Power consumption heat pump

matelodave

I agree with you

lohr500

From the small amount of research I did and from having an Air Source Heat Pump installation survey done on our own house I concluded that an ASHP would be a viable option for a well insulated house with the correct sized radiator and thermal store configuration.

In my humble opinion, instead of offering a limited number of £5000 grants to convert to Heat Pump technology,  the government would be far better insisting that ALL new builds (wherever practical) are built to the highest of insulation standards with the correct plumbing infrastructure and have ASHP fitted from day 1. If the buildings were designed for ASHP from the ground up, the cost must surely be less than having to do a load of rework to existing systems.  Or am I missing something?

Reed_Richards

I have an ASHP and it's pretty much plug-and-play.  After installation I was told I could leave it as set-up with the heating output set to 50 C or turn on the "AI" feature.  This was poorly documented but turned out to be weather compensation with an option to raise or lower the transition line.  The installer has access to a wealth of settings but these do not need to be tinkered with (and you might be unwise to try).  

[Deleted User]

lohr500 said:

From the small amount of research I did and from having an Air Source Heat Pump installation survey done on our own house I concluded that an ASHP would be a viable option for a well insulated house with the correct sized radiator and thermal store configuration.

In my humble opinion, instead of offering a limited number of £5000 grants to convert to Heat Pump technology,  the government would be far better insisting that ALL new builds (wherever practical) are built to the highest of insulation standards with the correct plumbing infrastructure and have ASHP fitted from day 1. If the buildings were designed for ASHP from the ground up, the cost must surely be less than having to do a load of rework to existing systems.  Or am I missing something?

If you are talking about insisting on Heat Pumps in new builds, why on earth go with AHSP?

lohr500

Hadn't thought about GSHP for new builds. Would it be cost effective and practical on a large new build site without having to have a shared ground source loop with all the long term shared maintenance issues that that could bring? 

Effician

Reed_Richards said:

I have an ASHP and it's pretty much plug-and-play.

So not true plug & play

Reed_Richards said:

After installation I was told I could leave it as set-up with the heating output set to 50 C or turn on the "AI" feature.  This was poorly documented but turned out to be weather compensation with an option to raise or lower the transition line.  

Average user would not understand or care what that meant.

Reed_Richards said:

The installer has access to a wealth of settings but these do not need to be tinkered with (and you might be unwise to try).  

But it's a bit chilly ,l'll try this button & see if it gets hotter ..

Reed_Richards

DeletedUser said:
If you are talking about insisting on Heat Pumps in new builds, why on earth go with AHSP?

AHSP = Air Horse Seat Pump?

Seriously, most new builds are on small plots of land so a Ground Source Heat Pump would require one or more boreholes.  Apart from the additional drilling expense, is there room?  How close to the foundations of your house should you have a borehole?  How many boreholes can you have per unit area on a housing estate?        

ic

Deleted_User said:

So hardly cheap

They will be when the gov flips the loading of green subsidies from electricity to gas, as a way to push people to electricity.

Cardew

lohr500 said:

From the small amount of research I did and from having an Air Source Heat Pump installation survey done on our own house I concluded that an ASHP would be a viable option for a well insulated house with the correct sized radiator and thermal store configuration.

In my humble opinion, instead of offering a limited number of £5000 grants to convert to Heat Pump technology,  the government would be far better insisting that ALL new builds (wherever practical) are built to the highest of insulation standards with the correct plumbing infrastructure and have ASHP fitted from day 1. If the buildings were designed for ASHP from the ground up, the cost must surely be less than having to do a load of rework to existing systems.  Or am I missing something?

If your suggestion of mandatory 'super insulation' standards was adopted, this would also make gas/oil CH much cheaper to run.

From a purely financial aspect - and this is a money saving website - gas is likely to remain much cheaper to run than a heat pump unless the differential between gas and electricity prices is hugely reduced.

Also people tend to ignore the fact that heat pumps must be kept running very long periods each day, even 24/7 when really cold outside, as the lower capacity output and low water temperature means it takes a long time to get the house back up to temperature if the house is allowed to cool down. So whilst that suits people who are home all day, those who are out all day can't set the heating 30 mins before they return from work as they can with Gas/Oil CH 

Also the government have stated that installation of gas boilers in new builds will not be allowed after 2035, however I simply cannot see that applying to existing dwellings; despite the stated intent. If they do make it mandatory I can see a load of new gas boilers fitted in 2034!!

Reed_Richards

Cardew said:

Also people tend to ignore the fact that heat pumps must be kept running very long periods each day, even 24/7 when really cold outside, as the lower capacity output and low water temperature means it takes a long time to get the house back up to temperature if the house is allowed to cool down. 

This canard is so often repeated.  If you have underfloor heating it will take a long time to get the house back up to temperature, whatever the heat source.  It makes good economic sense to couple a heat pump with underfloor heating in a new build because the lower water temperature requirement of underfloor heating lets you run the heat pump particularly economically.  But a heat pump is not underfloor heating and underfloor heating is not a heat pump!  

You can, as I do, have a heat pump and radiators in which case it is principally the output capacity of the radiators that determines how long it takes the house to get back up to temperature.  The fact that the water circulating through those radiators is cooler than it would be with a gas or oil boiler is irrelevant, it's the balance between the heat output of the radiators at temperature and the heat loss from the house that determines how long it takes to warm up.