ASHP replacing bottled LPG or should I go for oil?

maelstrom

Hi to all, this is my first post here. Last winter we moved into a 200 year old cottage plus extension (about 110sqm in all). It has bottled LPG which needs replacing. The cottage has been desccribed as “pretty well insulated” but does have some drafts. I am trying to decide between a Grant’s external oil boiler or an air source pump. A lot of people in my area seem to be installing airpumps but they have not had them through the bad winter weather yet. Oil is cheaper to install. I am worried that with the air source pump (which will heat radiators and hot water) we will struggle but most suppliers are saying that it will be ok , and teh oil guy said that it will be very expensive to run. They all want to sell so I cannot really rely on them. Any advice is greatly appreciated, as I have a toddler and a baby and have to be prepared for winter. I am in Scotland and last winter temperatures of -15 and colder were around for a long time! Please Help. Thanks.

PS: I posted this in another bit by mistake too.

arty68

Hello,

Are you replacing your Rads to ?

As with an ASHP you will have to.

Do you want a water tank ?

As with an ASHP you will have to.

I have an ASHP and am happy , If you go for one I would make sure you can supplement the heating with an immersion as well as the hot water to get you through the worst winter days in comfort.

Also let battle commence

buglawton

You might do well to hang fire with the project until the new deal becomes clearer:

UK Energy saving cheap loans plan comes closer
(BBC news site yesterday)

‎

arty68

Although that does come in until the autumn of next year , so a long wait and another winter plus I'll believe it when I see it as we'll probably have another government by then

muckybutt

My experience of ASHP is a crap one !

We got ours installed back end of 2009 via a grant, we had a great oil fired boiler but the price of oil was going up etc. Then came the literature from our council raving over the ASHP's they were installing. We qualified for a full grant, new rads - tank - back up heater - pipework and the ASHP.

The leccy bills went up as we expected, in fact they went up so much Scottish Power rang us up to see if everything was ok as we were using that much leccy. The bill came and equated to 70 days useage costing £800.

Needless to say from that day on it came on for a couple of hours in the morning and an hour or three in the evening. We got the installer back and the manufacturer and the council and noone could understand why it was costing so much.

We have now got rid of the blasted thing and have gone down the multifuel stove route with boiler, £3700 installed and plumbed in for an 18Kw stove, estimate it will cost us £60 per month to run going by our useage on our other stove which this has replaced.

arty68

All I know so far about my system usage is my total electricty bill (tumble dryer,dishwasher etc.)from Oct - March was about £650 ish, I'm ok with that.

lovesgshp

arty68 wrote: »

Hello,

Are you replacing your Rads to ?

As with an ASHP you will have to.

Do you want a water tank ?

As with an ASHP you will have to.

I have an ASHP and am happy , If you go for one I would make sure you can supplement the heating with an immersion as well as the hot water to get you through the worst winter days in comfort.

Also let battle commence

Not always required to replace the rads.

You can omit the DHW tank and just run that by immersion heating. A buffer tank for the heating system will help stabilise that side more evenly, or go for a combined unit.

For 110 q mt a 9 - 11 Kw ASHP should be ok, but check the operating temps.

buglawton

There's been lot of comments about the internal bits to be replaced inside the house. Not sure why this is thought to be the first priority.

The most important thing that determines the (financial) success of heat pumps is having a large piece of land next to the house that is easy go deep into. Soil type also matters. Any professional company would perform this survey first of all and give you an honest appraisal. Has anyone anywhere ever encountered a professional company like this yet?

Perhaps the best thing is to get an independent, financially disinterested energy systems surveyor in first.

lovesgshp

buglawton wrote: »

There's been lot of comments about the internal bits to be replaced inside the house. Not sure why this is thought to be the first priority.

The most important thing that determines the (financial) success of heat pumps is having a large piece of land next to the house that is easy go deep into. Soil type also matters. Any professional company would perform this survey first of all and give you an honest appraisal. Has anyone anywhere ever encountered a professional company like this yet?

Perhaps the best thing is to get an independent, financially disinterested energy systems surveyor in first.

We are talking about ASHP sytems, not GSHP which requires land.
With GSHP you can actually use compact collectors which only need circa 40 sq mtrs of land.

TiredGeek

Just be very very very very very very very very careful about which company you choose. There are a few out there happy to take your money, but haven't a clue when things don't work as expected, and I'm in a position to know
If at all possible go with a recommendation above advertising, if you can find someone who's had a system fitted and it works as expected, then use that company

If I were doing it again I'd try to get a cast iron money back if it doesn't work warranty before parting with any money.
Make sure you are very clear about your needs and that they understand them fully. Do as much by email as possible, back them up in case of a system crash AND print them all out as well (your emails and their replies). Honestly, you never know, you may well need them in the future....

maelstrom

Thanks for all you helpful replies. Getting a reputable installer is proving tricky. Niebe people came and after 10 mins said that all is ok for ASHP. I was not convinced and looked into oil. I am nowlooking into the Daiken Altherma HT pump, but apperently it is very expensive. I have to do this before Winter as I have a 3 yr old and a 3 month old baby and at the moment we have no heating. I also have 10 mm microbore, but not the very thin one. I have been told that it should be fine. I am not wanting to replace radiators at the moment - I have just purchasedthe hse and was not expecting such an expense so soon!! Thanks again