Heat pump or existing oil burner?

OftenConfused80

Hello, newbie here. I live in NE in old mid terrace with heating/hot water by 12 yr old "very efficient" Bosch condensing oil burner. My local council  (Durham) has said I'm eligible for grant aid to replace oil burner with ASHP (about which I know nothing) but not solar. What would other members do / advise if they were in my position? Any thoughts much appreciated. 

NedS

We had our old oil boiler replaced with a heat pump under the ECO scheme, which also provided additional insulation and solar panels. Would you qualify for ECO4?

Do you own the property or rent?

I would start by doing a large amount of research on ASHPs as they are very different from conventional boiler based heating systems. Maybe check out the Visit A Heat Pump site and see if there is a heat pump near you that you can visit:

https://www.visitaheatpump.com/

Netexporter

I, too, had an ASHP and solar installed under ECO4. Nearly a year in I am very happy to have a nice balance in my electricity account, from selling sunshine all summer, which should pay for the bulk of the heat pump use over the cold months.

There is plenty of good information available but bear in mind that there is also a great deal of misinformation. If you're not sure, come back here to get help with sorting the wheat from the chaff.

OftenConfused80

NedS said:

We had our old oil boiler replaced with a heat pump under the ECO scheme, which also provided additional insulation and solar panels. Would you qualify for ECO4?

Do you own the property or rent?

I would start by doing a large amount of research on ASHPs as they are very different from conventional boiler based heating systems. Maybe check out the Visit A Heat Pump site and see if there is a heat pump near you that you can visit:

Yes it's ECO4 but bc I'm in energy band D no solar panels on grant aid.
Yes I own the property.

Thanks for reply will check out visit👍

OftenConfused80

Netexporter said:

I, too, had an ASHP and solar installed under ECO4. Nearly a year in I am very happy to have a nice balance in my electricity account, from selling sunshine all summer, which should pay for the bulk of the heat pump use over the cold months.

There is plenty of good information available but bear in mind that there is also a great deal of misinformation. If you're not sure, come back here to get help with sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Originally I was  told by a contractor at the door that I would be eligible for solar panels ASHP etc etc.  eventually I found Durham Council website devoted to grant aid which said I would be eligible for ASHP but not solar panels. 
Thanks for reply, your experiences are similar to a near neighbour who is also very happy 😟😉

NedS

Our ASHP replaced an oil boiler which was around 10 years old, a Worcester Bosch model which was presumably ~85% efficient.

We are very happy with our ASHP. Running costs in the first year were around half what we previously spent on oil per year.

How much it costs to run will largely depend on two factors - how efficient it is and how much you are paying per unit for electricity.

The key to efficiency is low flow temperatures, which requires large radiators and/or underfloor heating. We replaced all our radiators going as large as possible to accommodate in the space available. This allowed us to run at flow temps of 30-35C all year which really helps efficiency. The radiators barely feel warm but are really efficient to run (SCOP of around 4)

Next up you really need a smart meter so you can access some of the cheaper smart tariffs. Paying the standard variable rate of around 28p per kWh will make it expensive to run. Even with a SCOP of 4, if you are paying 28p per kWh, that works out at 28p/4 = 7p per kWh of heat delivered so is more expensive than the oil boiler it's replacing. If you only achieve a SCOP of 3, then it's going to be a lot more expensive 28p/3 = 9.3p per kWh equivalent.

A tariff like Octopus Cosy (for heat pumps) or Agile can help reduce the unit costs. Combined with other green technology such as solar and batteries can really bring your costs down.

In terms of living with an ASHP vs an oil boiler, it's quieter (no roaring boiler burning oil in the house), doesn't smell of kerosene, is a more comfortable constant heat (no large swings in temperature), and the constant heat helps reduce condensation and mould if that is an issue for you. The only real downside for us is trying to find anyone local to service it, and finding someone local to fix it if it breaks may be an issue.

matelodave

I think if I was paying for it myself I'd stay with the oil boiler until it was on its last legs.

However if I could get an ASHP for almost free then TBH it really is a no brainer. As said above you can usually manage to squeeze a SCOP of between 3.5-4 with a well specified and set up system used properly. So you do need to put a bit of effort into understanding how to use it to get the best out of it.

We've had our for 15 years but as I can't make one of the "special" heatpump tariffs work for us, I put the effort into getting the best cheap deal. We want heating all during the day from the time we get up to when we go to bed with a much lower use overnight

At present we pay a fixed 20.35p/kwh through to next June which assuming a conservative COP of around 3 works out at 7p/kwh for heat without all the faffing around trying to optimise heating schedules or persuading SWMBO to do washing, cooking and others stuff at optimum times rather than peak times. I've been married for over 56 years so I know what's possible and what would cause me a lot of grief.