Help!! Air source heat pump costs

victor2

MrsBeee said:

We aren’t able to view usage in segments on our smart meter that I can see unfortunately. Only current/ day/ previous day, week month, year so far. 

It was just over 2kw when I went to make a coffee this morning. I had already had a shower at this time. 

You can try https://data.n3rgy.com to download the data from your smart meter. It gives usage at 30 minute intervals as a CSV file, which you can open into a spreadsheet and study in detail. You have to register first with some info from your IHD, but so long as your meter is reporting to the DCC, it works.

matelodave

I've not used n3rgy but the Bright app ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.hildebrand.brightionic&gl=US ) gives me all the info that I want using my mobile phone or tablet. For real time info whilst I'm at home I use the IHD. Its also avaiable for Apple https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/bright/id1369989022

I also have an Efergy Engage energy monitor which gives me real time info, logs it in six second intervals and displays n graphical format. I can also down load CSV files to an excel spreadsheet if I so wish.

I  can also view the info (including real time) from my mobile wherever I am. It wasn't ever so expensive when I got it - Maplins were flogging them off cheap a few years ago before they went bust but they cost around £70 now adays https://uk.efergy.com/engage.

Other energy monitoring stuff is available but if you've got a smart meter then you've really got all you need to to analyse your consumption and find out what's using it and when. A plug-in monitor like this can be useful to check individual appliances https://www.amazon.co.uk/energy-monitor-plug/s?k=energy+monitor+plug+in but

However if you put your IHD in a prominent position, make sure its displaying current consumption in kwh rather than money and you'll soon get a feel for whats using what and when.

MrsBeee

1/8 - 18.54kwh
2/8 - 16.63kwh
3/8 - 17.42kwh
4/8 - 14.61kwh (timer set for 1 hour per day)
5/8 - 13.15kwh (heating and boiler turned off at the fuse 8am) 
6/8 - 7.76kwh so far at 6.30pm, 3 washloads and a cooked breakfast. Home all day. 

I plan to turn the boiler on for an hour tomorrow morning to heat the water. My husbands just had a shower and the water is tepid. 

I’m going to have a look at the recommended app now, I had no idea that was possible. 

Coffeekup

MrsBeee said:

1/8 - 18.54kwh
2/8 - 16.63kwh
3/8 - 17.42kwh
4/8 - 14.61kwh (timer set for 1 hour per day)
5/8 - 13.15kwh (heating and boiler turned off at the fuse 8am) 
6/8 - 7.76kwh so far at 6.30pm, 3 washloads and a cooked breakfast. Home all day. 

I plan to turn the boiler on for an hour tomorrow morning to heat the water. My husbands just had a shower and the water is tepid. 

I’m going to have a look at the recommended app now, I had no idea that was possible. 

Nice to see some results, maybe set the timer fir water at a better suited time to when you both normally like a shower if the water is cooler than you like.

Aceshigh84

What is the make and model of your heat pump?

matelodave

I've been playing with my Daikin over the last couple of days and here are my results from fiddling with the timing & temperatures.

Turning it off and back on to heat the water to 45 degrees for an hour - 0.9kw in 24 hours.
Turning it off and heating to 50 degrees for one hour - 1.95kwh
Leaving it on for 24 hours and set to 50 degrees - 5.12kwh 
I'm now leaving it on and just heating to 45 degrees for a day - my estimate is around 4kwh but watch this space for the result

I'm going to try reducing the maximum flow temp from  55 to 50 tomorrow to see how much difference it has to hot water heating times and energy consumption.

My initial conclusion is that the heatpump wastes around 3kwh a day just by being on standby -  probably not significant in the winter when its running for most of the time but it is in the summer. Leaving the hot water on all the time just allows the unit to keep reheating the water every six hours or so.

To conserve hot water, dont keep running off short amounts for rinsing hands and dishes, use cold where possible. Depending on your pipe lengths running the hot tap till its hot can waste 4-5 litres of cold down the drain and it leave 4-5 litres of valuable hot water sitting in the pipes.

We tend to ablute one after the other so the water doesn't have time to sit cooling in the pipes and our shower times or only  2-3 minutes each .You dont need to stand there for 10 minutes to get a thorough wash. We heat the water for an hour in the morning before ablutions and theres enough hottish water available the next day for two showers although the second is a bit tepid

The tank is 200 litres and our shower has an EcoCamel head which limits the flow to around 6lpm, so a three minute shower uses 18-20 litres. Whereas a 10 minute shower would use 60 litres. A deluge type shower heat could easily get through 150litres in ten minutes and virtually empty the tank. Our taps have flow restrictors which limit the flow to around 3-4lpm - sinks take a bit longer to fill but it means that loads of water doesn't disappear down the drain.

MrsBeee

Coffeekup said:

 

Nice to see some results, maybe set the timer fir water at a better suited time to when you both normally like a shower if the water is cooler than you like.

This doesn’t seem to be an option as energy consumption is still really high when leaving on a timer for 1 hour per day. I have only been able to drop the usage by completely turning off the boiler at the fuse.
The plan is to turn on the boiler for an hour at the fuse every other day to heat the water. Not exactly convenient but it seems to be the only thing that is having any sort of impact.  

I have another question for those in the know. I have found a switch for a 32 Amp ‘water heater’ is this the supply for the element in the tank? If so, could I turn this off, and try with the boiler on for a day (or more) using only the ASHP? 

I’m going to have a look at other things in the house today to try and target where the rest of the usage is going. 

Mstty

MrsBeee said:

Coffeekup said:

 

Nice to see some results, maybe set the timer fir water at a better suited time to when you both normally like a shower if the water is cooler than you like.

This doesn’t seem to be an option as energy consumption is still really high when leaving on a timer for 1 hour per day. I have only been able to drop the usage by completely turning off the boiler at the fuse.
The plan is to turn on the boiler for an hour at the fuse every other day to heat the water. Not exactly convenient but it seems to be the only thing that is having any sort of impact.  

I have another question for those in the know. I have found a switch for a 32 Amp ‘water heater’ is this the supply for the element in the tank? If so, could I turn this off, and try with the boiler on for a day (or more) using only the ASHP? 

I’m going to have a look at other things in the house today to try and target where the rest of the usage is going. 

If that was on all this time it could well be the cause, please turn this off and update.

[Deleted User]

A passing observation. The Government is promoting, but arguably failing to sell, the rollout of heat pumps. Given that a proportion of our population have no interest whatsoever in how their present gas boiler works - they just want heat at a responsible cost - the level of detail you guys are going into to reduce running costs may frighten off potential 'switchers' and installers. The latter just want to install something that is 'fit and forget'.

PS the Government mantra in the 76 drought was 'Save Water Bath with a Friend'.

TadleyBaggie

Mstty said:

If that was on all this time it could well be the cause, please turn this off and update.

I think she has just found the breaker for the circuit that supplies the immersion heater. It's clearly not switched on else the hot water wouldn't be tepid