This is going to be a long post. But wanted to share my experience with 3 companies around heat pump surveys.

So a bit of background first. Live in a 4 bed property around 167m2. Have 2 small children. Property was built in the 1930s has had a side extension, back extension and loft conversion. Also had some white wool cavity insulation put into the original walls. Currently running off a gas combi boiler. I usually run flow temp 45-50 and that seems to suit us. Problem rooms would be our kitchen/dining room extension at the back it has one 600x1200 Type 22 radiator for a 3x9m room with a fair amount of glass. It gets cold in there because that one radiator isn’t enough. I don’t understand why the previous owners who did the extension didn’t put underfloor heating in. They put it in the living room but not there. Other rooms which get cold would be one of our bathrooms which over the garage and the loft which we use as an office. These have sufficient radiators to warm the rooms up. They just have to be running near constantly to maintain temperature. We have Tado everywhere which maintains 18 min temperature throughout and then boosts up to 21 in some rooms when we usually use them eg office, living room, bathrooms etc.

I wanted a good system so initially went with Heat Geek for a design consultation. The local heat geek has installs which list highly on open energy monitor. Guy came round all seemed fine - he agreed with the locations I had chosen for the hot water cylinder and heat pump. We wanted to sort the kitchen out and put underfloor heating in which he said they could do. Would just get a company in to router it into the existing screed would just need to remove all the current tiles beforehand and then would be up to us to relay the new tiles. All seemed good and then we got the quote back.

Designed flow temp of 45 degrees. 10kW Valliant. All rooms designed to 21 degrees.

Firstly one of the rooms he thought had underfloor heating it - which it didn’t and there was a big 1.8m high radiator on the wall or not sure how that got missed.

Secondly total cost after the bus grant was taken would be just under £20k. The main issue I had was over half of this was in a line labelled “Sundries”.

I contacted the installer asking for a breakdown of the sundries, he said sorry about the first room. I was kind of expecting a sorry - send me a picture of the radiator or the dimensions and I will double check the designed flow temp will be sufficient for the rooms heat loss. But no just a sorry. And then for the sundries he said Heat Geek would have this and I should contact them. Which I thought very strange. Anyway I did contact Heat Geek and they said they didn’t have any details and would have to contact the installer. At which point I lost all faith in the Heat Geek system and said I’m out. I didn’t want to have the constant back and forth the whole time.

So thought I would get some other companies out - Octopus & British Gas.

Octopus first. Survey all okay. They wouldn’t do underfloor heating in the kitchen so at my expense I would have to get some pipes laid under the floor to the other side of the kitchen to install an additional radiator. They had a IR camera to try and work out the centres of the underfloor heating in our living room but it’s a wooden floor and the picture wasn’t clear enough. I wasn’t that worried about the room as it’s the warmest room in the house. Other things to note. The location of the hot water cylinder which Heat Geek were happy with they said wouldn’t work as there was no way to run a PRV to the outside. Second issue they identified was the location of the heat pump is that we park our car in front and even if we parked 1.5m away (which we can) it could damage the paint on the car. Something which Heat Geek didn’t mention.  So we had the locate it further up the drive.

Anyway got the initial quote back £6,600. 50 degrees design temp. Daikin 11kW. Room temps ranging from 18-22 based on MSC. They also weren’t bothered about the heat loss in bathrooms in terms of the towel rails. I know from experience that at 50 degree flow they would be enough to heat the rooms to a temperature we are happy with. But on paper they wouldn’t.

I really wanted a R290 based unit however so asked if there was an alternative and the Cosy 12 had just come out that week. So had another surveyor come and update the quote for the Cosy 12 which on paper more closely matched the Valliant in terms of efficiency. Same price as the original quote. The biggest sticking point for Octopus was that they insisted on installing a buffer tank. When I questioned this they said they follow MSC recommendations.

Finally British Gas. This surveyor was the most knowledgeable from our conversations and at spotting things. Like Octopus he brought up the hot water cylinder TRV issue which Heat Geek didn’t and heat pump location. Other little things like there is a fireplace in our living room we don’t use. But said we would need to put a balloon up it or get it blocked off as the air cycles would balloon (pun intended) the heat loss.

Had to wait over a week for the quote from British Gas to come through. He apologised as he was busy. £9,900. Daikin 9kW. 45 degree flow, all rooms 21 like Heat Geek. They did spec a Buffer tank but said we could go without.

So main issue with British Gas? While they do Valliant units they wouldn’t install on a driveway because of the R290. Our driveway is 9x9m so plenty of room for us not to park near the unit. I said if we put bollards up around it could we - no.

So we are still on our quest for a heat pump. Each company had their own downsides. We have found a company who will do the underfloor heating in the kitchen. But the whole thing - ripping up the tiles. Installing and laying new tiles (that we supply) for under £5k. So when we get that done next year I will go out looking again after. I will also go around installing new rads to make sure they are sufficient for a heat pump. So when we next go out the tender i should be a fairly straight forward install.

One thing that surprised me the most was the differences in heat loss between the three. Heat Geek and British Gas used LiDAR on an iPad. Octopus did it the old fashioned way with a laser tape measure and app.

Same rooms are very similar. Others very different. They also all chose different outside design temps. Heat Geek: -2, Octopus: -2.4, British Gas: -2.9

Radiator changes. Heat Geek: 4, Octopus: 8, British Gas: 10 plus a plinth heater for the kitchen.

Anyway just thought I would share my experience with the 3. Maybe I’m being too picky. But if I’m going to spent £10k (after the bus grant) I would like to make sure it’s just right.