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Massive Electricity Cost for Running My Air Source Heat Pump

lucgw · 2022-12-07T08:04:04Z

Morning all, We recently had installed a Grant Aerona 13kw R3 inverter drive ASHP, cylinder and under floor heating throughout the house. I’ve been shocked at the daily cost of running it. Until a day or so ago I was setting each room thermostat to come on for an hour in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening (and also running around frantically turning off lights and appliances at their sockets). The daily usage was around £20 - which is not sustainable. Spoke with the manufacturer on Monday and they advised keeping thermostats in rooms at a low temperature rather than coming off and on. So I did this, but yesterdays usage was the most expensive it has been at nearly £24. Should daily costs be this high even with inflated energy prices? Right now I am looking at over £600 a month. Does anyone have any suggestions for trying to get costs down to a more sustainable level? The immersion switch at the front of the cylinder is off too. Thanks in advance for any help that can be given. Lucas

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

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cathodeRay

(@cathoderay)

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23/11/2024 1:53 pm

Posted by: @econonsense

↑

My electric bill is also currently around £600 / month

We need to look at this more closely, all the more so given your heat pump was installed this April. If it means exactly what it says, it won't be representative at all - my current usage is horrendous (I also have an old leaky building) because it has been cold recently. For example, in one recent 24 hour period I used 73kWh, which for a 30 day month would be 2190kWh, which comes out at £525.60 per month at a price cap of 24p per unit. However, in milder whether it might be only a tiny fraction of that.

The poor hot water heating - my first thoughts are to look at the controls, and see what temperature it is supposed to get to. can you see what that figure is?

Midea 14kW (for now...) ASHP heating both building and DHW

💥

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Econonsense

(@econonsense)

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Posts: 17

23/11/2024 2:21 pm

@cathoderay Hi yes its the internal temp. The company is ECO247 I don't know what approvals they have, but they are council approved. The system probably can achieve higher temps, they lowered it to 19 deg when they saw my initial electric bills, even through summer when the solar was doing well I still had circa 170-240 / month electricity bill.

Cheers

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Transparent

(@transparent)

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23/11/2024 2:23 pm

Posted by: @econonsense

↑

Does the water heater turn off on a timer or when it reaches temp?

Your Domestic Hot Water (DHW) cylinder is supplied via a 3-port valve.

It will have at least one temperature sensor which connects back to the heat-pump electronics.
If the cylinder temp is too low, then the usual action is for that to be given priority over the space-heating (radiators).
So the valve moves across to direct the output (flow) from the HP through the coil at the bottom of the tank.

Possible failure points are

broken 3-port valve means that it's stuck supplying radiators only
DHW cylinder is being heated, but then loses that heat due to inadequate insulation of the cylinder or the pipes taking water back into the house
incorrect setting on HP controls is telling it there's no DHW tank fitted

There should also be an immersion heater fitted to the DHW cylinder.
This is used at periodic intervals to raise the water to 60°C in order to eradicate bacterial growth.
It's called the anti-legionella cycle, and uses quite a lot of electricity.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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Transparent

(@transparent)

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23/11/2024 2:34 pm

Posted by: @econonsense

↑

The system probably can achieve higher temps, they lowered it to 19 deg when they saw my initial electric bills

Quite apart from the rules which apply to MCS-registered companies, it is a requirement of the Building Regulations that the installer must commission the system so as to use as little energy/fuel as possible.

The installer must also instruct you how to maintain and operate the system so that it remains efficient.

You should be able to achieve that because they must provide you with documentation which is specific to your particular house (not just manufacturers' instructions).

You should have received a letter from your Local Planning Authority (LPA) to confirm that they've received from the installer a Notification of Compliance with Part-L of the Building Regulations.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

👌

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Mars

(@editor)

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23/11/2024 2:35 pm

@econonsense quite honestly, your bills are insanely high. What is the approx. square footage of your property? In the past week our bills are also sky high because it's been very cold and our ASHP consumes a lot more power, but £200 in the summer is very high.

Can you tell us what temperature your DHW is heating to?

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cathodeRay

(@cathoderay)

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23/11/2024 2:36 pm

Posted by: @econonsense

↑

The company is ECO247

If they are this company, then their website says they are MCS accredited (certified), and it also answers @editor's question, they are HIES registered. That means they should follow MCS procedures, and that means, among many other things, they should have done a heat loss calculation. Ask them for it plus the design specification on Monday morning! And maybe drop a hint that you won't accept no for an answer. You can also mention a link to the forum here, that will let them know you are discussing their behaviour in public (which you are perfectly entitled to do).

Midea 14kW (for now...) ASHP heating both building and DHW

👍

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Transparent

(@transparent)

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23/11/2024 2:41 pm

Posted by: @cathoderay

↑

Ask them for it plus the design specification on Monday morning!

What's the point of naming the company Eco247 if you need to wait until Monday morning? 🤔

Save energy... recycle electrons!

😂

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cathodeRay

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23/11/2024 2:47 pm

Posted by: @transparent

↑

What's the point of naming the company Eco247 if you need to wait until Monday morning?

Indeed. They do have a chatbot box on their website, maybe that works 24/7.

Midea 14kW (for now...) ASHP heating both building and DHW

😂

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Transparent

(@transparent)

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Posts: 3157

23/11/2024 2:51 pm

Another thought:
Splash out £8 and buy a set of four digital temperature gauges from Amazon.

You can push the probe between a pipe and its insulation to see what's really going on.

Each device requires two LR44 button cells.

And they'll be delivered tomorrow (Sunday) if you use Prime delivery.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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Toodles

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23/11/2024 2:54 pm

@cathoderay Perhaps the ‘24/7’ is being Eco with the truth? Toodles.

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

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Econonsense

(@econonsense)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 17

23/11/2024 3:01 pm

@editor Hi to clarify an earlier point someone mentioned, possible water heater probs.

It is heating the water, so I expect the 3 way valve and element are functional. It just only achieves maybe 20-25 degrees in this cold weather, in spring / summer the hot water was fine. I think its set at 45 with a weekly jump to 60 for legionella.

The property is approximately 180m2

I did have some cheaper months in the summer, that is just the average, I think octopus put my average at £188 in spring / summer

It also seems wasteful they fitted a 6kW solar system and then limited it to 3.4kW or similar. I checked the smart meter, it's contributing about 1p / day this week! Awesome

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Econonsense

(@econonsense)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 year ago

Posts: 17

23/11/2024 3:03 pm

@transparent Hi would this be to monitor in / out on water tank?

I'm happy to try, and don't mind spending if I can reduce my bills a bit.

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