Octopus Heat Pumps

Nick_Dr1

focusonskill said:

Does the quote from Octopus includes removal of exsisting boiler?
We have an old oil boiler and I'm not sure if they can remove it when installing the heat pump.

They remove the boiler (they say its necessary for them to claim the grant) but they won't remove the tank - that's your problem!

Nick_Dr1

matt_drummer said:

I think I know where the £500 quote comes from.

When mine was first installed they were offering installations at £3,000 which is the same as £500 now that the grant has increased from £5,000 to £7,500.

If your heat loss is less than 7kW they can install a 7kW Daikin. This is an old heat pump that uses R410a refrigerant.

I suspect they still have a stock of them they want to move.

I am pretty confident that they don't install any Daikin R32 Monobloc heat pumps for £500

Can't comment on the Monobloc for £500 but our install was just over £1000 after the grant - so the only figure that matters, and we got an 11kW monobloc (and a 250 litre cylinder). Both those at retail are a significant wedge.

Spies

Nick_Dr1 said:

focusonskill said:

Does the quote from Octopus includes removal of exsisting boiler?
We have an old oil boiler and I'm not sure if they can remove it when installing the heat pump.

They remove the boiler (they say its necessary for them to claim the grant) but they won't remove the tank - that's your problem!

Can you keep the removed boiler and sell it privately? 

matt_drummer

Spies said:

Nick_Dr1 said:

focusonskill said:

Does the quote from Octopus includes removal of exsisting boiler?
We have an old oil boiler and I'm not sure if they can remove it when installing the heat pump.

They remove the boiler (they say its necessary for them to claim the grant) but they won't remove the tank - that's your problem!

Can you keep the removed boiler and sell it privately? 

Yes, and the tank they might take out.

The installers like to sell the removed tank for scrap

maf20

Spies said:

maf20 said:

If octopus won’t install a heat pump for me, who is the next cheapest/best to them?

I’ve been quoted £4.1k to pay by Octopus. But, they won’t install it on the side of my house and I’m struggling for wall space at ground level

British Gas?

Might give them a go again. Been a good while since I asked them for a quote

thanks 

maf20

@Spies just done an instant quote with British Gas. Almost double what Octopus are quoting. 

Back to the drawing board…

maf20

British Gas says ‘from £499’, yet my quote is pushing £8k!!!!

Reed_Richards

maf20 said:

If octopus won’t install a heat pump for me, who is the next cheapest/best to them?

I’ve been quoted £4.1k to pay by Octopus. But, they won’t install it on the side of my house and I’m struggling for wall space at ground level

So wall-mounted would be brackets fixed to the wall, fork lift to raise the heat pump onto the brackets.  Scaffolding to work on the heat pump and install the pipes and change any interior settings.  Then more scaffolding every time it needs servicing?  That must add a hefty premium to installation and servicing costs.  

maf20

Reed_Richards said:

maf20 said:

If octopus won’t install a heat pump for me, who is the next cheapest/best to them?

I’ve been quoted £4.1k to pay by Octopus. But, they won’t install it on the side of my house and I’m struggling for wall space at ground level

So wall-mounted would be brackets fixed to the wall, fork lift to raise the heat pump onto the brackets.  Scaffolding to work on the heat pump and install the pipes and change any interior settings.  Then more scaffolding every time it needs servicing?  That must add a hefty premium to installation and servicing costs.  

Yup. All fair comment. Looks like I’m pretty stuck, then. I don’t have enough wall space for one. I did get an initial survey from octopus and the guy who came out said it could go in the back garden, but he said it would end up being so far away from the hot water boiler that we’d lost too much in inefficiencies. 

Having said that, the guy was here about ten minutes tops, I reckon. Just got the feeling he couldn’t get out of here quick enough. Maybe he knew it wasn’t going to work from the off, or maybe he just couldn’t be bothered! 😂 

Reed_Richards

My heat pump is mounted by the kitchen wall but the pipes then go through my loft for a total length of about 10 metres.  I have them insulated with Kingspan Kooltherm phenolic pipe insulation.  I installed this myself because it's too fiddly for an installer to fit.  But the point is that the loft is outside the heated fabric of my house so that seems like a similar potential for heat loss inefficiencies to having the heat pump down the garden.  Actually it seems to be fine.