Woodpellet boiler woes

nande2000

I wouldnt write off ASHP so quickly. I have a 1960s detached house and was using oil to heat it. After much research and a little trepidation I went for an 8.5kw Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP. Admittedly we do have wood burners to supplement what the heat pump provides, but it works for us.11 months in and its cost roughly £400 to run.

MonsterMonster

nande2000 wrote: »

I wouldnt write off ASHP so quickly. I have a 1960s detached house and was using oil to heat it. After much research and a little trepidation I went for an 8.5kw Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP. Admittedly we do have wood burners to supplement what the heat pump provides, but it works for us.11 months in and its cost roughly £400 to run.

Interesting and good to hear good news.

Can you provide any details as to the size of your house, heat loss survey figures (if any) and what additional kit was installed such as thermal store or buffer tank and over sized radiators?

What was your installer experience like in finding a suitable solution and are you setup for RHI payments?

nande2000

If i remember correctly the floor plan is 144 sq meters. Getting a decent supplier took time, most of them were charlatans and didnt know what they were talking about.Not setup for RHI, yet, but i did get the RHPP.

We had a small vented (235l) Thermal store fitted, but its only used for DHW, it was the installers idea as is means none of the checks of a non-vented cylinder are needed, and we have the option to add another heat source in future if we wanted.
Also fitted an immersun for our PV at the same time, so 95% of our hot water over the summer has been free.

The only issue we had was with a Siemens wireless thermostat, useless piece of kit, constantly needed resetting. So we had it replaced with a wired one.

MonsterMonster

nande2000 wrote: »

If i remember correctly the floor plan is 144 sq meters. Getting a decent supplier took time, most of them were charlatans and didnt know what they were talking about.Not setup for RHI, yet, but i did get the RHPP

That was a quick reply!

Can I trouble you for the installer details? Sounds like an interesting follow up even if to see if they provide other technology solutions.

lostinrates

We've been told for our house, repeatedly, AShp is not going to do, but that it would be great for other of our buildings and uses in the future.


Gshp in itself we have also been assured is not suffice not By itself, but we are hoping that with help it might be.

We do have the land available to lay it and, also, have considered boreholes as part of extension phases when the expense is still there but more 'build in able'.


The 15 k style quotes would be stomach able......I'd say that was extremely palatable compared to most of the quotes we have have had!

nande2000

Two installers told me that ASHP would definately not work with our house, so some installers you need to take their advice with a pinch of salt.

lostinrates

nande2000 wrote: »

Two installers told me that ASHP would definately not work with our house, so some installers you need to take their advice with a pinch of salt.

We've had almost a dozen around here now:). And two independent advisers knowing they could sell us nothing, just advising initially on the basis of the woodpellet boiler failure issues.

One's main business was air and came with the pov of trying to make air work, and left saying, I just don't think its right for here....but I could see you this instead and air would work in these other places on your property....

I think when the main proponents say no to something you accept its not for your place! :

After all, if there were one right answer for everywhere, their would be no
Need for all these different 'solutions'.

nande2000

Why did he think it wouldnt work ?

What I found with one installer who said that it wasn't right for us was that they had their own set design which they would use for every install - i.e. to maximise their profit margins they were avoiding any form of customisation. They wanted to install a buffer tank, even though Mitsubishi say one isn't needed.

The big downside of heatpumps I guess is that you have to understand to a much greater degree how they work as compared to a fossil fuel boiler.

I looked at woodpellets too, downside i found with them is that the install costs were huge (£12k minimum).

nande2000

lostinrates wrote: »

We've been told for our house, repeatedly, AShp is not going to do, but that it would be great for other of our buildings and uses in the future.


Gshp in itself we have also been assured is not suffice not By itself, but we are hoping that with help it might be.

We do have the land available to lay it and, also, have considered boreholes as part of extension phases when the expense is still there but more 'build in able'.


The 15 k style quotes would be stomach able......I'd say that was extremely palatable compared to most of the quotes we have have had!

Thats probably correct, if ASHP is not suitable then the same is true for GSHP.

lostinrates

nande2000 wrote: »

Thats probably correct, if ASHP is not suitable then the same is true for GSHP.

Well.....what we are told is its not suitable 'by itself'.

Problems with air source here include siting the units in sufficient number ...while we have lots of land and barn space, the unit siting is actually harder here than gshp.

We have also been told gshp is not suitable, but not by everyone. So we are a bit of a dither tbh!


Underfloor is actually ok here, we have allowed for it in areas we have done (or can make allowance for it) and will allow for it in parts of the house yet to do down stairs. Upstairs floors I am assured can have underfloor when we take the floors up (all but one need that) and will be planned for in the restoration bit anyway.

One of the huge problems with these systems is everybody has said something different, apart form the traditionalists, who simply says....oil.