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

bushyh

richardc1983 wrote: »

What I mean is the pipes should be at the same tem as the flow temp that you have asked the system to produce on the controller.

So if you have it set at 40C on the controller then the radiators should be at 40C etc etc. You can tell this if you feel the pipes coming from the mixing plenum inside your house. These pipes should be at the temp selectred on the controller

ok what controller where and what temp should it be at

richardc1983

bushyh wrote: »

ok what controller where and what temp should it be at

Where the controls are, it should be set the maximum you can get it for now. It will be where you control and turn the heating on and off. Can you take a photo of the controls and what they are set at, You wil be able to set what temperature the water comes out of the hot taps at and there will also be a setting for the radiators.

Pretty sure the blokes who visited should have done this though.

Normally heat pumps run at lower temperatures such as 40C but your system doesnt seem to be able to achieve that.

So try putting the flow temp up you never know it might be set too low and they havent checked this.

I have just checked calorex heat pump website and it says there heat pumps are rated down to -15C so not sure why you are not getting any heating from it.

rhiwfield

richardc1983 wrote: »

If your are just wanting to supplement the oil system easiest setup would be to install air conditioning units in each room that you require heating (you benefit from coolign in the summer too this way).

Richard, I want ASHP to be supplemented by the oil system, not vice versa. I suspect I disagree that it would be easier the way you say. I'm hoping (but not yet sure) that the planned approach will cause minimal disruption with maximum financial (and environmental) benefit.

bushyh

richardc1983 wrote: »

Where the controls are, it should be set the maximum you can get it for now. It will be where you control and turn the heating on and off. Can you take a photo of the controls and what they are set at, You wil be able to set what temperature the water comes out of the hot taps at and there will also be a setting for the radiators.

Pretty sure the blokes who visited should have done this though.

Normally heat pumps run at lower temperatures such as 40C but your system doesnt seem to be able to achieve that.

So try putting the flow temp up you never know it might be set too low and they havent checked this.




I have just checked calorex heat pump website and it says there heat pumps are rated down to -15C so not sure why you are not getting any heating from it.

the only controls I have been shown are the normal water/heating timers same as you would have for a gas boiler but i have just looked at the instructions on the calorex website and the control panel is in the pump - dark and snowy but off out to see what temp it is on - I would have thought the calorex technical guy would have looked at this last week though - back soon!

richardc1983

rhiwfield wrote: »

Richard, I want ASHP to be supplemented by the oil system, not vice versa. I suspect I disagree that it would be easier the way you say. I'm hoping (but not yet sure) that the planned approach will cause minimal disruption with maximum financial (and environmental) benefit.

Sorry that is what I meant to say.

You want the ASHP to do the majority of the heating.

richardc1983

bushyh wrote: »

the only controls I have been shown are the normal water/heating timers same as you would have for a gas boiler but i have just looked at the instructions on the calorex website and the control panel is in the pump - dark and snowy but off out to see what temp it is on - I would have thought the calorex technical guy would have looked at this last week though - back soon!

Deffo have a look at it and set it as high as you can get it (just the heating flow temp) as from what I remember your hot water is working... which is again weird as I would expect hot water to be effected . The system is using an awful lot of electricity are you sure there is no booster coming on to boost the hot water temperature up as if the system isnt working in heating right then hot water should be poor as well... unless as I say there is an immersion coming on?

bushyh

richardc1983 wrote: »

Deffo have a look at it and set it as high as you can get it (just the heating flow temp) as from what I remember your hot water is working... which is again weird as I would expect hot water to be effected . The system is using an awful lot of electricity are you sure there is no booster coming on to boost the hot water temperature up as if the system isnt working in heating right then hot water should be poor as well... unless as I say there is an immersion coming on?

ok the actual water temperature is showing as 33, but the space heating temperature is set at 55 (the max) - is it pointless it being set that high when the water is only showing 33? The hot water is fine. Usually I have that on during the day when we are out and heat is off, but whilst it has been on all day the heat pretty much goes off for the hour or so water is turned on. There is no evidence of immersion/booster coming on automatically because there are manual switches for both in the airing cupboard. The energy usage almost worries me more than being cold! If I get calorex back again are there any checks they can do to establishs whether it is working correctly in terms of energy usage and temperature? I can see the merits of making the system work and don't want to jump ship too soon but nor do I want to be cold, or miss the boat in terms of the builder doing something. The tank temperature in the airing cupboard is set at around 50 - the Calorex chap did that in the week. The hall radiator (where the wall thermostat is) is around 30.

rhubarbe

If the water temp is set to 55C and the actual is 35.2 then the thing isn't working properly, period. Pipes should not be warm - our radiators feel hot to touch. Not as hot as with our old LPG boiler but then it's only costing me 25p an hour toheat the house with the Ecodan, against £1 an hour with the LPG (the boiler was old and did need changing).

Last seven days usage of electricity is 350 units, so about £32.50 for the week including cooking, lights, TV, everything in fact. Heating is on from six in the morning until eleven thirty at night.

I'm warm and saving money, even though Mr Cardew says I can't be. I love my ASHP, even though Mr Cardew says it'd be cheaper to use oil at 46ppl. I hear the sound of axes ringing: new grindstone required, methinks.

zeupater

bushyh

Check the met-office for your local overnight (&daytime) temperatures ..... if you're anywhere near the Welsh borders you'll have been well below the -15C min for the ASHP for much of the last 24Hrs (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/observations/) .... If you have additional temperature boosting for the hot water (immersion type) that will be the reason the water is hot, but if there is no similar boost on the CH circuit the HP will effectively be useless in these temperatures .....

Note : turning the circuit temperatures up will seriously reduce the COP of you unit and increase you electricity consumption for each kWh of heat delivered, so ensure you remember to not leave the heating circuit temperature settings too high ....

Heat pumps are usually sized to maintain the temperature in a property, they are pretty useless at raising the temperature of the thermal mass of the building within any reasonable timescales, especially when it's very cold outside and they are struggling to extract heat from the air anyway .... I just wish that the industry would ensure that customers & specifiers were aware of this .....

HTH

richardc1983

bushyh wrote: »

ok the actual water temperature is showing as 33, but the space heating temperature is set at 55 (the max) - is it pointless it being set that high when the water is only showing 33? The hot water is fine. Usually I have that on during the day when we are out and heat is off, but whilst it has been on all day the heat pretty much goes off for the hour or so water is turned on. There is no evidence of immersion/booster coming on automatically because there are manual switches for both in the airing cupboard. The energy usage almost worries me more than being cold! If I get calorex back again are there any checks they can do to establishs whether it is working correctly in terms of energy usage and temperature? I can see the merits of making the system work and don't want to jump ship too soon but nor do I want to be cold, or miss the boat in terms of the builder doing something. The tank temperature in the airing cupboard is set at around 50 - the Calorex chap did that in the week. The hall radiator (where the wall thermostat is) is around 30.

Your settings are at the max, even if you lowered the temp to 35 all this will cause the outdoor unit to do is cycle etc, at the moment it is trying to achieve 55C flow temp and getting no where near so its never going to switch off so no point turning the temp down as the lowest you should turn it down to is 45C for a radiator system. The temps its running at the moment would be suitable for underfloor heating but even so its using a lot for that. It seems a very unefficient and to be blunt rubbish system. What model number is it?

TO me it doesnt sound right 111kws a day is quite a lot really (I know this is your electricity usage in full) but unless your using electric heaters to get your temps up then I am not sure where all that energy is going.

What the max input on your calorex heat pump? Eg a 3kw fan heaters input is 3kw an hour and you get 3kws of heat back out.

YOur 14kw calorex system I would have though is about 4/5kws input? The user manual should give this information.

Then do the maths and work it out.

YOur hot water temperature is very low also if its only achieving 33C once a week it should be boosting the water temperature to 65C to reduce the risk of Legionella bacteria.

When you turn the booster switch on for the heating what does the flow temp get upto then?