Air source heat pump

verytired11

Does anyone have any experience with air source heat pump air flow central heating? A house we are interested may be going to have this installed. The alternative would be LPG gas.  

theartfullodger

Have a house on an estate in Scottish Highlands where local housing association have put a lot in.  (IE cold, wet, place probably bad location for such devices).

Most people seem to use them, bills way way down (electric only area, no gas for 46 miles) but some people weirdly don't use them - a neighbour's is going rusty, never switched on, top covered in pot plants.  Takes as sorts eh?

ProDave

I have one in our new build (Highlands) and it works well.

Tell us more about what you are looking at?  It "may be going to have one installed"  Is the house on the market at the moment? strange to be about to have a new heating system if it is already for sale.  Is it an old or new house? well insulated or not?

Heat pumps are best suited to modern well insulated houses because generally they have a lot less output power than a boiler so if you fit one in an old leaky poorly insulated house you need a very large one and it even then might not work well.

happyc84

We have an ASHP in our new build 3 bed  flat, I would say the savings on heating are wiped out by the cost that the Installers OEM  charge for the annual service for example  £300 includes boiler .
Although our gas costs last month were £6.

verytired11

ProDave said:

I have one in our new build (Highlands) and it works well.

Tell us more about what you are looking at?  It "may be going to have one installed"  Is the house on the market at the moment? strange to be about to have a new heating system if it is already for sale.  Is it an old or new house? well insulated or not?

Heat pumps are best suited to modern well insulated houses because generally they have a lot less output power than a boiler so if you fit one in an old leaky poorly insulated house you need a very large one and it even then might not work well.

Thanks.  It's actually a mixture of a very old build with a substantial new build too.  Insulation looks decent but some rooms are large.  The 'may be' bit is a bit of a long story, but our purchase has just fallen through and we have been lucky enough to have an offer accepted on our second choice house because it never sold and came off the market.  We contacted the seller and he accepted our offer but said he was in the process of doing works to it including an ASHP.  However, I think he is giving us the option to cease the works if we prefer to stick with LPG.
Are they noisy at all?  It's the noise that concerns me the most.

ProDave

verytired11 said:

ProDave said:

I have one in our new build (Highlands) and it works well.

Tell us more about what you are looking at?  It "may be going to have one installed"  Is the house on the market at the moment? strange to be about to have a new heating system if it is already for sale.  Is it an old or new house? well insulated or not?

Heat pumps are best suited to modern well insulated houses because generally they have a lot less output power than a boiler so if you fit one in an old leaky poorly insulated house you need a very large one and it even then might not work well.

Thanks.  It's actually a mixture of a very old build with a substantial new build too.  Insulation looks decent but some rooms are large.  The 'may be' bit is a bit of a long story, but our purchase has just fallen through and we have been lucky enough to have an offer accepted on our second choice house because it never sold and came off the market.  We contacted the seller and he accepted our offer but said he was in the process of doing works to it including an ASHP.  However, I think he is giving us the option to cease the works if we prefer to stick with LPG.
Are they noisy at all?  It's the noise that concerns me the most.

The noise thing is a strange issue that some people seem to think is a big probem.  Almost an urban myth?

Yes the compressor makes a noise and there is a big fan running, so yes it does make a noise.  I would say the noise of our ASHP is about as loud as the roar of an oil boilers burner running.

But the BIG difference is the ASHP makes this noise outside, so unless it has been badly positioned, you don't hear it inside the house.  And when it's nice enough to sit out in the garden, the heating is not on so neither is the heat pump.

Strange how people are happy to accept the roar of an oil boiler burner INSIDE the house but seem to think a similar level of noise outside is a problem?

verytired11

@ProDave thanks that's really helpful.  I have never come across one so I was equating it with generator noise, which is unbearable. Good to hear that it's no louder than an oil burner and as you say it's outside the house.

Racky_Roo

I'd agree with the servicing costs and also trying to find good people who understand them can be challenging in some areas so might be worth checking that out

ProDave

Racky_Roo said:

I'd agree with the servicing costs and also trying to find good people who understand them can be challenging in some areas so might be worth checking that out

Heat pumps need no regular servicing.  You don't get your fridge or freezer serviced annually do you?

some aspects of the pumbing, e.g. an unvented hot water cylinder might need an annual check but that is the same regardless of what heats that cylinder, and in a lot of cases people don't even bother with that.

happyc84

ProDave said:

Racky_Roo said:

I'd agree with the servicing costs and also trying to find good people who understand them can be challenging in some areas so might be worth checking that out

Heat pumps need no regular servicing.  You don't get your fridge or freezer serviced annually do you?

some aspects of the pumbing, e.g. an unvented hot water cylinder might need an annual check but that is the same regardless of what heats that cylinder, and in a lot of cases people don't even bother with that.

Daikin sell a years service for £300, other OEMs  do the same. or you can get non-aCHP heating engineer to service your £7k ACHP. 

ProDave

happyc84 said:

ProDave said:

Racky_Roo said:

I'd agree with the servicing costs and also trying to find good people who understand them can be challenging in some areas so might be worth checking that out

Heat pumps need no regular servicing.  You don't get your fridge or freezer serviced annually do you?

some aspects of the pumbing, e.g. an unvented hot water cylinder might need an annual check but that is the same regardless of what heats that cylinder, and in a lot of cases people don't even bother with that.

Daikin sell a years service for £300, other OEMs  do the same. or you can get non-aCHP heating engineer to service your £7k ACHP. 

At anything like a half sensible labour rate, £300 will buy you a days labour, more in cheaper areas.

I am yet to be convinced that an ASHP needs a days maintenance or service every year.  There really is little more to do than ensure the fan and it's air paths are not blocked by debris, something any competent person can do yourself.  I will keep my £300 for better uses, like paying for my years heating (with change left over)