4 Year Ongoing Heat Pump Battle With Poor Heat Pump Installation

tworivers · 2024-02-13T13:00:54Z

Here goes: This is still an on going battle with the installer and the various Governing bodies so i am going to use M and G abbreviations for the governing bodies. 1850s Farmhouse based in the Yorkshire Dales. Insulated interior walls mostly 50mm kingspan with an air gap between wall and kingspan. Underfloor heating in 2 rooms downstairs with the balance being radiators. 2019 I agreed to the removal of an anthracite boiler and the installation of a Domusa 16 kw ASHP. (I had at least 3 meetings to discuss the credibility and running costs etc). My contract stated 8230kwh PA to run with a flow temp of 55 and house temp of 21. 2nd September the ASHP was commissioned. Immediately the running cost seemed to be excessively high but the house seemed warm ( but it was only September). I contacted the installer who tried various things including altering pipe work but nothing seemed to work. After 3 site visits to make alterations to pipework and being told the ASHP was working as it should, the installer informed me that he was not willing to spend any more time on it and refused to come back. By this time it was November, December time and the running costs were 85-100 kwh per day and the house was around 15-16 degrees. I read the contract and in particular the complaints procedure: First discuss with the installer then contact M. I contacted M who asked what outcome did I want? I told them I just wanted what I had paid £15K for, an ASHP that would deliver the approx running cost + 10% and heat my house. They informed me they couldn't help because this was a technical matter and asked if I wanted a different outcome, I was at that point confused as to what they meant by a different outcome so said I just what it to work as per my contract. They referred me to G. G took on the case and contacted the installer. They came back to me saying the installer had informed them that the system was delivering what the manufacturers said it should and that I must have misinformed him of what the insulation was behind the wall. I replied that I had paid for a survey to carry out a suitability check with heat-loss calculations etc and that the installer had spent no more than 10mins asking about the internal insulation all the answers I gave were honest and truthful, what would I have had to gain by telling him lies about the insulation. G replied that they could not prove what either of us was saying so could no longer offer any assistance and referred me back to M. M said the case was closed unless I could come up with any other evidence and if I could go back to M to see if they would reopen the case. At this point, I knew next to nothing about ASHP but knew that what I had told him about the insulation was correct, I was left trying to prove there was something else wrong what? I had no idea. I bought 2 temperature sensors ( small disks ) that work off Bluetooth I attached one to the flow and the other to return. We are now in January temp 2 to -1 the flow temp didn't reach above 25 degrees and not constantly even though the flow temp was set at 55. Nowhere in the manual does it say the ASHP can reach a temp of 55 the max it could reach was 50. I took meter readings for about 4 weeks then got back in touch with G with the data I had collected. G agreed to re-open my case. G is another story, Nievly as a consumer you believe the governing bodies would have your back should things go wrong, in my chase and from other posts I have read this is not the case. My Complaint was my contract gave a running cost of 8230kwh PA with a design flow temp of 55 degrees. G only seems interested in the technical side and will not address the running cost issue. The installer came back several times again saying the ASHP was performing as it should and that my house must be the issue. We asked for a heat meter to be installed over the winter period to establish once and for all whether it was the ASHP or the property. After missing the winter period and various requests from us a heat meter was installed in May 2022. It was established that there was a flow problem. Apparently, MY water must have contaminated the system and caused a sludge build-up in the heat pump. The system was emptied of glycol flushed with cleaner and refilled with water brought by the installer this time no glycol in the system 2 valves were installed instead. Up and running i was again informed that the system was working great. Despite requests to leave the heatmeter in for the winter, it was removed in June Just 6 weeks after being installed and in the best weather possible. Winter 2021-2022 the system perform no better than before. It is agreed by G that the system is now undersized for my property. The installer offers to install another 8kw ASHP alongside the original. We ask for an estimated running cost bare in mind the running cost of the original being approx 13500kwh not 8230 kwh as per contract. The installer refuses to give the estimation and withdraws hi...

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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Jet

(@jet)

Active Member Member

Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 7

23/11/2024 4:18 pm

Thanks for your update. I am so glad for you that you have finally found a resolution with the oil heating system… after 5 years

I just got the electricity bill for this month and it was £388.00 - 3/4 of that was the heat pump, which is just too expensive to operate. I know this because it is a cascade system.

I’ve been advised that a monobloc would work, but I would need to have new heating system pipes put in and that could mean lifting floorboards. The pipes from the heat pump have a dia of 25mm and these are reduced to 22mm into the pumps before being reduced further to 15mm. This means that the flow rate has to be increased substantially in order to successfully transport the volumes of heated water required to the radiators. In order for the system to work properly they should be all 22mm and not 15mm. So the Heatpump has to operate at higher temperatures and at higher flow rates - this uses energy which results in a COP of 1.3.

I continue to investigate supplemental systems and in the meantime I will contact the HIES governing body next week to begin to get some resolution for my system through that route.

Great to hear your news

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tworivers

(@tworivers)

Eminent Member Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 12

Topic starter 23/11/2024 5:39 pm

@jet sorry to hear you are still struggling with your system. At one point in my complaint they advise me to have an additional 8 kw unit bolted on to my system,creating a cascade unit. The other way round to what you are being told. My ASHP system was designed to run at 55 degrees which the unit installed should have been able to run.My costings were given at that flow temp. My pump just couldn’t reach that flow temp when it was 0 degrees outside.

I don’t understand the ins and outs of pipe sizes but my system sounds to be similar to yours 28-22–15 at the rads.The oil boiler is set at its lowest setting of 55 degree flow ie the same as the design temp of the ASHP system and it works really well. Napit refused to send an independent engineer to look at my system so I will never know if the pipe sizes were anything to do with it or not. I suspect not and that it was just the ASHP that couldn’t deliver the require flow temp not even near. It is all so confusing to be honest and I don’t think that us as consumers should be the ones left to fight to have it put right. I paid for a system that would heat my property to 21 degrees with a running cost of 8250 kWh per years not between 13000 and 15000 kWh to heat my property to 16 degrees. ( sorry to rant). I am not suggesting oil to anyone one but my new system warms my houses easily and cost less to run and if it should break down there are about 10 local engineers that could fix it rather than 1. I really hope you find a solution to your issues soon , it is so stressful. Good luck.

Interests DIY & motorcycle travel

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