Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? - Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/ Questions and discussions about renewable heating and heat pumps en-GB Sun, 15 Mar 2026 18:04:03 +0000 wpForo 60 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14572 Thu, 19 Jan 2023 22:54:12 +0000 Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Sapper117 https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14572 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14569 Thu, 19 Jan 2023 21:52:53 +0000 If I were buying a place with tech I wasn't familiar with, I'd probably look for an expert to do an inspection.  Surveyors are common for structural issues, electricians for electrical checks, boiler people for gas heating and I don't think heatpumps are much different. So I might pay somebody to visit and inspect - if I didn't know anyone, likely finding somebody who is certified by the manufacturer of this particular model to check it's installed correctly.

In this instance I probably wouldn't trust a 'gas safety certificate' or its heatpump equivalent (proof that it's been serviced recently) since we don't know if the person who recently serviced it knew what they were doing, unlike gas safety certs which are well understood.  Evidence of servicing is good, like GasSafe or HETAS paperwork is - although heatpumps don't really need a lot of servicing so it wouldn't be a showstopper if it didn't exist.

If I were being picky I might also ask my inspector to do heatloss calcs and confirm the unit is correctly sized.  It might be too large if additional insulation was added after it was installed.

Although I might be tempted to make sure there's some slack in the budget just in case it did need to be replaced - which should be cheaper than a full install since it's mainly the outdoor unit that would be changed.

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Prunus https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14569 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14238 Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:26:33 +0000 Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Sapper117 https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14238 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14237 Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:18:21 +0000 @sapper117, I guess it comes down to people and their ‘experience’. We purchased our property from people that were used to buying and selling properties that they fixed up and sold, and they were less than truthful in their signed documents and forms.

When we raised this with our solicitor post purchase (having discovered the issues after moving in), the legal fees and claims process was very costly and not worth the financial effort.

I suspect it might be the same with a bodged heat pump. If you have the capital, it might be cheaper to fix and replace then to seek legal routes to get financial compensation. 

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Mars https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14237 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14236 Sun, 15 Jan 2023 16:09:02 +0000 Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Sapper117 https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14236 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14185 Sat, 14 Jan 2023 06:38:27 +0000 In reality, without monitoring equipment installed, it is very difficult to determine the actual, accurate performance of any heating system regardless of technology. Here is a link to a Linked in post, of a heating consultant finding out that his gas boiler is only 67% efficient after putting monitoring equipment on.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7019635213781585920?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7019635213781585920%29

As a rule of thumb, if the heat pump system has a buffer tank, system separation, if you can see more than 1 pump, and there are third party thermostats, there is little chance that there will be any level of reasonable performance and there is a good possibility that the bills will be very high.

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Brendon Uys https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14185 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14179 Fri, 13 Jan 2023 18:00:10 +0000 I would readily but the guy is seriously ill at present, hence the manufacturer service contract.

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Abernyte https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14179 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14174 Fri, 13 Jan 2023 16:44:16 +0000

Who is the manufacturer?

Mitsubishi

I observe that under Mitsubishi auto adaption that set back to 15C at night causes the HP to cease heating and runs in freeze stat until the next set point at 0600. When it was seriously cold recently, in the minus 10C area over night, it was waking up around 0500 hours to commence its days work regardless that the wireless room stat was not calling for heat.

It would appear that auto adaptation was actually 'adapting' to the adverse weather condition. 😎 Well done Mitsubishi. 😀 

Would you care to name your installer?

 

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Derek M https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14174 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14173 Fri, 13 Jan 2023 16:34:09 +0000 Unfortunately MCS does not always mean a good installation.

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Ken Bone https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14173 RE: Buying a house with an ASHP – what to look out for and what questions to ask? https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14171 Fri, 13 Jan 2023 16:06:03 +0000

Who is the manufacturer?

Mitsubishi

I observe that under Mitsubishi auto adaption that set back to 15C at night causes the HP to cease heating and runs in freeze stat until the next set point at 0600. When it was seriously cold recently, in the minus 10C area over night, it was waking up around 0500 hours to commence its days work regardless that the wireless room stat was not calling for heat.

]]> Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) Abernyte https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps/buying-a-house-with-an-ashp-what-to-look-out-for-and-what-questions-to-ask/paged/2/#post-14171