Anyone replaced central heating with air to air in bungalow?

Martyn1981

barker77 said:

wrf12345 said:

With Bungalows, I am thinking with a redesign to get rid of corridors, so bedrooms off the main living air, then a single air-to-air unit for the living area would work for me, opening the bedroom doors at say 8pm to let a bit of heat into them. I don't use hot water at all (cold water shower to wake up) but when the zero s/c gas tariffs come in later this year, keeping gas then becomes viable (just to keep the house easy to sell). For bathrooms I already have wall halogen heaters that are only used when I am in there (last winter did not use it at all as relatively mild). There was a hint that grants for A2A may be coming.

Where was the detail on air to air grants? 

Last November the Gov issued info in a blog post, and one of the action points was:

• Support the rollout of air-to-air heat pumps that can also provide a cooling function.

I assumed this would just be to make it a bit easier to install, but was hopeful that the subsidy scheme would be expanded for other solutions (like A2A, off-peak heat batteries etc) too, but not sure it will.

So the 'support' appears to be the changes to the ASHP planning rules.

wrf12345

The planning change now allows two outside units and A2A is included in that, as well as the metre boundary rule gone, may have been where I picked up the hint of grants, so a bit disappointing if true but they do seem to be looking into the details of things and modifying them with a modicum of intelligence.

barker77

wrf12345 said:

The planning change now allows two outside units and A2A is included in that, as well as the metre boundary rule gone, may have been where I picked up the hint of grants, so a bit disappointing if true but they do seem to be looking into the details of things and modifying them with a modicum of intelligence.

Ah but do I still need planning if they do cooling too ? 

QrizB

barker77 said:

wrf12345 said:

The planning change now allows two outside units and A2A is included in that, as well as the metre boundary rule gone

Ah but do I still need planning if they do cooling too ? 

See this thread for discussion of the changes:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6609053/the-1m-boundary-planning-rule-for-ashps-scrapped-from-29-05-2025-in-england-and-walea

Martyn1981

wrf12345 said:

The planning change now allows two outside units and A2A is included in that, as well as the metre boundary rule gone, may have been where I picked up the hint of grants, so a bit disappointing if true but they do seem to be looking into the details of things and modifying them with a modicum of intelligence.

Too late for me, but I'm still hopeful that the subsidy scheme will be expanded to cover other solutions. I know that Tepeo are holding their breath, hoping the scheme will be widened. They have an excellent solution for small properties, or those that need little heating, with their 40kWh heat battery. It may not have a COP like heatpumps, but the ability to charge it up on cheap rate leccy would work well.

I think a few thousand towards an A2A unit or two, and a HP hot water tank, would encourage many. They might not even have to increase the subsidy pot, as take up has been poor so far.

QrizB

Martyn1981 said:

I know that Tepeo are holding their breath, hoping the scheme will be widened. They have an excellent solution for small properties, or those that need little heating, with their 40kWh heat battery.

It's frighteningly expensive, though, compared to two large storage heaters (which would store the same amount of heat).
A pair of Quantum 150s would store 46kWh at a cost of £1800 plus fitting. The Tepeo heat battery is closer to £9k, I think - although that might include fitting?

barker77

A/c provider recommending either Samsung or Mitsubishi. Wondered if anyone had considered both and pros / cons? 

QrizB

barker77 said:

A/c provider recommending either Samsung or Mitsubishi. Wondered if anyone had considered both and pros / cons? 

In my opinion Samsung and both Mitsubishis make reasonable kit. We've got both installedin various places at work, and also Daikin.

Just steer clear of obscure brands and watch out for claims that it has eg. a "Mitsubishi compressor" when the rest of the hardware is from someone you've never heard of.

(As a result of Mitsubishi being broken up after WWIi, there are lots of companies called Mitsubishi. Two of those, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, sell air conditioning in the UK market.)

((In a similar fashion, Fuji Heavy Industries - the parent company of Subaru - was once part of Nakajima.))

barker77

Next steps for me are to work out 

1) which brands have best scheduling functionality ie set to whatever temp at 8am till whenever 
2) how quiet they are inside and out 
3) warranty 
4) how much can control airflow as ideally want to feel it as little as possible when on heat mode 

The company I spoke to also suggested not putting the ac units where the head of the bed is due to noise directly above your head, I assumed the air blowing away from you while sleeping might be better but keen to know what others have done. Also wasn’t aware that any units on internal walls need a condensate pump - does anyone have experience how noisy these are / how ugly ?  

wrf12345

Air-conditioners are placed high on internal walls but should those used for heating be placed at the same level as radiators, as heat rises?