I received the BUS Grant permission email yesterday evening, which I've returned confirming my consent to the process, so we're definitely moving from the theory part of the exercise to the execution now.

We've already started the task of clearing some space in the more problematic parts of the house to enable the relevant access for the installation.  The old airing cupboard is no longer a dumping ground for suitcases, towels, etc and can now house a cylinder once again.  The loft has had something of a clear-out, with items being relocated to the tip or charity shop and we've dismantled a huge self-built desk that the previous owner had left us in an upstairs bedroom, which has been useful in it's time, but takes up far more of the room than it needs to.  We'll replace it with a smaller one after the installation, but the radiator in that room, which was the most challenging one for the surveyors to get access to for measurement, is now fully accessible.

We're weeks away from an installation, but its quite a relief to get these jobs out of the way at an early stage.  Everything else will be relatively minor in comparison, but can only really be done close to the time as their in rooms which are in constant use.

Just to briefly update things, we now have a confirmed installation date starting on 24th June, so things have moved rapidly from theoretical to 'this is happening'.

I'm somewhat sceptical that they're going to achieve the target of a 2-day installation (albeit 'very long days') but we'll see.  There won't be a huge issue if it ultimately runs over, but the target that they've set for themselves seems ambitious.

We've already cleared out some of the more problematic areas for access, including emptying the airing cupboard which had been a useful storage cupboard since the old hat water cylinder was removed from there in 2014 when the combi boiler was installed.

I'll try to document the installation process as best as possible within this thread.  It's quite exciting to think that this is actually going to happen now!

@sheriff-fatman Good luck! 

2 days is definitely short, curious how big the installation team will be.

@hcas Perhaps the installers are those miniature Chinese robots - you could get quite a few of those in the average dwelling at the same time! Toodles.

@sheriff-fatman good luck, and yes, please document your journey here. 

Two days is extremely optimistic unless they have a really big team.

@editor I'm not expecting a sizeable team, hence the scepticism at their timescales.

@sheriff-fatman just keep an eye on them... definitely keep us updated and add photos if you can.

Our ASHP installation was originally scheduled for 2 days and ended up going into a third day. We had a two man team of installers (who were brilliant), plus an electrician on site for one day to connect up the electrics.

The installation involved removal of old oil boiler, replacement of 12 radiators and a complete replumb on the heating side to 22/15mm copper replacing existing plastic micro-bore pipework.. To be fair, they may just have achieved it in two days if we had not encountered some routing difficulties on the plumbing side. That said, the two guys worked 12 hour days and did not stop - they were brilliant. They did look in disbelief on the first morning doing their walk through that the job had been scheduled for two days!

Posted by: @old_scientist

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Our ASHP installation was originally scheduled for 2 days and ended up going into a third day. We had a two man team of installers (who were brilliant), plus an electrician on site for one day to connect up the electrics.

The installation involved removal of old oil boiler, replacement of 12 radiators and a complete replumb on the heating side to 22/15mm copper replacing existing plastic micro-bore pipework.. To be fair, they may just have achieved it in two days if we had not encountered some routing difficulties on the plumbing side. That said, the two guys worked 12 hour days and did not stop - they were brilliant. They did look in disbelief on the first morning doing their walk through that the job had been scheduled for two days!

That's helpful, as it's essentially the same scenario as has been outlined for our installation, but we don't have replacement pipework scheduled for our own installation, as we're on 15mm copper.  The two days were outlined as "very long days" and we've been told to expect the electrician on day 2, so you've at least provided a scenario where this might be feasible.

@old_scientist And just to bring some ‘balance’! to this topic: Our ASHP with 8 replacement out of an existing 10 radiators plus a dual fuel towel rail and a Sunamp Thermino DHW heating system, removing an aging gas boiler and 99 litre DHW tank and decommissioning of a cold water storage tank in the loft… estimated to be 5 days work … took 3 weeks! Extenuating circs. of course, supply of components, wrong radiators sent, 3 attempts to elevate the Sunamp upstairs. Overall a good job but when installers enjoy working with all windows and external doors wide open ALL DAY LONG in January and into February, this is not a thing one forgets about.😳 Toodles.

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

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Posted by: @old_scientist

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Our ASHP installation was originally scheduled for 2 days and ended up going into a third day. We had a two man team of installers (who were brilliant), plus an electrician on site for one day to connect up the electrics.

The installation involved removal of old oil boiler, replacement of 12 radiators and a complete replumb on the heating side to 22/15mm copper replacing existing plastic micro-bore pipework.. To be fair, they may just have achieved it in two days if we had not encountered some routing difficulties on the plumbing side. That said, the two guys worked 12 hour days and did not stop - they were brilliant. They did look in disbelief on the first morning doing their walk through that the job had been scheduled for two days!

That's helpful, as it's essentially the same scenario as has been outlined for our installation, but we don't have replacement pipework scheduled for our own installation, as we're on 15mm copper.  The two days were outlined as "very long days" and we've been told to expect the electrician on day 2, so you've at least provided a scenario where this might be feasible.

 

Yes, it's "doable" if everything goes to plan, they arrive early and all the correct kit also arrives early and you have a good hard working team of installers. Our DHW tank was sited in the space vacated by the oil combi-boiler, so all the pipework was already at that location. Not having to re-plumb the heating circuit will help - they may just need to adjust radiator tails to fit any larger radiators, but that's easy enough to do. In my mind, I'd block out the week and then be pleased if it's all done in 2-3 days. Anything longer than that, and something has gone seriously awry, but as @toodles highlights, it only takes a few supply issues and things can quickly escalate.

Our guys turned up at 8am on the first morning, and their delivery lorry arrived shortly after containing everything for the job (very well organised). They were missing a few small items which they identified and ordered on next day delivery, but nothing that really held up work. By the time they'd unloaded the lorry and we'd done a full walk through of the job (and had a pot of tea), it was probably mid morning before the tools came out. They nkew they were up against it to complete in 2 days, so they stayed to 8pm each night, and then finished by around lunchtime on the third day, before leaving to drive half way across the country to their next job.

In contrast, our neighbours had an ASHP installed around the same time, and their installers would turn up mid morning and be gone by 3:30-4pm (it was summer and the beach is nearby!). The work was sloppy and they had some big leaks. So a lot depends on getting good installers.

Today's the start of the installation and, having spent a bit of time around the installation team, I'm feeling quite relaxed about things.  They turned up at 7:30am and got their heads down.  The more senior guy has been fitting heat pumps as his primary work for the last 7 years, and clearly knows what he's talking about.  The main team is two guys, and we've had a labourer turn up for a period of time.  They've spoken to the electrician, who's coming out tomorrow, to provide info on what's available for him to use on the fuse board.  I've heard them describe it as a "nice job" so far, so they've clearly not seen anything to give them concerns.  They also seem quite confident that they'll get finished within the two days, so we'll see if that's the case.

Radiators, heat pump and cylinder have all been delivered this morning (they're half expecting something to be missing/incorrect from the radiator list, which seems to be a fairly standard occurrence, but no indication of this as yet, and clearly something they're used to).  I'm currently staring at a monster of a K3 that's going in the kitchen/dining area, and have watched them carry through radiators to go into the upstairs rooms.

So far so good (touch wood!)  First impressions only, but I've gained a huge amount of reassurance already from having seen the guys go about their work, and from the interactions I've had with them while trying to keep out of their way.