Is this a scheme where the upgrades are totally free or is there a contribution by the homeowner? Are insulation upgrades included too?

Solar panels are a bit of a no brainer and there is very little that could go wrong with an installation. It would be best if they would fit a hybrid inverter so you could add batteries later if you wanted to. I recently spoke to an ECO 4 installer and he said the difference was small price wise.

Heat pumps are a different matter and the difference between a good and bad installation is vast. Will you know what hardware will be installed before committing? If so you could take the view that if they mess up the installation at least you have the hardware for someone else to put right.

My last house had the heat pump at the front. It wasnt a problem.

HUG 2 homeowner grant. The upgrades are completely free: £16k for the ASHP, and £9k for the Solar Panels. With all the other costs (PAS2035, ASHP Design, Surveying fees, etc.) it totals around £27k.

Batteries have not been recommended, although under HUG 2 they can be installed if required.

The only information I can extract is that the ASHP will more than likely be LG, or Vaillant. Two bed bungalow, so around 4KW I imagine ??

@dssr 9K for solar! How much are they installing 🙂

Vaillant is a good make, I dont know much about LG

4-5 kW sounds about right depending on insulation.

It sounds like too good a deal to pass up really, if I were in the same position I would take it.

I would definitely push for batteries if you have solar. Especially if you don't have to pay for them.

Heat pump 

Bad install will have the following features (all can be corrected)

A buffer - fixed by a couple of minor piping changes to either eliminate or convert to a volumiser.

Secondary pump, once buffer changed as above remove secondary pump.

Radiators too small so high flow temperature. Unless your house actually leaks heat like a seize, it likely the calculation used will oversize heat required, so these may sound too small on paper but be fine in reality.

Zones and thermostats. A killer for good performance. Easy just set them all high you now have a fully open system.

Weather compensation (WC), set incorrectly. Make sure you have access to fine tune.

Timers switching heating and off, just leave it at a low setting (WC) and leave it ticking away.

Backup heater setting, so immersion keeps coming on. Switch it off at the mains isolation or go in to the program and set it to off.

Thank you all for the excellent advice and information.

I'm not sure at what stage in the process I will find out exactly what is going to be installed. It's a very finicky and long drawn out process. At the very start you are given a cost breakdown (as noted above), yet it appears that can change along the way. You are also at the mercy of the surveyor. If he says no batteries, then that's final.

As has already been mentioned £9k for the Solar Panels. I'm trying to work out how a 4-5KW ASHP is going to cost £16K.

No doubt this is a lucrative back scratching grant system funded under the Net Zero commitment, so I expect plenty of noses in troughs.

I've yet to find another person who has successfully gone through the HUG 2 scheme.

@dssr It sounds a lot like the Welsh ECO 4 scheme. I think the outcomes are variable depending on the installer. Can you get different companies to quote? If so I would check out reviews.

@dssr please keep us updated. From what you’ve described this sounds like a great opportunity, although I’m sure there’ll be a lot of hoops to jump through, but it should ultimately be worth it.

But we’d love to hear how the process goes, what you end up getting and how long it all takes.

Posted by: @editor

↑

@dssr please keep us updated. From what you’ve described this sounds like a great opportunity, although I’m sure there’ll be a lot of hoops to jump through, but it should ultimately be worth it.

But we’d love to hear how the process goes, what you end up getting and how long it all takes.

Will do. I'm currently waiting for another survey / visit (not sure why there are so many and what each one is for at this stage). Once I reach the next stage, I may have more details that I can share with the forum.

No update yet. The Local Authority have parted company with the installation company and have appointed a new installer. So, am waiting for another survey. No doubt this company will be using different ASHP and Solar providers. I could be in for the long haul. Might be more economical for me to fit a new oil boiler before winter sets in. 

Posted by: @dssr

↑

Thank you all for the excellent advice and information.

I'm not sure at what stage in the process I will find out exactly what is going to be installed. It's a very finicky and long drawn out process. At the very start you are given a cost breakdown (as noted above), yet it appears that can change along the way. You are also at the mercy of the surveyor. If he says no batteries, then that's final.

As has already been mentioned £9k for the Solar Panels. I'm trying to work out how a 4-5KW ASHP is going to cost £16K.

No doubt this is a lucrative back scratching grant system funded under the Net Zero commitment, so I expect plenty of noses in troughs.

I've yet to find another person who has successfully gone through the HUG 2 scheme.

 

My neighbour had a similar install through the Local Authority - he qualified on health grounds (definitely not on low income or means tested benefits), not sure of the name of the scheme though and may have even been ECO4 or some variant thereof.

I had ASHP, solar and insulation completed on ECO4. You'd be surprised at the costs - a looked up the costs of some of the components of our installation on a few popular supplier websites and they soon mount up. Bare Samsung ASHP unit £3250, pre-plumbed DHW cylinder £2500, if you don't go for a pre-plumbed cylinder, the Samsung controller is an additional £400, and you'll need pumps, a 3 way valve, an immersion heater, temperature and flow rate sensors. We had 11 new K2 Stelrad radiators at £1950 total, 11 Radbot room stats at £440 (£40 each for a TRV!), a wireless programmable room stat £60, a volumiser £250, two expansion tanks £150, external flexi-hoses £150, exterior plastic trunking at £100/m for exterior pipework and insulation, a complete internal replumb in 22mm copper (replacing 10mm plastic micro-bore), with tees, elbows etc (have you seen the cost of copper pipe and accessories?), numerous shut off valves, magnetic and Y-strain filters, and don't forget the glycol to fill the system at best part of £500 (or anti-freeze valves at £250/pair). Then there's the electrics - a new fuse box, with anti-surge protection and RCDs for ASHP, DHW cylinder and solar, not to mention exterior isolator switching and wiring. Then there was the day's labour for the electrician, and 3 days labour for the two installers plus the two surveys prior to installation and labour costs for all the system design work and grant application, MCS paperwork etc. The kit/parts alone would have cost more than £10k and we already have a minimum of 10 man days labour plus travel costs and time half way across the country for the two surveys, the electrician and the installers. I wouldn't imagine they made a huge profit if it were £20k total, and our installers were working 10-12h days, not 8h with 4h worth of breaks in between.

I've finally had some movement from the Local Authority (LA) regarding the HUG2 process that requires some new questions. This has dragged on for over 9 months and I still don't have an install date. I'm at the stage where the only location they can put the ASHP on a fully detached bungalow is directly across the path where a wheelchair requires access. It has been hinted the ASHP will be a 6kw unit heating a 20 year old 2 bed detached bungalow that is fully insulated (walls, floor and loft with good windows and fitted doors).

With the above in mind, could anyone help with the following two questions:

1) I need the temperature of the property to be kept at 22 degrees even when the outside temp drops below zero. Solar will be between 2.6 - 3.2 Kw (H?), no batteries. Can this spec ASHP match my current heating requirements, and if so, will it cost me a fortune compared to my current oil boiler (I use c.900 litres annually at an average cost of 72p per litre, current oil prices are 51p per litre).

2) Is there a maximum distance from the ASHP to the existing system? I've been told it is 12 metres with no severe bends in the pipe work (this relates to a more suitable position of the ASHP).

Because of the complexity of this process, there is no point in me exploring the rest of the install at this stage as answers to these two questions could see me leave the scheme and replace my current aging oil boiler.