Confused: AWHP, NTHs, Biogas Heating?!!

Reed_Richards

I inherited an oil boiler when I bought the house and had not given it much thought until it turned out that the oil tank would need to be replaced and the long oil line from the tank to the boiler also.  In my old house I had a gas boiler and that would have been my first choice but I live in a village without gas.  Now I have an ASHP I don't think I would switch to gas even if I had that option.  Gas is certainly cheaper at present but if we are going for zero carbon then sooner or later that has to change.  And there is something magical and certainly very green about the 300% (or so) efficiency in converting fuel to heat.  Burn the gas in a power station where you might be able to recover the carbon.

So at the moment I guess I am a bit of an ASHP fanboy.  However it could work out more expensive that I hope or the heat pump could start to misbehave.  I plan to maintain an honest account of my successes and failures.      

matelodave

I've had a daikin 11kw heatpump for just on 11 years in conjunction with a PolyPipe "overlay" wet underfloor system (the piping sits in channels cut into panels which overlay the existing floor and then get covered with what ever flooring you choose - we have carpet in the living rooms and bedrooms, tiles in the bathroom, kitchen and utility room and laminate in the hall)

I would have had gas if it was avaiable but we chose the heatpump instead of oil, lpg or storage heaters and so far we have been very satisfied with it's performance and running costs  We are at home all day so the gentle slow warming suits us whereas a radiator system is probably more suited to intermittent heating. 

Ours was fitted in 2010 and the heatpump and tank was around £7.5k with a similar amount for 140 m2 of overlay heating with all the controls (say £50 m2). We've had £5k back in RHI payments (we were in the very first tranch and so ours is based on a deemed COP of 2.5 - later systems usually get a better return)

I wouldn't call myself an ASHP fanboy, but as far as I'm concerned provided that the system is desigend, commisioned and operated correctly they are better than anything else apart from mains gas and I'd definitely have another if gas wasn't available.