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Failings of the Heliotherm business model and its competent partners

HelioHelp · 2024-02-12T12:12:10Z

We are relative newcomers to the ASHP community so please excuse the following with respect to inaccurate use of technical terms or ignorance of the overall industry. The problem for us and others taking the step into the unknown of ASHP is in being able to know that what they are buying is a ‘good’ product, that the people they are buying from will still be there in x years’ time, and that there will be ready access to people and parts for the maintenance of their system. We had to make a ‘best judgement’ on these matters for our ASHP purchase 4 years ago but we do not think the situation is much improved with energy companies now jumping in on the ASHP bandwagon. We thought we had done everything right. We did a rebuild on our house and the ASHP, underfloor heating and extensive insulation was integral to our new ‘green’ home. We also spent time finding a company that was technically knowledgeable and offered what we thought was the ideal product for our needs. The same manufacturer’s products – Heliotherm - were being installed in a few new-builds nearby, and was on display at the NHBRC, so we felt validated in our choice. MCS certification and qualifying for RHI gave us further confidence in it, and our supplier did seem to be responsive when questions arose. After our purchase andin the underfloor stage of the install however there were rumours of an ‘upheaval’ in the company. By the time our heat pump was commissioned the knowledgeable people we had dealt with were all gone. The unit we had installed was an 8kW Comfort Compact (chosen in part for its quietness), the installation was carried out by Earth Save Products (ESP) of Wallingford. This company has recently appeared in several entries in the forums on the hub to which we will not add, except to say that our installation and commissioning appeared to go well, it worked as advertised and the paperwork was completed to enable us to obtain a RHI rebate. We were very happy with our system but perhaps, with hindsight, we should have been alerted when:- the 'maintenance instructions' within the 'handover pack' consisted of 11 lines of generalities;- the 'maintenance instructions' referred to 'manuals' that we have no sight of;- when asking what we should ‘look out for' the response was 'no need, we will monitor it over the web and take any action required'; and- when asked to enter into a maintenance/service agreement ESP declined saying it preferred more ad-hoc arrangements. Following a largely incident free warranty period the catastrophe arrived and we found the full extent of our exposure to the nature and failings of the Heliotherm business model and its 'competent partners'. Suffice to say that following a double power outage (which did not trip our 'surge protection' device) it took ESP 5+ weeks and at least 13 interventions to restore our ASHP to working order. We were also in contact with other Heliotherm 'competent partners' throughout, receiving little in the way of re-assurance or support whilst Heliotherm itself was completely non-communicant. The cost of this little exercise is still to be determined and allocated. The reasons for relating this story are several fold:1) We do understand the principles of the ASHP and the basics of how it works. We believe that ASHPs are the way forward for home heating but we are not interested in becoming technical geeks;2) We simply want to know the basics that will enable us to use, operate and maintain our installation in the best way (not unlike using and maintaining a car or domestic appliances). This would include knowing which 'error codes' are important, what they mean and what needs to be done.3) We want to engage with an organisation to service and maintain our installation and act as a point of reference in the event of 'breakdowns' or concerns. We would like an audit of what we have and an explanation of how to get the best from our installation.4) None of Heliotherm’s 'competent partners' we have been in contact with has expressed (ordemonstrated) confidence in its ability to competently deliver the sort of service we want - mainly quoting inadequate training, non-engagement by Heliotherm and unavailability of spare parts. Should we suffer another failure, we are now even more uncertain as to how to deal with it. What we are looking for is advice on where we should go from here.

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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iantelescope

(@iantelescope)

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Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 418

21/03/2024 12:39 pm

@Mars

COP & REAL COP

My Samsung Advertises it's Coefficient of Performance, COP on the "Energy Consumption" and "Energy Generated" Displays.

I have a "Heat Meter positioned at the start of My Radiator Pipe Circuit, enabling the calculation of the Actual Coefficient of Performance , REAL_COP of the Heat Pump system. *

The Difference between the Advertised Samsung COP And the Actual REAL COP is shown in the following graph:

* My REAL COP is measured with the HOT Water System disconnected over a 6 day Period.

ian

P.S. Please Do not supply a Misleading , COP performance. Supply your actual , REAL COP Performace!

ReplyQuote

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