Anyone replaced central heating with air to air in bungalow?

QrizB

barker77 said:

QrizB said:

barker77 said:

Yeah that’s my thinking. Currently only found one manufacturer that can run more than 5 units off an outside unit - LG. If anyone else knows of others or can recommend an installer I’d be very grateful . 

Why a multi-split?

If you have a AHU in the loft, you only need one indoor unit - the AHU. Then ducts to the other rooms.

I had a whole-house blown-air storage heater (yes, a bit weird) that worked like that.

You're unlikely to find a packaged deal on the internet as they're very much bespoke, but something like this:

https://www.revk.uk/2022/04/new-air-con-part-4.html

Speak to a local installer, if you're serious about this.

I wanted to keep within a reasonable say 6/7k budget which those don’t really look like they would be

Per RevK's blog, his system was £10k so yes, 50% more than your budget.

matelodave

this could be a possible solution - https://www.airconco.com/ducted-air-conditioning-units/ although I dont know what the cost might be.
An air handler in the loft with vents in each room. The major downside is that rooms wont be individually controllable

However Mitsubishi do mini-split systems with up to 11 indoor units - https://les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/products/air-conditioning/multi-splits so I guess a check with Mitsi UK to find out if they are available in the UK and where you can get them from

sheenas

A few alarm bells ringing here. I think if you have 7K after the government grant and any other grants maybe from the council, then think about other issues. Firstly insulation is key to getting good results and so lifting the floorboard would be a good idea. Further the heat pump is a low temp. device and a gas boiler are considered a high temp. devices. What that means you most likely need bigger radiators (and maybe pipes) for the heat pump to work efficiently (floors up again). The heat pump will provide hot water and heating so there is no need for electric hot water.  In short you may well be redecorating and should consider that in the budget.

QrizB

sheenas said:

A few alarm bells ringing here. I think if you have 7K after the government grant ...

There is no government grant for AAHPs.

sheenas said:

Further the heat pump is a low temp. Device and a gas boiler are considered a high temp. devices. What that means you most likely need bigger radiators

There are no radiators with an AAHP.

sheenas said:

The heat pump will provide hot water and heating so there is no need for electric hot water.

An AAHP does not usually provide hot water.
Did you read the thread before replying? Was your reply written by AI?

danrv

matelodave said:

I'd have thought that a bungalow would lend itself to  a split A2A system as the piping from the external unit to the indoor air handlers could run through the loft space.

That's how mine was installed. Through the gable wall and clipped to the beams.
Multisplit aircon is very good and possibly cheaper to install that ducted A/C.

Six indoor units would probably require two
outdoor inverter heatpumps (heating and cooling).

matelodave

danrv said:

matelodave said:

I'd have thought that a bungalow would lend itself to  a split A2A system as the piping from the external unit to the indoor air handlers could run through the loft space.

That's how mine was installed. Through the gable wall and clipped to the beams.
Multisplit aircon is very good and possibly cheaper to install that ducted A/C.

Six indoor units would probably require two
outdoor inverter heatpumps (heating and cooling).

see my comment above, Mitsi do multi-split systems with up to 11 indoor units, you just need to check what's available

arms

We have one 5 way unit outside connected to 3 single wall units downstairs and 1 unit upstairs. It is in loft with vents into each bedroom with the return in ceiling on landing. Control is also on landing. So we have a spare port if we want an extra unit. We lose individual control in each bedroom, but we just leave the upstairs one on quiet mode 24rhs a day ,so the upstairs is a constant temperature.

Something like https://www.airconditioningworld.co.uk/lg-cl12f-n50-3-5kw-

barker77

danrv said:

matelodave said:

I'd have thought that a bungalow would lend itself to  a split A2A system as the piping from the external unit to the indoor air handlers could run through the loft space.

That's how mine was installed. Through the gable wall and clipped to the beams.
Multisplit aircon is very good and possibly cheaper to install that ducted A/C.

Six indoor units would probably require two
outdoor inverter heatpumps (heating and cooling).

Thanks!! can I ask how your doing hot water . Im considering going multi split again and unsure wether to go gas combi in loft just for hot water cos means I don’t need a tank which gives me tons more space where a tank would otherwise go. Or go immersion in loft etc 

barker77

arms said:

We have one 5 way unit outside connected to 3 single wall units downstairs and 1 unit upstairs. It is in loft with vents into each bedroom with the return in ceiling on landing. Control is also on landing. So we have a spare port if we want an extra unit. We lose individual control in each bedroom, but we just leave the upstairs one on quiet mode 24rhs a day ,so the upstairs is a constant temperature.

Something like https://www.airconditioningworld.co.uk/lg-cl12f-n50-3-5kw-

How are you doing bathroom heating ? 

Martyn1981

barker77 said:

As per title wondering if this is a good idea vs keeping central heating and heating a heat pump. Im thinking going immersion for hot water but the idea of being able to cool and heat rooms and dehumidify etc is quite appealing. That with cheaper cost cos bungalow with suspended timber floor means I don’t have to lift floorboards to insulate central heating pipes.
Keen to see if anyone else has thought or done similar ? 

Forum friend has done this, added 2 A2A units both 2.5kW I think, and it worked so well, they then stripped out the GCH system. I think they added instant hot water for the bathroom and kitchen. They also helped family with a similar conversion, again of a bungalow, but a tad smaller (may have been just one A2A unit).

Inspired by this, I tried to see how little GCH we would use last winter, if I ran our two 3.5kW A2A units hard all night on cheap rate, and then more gently during the day off batts (charged with cheap rate). Our property is a typical 1930 3 bed semi-detached.

Our worst month was January (understandably), we imported just over 1,000kWh of leccy, I think ~15kWh day rate, and about 100kWh of gas. We also contributed about 110kWh of PV, but some days there was no PV gen at all, and the 20kWh batts were enough. Jan's energy bill was just over £100, and included car charging too.

We didn't need any GCH this last winter, and the plan this year is to remove the combi boiler and add a HW tank. Also swap leccy oven for the gas one and then ditch the gas (and the SC which represents about 70% of the monthly gas bill).

We did use a bit of resistive heating to top up the 'corners' where the warm air wasn't reaching enough. We did this using cheap oil rads, though towards the later half of the experiment, we realised that dialling up the A2A units about 1C, and making the downstairs a bit warmer, actually helped the upstairs more than the oil rads, so their use was reduced. But oil rad consumption is included in the numbers.


Edit - Regarding bathroom heating, same forum friend recommended one of these, and we got it installed this spring. You can set a temp for the rad to target, but we found that having it at a low to normal room temp works fine, then just bump up the temp, and switch on the hot air blower when you use the room, so it is toasty by the time you exit shower.