@northumberland, not knowing much about your system or heat pump 20 litres per minute would be too slow for our heat pump and would potentially lead to flow errors. Our flow has to be over 26 litres per minute, and getting it over 30 is optimal. If it drops below 20 litres/minute that’s when we start to encounter flow alarms.

Posted by: @northumberland

I do feel as though the public are being misled into thinking heat pumps are the answer to the energy crisis.  Admittedly I ought to have been much more responsible in trying to find out about how they worked instead of assuming (never assume anything) it would solve my problem for heating the cottage - no mains gas - oil being the alternative - very rural situation - used as self catering easy for guests - just needing to use the room thermostats.  How wrong (stupid) can you be.

Obviously it's new technology (or is it ?) what I didn't realise was how difficult it would be to find someone who would come out to a fault. 

The biggest issue with heat pumps is that you can’t install them and then just forget about them. They require tweaking, fiddling and adjusting to ensure they run properly and don’t kill you financially.

We are in our third winter with our pump and again we are addressing issues with our installer. They require time, patience and commitment, and there is a steep learning curve. 

May I ask what your general consumption and running costs are like?

@editor I really don't think they do. I've had two issues with mine.

• The first was the filter, which once shown I knew where it was and how to clean it. This could have happened on a gas system
• I needed to adjust the weather compensation down from its initial setting and the tank temperature

Both of those problems were very straightforward to fix - HAD I BEEN TOLD. 

I personally feel the most egregious was the weather compensation. I was getting COPs of 3 at 15 degrees, where as now those figures are more like 5 or 6. It is the fit and forget nature of heat pumps which bothers me the most. Even in the install video on YouTube the recommended flow temp is 55 degrees for heating so "customers don't complain about warm radiators vs hot ones". I am sure they wouldn't complain if you explained that their bill will be double running the system at 55 degrees for some hours vs 40 degrees all the time for the same comfort levels.

Similar problem here with a Samsung series 6 HP. The recent service pointed out a low flow rate 11.5m/s and was surprised that I had no error code. The problem was debris in the strainer, which was bad. The other comment was the circulating water was filthy. My system was commissioned with original pipework and three radiators changes as the others were already oversized for the rooms. What concerns me is why as it is an old circuit the inline filter was not fitted and why was the circulating water not tested for its condition at HP installation. I am now faced with the cost of flushing the system and the fitting of a filter.  

@editor Derek- I'm certain we do not have a filter fitted and that's why my plumber has suggested at least twice to the engineer that there ought to be one.  I feel my plumber's reluctance to just come out and fit one for me - should it go wrong would compromise the warranty and that he really needs the ok from the main office in Oxford to fit the filter. 

I also contacted Freedom pumps a while ago as their name is on the installation handout notes.  They actually manufacture for Samsung - they were helpful saying that it would need a filter and sent a diagram of the point where it should go - same diagram as you kindly forwarded to me in an earlier post.  

In answer to earlier questions it is an unvented hot water system - up above are three small tanks - one going direct into the cylinder another feeding into the main pipework and with a guage attached reading 1.4 and the third looks as though it's to do with the solar water panel.

The Samsung controller requires an electrician to fathom it out - no I haven't touched any of the installation settings just the right hand side buttons which call for the heating or the left hand button which sets the mode for DHW

This morning - having had no heating since 1st January - the readings on the control panel are:

23 Inside temp

7 outdoor temp

16 water leaving system temp (?)

63 tap water temp

We do have a log burning fire in the cottage which is why the inside heat temp appears good - leave all the doors open and it circulates throughout the rooms.

The theory of just forget about them once installed is nonsense - you could with oil (and probably gas I have no experience as we have no mains gas) - certainly appreciate my old oil aga in my own home which ticks over all day and all night - does all the cooking (no electric kettle or any other form of cooking) - heats the hot water and a bathroom radiator and leaving the doors open permeates the heat over the whole house.

Really appreciate your time in trying to explain things to me.

@northumberland if its from Freedom a filter should have been sent with all the other kit. Mine was from Freedom and we have a filter which got blocked and caused a low flow error. I now check every few weeks, but after the first few cleans it doesnt get very clogged any more

@batalto I obviously need to go back to the installer and ask him if there is a filter fitted apart from the magnetic BOSS - that would answer a lot of questions.  Will send an email now - I can feel his eyes hit the ceiling when they land on his desk !

@northumberland this is a video from freedom on how to clean a Samsung HP filter.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UMRlW-ersiA

as a note, if you are hunting for that filter, it should be on a big bore pipe returning to you ASHP and it should be inside the house (but it could be outside)

@batalto Many thanks for this video - will go and check if we seem to have anything that looks like that on the system

@northumberland this is ours

@batalto many thanks the two pics show the system - didn't look to have any obvious filter valve that I could see - my own plumber (spoken to him) is convinced it doesn't have any other filter than the BOSS magnetic filter