Heat geek design consultation worth paying £250 for?

BuildTheWall

I read a few threads suggesting getting a quote from Heat geek. Received a quote of £3350 for installation of Vaillant aroTHERM plus 10kW including upgrading 2 radiators. 

Is it worth paying £250 for the design consultation? 

I received a quote from Octopus couple of months back and I still have time to decide. The reviews of their cosy 6 don’t appear encouraging. Checking if there are other options. 

tacpot12

£250 sounds a good price for a Heat Geek design. 

sheenas

Adam from heat geeks is definitely very well respected within the industry. He is worth every penny if you’re are retro fitting a heat pump. He is the only person I know who has been collecting statistical data about heat pumps performance and developed a product that accurately measures heat loss. Making his assessments worth the paper they are written on. Anyone else is pot luck basically.

QrizB

sheenas said:

He is the only person I know who has been collecting statistical data about heat pumps performance ...

He might be a charming bloke but there have been several extensive studies of heat pump performance "in the wild" carried out by the UK government and its agencies.

Here's an example:

https://es.catapult.org.uk/project/electrification-of-heat-demonstration-project/

To depict Heat Geek as some sort of scientific pioneer is overstating their role considerably.

BuildTheWall

Thanks all!

sheenas

QrizB said:

sheenas said:

He is the only person I know who has been collecting statistical data about heat pumps performance ...

He might be a charming bloke but there have been several extensive studies of heat pump performance "in the wild" carried out by the UK government and its agencies.

Here's an example:

https://es.catapult.org.uk/project/electrification-of-heat-demonstration-project/

To depict Heat Geek as some sort of scientific pioneer is overstating their role considerably.

I read the ‘demonstration study’ carefully and it only cover 700 odd installations of which only 85 percent would recommend heat pumps. A typical heat install is going to cost you £15k of which the government is going to pay £7500 that makes it a huge risk. 

heat geeks claim to have analysed 80,000 homes using there ai based system.  While I accept that this is not independently verified data. I suspect the edf study you provided a link for is not either. 

Adam is a dedicated advocate of heat pumps and invested a huge amount of time in doing it right. Not just there until the government grant money runs out.

if you can suggest a better installer network then good luck. 

wrf12345

Recent Heat Geek video suggesting that installation might be as low as zero, using existing cylinder and radiators, but a small bungalow with two beds came out at three grand when I went to their site, so that zero would be for a one bed house or flat at best. Their quotes are now similar to Octopus, the latter putting up its prices and Heat Geek bringing their own down. It will be Heat Geek trained artisans with their own company doing the install rather than the guys at HG - in most cases. Personally I would no more pay for a survey than I would a gas engineer to give me a quote, I know more work is involved but their database suggests it is now easier than ever for the guys doing the survey and plenty of introductory videos around if someone wants to grasp the basics.

Netexporter

I imagine the survey fee is refundable if you place an order and is there to cut down time-wasters.

michaels

wrf12345 said:

Recent Heat Geek video suggesting that installation might be as low as zero, using existing cylinder and radiators, but a small bungalow with two beds came out at three grand when I went to their site, so that zero would be for a one bed house or flat at best. Their quotes are now similar to Octopus, the latter putting up its prices and Heat Geek bringing their own down. It will be Heat Geek trained artisans with their own company doing the install rather than the guys at HG - in most cases. Personally I would no more pay for a survey than I would a gas engineer to give me a quote, I know more work is involved but their database suggests it is now easier than ever for the guys doing the survey and plenty of introductory videos around if someone wants to grasp the basics.

I have had a couple of surveys, that seems to have to go into every room and measure the dimensions and window dimensions and existing rads even though all this info is already available.

NedS

michaels said:

wrf12345 said:

Recent Heat Geek video suggesting that installation might be as low as zero, using existing cylinder and radiators, but a small bungalow with two beds came out at three grand when I went to their site, so that zero would be for a one bed house or flat at best. Their quotes are now similar to Octopus, the latter putting up its prices and Heat Geek bringing their own down. It will be Heat Geek trained artisans with their own company doing the install rather than the guys at HG - in most cases. Personally I would no more pay for a survey than I would a gas engineer to give me a quote, I know more work is involved but their database suggests it is now easier than ever for the guys doing the survey and plenty of introductory videos around if someone wants to grasp the basics.

I have had a couple of surveys, that seems to have to go into every room and measure the dimensions and window dimensions and existing rads even though all this info is already available.

Already available to whom?

If I were a company quoting for a heat pump installation, I would absolutely want to perform my own survey, top to bottom, and not rely on someone else's measurements or figures. How can anyone possibly stand by their work if everything is based off someone else's measurements/figures that may be wrong, and given just how wrong heat loss calculations often are...