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Government Schemes, Regulations, Training, Planning & Organisations

Last Post by Mars 6 months ago

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HughF

(@hughf)

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Topic starter 24/06/2022 6:56 pm

I visited Installer '22 at the NEC on Wednesday (told everyone who asked that I was a renewables retrofit specifier in the domestic sector, I'm not...)... My take-aways from the day:

1. Cool Energy had a demonstration trailer setup with their newer R32 based unit driving a very nicely made, Italian sourced, fan coil unit in cooling mode. They have a nice product and they're very technical and open. Units will ship with the newer Carel pGDX display in the future ( https://www.carel.com/pgdx ) and this is a nice display/interface. My visit and chat has cemented them as my chosen supplier for my domestic renovation project.

2. Unitherm heating (Exeter) had a good display of heat pumps from various suppliers on their booth, but nothing plugged in and working. They were one of the few companies there with LG units to see.

3. Grant, who supply Chofu units (Japanese origin) had a nice booth, but the real take-away from them was their nicely produced brochures and handover guide which do a good job of explaining to the homeowner how setback and weather compensation work. Nice to see them trying to educate the user in how to get the best from their system.

4. Midsummer wholesale have launched heatpunk (heatpunk.co.uk) a web based tool for graphical heat loss calcs. It's similar to the freedom toolkit except it is web based and runs in the browser. You draw your house, specify the building contruction and it does heat loss and rad sizing in a graphical manner. Free to use (for now). I asked about importing DXF plans and that's something they are considering.

5. Sunamp are listening and are working on a making their PCM43 more reliable in long cycles (that's why it isn't available yet), and are also thinking that PCM50 would be a good fit for heat pump applications.

6 (Leaving the best till last). Homely, by Evergreen energy - wow, this is a game changer. A modbus enabled, IoT based, smart thermostat and heat pump controller that takes control of a wide range of modbus controllable heat pumps and will optimise the flow temp and operating times depending on occupancy, weather, solar gain, predicted weather for the coming 24hrs, TOU tarrif data from the tarriff provider, storage battery %SOC, etc etc. It can automatically commision Midea and Samsung units over modbus and provides a full app for the end user to setup their schedules and temperatures. It has an indoor light/temp/humidity sensor that allows the unit to automatically setup the weather comp curves for a property, no installer callbacks, no fiddling by the user. I was very impressed with this and can see it being of real benefit to end users. They are going to enter a line of communication with Cool Energy to add support for their units.

All in all, very glad I visited. I'll go again next year for sure.

This topic was modified 6 months ago 3 times by Mars

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

👍

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a62vw

(@a62vw)

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29/06/2022 1:31 pm

What about the other heat pump manufacturers that were there?

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HughF

(@hughf)

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Topic starter 29/06/2022 2:11 pm

Posted by: @a62vw

What about the other heat pump manufacturers that were there?

Everyone was there (except Freedom/Midea). Mitsubishi had their own booth, Unitherm had a multi-brand booth showing Samsung and LG units. Grant were there with a few units.

Stiebel Eltron had a booth, Bosch had a booth, Ariston were there with some weird looking monoblocs. Hitachi splits were on a few booths (I'm not interested in splits so glossed over those). Viessman had some monoblocs on their booth.

I could go on... You get the idea. It was heat pump city.

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

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a62vw

(@a62vw)

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29/06/2022 2:26 pm

You didn't mention the two biggest stands with heat pumps - Vaillant and NIBE....

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HughF

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Topic starter 29/06/2022 2:29 pm

Posted by: @a62vw

You didn't mention the two biggest stands with heat pumps - Vaillant and NIBE....

I went to talk installation specifics with Cool Energy (a brand I can afford), and to look at/prod as many controllers as possible to assess the HMI factor. I did have a look around the Vaillant booth now you mention it, they had an aerotherm plus with a perspex cover and all the copper work polished up. A nice touch and a good talking point for people who see these things as voodoo... I didn't stop by the Nibe booth.

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

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HughF

(@hughf)

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Posts: 489

Topic starter 07/03/2024 8:18 am

I’ll be attending Installer ‘24 at the NEC this year, unfortunately just for one day. But it might be a good opportunity for a forum get-together? It’s an interesting show with lots of heat pumps on display from all the major manufacturers.

Lots of gas boilers too, as it’s a plumbing show, but it’s a good day out.

Trade only, but you can just lie on the registration form like I do every year - I’m usually a ‘specifier on domestic renewable retrofit projects’ 🤣

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

👍

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Mars

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07/03/2024 8:42 am

Nice idea. What are the dates?

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HughF

(@hughf)

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Posts: 489

Topic starter 09/03/2024 8:01 am

25-27th June at the NEC.

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

👍

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HughF

(@hughf)

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Posts: 489

Topic starter 06/06/2024 12:13 pm

If I’m there, it will be on the last day. Work commitments mon-Wednesday..

Off grid on the isle of purbeck
2.4kW solar, 15kWh Seplos Mason, Outback power systems 3kW inverter/charger, solid fuel heating with air/air for shoulder months, 10 acres of heathland/woods.

My wife’s house: 1946 3 bed end of terrace in Somerset, ASHP with rads + UFH, triple glazed, retrofit IWI in troublesome rooms, small rear extension.

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HCas

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07/06/2024 11:03 am

I'll be there!

CEO and co-founder at HavenWise

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Mars

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Posts: 3870

25/06/2025 9:23 pm

I’ve just attended the InstallerSHOW at the NEC for the first time, and I’ve got to say… the future of heat pumps really does feel like it’s right on the cusp.

Hall 5 (which is massive) was packed (plumbing, electrics, heating), but what really struck me was the shift in momentum: just 2 or 3 boiler brands had a presence, while heat pumps absolutely dominated. Huge stands, packed with visitors and buzzing with interest.

I was also honoured to help kick off InstallerSHOW with the very first panel discussion of the event, “Everything You Need to Know About Heat Pumps”, joining fellow authors Graham Hendra, Lewis Litherland, Ian Edgeworth and James Law. We spoke to a strong crowd of industry professionals keen to deepen their understanding of this fast-evolving sector.

To say I’m knackered would be an understatement. Two full-on days of filming and interviews with brilliant minds and brands getting to the heart of what the next wave of products means for UK homeowners.

Loads of editing to do (send coffee), but we’re aiming to have the next episode of the Homeowners’ Q&A podcast out by Wednesday next week.

Did anyone go to the show this year?