Heat pump replacement using BUS scheme??

Mat3112

Hello. We bought a house in October. House built in 2009 already with heat pump. Long story short - it keeps braking and cannot fix it. Has few quotes to replace system. One of heating engineers adviced that it's possible to use BUS grant to replace it  - but what he meant was to get few electric heaters get new EPC that states electric heating and then apply for a grant? Is that possible? Apparently that's what ofgem told him when he talked to them.

Thank you 

Strummer22

From a quick skim of the gov.uk eligibility criteria (https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme/check-if-youre-eligible) it appears that this would work, so long as the property has not previously been given government funding or support for a heat pump or biomass boiler.

There may be exclusions for this sort of thing in the fine print somewhere though.

Reed_Richards

I don't think you can get a BUS grant to replace an old heat pump with a new one (but that's just my opinion).  The heating engineer who thinks you can appears to be suggesting that you must first decommission your existing heat pump so you are not making a direct replacement.  Perhaps that will work, but if it doesn't you will be £7,500 out of pocket.   

Mat3112

Well his point was (after talking to ofgem)!to get new EPC with 3 electric heaters installed and that apparently will allow to use bus grant (if house didn't use it when was built) I spoke to ofgem this afternoon and they said it could work as long as new EPC doesn't say heat pump.

Reed_Richards

The EPC assessor cannot help but notice all the water-filled radiators that are not being used.  But provided that the old heat pump has been removed I doubt that they will be able to tell what sort of heat source had been used for those radiators. 

matelodave

I'm guessing from the age of the system - built 2009 then the previous owners may have been entitled to either a grant or Renewable Heat Incentive payments which would have been paid out quarterly for seven years.

It's difficult to know what was going on at around that time because previous to the RHI coming into force there were grants being paid out for heatpump installations  (the Low Carbon Building Programme ran from  April 2006 to May 2010) which got stopped in anticipation of the RHI scheme.  Installations which were too late for the grant got the RHI.

My system was installed in September 2010 and although we missed out on the grant we got the RHI when it eventually started in November 2011 (we got just over £5k in 28 quarterly instalments)

Generally if the installation got a grant or RHI (you couldn't get both) then you'll be unlikely to get another grant to replace it. Even if you try to fiddle the system by having it taken out, they keep records of which installations got grants/RHI which may make it awkward if you pull it out, install electric heaters and then try to claim again for the same property.

Although that said, it might be worth the gamble, some cheapie electric heaters and a new EPC will probably cost you a couple of hundred but be prepared to be turned down if they find that the place has already had grant/RHI payments.

FreeBear

Mat3112 said:

Hello. We bought a house in October. House built in 2009 already with heat pump. Long story short - it keeps breaking and cannot fix it. Has few quotes to replace system. One of heating engineers advised that it's possible to use BUS grant to replace it  - but what he meant was to get few electric heaters get new EPC that states electric heating and then apply for a grant? Is that possible? Apparently that's what ofgem told him when he talked to them.

So you already have plumbing, radiators, and DHW tank in place - That is where the bulk of the cost of a new system is. Replacing the existing heat pump shouldn't be hugely expensive. Looking at the price of a Samsung 8kW, delivered for £2200 inc. VAT. Fitting shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, so all in, probably under £3000. You wouldn't need to file any paperwork, so no need for an MCS installer or any of the gravy train costs that come with going down the BUS route - What this "engineer" is proposing by way of sticking in electric heaters and getting a new EPC smacks of fraud. It wouldn't take much effort to discover that the property had a heat pump in the past. The local council would have a record of it and could well be visible on their planning portal.

Mat3112

Was quoted between 8k and 11. As it's not just replacing unit. Need new pipes from heat pump to the house as they are undersized. Apparently need new water cylinder. And that's 3 quotes. Waiting for one more next Monday 

QrizB

Mat3112 said:

Was quoted between 8k and 11.

Those sound like "go away and don't bother me" quotes.

Mat3112 said:

Need new pipes from heat pump to the house as they are undersized. Apparently need new water cylinder.

It still sounds like they're taking the mickey.

Reed_Richards

Mat3112 said:

Was quoted between 8k and 11. As it's not just replacing unit. Need new pipes from heat pump to the house as they are undersized. Apparently need new water cylinder. And that's 3 quotes. Waiting for one more next Monday 

If your current water cylinder does the job for you then you don't need a new one.  Likewise the pipes.  But perhaps your system broke down so frequently you don't know how it behaves when it is working?

QrizB

Reed_Richards said:

Mat3112 said:

Was quoted between 8k and 11. As it's not just replacing unit. Need new pipes from heat pump to the house as they are undersized. Apparently need new water cylinder. And that's 3 quotes. Waiting for one more next Monday 

If your current water cylinder does the job for you then you don't need a new one.  Likewise the pipes.

Thinking about this, it's possible that the current heat pump is a hydrobox model, and the replacement quotes are for a monobloc. So yes, you would need different pipes and potentially a different HW tank. But that's me looking for a set of circumstances where this all makes sense, rather than the more likely "being ripped off" scenario.