Help - Air source heat pump and 1K/month bills!

12NJK

Hi

I renovated a property and thought I had sone all the right things - I had an air source heat pump put in for the heating, massess of insulation and also an enormous hot water tank that appeaers to be just a vast immersion heater.  for some reason best known to the heating advisers, there is no connection between the hot water heater and the air source heat pump.

So I though that with the Air source heat pump (ASHP) I was not only doing the "green bit" but also going to be warm and not over whelmed by the cost... how wrong I was:

Now I do not know if the (ASHP) is the cause of the eyewatering bill or if it is the enormous (300L) immersion heater for the hot water..... everything is new!

I have now switched off the ASHP to try and see what is going on. 

Should I get gas reinstalled for use in a combi boiler for hot water? I am now at a compleate loss as to what to do as I watch the meter increasing

cymruchris

How is the immersion heater controlled? Does it have a booster? Is it switched on all the time? 

matt_drummer

Hi,

You haven't given enough information to really help with what is going on.

How big is the house, what equipment do you have installed, what temperatures are you running, what tariff are you on, when are you using electricity, how hot is the water in the tank being heated to.

Stuff like that.

Reed_Richards

12NJK said:

 for some reason best known to the heating advisers, there is no connection between the hot water heater and the air source heat pump.

Sometimes there is a clue that work has been done really shoddily.  This is your clue.  If your water heating has been messed-up then probably your space heating has been messed-up too; almost certainly in fact, given the huge bills you are facing.  Without more details, it's difficult to know what to suggest.      

matt_drummer

Reed_Richards said:

12NJK said:

 for some reason best known to the heating advisers, there is no connection between the hot water heater and the air source heat pump.

Sometimes there is a clue that work has been done really shoddily.  This is your clue.  If your water heating has been messed-up then probably your space heating has been messed-up too; almost certainly in fact, given the huge bills you are facing.  Without more details, it's difficult to know what to suggest.      

Surely, whether the bill is huge or not rather depends on the property?

tacpot12

At least with the ASHP switched off, you can see what the immersion heater is using more easily. You could pay an electrician to fit a couple of these into your consumer unit: Din-Rail Electric Meter Single Phase Kilowatt Hour Meter DDS5188 KWh Meter with LCD Display, 220V : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools  The Electrician will connect the immersion heater and ASHP through them so that you can see how much power each is using.

You need someone to review the design of the ASHP installation to see whether it is set up correctly, and tell you what the electricty bill should be. They will also be able to review the design for hot water in your home. 

I would recommend calling in someone who is a Heat Geek Elite installer. See here: Heat Geek Elite - HeatGeek

You seem to have made a lot of mistakes already, and need some expert hand-holding to sort out the problem. I am sure you will someone who will get the system working as best it can. 

matt_drummer

Until the Op comes back and tells us what he has in terms of property and equipment we really have no idea if any mistakes have been made or that the bills are larger than they should be.

I am sure there are lots of properties that use more than £1,000 a month in energy in the winter due to their size.

Its not helpful when the topic starter just says they are paying a lot!

markin

97 kwh a day? turn the water off. Turn it all off, and run a load test with a say a kettle.


"meter sanity test by switching everything off at the consumer unit and watching the red LED labelled '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar for at least five minutes and make sure that it never flashes once.  Then switch on just one high powered item (a full kettle is ideal) and count the number of flashes (impulses) in one minute.  Multiply that number by 60 and divide by 1000 (or the figure next to the LED) and that gives you the power being drawn by the kettle.  Check the rating plate on the kettle and they should match up."

matt_drummer

markin said:

97 kwh a day? turn the water off. Turn it all off, and run a load test with a say a kettle.


"meter sanity test by switching everything off at the consumer unit and watching the red LED labelled '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar for at least five minutes and make sure that it never flashes once.  Then switch on just one high powered item (a full kettle is ideal) and count the number of flashes (impulses) in one minute.  Multiply that number by 60 and divide by 1000 (or the figure next to the LED) and that gives you the power being drawn by the kettle.  Check the rating plate on the kettle and they should match up."

Or maybe tell us how big the house is first?

100 Kwh a day in winter won't be that excessive for a 500 m2 + house.

matt_drummer

This is like telling us the tyres for their car cost £1,000 each without knowing what the car is.

And then us assuming they have a Ford Fiesta and it must be excessive.

bob2302

Reed_Richards said:

12NJK said:

 for some reason best known to the heating advisers, there is no connection between the hot water heater and the air source heat pump.

Sometimes there is a clue that work has been done really shoddily.

Is that really wrong? My understanding is that the most efficient way to heat with heat pumps is to use big radiators and keep the pump's output temperature as low as possible - far below what's needed for hot water.