Cost of renewal of a broken air source heat pump.

neetiem

Hello, I hope someone can give me some advice on replacing an old air source heat pump.
We moved into a shared ownership house last year which has a Daiken air source heat pump fitted to provide heating and hot water. The unit was fitted when the house was built 12 years ago. It seems that the previous owners of the house weren't too bothered about getting the unit serviced and the unit has died on us, although I think 12 years is about the average lifespan for older ASHP units. The Housing association that is the part owner has said that any replacement is entirely our own responsibility and offer no financial assistance at all.
We had an engineer out to try and fix the problem but he says that the unit is beyond economical repair and refilling the unit with refrigerant alone would cost a lot and wouldn't necessarily guarantee getting it working again so he recommended getting a new unit.
We need a unit size of 7kw and have been quoted between £8-10,000 to fit a new one (though it is practically impossible to find anyone who even wants to quote at the moment as demand has increased massively due to gas and electric prices going up so much.)
We were a bit shocked at the price as we already have an ASHP water tank fitted and we just need a replacement unit, however we were also told that to decommission the old unit needed to be done by an aircon engineer and we should expect to pay around £3000 for that too! So what I am asking is are these quotes correct? I understand that the draining and disposal of the refrigerant liquid is a major factor but should that cost so much for a domestic heat pump?
Also does anyone know if we replace an old unit with a new one, would we be able to apply for the RHI scheme? As far as I can see it hasn't be claimed at our address before, but can you claim for an ASHP replacement rather than replacing a fossil fuelled system? Does anyone know if there is any other financial help out there at all such as interest free loans to install renewables?
I have been a bit shocked at the cost of such a system in a shared ownership house. It's fine when it is working but devastating when you have to cough up £11,000 to replace our only source of heating and hot water into a house which is supposed to be affordable housing! We're not sure how we are going to be able to fund it.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Verdigris

Sounds like you're getting two different stories. One says it needs re-gassing, so is presumably empty, the other says it needs de-gassing.

If RHI, or any other grant, hasn't been claimed I'd have thought you stand a reasonable chance of claiming it now.

You need to find a reputable firm to quote. The only one I can suggest is Nu-Heat. They've been going for about 30 years and have approved installers in most areas.

Good luck.

jcontest

The problem is that there's not enough installers so you will be paying over the odds.

Most of that's due to high-end jobs that allow larger subsidy claims.  I tried in vain 1 1/2 years ago to get a GSHP installed, no luck at all ..  Couldn't even get quotes for ASHP.

I am not an expert, but from what I have read you should be able to claim RHI for a new install as long as you have no existing claims going.  I would phone the Energy Saving Trust and ask (They are usually helpful).

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/ has the numbers.

Just remember, The system must be installed by a MCS certified installer, and needs to be a MCS certified product.

The price for install sounds like what I have found in the past.  AirCon decomissioning and disposal runs like £200 (They should get a bit back for scrap so dont feel bad for them), so I would say the £3k cost you have been quoted for that is a bit over the top.

I come from a land of aircon (Air-to-Air) and find it odd that you can't get it fixed.  It might be worth phoning someone else to get a quote for repair (Say Make/Model on the call).  Electronics or a Compressor failure (again, not an expert) should be about the only problem that couldn't get "fixed".  Most installers will only buy something as a whole assembly, so old unsupported products do carry a huge repair cost.

Just be sure to stick with a MCS installer (if you can get one) no matter what you do, that way you can go for the grant.

Worth pointing out I guess, There are installers out there who will install ASHP's for free and then take your subsidy.  Honestly I hate the idea, they'll put in what generates them the most and do it as cheaply as they can.  Bit like the single glazed no-insulation homes that received "free" solar panels.

QrizB

Those prices are bonkers. Filling or de-gassing shouldn't be more than a few hundred pounds, and a bare 7kW ASHP costs less than £3k including vat (example).

I suspect the companies you've been speaking to don't want the work.

matelodave

Is it a split unit - ie the compressor unit outside connected to an indoor hydrobox  (looks like a boiler) with refrigerant piping or a monobloc where the hot water piping from the heating system is connected directly to the outside unit.

I guess the cost and complexity of replacing a split unit will be significantly higher than a simple monobloc as you'll need a refrigerant engineer to degas and recover the refrigerant wheras a monobloc, being self contained all in one unit, is just connected to the heating system and should be an easy swap out..

TBH I reckon if it's a monobloc and your weren't bothered about RHI it could even be a a simple DIY job.

However that said, you need to find an MCSinstaller to do the work if you want to claim RHI as I guess it will be regarded as a new installation.

Have you tried contacting  Daikin, to find out who does their servicing and maintenace in your area. Failing that, try Google - I live in the wilds of the Cambridgeshire fens and can find at least half a dozen heatpump installers within around 30 miles including the company that installed mine.

neetiem

Thank you for all your comments and advice.
Yes the regassing of the unit would be if it was fixable and the degassing would be for the removal of the unit prior to removal. I have no idea about aircon/heat pumps and what the costs are to maintain them but for the removal of any refrigerant that is remaining and disposal of the unit surely can't be £3000? 
We do have a split unit with the boiler like hydrobox but have been told that we can replace with a monobloc unit but as we have a shared ownership house and we would want to apply for the RHI payments we would have to have an accredited installer.
I think we will try getting hold of a Daiken and getting a second opinion on the problem with our unit and seeing what they suggest. Also I think we will try and get hold of an aircon company and see what they say about the cost of either regassing if the unit is fixable or decommissioning it.
I think due to the rise in gas and electric costs people have made a mass decision to go to renewables and although there are a couple of dozen installers/engineers in our area we have been told that we can't expect anything to be done soon, which is a bit of a concern with Winter coming and we currently have no hot water or heating. One even said we probably won't see anyone for 6 months! We'll carry on using the bucket camping shower and get a couple of oil rads.
Fingers crossed we'll get some joy soon!
We'll gratefully receive and further advice. 
Many thanks again.

matelodave

If the system needs regassing then it does seem to suggest that there's a leak somewhere that needs to be identified and repaired first. Theres not much point in regassing and then letting it all leak away.