British Gas Heat Pump installations

oliver1951

want to find out if anyone has had a British Gas installed heat pump and any info on how it’s gone and is going. 

MultiFuelBurner

The answer to that is why chose British gas when someone like Octopus appears to be the front runner in ASHP installs by energy suppliers?

Reed_Richards

The OP doesn't give anything away to tell us why they are interested.  Perhaps they are considering a house purchase and the house has a British Gas heat pump?

oliver1951

MFB - the answer re Octopus is they refused to do a whole system refit, having originally quoted to do it, then changed their minds. Reed I’m not sure what OP means, but if you were referring to me, it’s because I have a contract with BG to install one and I want to get info from people who’ve been there and done it. Neither of you have. 

QrizB

oliver1951 said:

Reed I’m not sure what OP means

OP means Original Poster; the person who started the thread, ie. you.

Gerry1

oliver1951 said:

I have a contract with BG to install one and I want to get info from people who’ve been there and done it.

Cart... Horse...?

Netexporter

oliver1951 said:

want to find out if anyone has had a British Gas installed heat pump and any info on how it’s gone and is going. 

Have you looked on Youtube? I've seen both Octopus and BG installations on there, recently. 

MultiFuelBurner

oliver1951 said:

MFB - the answer re Octopus is they refused to do a whole system refit, having originally quoted to do it, then changed their minds. Reed I’m not sure what OP means, but if you were referring to me, it’s because I have a contract with BG to install one and I want to get info from people who’ve been there and done it. Neither of you have. 

https://youtu.be/BgrmE2_S5Es?si=uLqQW9V-zL7tyIb0

oliver1951

MFB , thanks for that. I’ve looked at all his videos, looks interesting. I am interested that he was offered ( given) a vaillant heat pump. Vaillant do seem to get a better rep than the Daikin. I’ve also managed to find one other re BG but that’s all. I did ask BG if they could give me any referrals to clients locally but they declined. I notice he managed to get his PP through in 5 weeks. I’m still waiting after nine months! Important for me is that he seems largely contented.

MultiFuelBurner

oliver1951 said:

MFB , thanks for that. I’ve looked at all his videos, looks interesting. I am interested that he was offered ( given) a vaillant heat pump. Vaillant do seem to get a better rep than the Daikin. I’ve also managed to find one other re BG but that’s all. I did ask BG if they could give me any referrals to clients locally but they declined. I notice he managed to get his PP through in 5 weeks. I’m still waiting after nine months! Important for me is that he seems largely contented.

I can say we know three people with Daikins locally and they aren't happy. The issue may not be with the Daikins ASHP it just takes time to get them working how you want them to and that can be said for many heat pump manufacturers. Daikins do appear to be the go to brand for new property installs at least round here.

The frustration for many is that if you turn your gas boiler up to max to take off a chill in the coldest weather it's 7p kwh but if you turn up an ASHP in the same way it can cost 29p kwh. When those numbers start racking up that's when new owners of heat pumps start moaning and questioning their decision.

Yesterday we burnt through 25kwh just on heating and we have now hit a cold spell down to -5oC over night til Friday so that could rise to 35kwh a day just on heating if not more.

We have been sat at 35oC flow temp since mid December. To be honest it's been a bit toasty on milder winter days and we have solar gain all round the house. Very much shorts and T shirt attire but we are trying something new this year. Thermostats are set to 30oC (we have them in every room) so the heat pump keep heating the underfloor, towel rail and rada to 35oC 24/7. 35oC won't normally be enough for this upcoming cold spell of down to -5oC but the house has built up so much heat in the slab and fabric we will see how we feel come Friday and know whether we need to tweak for future cold spells. So far compared to our aggressive Weather Compensation curve we set last year we are using the same amount of kwh.

I know this digresses from your original question but may be useful for when you have to spend some time setting up your system.

I wonder if posting on local Facebook groups you might find someone local that has had a BG install?

oliver1951

MFB that’s very helpful. At the end of the day it’s ( for me anyway) about how much it costs. My old gas system isn’t working and it’s too expensive to get it fixed. I did that last year and I got badly ripped off. Last year was a bad one for that! So at present I’m relying on an electric fire 2kw and an oil fired rad and electric blankets and of course lots of layers. Which is ok most of the time. The electric fire is interesting because it’s 2kw, because that’s the input on the Daikin. So if PP ever comes through and this goes ahead I should , as the theory goes, at least get a multiple of that 2kw via the heat pump. But I’m very inconsistent in my heating. When I have visitors I use a lot, when I’m on my own,very little. Not sure how that’ll all work with a heat pump, guess I’ll have to plan more. But my main thought is to aim for a steadier temperature in the house , maybe around 16 degrees. A temp I’m very comfortable at. But in the end it will all come down to cost. It feels bonkers spending so much money on a heating system when I use so little and so infrequently. But the old system does have to be replaced. It’s a 1970 system. Yes really. 

I did look at going for an electric system, like Fischer. But when I explored that the pricing was incomprehensible, by which I mean it was sky high. For something that I would have thought should have been way cheaper.