Octopus HP survey - what shuld I ask?

MarzipanCrumble

I have booked an Octopus survey for HP for a 4 Bed Detached in May.  

What should I ask - can they give me some sort of idea of running costs.

I am not bothered about a return - I am in my 70's.  I do care about cutting carbon.  I am 1 in a 4 bed house but hoping that HP would make it more  attractive to sell.  Not against installing Solar Panels - again not interested in return.  (The location of the house is stunning - in a way it would be easier to move if it wasn't...)

Cavity wall  insulation (beads not glued together) poss 1990's; Double glazing except for huge north facing window opp stairs (thinking about it 7k-10k quote); attic hardboard florred with boards on top + insulation + interleaved wooden slats to hold roof red tiles in place (reroofed 2014).  Hot water tank in 'airing cupboard'; feeder tank in loft; boiler (installed 2006 Ideal) in separate utility room off kitchen.

Conservation area (building not listed).

No Solar - Roof has velux windows.  However possibly suitable garage 8 panels slate roofedand semi detached.  Facing southish.

SMETS 2 at last working as should - Octopus installed.

NedS

Do you have large double panel radiators in each room? What diameter is the pipework feeding them (will this need replacing)?

Do you know what flow temperature your boiler runs at in winter? Have you been able to turn it down to ~50C and the house still remain warm (this would give you an indication if the radiators are big enough or will need replacing)?

What are the dimensions of the airing cupboard? How water tanks for heat pump systems can be quite large, so useful to know they are confident they can install into your existing space.

Do you have a site in mind outside for the heat pump? Is it within 10m of where the hot water tank will go? Ideally the pipe work connecting the two should be no longer than 10m.

Reed_Richards

Octopus now offer two options, "Eco" and "Turbo".  "Turbo" means that you keep your existing radiators and must therefore run the heat pump at a higher temperature so the running costs will be higher.  With "Eco" your radiators will be replaced with ones having a higher surface area, as necessary.  "Eco" will cost more to install but the running costs will be lower.

Either way your hot water cylinder will be replaced by one that is pressurised so the header tank will be made redundant.  I don't think there are many questions that you can ask Octopus; the most important one is where they propose to site your heat pump.

So "Eco" will cut more carbon than "Turbo" but the chances of a prospective buyer recognising the difference are minimal so I think both would equally enhance the sale value of your house.

Solar panels don't really mesh well with heat pumps as they generate least electricity in winter when your heat pump will need it the most.  So you decision about those can me made completely independently to your decision about a heat pump.