Ideal heat pumps

Netexporter

I've been quoted an Ideal 8kW heat pump for my ECO4 installation. The figures on the spec sheet look good but I've not seen any reports of them here, or elsewhere.

Has anyone had any experience of them?

Reed_Richards

Ideal run a lot of training courses, so it may be your installers are fresh from training?  

Things to ask:

What operating temperature am I being quoted for?  An installation to MCS standards should calculate the heat loss from your house at an outside temperature that is exceeded 99.6% of the time and choose an operating temperature and radiator sizes that will cover that heat loss.  The lower this operating temperature, but bigger the radiators, the cheaper your heat pump will be to run.  So there may be room for negotiation but your installers may want to use the smallest and cheapest radiators they can get away with.

How big will your DHW cylinder be?  Unless you are short on space then the bigger the better because you'll want to keep the DHW temperature as low as possible but compensate by having plenty of hot water.

How will you control your heat pump?  Many heat pumps work best if you use the manufacturer's own controller but it has to be sited somewhere where it can measure you house temperature, the living room for example.  If you are offered a third party controller, demand that it can schedule both the heating temperature and the hot water temperature.  

 

Netexporter

I know all that. What I want to know is are Ideal heat pumps any good/reliable?

I gather the pumps are made by Groupe Atlantic, the parent company of Ideal and also Gledhill, who make the associated DHW gear. But everything looks nice on paper/pixels but real world performance may not match up.

I had an Ideal package boiler (boiler and DHW cylinder in one unit) at my last gaff. It was OK, although the plumber who did the annual maintenance said he was always reluctant to touch anything in case it broke. I certainly used to see Ideal service vans around the estate fairly often, presumably when the boilers were still under warranty. On the other hand, mine only needed a fairly major seeing-to after about 15 years, although it wasn't my problem as I rented the place.

MultiFuelBurner

They're not good or bad they're just Ideal????

In all honesty will have a look around see if anyone is running one. 

I haven't got my other phone on me with the heat geeks performance pages for Heatpumps there might be some ideal ones on there.

MultiFuelBurner

I like the way they have pre plumbed and wired the hot water cylinder and on this video it looks like the controller is also on the cylinder.

Do you know the model number and what refrigerant it uses?

https://youtu.be/4BGsxo4U3kw?si=0svuyc4iHurM0UfH

Netexporter

Do you know the model number and what refrigerant it uses?

It's R32, unfortunately, as I prefer R290, but as it's free I'll take it on the chin!

I think it is the 8kW model (AH750666), but I'm waiting for confirmation. I think it will be coupled with the single zone 150 litre cylinder with no buffer tank (236203).

Reed_Richards

I watched the video.  It all looks pretty good except that they claimed a phenomenal COP with only a brief glimpse at the small print that meant you'd be very lucky to get it.

Netexporter

 It all looks pretty good except that they claimed a phenomenal COP with only a brief glimpse at the small print that meant you'd be very lucky to get it.

That's true of any heat pump. The theoretical COP is something to be aimed for but unlikely to be achieved, other than for brief periods if the stars align. Being largely pre-plumbed and wired should take a lot of variables out, so if the pipe-work and emitters are correctly sized I think it stands a reasonable chance of maintaining a reasonable SCOP. Time will tell.

I now realise why I haven't been able to find much comment on the system, though. It was only launched in the middle of last year.