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

paceinternet

You would need to look carefully at your electricity tariff options before choosing storage heaters upstairs and Heat Pump. The premium you might have to pay for the daytime units is the problem, such that a single rate tariff would normally be the best answer.
Radiators are ok if you have the space, and size them correctly for the lower water temperature. 35-45 degC instead of circa 70 degC. The output will need to be at least double the normal room requirement, and is well documented on some radiator websites.

richardc1983

Sladden wrote: »

Hi,

I realise that this is my first post so my credability might not be the best but anyway. I've reacently bought a smallish (50sqm) quirky flat that is more like a semi-detached bungalow. Insulation is OK, not good but could have been a lot worse. Heating is solely electrical with no gas in the flat and storage heaters are installed. Now to my point, I'm from Sweden and used to very cold weathers but nicely heated houses. The 'biggest' thing in heating for the last 10 years in Sweden has been air-to-air heat pumps and they are extremely common (think more like no oil or gas is used in Sweden, all new installations are pretty much heat pumps). I notice 2 main differences between the forums in Sweden (which are vary large with thousands of recent posts) and the discussions here. First and foremost PRICE.

Sweden is by no means a cheap country, pretty much everything is more expensive than in the UK. But, an installed Mitsubishi Electric heat pump with one internal unit is never (OK, maybe in very special circumstances) more than £2,000. Here people are talking about £4-5,000+. why is that.

Secondly, people here seem to complain that the unit is not efficient or working when it's cold, hmmm Sweden -20 degrees and my parents 170 sqm detached two story house is heated by a 5kw Mitsubishi unit with ONE internal unit on the lower ground in the stairwell, inside temperature in any room (internal doors open of course) never falls below 20 degrees. How can it differ so much in efficiency? OK, I know that we have 'space age' triple glazing as standard and everything is insulated but I've seen people installing 4 pumps with a internal unit in pretty much every room here... This is not how we use it in colder climates. And also, there seems to be a raliability issue as people are suggesting having a 'back-up' system. Why? I just say.

And after my rant, here is my question. If a buy a unit in Sweden instead (~£1,500) for a Mitsubishi and bring it here, would it be possible to find an installer for it? I'm in Greater London.

I would greatly appreciate any input/comments!

Christian

I think the issues with the uk are the type of housing and what they are built out of. Houses in sweden are built for the cold climate so are made from different materials.

I have 1 outdoor unit and 3 inside units, there is absolutly no way would the heat get through to the other rooms if I just had 1 unit turned on due to ceiling heights and the layout of my flat.

I would probably get away with 2 units but I have one in our spare room as I rent this room out at the moment and it gets very cold in winter during the night, can drop to about 11C inside and thats with double glazing.

Units will be more expensive over here because there are less demand for them so manufacturers put the prices up. AS you say in Sweden every new build is a heat pump over here the trend is still gas central heating with radiators.

Im sure if you shop around you will be able to find one for similar price that you would pay in sweden. I have just rang a few local installers and also Dean & Wood who advise list price for a http://www.bdt.co.nz/aircon/product.aspx?item=68954I is £1207 includng VAT installation would then be approx £400 so its about the same price really.

You sometimes can buy equipment direct from manufacturers.

Andy_WSM

Hi Richard, thought I'd point you in the direction of my post on refrigeration-engineer:

A big thanks to BIGOR_2. With his pointing me in the right direction (see above) I have soldered jumpers between the main PCB & the IDU PCB and connected a wireless thermostat up to the IDU PCB and now the unit switches on & off heat mode depending upon the setting of the wireless thermostat. This is a great solution for me - it means the unit doesn't blow cold air around the house when it isn't heating, I've not interfered with it's power connection to maintain heat in the compressor during cold weather or it's ability to carry out defrost cycles etc.

This should prove much more efficient at heating this Winter - the cost of not constantly running the IDU fan alone (at 120W/h) will amount up over the 4 or 5 months the unit is in heat mode.

I had the wireless stat in the garage unused, so it's cost me nothing to come up with a great working solution.

Thanks again BIGOR_2

Well chuffed :T

sparkie7203

Thanks all - Ive put £5000 for heating (again - I'll be doing as much of the hard work myself to try and keep the costs down). From what you are indicating, if I shop around I should be able to do this with the money Ive got do you think ?

richardc1983

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Hi Richard, thought I'd point you in the direction of my post on refrigeration-engineer:



Well chuffed :T

Im going to steal the bit at the bottom of your post...

Glad you have got it sorted anyway as now you can use the unit to full potential and use your other just for hot water hopefully saving on having to use the immersion heater.

Andy_WSM

richardc1983 wrote: »

Im going to steal the bit at the bottom of your post...

Glad you have got it sorted anyway as now you can use the unit to full potential and use your other just for hot water hopefully saving on having to use the immersion heater.

Definitely. Should lead to a marked decrease in heating bills this Winter. The Fujitsu is very capable of providing the heat when it is needed, whereas the Trianco was on it's knees on several occasions last Winter meaning it just ran continuously, achieving little.

richardc1983

Deffo! They are saying now that things are cooling already as today its 16C here in Leeds and its August! Crazy!

Something to do with the oil leak that will stop the atlantic flow and also the volcano.

Andy_WSM

richardc1983 wrote: »

Deffo! They are saying now that things are cooling already as today its 16C here in Leeds and its August! Crazy!

Something to do with the oil leak that will stop the atlantic flow and also the volcano.

Oh no I don't want another cold Winter LOL.

It's 19C but dull & drizzly here today, I have noticed the nights are cooling already though. Give it a month / 6 weeks and we'll be in heating mode!

richardc1983

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Oh no I don't want another cold Winter LOL.

It's 19C but dull & drizzly here today, I have noticed the nights are cooling already though. Give it a month / 6 weeks and we'll be in heating mode!

Im in heating mode this morning, its chilly first thing.

Andy_WSM

richardc1983 wrote: »

Im in heating mode this morning, its chilly first thing.

I'm going to set my new stat at a cosy 23C this evening and see if I have solved the "draft" problem

Will let you know tomorrow!