Advice new build heating system

jmmo20

Hi,
We've been living in our new build since July. This house comes with a ASHP from NIBE.
A few days after completing the purchase there was a major issue with the ASHP where the entire system shut down and would not work. Plumbers came in and fixed it, I think it was a clogged filter. Over the months I had a number of minor issues but the worst came in November and December. Within 3 weeks the system failed twice because of the same issue, high pressure alarm preventing normal functioning of the system.

Now, the plubmers who installed the system are in way over their heads. They obviously don't know how to operate these complex systems. NIBE won't touch it because it's under warranty from the installers. Installers (plumbers) need NIBE's help and quite honestly I don't think they know what they are doing.

Developers outsourced all work to builders. Builders outsourced heating system to these plumbers. This is becoming a !!!!!! contest between all different parties.

What can I do here? I just want the system inspected by the manufacturer, certified as correctly installed and be done with all these people.  But I can't seem to get anywhere.

It's extremely draining, frustrating, sad, to be left without a functioning heating system in the middle of a pandemic, over Christmas, and with my husband working as a doctor in the NHS. Everyone involved is showing little remorse, apology, willingness to get things done. Nor have they shown any sense of urgency whatsoever.

greatcrested

You have two choices:

1) continue to demand the installers rectify the problem. Whether they do so themselves or sub-contract the job elsewhere is their problem.

2) cut your losses and employ and pay someone properly qualified in the system to check it, diagnose and fix the problem. Once this is done you could consider passing their bill to the installers, along with their report of any aspect that was wrongly installed, and hope the instalers pay (unlikely). If they don't, consider legal action.

AdrianC

Freshly installed system, lots of probs with blocked filters... Are these filters on the water? If so, then it seems like the builders simply didn't clean all the pipework through properly.

Liability is clearcut - your contract is with the developer you bought from. They may outsource to the builder who may then outsource to the plumber, but that's not your problem.

The manufacturer are unlikely to come out themselves, but they should have some certified/approved/trained installers in your area. Take matters into your own hands, and give the developer a nice easy way out... Get one of the manufacturer's installers in yourself, commission them to do a report on the installation and problems they find, then slap that down in front of the developer, and tell the developer you're going to get the system fixed, they'll be handed the bill - and if they don't agree then the next time they'll see that report, it'll be attached to a court claim.
It might cost you a few hundred quid for the report, but in the long run that'll prove money well spent.

jmmo20

Thank you both. It was along the lines of what I was thinking. I have found a reputable installer in my area who even went out of their way to talk me through a few troubleshooting on Christmas eve.. but obviously it wasn't their system nor their problem but they did help me out.

I will bring them and see what they say. 

Racky_Roo

My friend has a similar issue and the builders didn't really want to know either, it turned out it wasn't the actual system which was broken, it was that they didn't know how to use it correctly and had locked themselves out of settings and couldn't get it to work correctly. In desperation they got a local guy round who was an expert and he spent an hour resetting everything to how they wanted it and explained how to use it correctly going forward. It cost them £100 but they said it was well worth it.

ProDave

High Pressure fault means the refrigerant gasses are over pressurising because part of it is getting too hot.

This is almost certainly the water flow rate in the heating system is too low, so the water is not taking the heat out of the heat pump quick enough.  If you can see a water circulating pump, will look just like any other central heating water circulating pump, try turning it up to a faster flow rate.

AdrianC

ProDave said:

High Pressure fault means the refrigerant gasses are over pressurising because part of it is getting too hot.

This is almost certainly the water flow rate in the heating system is too low

Which would tie in with water filters blocking because of debris in the pipework.

jmmo20

if you say the issue is water pressure is too low then it will get worse.. they've just been in and reduced the water pressure from around 2 bar to 0.5.. it looks like the system is trying to heat the water now (it is not stopping every few minutes) but to me it feels like it's not heating the water tank fast enough.

Ultimately these plumbers just told me to turn the immersion heater on, which clearly defeats the purpose of a heat pump.

I have now booked in a real professional to have a look in late January. Hopefully this doesn't break again in the meantime.


Thank you all, you were all fantastic

jmmo20

ProDave said:

High Pressure fault means the refrigerant gasses are over pressurising because part of it is getting too hot.

This is almost certainly the water flow rate in the heating system is too low, so the water is not taking the heat out of the heat pump quick enough.  If you can see a water circulating pump, will look just like any other central heating water circulating pump, try turning it up to a faster flow rate.

sorry follow up question, are we talking about the heating medium that goes to the compressor outside?
I have a pressure gauge but I'm not sure if it's water coming in or the heat medium.