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My Shropshire ASHP Installation 2021

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 siko
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Hello!

Now I have finally got my ASHP installed I will start to document our journey in case anyone is interested.

We bought a forever house in Shropshire 3 years ago which was perfect for us in almost every way, apart from the heating system, which was comprised of 2 massive log burners feeding a HUGE Akvaterm thermal Store (picture below - it's about 6 foot high and 4 foot wide). On the upside we were struggling to find a suitable property at the time and there was a lot of interest in this house, but the lack of a heating system put off everyone else apart from us and we managed to factor in the cost of a new system into our offer, luckily securing it before anyone else jumped in.

This Thermal store linked to UFH downstairs and some upstairs too, although some of the UFH was underneath wooden floorboards so those rooms have obviously never worked well anyway. To get hot water into the Thermal store could take an entire day of burning logs on cold days and boy did we get through wood....my record when I was working from home through the cold and very long winter of 2020/1, was in the region of 15 tonnes (yes honestly!) of wood.....all of which I sawed, split and stacked totally by myself with nothing other than a chainsaw, axe and wheelbarrow! 

We had a heap of problems waiting for us when we moved in and it was clear that the charlatan who sold us the house had lied through his teeth about whether the heating even worked, how effective it was and a whole host of other things (faked receipts for Septic tank emptying amongst other things). He told me that a stack of wood he sold us with the house was "2-2 1/2 years worth" - it lasted 3 months to give us a lukewarm house at best. Sadly we found out on day 1 that the Akvaterm had been misused by the previous owner and every single seal was weeping, which meant emptying a drip tray every few days and reduced the effectiveness rather a lot. I found the original plumber who fitted it and it was clear that he had had a number of personal difficulties with the original owner and wanted nothing more to do with the heating system or house and refused to have anything to do with it. So - we were stuck with a badly designed system that barely worked and left us with a cold house for the most part and a constant laborious job of splitting, sawing, stacking and moving wood, setting fires and cleaning out logburners - every day. On the upside it was reasonably cheap and £800 bought me 12 tonnes of cordwood which normally lasted 5 months or so of winter.

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 siko
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I had set aside the money to replace the system with something better and a plumber we spoke to told us that it would be straightforward to replace with an oil system, which I was keen to do given I also work for the oil industry (I'm an offshore helicopter pilot flying to oil rigs/boats etc). At the time oil prices were reasonable, but my job was at risk so I decided to wait for more stability before spending the money in case I got made redundant....which sadly happened last year with Covid, when I lost my job when my base was closed. However, I very luckily jumped into a new role with my company which still allowed me to fly a bit, but mainly WFH and I decided it was now or never to replace the system at last as it was going to kill me!

I got a few plumbers in to look at oil boilers and it quickly became apparent that despite our previous advice, the house setup was not ideal for oil and the oil tank position/pipework would be really intrusive on the front of our house which is where we spend most of our time socialising in summer. So, I started looking into heat pumps and was really intrigued by GSHPs given we own a 3 acre field next to our house...unfortunately this proved to be impracticable as our house sits on bedrock and the pipes would have to sit above ground and the access to the field is across a restricted byeway which we do not own - so legally there were a few issues that would probably not be resolved. So...that left just one option....ASHPs and with UFH throughout downstairs we were setup reasonably well for one anyway.

So, I started looking in Feb this year and called/emailed every installer in our local area and a few nationally too. This was a fruitless exercise and in all honesty I lost count of how many companies I spoke to/emailed but I would think it was in the region of 50. From several days worth of emails/calls I got responses from 5 companies, 3 of which either failed to show or cancelled and only one - a local well respected installer, turned up on time. The only other company to run up and quote gave me the run around and basically sent the office junior instead at the last minute, who turned up two hours late and didn't entirely fill me with confidence.

The local company were really good and inspired confidence, I got a quote back a few weeks later from them which was competitive and we asked them to fit the ASHP. However, we needed a new EPC and this took a while to sort along with the heat loss calcs etc and things just dragged from here on, without boring you too much with the details I almost cancelled a couple of times due to a lack of contact which was mainly due to them being absolutely maxxed out. The short story is that the installation started in the last week of August - about a month of the delay was due to us wanting the installation done at that time but it was really frustrating that it took effectively 6 months from meeting the salesman to getting the engineers through the door.  


   
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 siko
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So - installation day came and the first job was to rip out the hated Akvaterm cylinder....this was massive and weighed a tonne! It took three of us to get it onto one of the engineers trucks (he was making it into a BBQ or something so very happy that it was being recycled) and necessitated removal of all the panelling in the utility room (about 10 foot lengthways) and a window to remove it from. The poor engineer had to remove all the insulation from the Akvaterm, which was a foot thick the whole way round and even with this removed it was still enormous. It was in a really bad state given the amount of water that leaked from it over the time since it was installed and was rusted incredibly badly in places....no idea how much longer it was going to last but I doubt it would have survived another winter before dumping hundreds of litres of water into our electrical junction box.

The removal process took an entire day and in the meantime the other engineers placed the ASHP at the rear of the house where it was going to be installed.  Pictures below show the Akvaterm minus the insulation and finally out at last (!) and the ASHP at the back of the house where it was meant to go:

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 siko
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Next task was to plumb in the 300l water tank and expansion into the existing space left from the Akvaterm:

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 siko
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Now we hit the first real issue since we had to dismantle half the house to remove the Akvaterm. The ASHP - a 16kw Samsung EHS AE160 was supposed to go at the back of the house as in the picture at post 3. The pipes would go up the side of the house and in at the first floor, going underneath the wooden floorboards on the landing and into the bathroom underneath the floorboards in there asswell linking into the UFH components in a cupboard directly above the water tank. This didn't work and the engineers said it would have to go at the front of the house ironically enough in the woodstore - this was a problem as the front of our house is where we sit and socialise, we have an outdoor area we use and the ASHP would now be directly in front of the house where everyone can see it and tbh, they are a bit of an eyesore! As there was no other realistic option we compromised and went with the engineers suggested location, they managed to move it back a bit and it is largely out of the way now, first photo is during fitting so no insulation on pipes etc and second shows woodstore before the ASHP went in with the kennel roughly where the ASHP is now:

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 siko
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So, the next 3 days are a bit of a blur and the system is largely finished apart from the thermostats. The bit of work I was worried about more than anything else was whether the UFH would actually work or not - we barely used it in the 3 years we have lived in the house as it sucked all the hot water out of the Akvaterm to heat up just one or two rooms, so tended to just use it to heat upstairs and provide hot water. Hence, I was worried that the pipes were full of crud or even deteriorated/leaking etc and asked the installers to give it a thorough overhaul including flushing the system out completely. This took a while and despite the lack of use the powerflush worked although it took a while to run clear as the water was pretty black! However it ran clear and pressure tested fine too, which was really encouraging. The lads had asked if we needed any minor jobs doing while they were there and we had a constant weep from the main stop cock, so we asked them to replace the seal...this proved to be not from the stop cock but actually from the UFH and unfortunately they had to drain the entire system again to replace some UFH seals. But, this has sorted the issue and it appears bone dry everywhere now (touch wood!).

The lads finish the job (so I am told!) on a lovely warm and sunny Aug Friday afternoon after a very full on 5 days, with at times up to 6 of them on the job and normally 2-3. We have a temporary thermostat installed to control the upstairs only and the system works - we have heating in our upstairs radiators and hot water! 

We have a complicated thermostat setup from our previous installation and want to replace like for like rather than starting from scratch, so ask to replace the 6 wall mounted thermostats with a suitable system, we agree on Heatmiser:

 

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 siko
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So, now the installation is largely finished I go back to work and head upto Scotland happy in the knowledge my family have hot water and just need a few thermostats connecting.

In the meantime, the day after the engineers finish we notice an issue with condensation from the ASHP and the first time we experience it I think the ASHP has blown up there is so much water underneath it! The installers tell us that it is natural condensation and that most ASHP are built on a gravel or similar footing to absorb the water. As that is too late to fit (although we could do something I guess) they return and fit a drainage pipe to the bottom of the pump which drains to a flowerbed, doesn't work brilliantly tbh but carries away 90% of the water at least. 

The main issue we experience before they return with the thermostats is an increasing amount of noise from the system, which culminates in my wife calling me one night about 10pm really worried and it sounds like somebody is banging drums along with playing the bagpipes! I tell her how to switch the system off and we call the emergency response number at our installers - they don't come out as we have switched the system off anyway, but turn up the next day. The issue appears to have been a communication failure between the installers and as the job was passed between two teams the system wasn't fully pressurised, this is sorted quickly and apologetically and we look forward to the Thermostats coming....


   
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 siko
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A week after the main installation was finished the engineers turn up with the thermostats, sadly they are incompatible with our existing wiring and we are given the option of using Honeywell wall mounted thermostats that are compatible with our existing wiring, or paying to upgrade to wireless Heatmisers instead. As we like the Heatmiser system and the Honeywells look pretty rubbish we go with the upgrade costs.

It would seem a bit silly to spend £15.3k and end up with an interface that looks like it was designed on a ZX Spectrum! In the meantime our new thermostats are fitted, but we still have the old one upstairs  that is incompatible with Heatmiser and apparently only a stand in. We go back to the installers and there has been another communication breakdown and they order another thermostat for us after a bit of toing and froing. This is installed but we are a bit surprised that we can't get the app to work, the electrician tells us we need to buy the wireless transmitter to access the app...which is more money. To be fair we were told this early on but it slipped my mind, so we swallow the cost and very handily they have a unit which they install for us and even setup the app for us and get it working on our phones there and then.

So - we now have a working system with full wireless control through the App.....but....we still have a problem! 


   
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 siko
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Our upstairs heating is on/off seemingly without control and during a mini heatwave we also have lovely warm radiators and a busy ASHP whizzing around almost constantly! We call the installers out again and the frustration is setting in at both ends, as they swear blind it is all working perfectly but we have no control upstairs, so we are at an impasse.

We are also struggling to control the rooms at the back of our house which are a long way from the wireless router as they keep losing signal on the thermostats. One of the installers suggests we get a couple of Heatmiser NeoPlugs to help, which will increase the wireless strength and moving the upstairs thermostat downstairs near to the router (despite it saying it had a good wifi signal) instantly fixes the issue with the upstairs heating. 

We order a couple of the NeoPlugs and some stands for the Thermostats and another £140 sorts the issue completely:  

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 siko
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And that really is where we are now - the system works. The NeoPlugs were difficult to pair at first and for some reason wouldn't recognise the router despite multiple attempts to pair them....then suddenly started working and have been fine since. We had an issue with our Wifi (which proved to be water in the cable outside the property) and we lost all our heating aswell which was a shame, but I guess would be the same with any Wifi controlled system, so no criticism implied of the installers/system.

Our first full month of usage in Sep saw us use 524Kwh of electricity at a cost of £103, for our total electricity bill including hot water, heating and everything else. That was really impressive and £10/month cheaper than our normal electricity bill (we used the immersion heaters on economy 7 before to boost hot water with the Akvaterm) and that was also including a week with the heating on upstairs during a heatwave!

As we have gone into Oct we have started using the heating more and it works well, even if it is quite slow to warm a room (I know this is just the way it works). One of our rooms is at the rear of the house and is a summer room really with a high roof, not well insulated (unlike the rest of the house) single storey and has always struggled to warm anyway. We keep the temp low in there (16c) to avoid using too much power but my son likes to use it as his Xbox is in there, when he goes in there in the morning I raise the temp to 19c and it takes a good 1-2hrs to get upto temp. So, the system does need a little forward planning, I guess some users will say to just set the thermostats to 19-20 everywhere and go with it, which we may do anyway but with the electricity prices as they are I am being cautious and especially since we are only on a variable rate now with Octopus. 


   
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 siko
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Final post for now is reference the RHI. I won't elaborate why, but when I looked at the criteria behind the RHI and my EPC I didn't think I would be approved. I asked my installer who was adamant that I did, although the very good chap I dealt with moved on shortly afterwards, so I continued the conversation for a second opinion with the assessor who did my EPC earlier this year. He was also adamant that the EPC was good enough for the RHI, which had been quoted by the installers at approx £11.5k (I could only get it to £9.1k on the Ofgem website??).

I took the plunge expecting disappointment last night and sat down with my MCS, EPC forms and receipts and went through the application process. I was rather gobsmacked to get almost instant approval without having to jump through any more hoops and it really was incredibly easy - a quick look through some renewable forums on Facebook showed that I was very lucky with lots of others experiencing delays and issues. I'm still touching wood and hoping it stays "approved", but I was really incredibly happy to see that at £11.1k it is almost exactly what my installer said it would be. Having emptied our savings to pay for this and working in a very turbulent industry indeed this was not an easy decision to take and the RHI would help enormously.

Thanks for now - if anyone has anyone questions feel free to tag me. If there is no interest I'll update with the costs as we go through the winter....cheers 🙂 


   
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Morgan
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@siko thanks for a very informative and interesting summary of your install. My install is ongoing right now (we’re at day 3) and, so far, not nearly as dramatic or traumatic as your experience . I was hoping for completion tomorrow but looking more like Wednesday 🙄

Retrofitted 11.2kw Mitsubishi Ecodan to new radiators commissioned November 2021.


   
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