Joining the Renewable Heating Hub forums is completely free and only takes a minute. By registering you’ll be able to ask questions, join discussions, follow topics you’re interested in, bookmark useful threads and receive notifications when someone replies. Non-registered members also do not have access to our AI features. When choosing your username, please note that it cannot be changed later, so we recommend avoiding brand or product names. Before registering, please take a moment to read the Forum Rules & Terms of Use so we can keep the community helpful, respectful and informative for everyone. Thanks for joining!
Gaslighting in the heat pump industry – has anyone else experienced this?
What’s remarkable from this very short thread is just how different all the audits are, and there’s no consistency into what’s looked and evaluated.
Get a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Heat Pumps
Subscribe and follow our YouTube channel!
Posted by: @editorThis is something I’ve been aware of for a long time, but it’s becoming more noticeable and I’m increasingly concerned by how often it comes up when homeowners start digging into problems with their heat pump systems.
When things go wrong, there seems to be a fairly consistent pattern across parts of the industry (installers, manufacturers, certification bodies, consumer codes and others) where responsibility is subtly deflected away from the installation itself and placed back onto the homeowner. Poor performance becomes 'expected behaviour', missing design documents are said to have "definitely been provided", high running costs are blamed on how the system was "used" and genuine concerns are reframed as misunderstandings rather than addressed head-on.
I’m seeing this more and more, not less, and I think it’s a problem the industry needs to be far more honest about if it wants to build trust with homeowners.
I’m going to work on a video looking at how this kind of gaslighting shows up in the heat pump world, how to spot it and what homeowners can do when they feel they’re being deflected rather than helped.
If you’ve experienced this yourself (whether from an installer, MCS, a consumer code, a certification body or anyone else involved) feel free to share your experience here. It doesn’t need to be a rant (but it can be if you want) and you don’t need to name names unless you want to. Examples, patterns or even just a "this sounds familiar" are all useful.
Don't want to go public? DM me.
I think this is a conversation worth having and it’d be good to see how widespread these experiences actually are.
I wanted to comment as have been recently thinking exactly the same thing. That there appears to be a lot of gaslighting going on especially in some of the chats on Facebook for example where people who say they have problems with their heat pump are made to feel stupid or that it’s their fault they’re having a problem. So thank you for highlighting this!
Posted by: @fionaThat there appears to be a lot of gaslighting going on especially in some of the chats on Facebook for example where people who say they have problems with their heat pump are made to feel stupid or that it’s their fault they’re having a problem. So thank you for highlighting this!
Yes, anyone trying to get a sense of what a heatpump will look like specially in term of SCOP and running ££ via the quick question/comment/reply that tends to be the norm in Facebook must be easily confused. Simple for an installer looking to get some leads via FB and possibly an admin to provide a quick reply and force the poster into a long explanation. Few do it...
Much better to read the book and some of the posts here to get a real sense I think
8kW Solis S6-EH1P8K-L-PLUS hybrid inverter; G99: 8kw export; 16kWh Seplos Fogstar battery; Ohme Home Pro EV charger; 100Amp head, HA lab on mini PC
- 26 Forums
- 2,607 Topics
- 60.8 K Posts
- 463 Online
- 6,967 Members
Join Us!
Worth Watching
Latest Posts
-
RE: Renewables & Heat Pumps in the News
@editor, I hear that too. I can confirm that out of ...
By ASHP-BOBBA , 2 hours ago
-
End-of-Life Heat Pumps: How Do You Dispose of an ASHP in the UK?
As many of you know, our Global Energy Systems heat pum...
By Mars , 3 hours ago
-
@derbygraham fully agree with James, and it’d be good t...
By Mars , 3 hours ago
-
RE: Indevolt Batteries UK Support & Info Thread
Finally got around to installing and setting up the Sol...
By Mars , 3 hours ago
-
Unfortunately its a function of the physics. Max heat ...
By JamesPa , 4 hours ago
-
RE: Microbore heat pump installs
In principle you are almost certainly right, but in pra...
By JamesPa , 4 hours ago
-
RE: Electricity price predictions
@old_scientist We are a low mileage home, so bulk of ou...
By ChandyKris , 6 hours ago
-
There are just too many unknowns for me to comment on p...
By Transparent , 7 hours ago
-
RE: What is the main ‘dictator’ of Agile’s unit price?
@toodles I keep an eye on wholesale prices and energy m...
By ChandyKris , 8 hours ago
-
RE: Brand and installer questions for ASHP
Strange, perhaps it doesnt use modbus which the third p...
By JamesPa , 10 hours ago
-
RE: Upgrading my system, how far do I go?
For comparison, my PW3 with 11.04kW inverter, will char...
By Old_Scientist , 13 hours ago
-
RE: Changes to Tesla Powerwall Charging Regime?
Elon gate - legendary! I take my hat off to you @toodle...
By Old_Scientist , 16 hours ago
-
RE: Mitsubishi Ecodan not good enough ?
Thanks @goody, appreciate the feedback and sorry you ha...
By marcexec , 1 day ago
-
RE: Minimum and Zero Disrupt Heat Pump Installations
True (first sentence) Thats the reason to consider th...
By JamesPa , 1 day ago
-
RE: High air source heat pump running costs – Vaillant AroTherm Plus
Quite right. I was using a rough guesstimate of doublin...
By Majordennisbloodnok , 2 days ago
-
RE: My Grant R290 9kW Heat Pump Installation
Again, really don't know how accurate this is! &nb...
By petch , 2 days ago
-
RE: MCS Quality Audit – Has Anyone Had One? Did It Lead to Remediation?
@toodles The whole scheme is a shocking waste of money....
By Papahuhu , 2 days ago
-
RE: Anyone concerned about GivEnergy?
Many thanks for your, and the subsequent, answers tk qu...
By KevH , 2 days ago
-
RE: DIY or Don’t Touch? Solarman Smart Meter Install
Yes, and these guys would probably be my preferred inst...
By Batpred , 2 days ago
-
RE: Hot water tank lose heat rapidly on random days
@jamespa Hopefully their reasons are well intended! ...
By Bash , 2 days ago
-
RE: Ecoflow UK Support & Info Thread
As mentioned above, we’ve got our full review of the Ec...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Say hello and introduce yourself
@sonosppp welcome to the forums. I see you've posted in...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Guidance with installing a new heating system
@bobflux Great, thanks for the advice. The pipe has an ...
By Hamilton , 4 days ago
-
RE: Daikin Altherma 3 LT compressor longevity question
@optimistic-optimiser I have has a Daikin for a few yea...
By madsid , 4 days ago
-
RE: UK DIY Battery: SEPLOS 48V 200Ah x2 + Sunsynk 8K – Safe Installation for Garage Conversion
The rule of thumb is to ensure that you can isolate any...
By Transparent , 4 days ago



