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Heat pump quotes: Advice needed

Chansug · 2025-01-26T14:24:12Z

Dear all, My first time posting and I am so glad I found this forum to discuss my heat pump journey. As my boiler is on its way out, I started my heat pump journey about four months ago when I started learning more about heat pumps and what to expect. After learning as much as possible, I decided to get about four quotes from renewable heating hub registered heat pump installers. I have had three heat loss calculations and I needed any advice that could help me choose: A local firm who are Heat Geek trained confirmed a heat loss of 7.02 kw and have recommended a vailant arotherm 7kw unit with our pre-existing microbore as the pressure within the system will be less than the tolerance limit so won’t cause any wear and tear in the longer term. They were brilliant, very good at their job and answered so many of my questions even after the survey with no obligations. A well known national power supply company came up with a heat loss of just over 9kw and has recommended their own branded 9kw heat pump with my existing 10mm microbore. Their surveyor was also quite thorough and she also spent several hours measuring and noting all the details and the proposal looks very good. A not-so-local firm but the only one who has recommended changing microbore to 15mm pipes who have calculated a heat loss of 8.745kw and have recommended a Clivet 12kw system. Their installation comes with a 10 year insurance backed HIES warranty for workmanship and the heat pump and rest of the components. My questions are: Who is right with the heat loss calculations as there is a notable difference in heat loss calculation by the Heat Geek trained firm ( which they state is at -1.6 degrees design temperature )? Do I go with the firm that says to change from microbore to 15mm pipes? If so why do they need to have a bigger heat pump ( I am going to ask this question to them anyway) Finally, who would you go with? The first and last quotes are in the ballpark 9k cost after BUS grant and the cheapest is the second one coming around 3.5k Happy to provide further information if needed.

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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Toodles

(@toodles)

Famed Member Contributor

Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 2711

30/01/2025 10:22 am

@chansug ‘It’s yer Thermocouple Mate! I’ll troy to bendit back but, (whistles through teeth) could cost yer if it breaks…’

As to the radiators, it is never too early to swap the old smaller ones out - if you are changing them all, you may even be able to reduce the flow temperature on your gas boiler a little and relieve the load on the poor old thing! Regards, Toodles

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.

👍

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Transparent

(@transparent)

Famed Member Moderator

Joined: 4 years ago

Posts: 3157

30/01/2025 11:46 am

Posted by: @chansug

↑

Our boiler man dried the circuit board with a hairdryer and it is working again.

Very sensible.

A damaged circuit board isn't a safety issue anyway.

This is precisely the sort of item which should be recovered from any boiler which is being decomissioned.
Wise heating-installers may hang onto them.

You're also likely to find 2nd-hand logic boards being offered on Ebay.
Enter your boiler model number and see what comes up.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

👍

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Chansug

(@chansug)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 22

Topic starter 31/01/2025 9:25 pm

Right, after much deliberation, I decided to sign up with Boxt for installation. They also gave me a fixed price quote. They will be installing a Vaillant arotherm plus unit with a 300L Vaillant hot water cylinder. Their initial calculation was 12kw unit which was too big for my property and hence they adjusted the quote to a 10kw unit subject to heat loss survey. Installation date is the first week of March. They will change upto 11 of my 18 radiators if needed. They require lots of photos of my meter, radiator, boiler etc which I will upload tomorrow.

I chose boxt after speaking to them at length and asking lots of questions related to the installation which I gained from this forum. They were very accommodating and gave me lots of time. Their reviews of heat pumps installs are very good on Trust Pilot are very good and @adrian here had a good experience with them too.

They are also installing one of the best heat pumps on the market. A comparative quote for similar install from one of my above options was coming to £9499 with my own radiator installs for 45c. Boxt are charging me £6299.

Octopus were looking at June install which I didn't want to wait that long. Cosy 9 doesn't have enough reviews for me to say confidently that will be a good one for me with limited access to features.

I hope to keep everyone updated with details as I go along.

Currently seeking quotes for Heat Pump.
4 bedroom single storey detached house with 8.6kw solar panels and Solaredge 10kwh battery.
Also drive an electric car so on Octopus Go tariff.

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benson

(@benson)

Reputable Member Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 300

31/01/2025 9:46 pm

That does sound very reasonable. Hope all goes well. Definitely the way forward and I am sure you will be happy- despite the issues that cropped up with our install (most of which have been rectified now) we are pleased with ours and keeps our house very comfortable indeed, even in our 1970s house with poor insulation in certain parts.

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Chansug

(@chansug)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 22

Topic starter 31/01/2025 9:59 pm

Thanks @benson Let me know if I need to ask them anything during the survey. Who actually does the survey, is it Andy their renewable dept head or a third party?

Currently seeking quotes for Heat Pump.
4 bedroom single storey detached house with 8.6kw solar panels and Solaredge 10kwh battery.
Also drive an electric car so on Octopus Go tariff.

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benson

(@benson)

Reputable Member Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 300

31/01/2025 10:17 pm

@chansug I don’t know about boxt. We used a local independent as ours was a little more bespoke and the likes of octopus etc weren’t as competitive for us.

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Adrian

(@adrian)

Trusted Member Member

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 38

31/01/2025 10:44 pm

@chansug for me the survey was done by the engineer that did the installation, but I think that is not a given and the install might be done by a different contractor. As you found Andy was quite responsive and helpful.

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Chansug

(@chansug)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 22

Topic starter 31/01/2025 11:41 pm

@adrian Yes they did confirm that they will be vetted by boxt. How is your ASHP performing so far?

Also what is the benefit of so many photos? Will they design a system before the survey?

Currently seeking quotes for Heat Pump.
4 bedroom single storey detached house with 8.6kw solar panels and Solaredge 10kwh battery.
Also drive an electric car so on Octopus Go tariff.

ReplyQuote

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