I bought a Heat Pump

QrizB

Verdigris said:

I've just found our that Vaillant are now using R290 (butane) refrigerant in their aroTHERM range of ASHPs. Butane has magnitudes lower greenhouse gas effect than HFCs, in the event of a leak, and you get a higher SCOP. Win-win.

... and it isn't an F-Gas so you don't need an F-Gas fitter.

Verdigris

... and it isn't an F-Gas so you don't need an F-Gas fitter.

Hadn't thought of that but an important consideration in Wildest Wales. The fewer trades required, the better. Luckily for me, the nearest MCS installer is also on the Vaillant list of installers. I'll just have to hope his prices aren't too "extravagant".

The slight downside is the flammability issue, but as the refrigerant charge is smaller than HFC and the unit is outside, it is a pretty minuscule risk to life and limb.

shinytop

QrizB said:

Verdigris said:

I've just found our that Vaillant are now using R290 (butane) refrigerant in their aroTHERM range of ASHPs. Butane has magnitudes lower greenhouse gas effect than HFCs, in the event of a leak, and you get a higher SCOP. Win-win.

... and it isn't an F-Gas so you don't need an F-Gas fitter.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...  

Verdigris

Having read the installation manual, the heat pump is pre-charged with refrigerant and doesn't need any F-fettling.

JKenH

Homes risk energy rating downgrade if they install a heat pump

EPCs are currently based on an estimate of what it costs to heat a home rather than the carbon emissions generated. Heat pumps - which transfer thermal energy into a property from the ground or air - produce less CO2 than burning gas, but are not necessarily recorded as being cheaper to run.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/02/06/homes-risk-energy-rating-downgrade-install-heat-pump/

QrizB

JKenH said:

Heat pumps - which transfer thermal energy into a property from the ground or air - produce less CO2 than burning gas, but are not necessarily recorded as being cheaper to run.

One imagines that the effect on the EPC will depend, therefore, on what system is being replaced. If the old system is electrical heating, either single-rate or E7 with NSHs, a heat pump should be cheaper and the EPC should improve.

Gas isn't (yet) expensive enough that a heat pump is cheaper, unless you come up wih a system that works on E7. And even if you did the EPC system is unlikely to be clever enough to recognise it.

Verdigris

If you can achieve a SCOP of 4, the April SVP will make a heat pump the same price to run as mains gas. With underfloor heating running at 35 degrees and propane (or possibly CO2 in one new design) as a refrigerant, I think this is now possible, at least in not too severely cold areas.

ccbrowning

JKenH said:

Homes risk energy rating downgrade if they install a heat pump

EPCs are currently based on an estimate of what it costs to heat a home rather than the carbon emissions generated. Heat pumps - which transfer thermal energy into a property from the ground or air - produce less CO2 than burning gas, but are not necessarily recorded as being cheaper to run.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/02/06/homes-risk-energy-rating-downgrade-install-heat-pump/

Definitely happens. My new house has a GSHP and some ratings in the EPC are lower than the old home. 

Verdigris

EPCs are barely worth the pixels their written on. They recommend fitting wind turbines but I've never seen one that recommends a heat pump, which is a far more practical and cost-effective option.

Anyway, the story is from the Telegraph who, along with the Mail, are full-on trying to revive fracking and other fossil fuel exploitation, at the moment.

JKenH

Verdigris said:

EPCs are barely worth the pixels their written on. They recommend fitting wind turbines but I've never seen one that recommends a heat pump, which is a far more practical and cost-effective option.

Anyway, the story is from the Telegraph who, along with the Mail, are full-on trying to revive fracking and other fossil fuel exploitation, at the moment.

That’s not helpful. Yes, the Telegraph have argued for fracking and continued North Sea gas exploitation but that is a totally different story to this one and has no bearing. The Telegraph have also written strongly in support of renewables but I am not going to take this thread off topic citing links.

The Telegraph report points out that heat pumps produce less CO2  but EPCs are concerned with the cost of energy consumed, not CO2 emissions, and depending on gas/electricity prices and COP an ASHP could be more expensive than a gas boiler, hence result in a lower EPC rating.