcester Bosch Gas Boiler.
Wow, what a decision to make.

And another...They had undersized the pump initially it was a 12kw and then they uprated to a 16kw twin fan.
So whoever 'they' were/are didnt calculate what was actually needed properlyin the first instance.

JackMar

Thanks for all the comments. We were advised in black and white that we would be saving a £1000 on our bills each year. We will be looking into sorting this out directly with Husky as they are the ones we are dealing with. This advise we are giving is for people to take careful consideration when thinking about having an ASHP fitted and that a lot of people on this forum may (and I only say may), work for companies that sell ASHP so they may have a vested interest to disagree and disrespect what people post who have clearly been conned.