UPDATED: Air Source Heat Pumps/Air Con - Full Info & Guide, is it cheaper to run than mains gas?

fredwnelson wrote: »

Thanks. Not sure where the 20000kwh derives.

The 'performance' of a heat pump is measured by its COP (coefficient of performance). For example a heat pump that has an input of 1000kWh and produces 2,500kWh would have a COP = 2.5.


You use 6,700kWh and zeupater has assumed your system has a COP of approx 3.0. to give an output 'upwards of 20,000kWh'


A system COP of 3.0* is excellent and achieved by only a few installations in trials.

Our old boiler took out a few months ago.
It was only for Hot Water, so I thought I would take the plunge and go for a GS or AS Heat Pump. I knew that it would be expensive, messy, and time consuming. Off I go to the MCS website to search for a installer. So I get this list, and contacted somewhere between 15 and 20 installers (stopped around 22 miles distance) and only two of those are willing to even entertain giving me a quote. After a week or so of waiting, neither company is willing to talk to me as it's only one person who does quotes and neither company is sure why said person is not contacting me.


I mean, when I say on the phone that I know GSHP could cost £15-20k, and that underfloor heating is expensive but I still want it. That should be good enough.


So I just gave up and got regular radiators with a basic Baxi (tho, I regret the controller as it's only On/Off, and not variable heat).


The cost/benefit for me was not going to be large, if any at all. We have solar PV panels and as such that would bring the energy cost down to a little of nothing during the summer, but having natural gas means we would, likely, be cheaper in the winter with a combi.


So, the "general" question(s) I have is this.
Should it be a pain to find a installer? Should I have just searched farther and farther out? (Most who didn't want to talk to me want only Council or Housing Association jobs). The "gas" installers I spoke to had no positive knowledge of heat pumps at all, and none really cared about such tech. My previous car (Leaf Tekna), and current clothes dryer (LG Heat pump, crappy design) have HP tech and I find the negativity of the tech really odd. I am in the North West between Liverpool and Manchester, so it's not a remote part of the UK. Amazing how many installers on the MCS list don't exist. That was another fear. If you cant find a installer, then finding a repair tech could be just as bad if not worse.

Jeanners49 wrote: »

Hello,


My husband was persuaded into buying/having installed an air source heat pump in July this year. The salesman/director who came round to the house (at my husband's invitation) assured us it was the best thing since the proverbial, would drastically reduce our energy bills and we would hardly notice the noise from it. In fact our electricity bills have doubled since the blasted thing was installed (and the bungalow is barely warm) and the noise is unbearable. There's a leak somewhere and the pressure has been consistently unreliable. Although the company have someone on the switchboard, telephone calls/messages appear not to be passed on and my email to the director/salesman on 9 November remains unanswered. We're still waiting for an engineer to come and find the leak/sort the pressure out.

Additionally, the gas boiler we had before the ASHP was barely two years old and was an A+ efficiency rated Worcester Bosch. If the director/salesman had any sort of conscience he would have told us we would not benefit from having the ASHP installed, but clearly he wanted to make a sale. So now we've paid out £10,850 for a uselss bit of tech and have lost the price of the gas boiler along with the installation costs (another £4,000). I've tried to use Resolver for a complaint but they aren't adding new companies at the moment. I've contacted Citizens Advice but have as yet had no response. I'm at my wits end; we're not wealthy people, my husband is elderly and disabled and the whole business is keeping me awake at night. I'm aware that he should have read up more on the pros and cons but I still feel we've been ripped off and mis-sold a uselss piece of junk.
Where to go from here?:(:mad:

Did you pay for any of the work using a credit card?

Thanks for this - I think my husband is reluctant to throw any more money at the heating by consulting another company. We're based near Ringwood and he chose a local installer because he thought they would be reputable. Fat chance..

Radiators were all replaced and the ASHP is an LG, so is a good one.

Cutting our losses is a hard one to swallow, but unless we take the guy to court, I think it's our only option.

richardc1983 wrote: »

This has happened to so many people who had mains gas. Mains gas (whilst the ASHP will be more efficient) is still cheaper per unit than electricity is so this makes mains gas the cheaper form of heating. So if you have anything other than mains gas as your heating system e.g oil or electric element heaters then ASHP is your best and cheapest option.

Not sure where you are located but it might be worth giving a proper company a call who maintain and service these units and check that the system is set up the best it can be... also to check that radiators have been oversized as a 4kw radiator designed to run at 80c flow temp will be outputting approx 800w at 35c flow temp of a heat pump etc. If radiators have not been changed to larger radiators to account for the lower flow temps of a heat pump then you might as well keep the system off as it will never heat your home effectively and you will waste so much energy doing so.

I can recommend https://www.freedomhp.co.uk/ ask for Graham Hendra, they put right what a lot of others have not put right.

From giving advice to others who had the same exact issues it's sometimes better to cut your losses and put a gas boiler back in and try to sell the heat pump and recoup some of your money back.