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Post-Traumatic Heat Pump Stress Disorder

 
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Government Schemes, Regulations, Training, Planning & Organisations
Last Post by Jeff 2 months ago
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JamesPa
 JamesPa
(@jamespa)
Illustrious Member Moderator
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 4388
12/01/2026 11:58 am  

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok
↑

@fiona, we do have a glossary thread to better understand the rather large amount of jargon ( https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/postid/51923/). We also have an introductory article (Heat Pump Basics & Installation Guide | Renewable Heating Hub) to help you become quickly familiar with the basic concepts underpinning much of the advice generally bandied about on this forum.

@editor - just a comment - these aren't easy to find unless you know to look for them.  Is there some way that this could be improved?  @toodles article on rad balancing should probably have the same status.

 


4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.


   
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Mars
 Mars
(@editor)
Illustrious Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 4294
Topic starter 12/01/2026 12:06 pm  

@jamespa, we have got this topic, which all the mods can update with whatever they think is relevant, important, etc.

https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/rules-terms-of-use/recommended-topics-for-new-members/


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 iotum
(@iotum)
Active Member Member
Joined: 2 months ago
Posts: 7
12/01/2026 7:05 pm  

Posted by: @editor
↑

Because standards that aren’t enforced aren’t standards... they’re marketing.

Yes bang on and maybe I can illustrate that by way of example.  I don't have a heat pump yet, maybe never will, but I did have solar installed back in 2018.  So I'm sufferring from post traumatic solar disorder.  Ok, so I might be exagerating but let me explain.  Overall I'm happy with my solar install and the money I save but I was given an illustration of the expected savings at the time of purchase.  A significant contribution to the saving was from the use of the solar diverter which takes excess electricity that I'm not consuming and puts it into the hot water immersion heater.  So I get free hot water.  What I subsequently realised was that the estimate for that saving was based on the price of electricity which at the time was 11-15 p/kWh.  Yet my house had always used gas for heating hot water which was around 3p/kWh back then.  So the estimate for savings from the diverter was upto five times what I actually realised.  

This only became apparent when I sat down several years after the install and tried to work out when I'd break even and compared my savings with the projections I'd received at purchase.  It was only when Putin invaded Ukraine and subsequent spike in gas prices that I started to see anything like the projections I'd received. 

But hang on, as part of the handover of the solar panels,  I had received a lovely certificate from an organisation called epvs which stands for energy performance validation. This certificate states that "the installer has the competency to carry out accurate performance calculations, estimates and monetary savings". i.e. the estimates I had received were based on a calculation provided by epvs.   I contacted epvs and to cut a long story short, they ignored my main point.   I realised that without anyone to hold them to account, I was wasting my time and their main purpose was to provide solar installers with some marketing in return for a fee. 

epvs are still going and provide validation for heat pumps.  I won't be using them as part of my decision making on whether to get a heat pump.

 


This post was modified 2 months ago 3 times by iotum

4.7 kW Solar array - Solaredge 3.5kW inverter
No battery yet. No heat pump yet.
20 year old gas boiler with a bit of a Wallace and Gromit invention to alter the flow temperature depending on whether Hot Water or heatingh is being called.


   
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Jeff
 Jeff
(@jeff)
Prominent Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 562
15/01/2026 8:33 pm  

Some more examples of those that really should be benefiting from the transition being let down 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3zlp9gyqdo

These are the people who shouldn't have to worry about heat loss calculations, balancing radiators etc. 

They just need a reliable company to JFDI, excuse my language. 

I really do fear what will happen when heat pump installations ramp up... 

 



   
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