@littlered 

You may find that it is a symptom rather than the root cause of your problem, if your ASHP's are sitting in a 'cold well', they will be pulling the cold air coming out, back into the intake, which in turn will make the cold air coming out even colder. This could continue until your ASHP is running at maximum power, the air going through your heat pump gets cold enough to trigger the backup heater, and your electricity meter goes into overdrive.

Has anyone carried out the temperature tests that I suggested?

If you are not prepared to help me locate the cause of your problems, then I am afraid there will not be much more I can do to help.

@derek-m Thanks, you have been very helpful. I have not taken any temperatures yet as currently have no thermometer but plan to do it this week as we have already queried the position of the pump. My testing of any advice on here is slow because we only moved here 4 weeks ago, and have been told not to touch any settings otherwise we jeopardise the warranty, all neighbours in same position, apart from one who has ignored this and has been experimenting. We are currently all liaising with him - he is an engineer with some experience in the heating field, so he has been the most informed and most pro-active, the rest of us are all new to this type of system and are therefore more reluctant to change settings we have been told not to, particularly as we do not know what we are doing.

@littlered 

I am not asking you to change any settings, just for someone to take two temperature measurements.

Maybe you should ask your neighbour to contact me or maybe I should let him guide you.

@littlered 

Hi LittleRed,

What I am trying to do is to establish the airflow around your ASHP. If you know someone who uses an electronic cigarette, you could ask them to blow the vapour near the fence in front of the ASHP, and see if any gets drawn into the rear or side of the ASHP. An alternative, though I have never tried it, would be to use a jostick or similar as the smoke source.

@derek-m Yes, I understand. Will try and get a test done asap.

@littlered 

Hi LittleRed,

Here are a few thoughts that you may wish to consider before your next meeting with the developer.

First of all I would suggest that you contact Daikin customer services, preferably by e-mail, and clarify what you can, and cannot do, within the terms of the warranty agreement, and how long the agreement lasts. You may find that the developer has been 'selective with the truth'.

Get as many affected people to the meeting as possible, so that it is clear that it is not an isolated case.

Ask the developer, who installed the ASHP's and if they are MCS accredited?

Ask for the heat loss calculations, and a full set of manuals for all the equipment, if these were not provided in the handover pack.

As far as I am aware, it is the developers responsibility to provide a 'correctly' operating heating system, not one that works but costs a kings ransom to run.

@derek-m Thanks, very useful. I have emailed Daikin and the developer with all of the above and a few other questions, as are all the neighbours. It makes no sense, and would not be possible in the long term to stop owners from adjusting settings on their own heating systems, but for the period of the warranty our hands may or may not be tied, so we are checking this out too. Unlike you, who responds almost immediately, neither Daikin or the developer are in any hurry to help right now which is why one neighbour is currently acting as our tester. I am just used to turning the gas central heating system on or off and not having to think about any controls, so this is all very confusing for me. 

@littlered 

Hi LittleRed,

I agree fully with your sentiments, your heating system should be set up correctly in the first place, and the only thing that you should need to do is adjust the temperature setting. Unfortunately, as it would appear, many of the installers either don't know how to set up an ASHP system correctly, or cannot be bothered to spend the time and effort necessary. It is about time that more customers started complaining to their installers, the regulator, their MP and anyone else who will listen.

Try telling your developer that you will all be sending your electricity bills to him for payment, until he provides you with heating systems that work correctly. That may give him an incentive to get things moving.

@littlered 

Hi LittleRed,

I must assume from your lack of response that you no longer require any help or assistance.

Good luck for the future.