Good luck, hope it goes well.

I forgot to mention, but as we'd already had our old radiators removed, in preparation I went round beforehand and painted the walls (as you can never paint behind radiators), and then wrote on the wall in pencil the size of the radiator to be fitted, as they did manage to mix up a couple radiators when placing them in the rooms ready to be fitted (easily done!). I then double-checked each radiator was in the correct room before they got to fitting them.

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

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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.

Good luck.  Missing rads definitely was a problem for me.  The fancoil was supposedly on 3 month delivery (but actually turned up 4 days later!) and the delivery guys managed to drop one of the rads en route.  As a result the installation was finally finished about a week later, but was usable in the interim.

It sounds from your description like you have a good team, but I wish you good luck anyway.  If you see anything suspect, question it.  I did ask my installer (who I rated) a few questions as he went along, he pushed back, with reason, on a couple, but conceded those where he had indeed forgotten something.  

There's one radiator not within the delivery, but this has been sorted now and is arriving tomorrow.  In fairness, it's one that was a late request by myself to change from the original design as the wall in the conservatory where the existing one hangs from won't be there when the conservatory upgrade is done (it's where the 'external doors and windows' leading into the conservatory are located).  Getting a new radiator onto a wall that won't be affected by the conservatory upgrade is an optimal piece of future-proofing for us to do now, and the fact that this was the missing radiator makes some sort of sense.

So far, so good.  It looks like I short-changed the team's experience in the description.  The least experienced guy has been doing heat pumps for 7 years.  The older guy has been fitting them for 12 years.  It's the only type of work they do currently and they've installed cascade systems, ground source pumps, etc, so I doubt that ours will prove too much of a challenge for them, by comparison.

Quick progress update.  It looks like there are only 2 radiators left to install, including the one being delivered today for the conservatory.  Some still need TRVs adding.  The other one still to go up is the K3 in the kitchen.

We had immersion powered hot water last night, as expected.  The cylinder cupboard is filling up with pipework and there's lagging waiting to be added.

The heat pump (a 10kW Ecodan R290) is still on its pallet in the garden close to where it is being sited.

I also had a peek in the loft, which is where the pipework from the pump runs to the cylinder.  There's still sections of open pipework, but a lot has been done.

The two lads (both from the North East) worked solidly yesterday, were friendly and paid more respect to our carpets with coverings than the carpets deserved (replacement is planned for later on in the year).

It's been interesting watching them go about their work.  Today should be the final day, so I'm intrigued to see if they achieve this, but they seem confident in doing so.

And on the second day, we have a completed installation!

The team finished up at around 6:30pm this evening and my immediate impressions are that I'm very impressed with the job they've done.  We had the two main installers out today, plus the electrician for most of the day and the labourer for a few hours.  The biggest challenge to the entire job appeared to be for the electrician to run the cable from the consumer unit to the cylinder tank and out to the heat pump, as the joists in the house seemed to conspire against him for this purpose.

The outstanding radiator was delivered in good time, so we now have a re-sited 2nd radiator in the conservatory running along one of the dwarf walls, and there's no longer one (or any pipework) on a section of wall that will be removed when the conservatory is renovated.

The outdoor installation looks neat, to my untrained eye, and the cylinder cupboard looks to have been done with thought - it's less of a jungle of copper wires than I've seen in some of the YouTube footage of installations (obviously, each job is unique so you can't compare directly, but it looks organised).  I had a quick peek in the loft too, and we've lost some storage space as expected due to the pipework, but nothing that's too problematic, and it might encourage us not to fill it up with quite as much crap again in future.

We obviously won't know how effectively the heating is going to be until later in the year, and how efficiently the pump will perform, but I'm very content with what I've observed over the last couple of days for an installation that was one of our cheaper quotes from a local installer that isn't a well known name.  I took great interest in their Trustpilot feedback prior to selecting them (which was positive with one exception, which I attributed as an outlier).  I'll be adding my own positive review on there in a few days, once I've had more time to ensure there are no obvious performance issues, although I have no doubts that any snags would be addressed by the team.  One of them is already planning to return to top up the soakaway with more gravel once the initial deposit has settled.

I've added a few pictures.  The cylinder cupboard is difficult to capture as there's limited space to take the photo from.  I'm conscious that this might show up some imperfections/points of criticism to those with better understanding of these systems than me, but they're being posted from the perspective of a satisfied customer on first impressions.  The initial satisfaction is based on the amount of work and care put into the job by the installation team, and the fact that they achieved the 2-day timescale which I was sceptical would be feasible.  Time will tell how the system is to live with, and whether any issues arise, but for now I have to say that the installation experience exceeded my expectations.

First update as a heat pump user:

I gave myself a few hours playing with the MelCloud app on the evening of install, and on the morning the following day, primarily to see how intuitive it was to use and set up.  In fairness, I'm much more clued in (thanks to this forum) than a typical user would be, which is useful for me to apply a bit of perspective to the experience.

I got a brief handover of the system from the electrician after we had set up access to MelCloud, but this was very much directed towards how to set the temperature for heating and hot water, so very much aimed towards someone used to setting the system for a gas boiler.  I can understand why this was the case, as it probably accounts for the majority of heat pump users that he encounters, but it does give the impression that many of the users out there might still be using their systems inefficiently, as they'll be reliant on their own knowledge to understand the 'low and slow' concept.  The users of this forum are likely the top 1%, or something like that, in terms of understanding the technology, so it's easy to assume that this is general knowledge elsewhere.  The handover briefing was a reminder that this isn't the case.

In terms of MelCloud itself, it was fine in terms of basic schedule setting, and the limited amount of reports available within the app will suit most people, but I'd love to be able to interrogate them more.  The energy used/generated info is a little underwhelming, and it's reported as separate tables, so there's nowhere within the app that will give you a COP number, albeit there's the info needed to calculate one.

The system ran a legionella cycle on the first night, so the experience of hot water for the morning showers was somewhat distorted, as the water will have been hotter than typically set to achieve.  My wife, first to shower that day at 6:15am and who, compared to me, seems to like showering in scolding water, said she had to set the (anticlockwise) dial to 7 o'clock, rather than the 5 o'clock position that she usually did, and the water was still hot then.  Consequently, we warned the kids to expect hotter than usual water when they used showers and hot taps to begin with.

I've subsequently found the way to switch the legionella cycle on/off, but with hindsight it seems logical that the system would run one at first installation, so I have no issues with this.

After I'd exhausted my search mission within MelCloud I then, as always intended, signed up to Havenwise and connected it to the system (which was a doddle to do, as you just use the MelCloud login data to give them access).  The system quickly confirmed back that it was connected, and you then get a message to tell you that the system data is being reviewed and to expect an email from Havenwise in due course.

The email arrived shortly afterwards (I can't recall exact timings, but within an hour) and turned out to from @hcas, whom I'd interacted previously with on here.  The standard initial email gives instructions as to how to remove the settings from MelCloud and from the system controller prior to hitting a button to enable Havenwise to take control, so doing so remains entirely at the discretion of the end user to do this.  I duly hit the button and the system is now being optimised by Havenwise, initially via their free trial offering, as I haven't had to do anything at this stage in terms of payment.  It's not one of those trials where you have to enter card details and then rely on remembering to cancel them before the trial period ends.  It operates as a genuine free trial period.

I've sent a couple of queries back regarding the initial setup, and will update the thread with regard to the process within the Havenwise app separately.  I'm hoping that documenting a real-life experience as a new heat pump user across all aspects of the process will hopefully be an interesting resource for others at some point, hence the attempt to try to capture this in some detail within this thread.

@sheriff-fatman Well done, a very good start to a very promising future of your domestic heating! I hope all continues to go well for your family. Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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@sheriff-fatman Well done, a very good start to a very promising future of your domestic heating! I hope all continues to go well for your family. Regards, Toodles.

Thanks @toodles.  It's also an appropriate point for me to thank those on this forum who've contributed to this process, either via direct interaction within this thread or, more widely, from the other posts that I've been able to research.  Finding this site, and tapping into the wealth of knowledge within it, has been an invaluable part of the overall process for me. 

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

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I got a brief handover of the system from the electrician after we had set up access to MelCloud, but this was very much directed towards how to set the temperature for heating and hot water, so very much aimed towards someone used to setting the system for a gas boiler.  I can understand why this was the case, as it probably accounts for the majority of heat pump users that he encounters, but it does give the impression that many of the users out there might still be using their systems inefficiently, as they'll be reliant on their own knowledge to understand the 'low and slow' concept.  The users of this forum are likely the top 1%, or something like that, in terms of understanding the technology, so it's easy to assume that this is general knowledge elsewhere.  The handover briefing was a reminder that this isn't the case.

You make a very good point.

I honestly cant work out how the majority of ASHP manufacturers expect their product to be commissioned.  I did speak to a few people at the Installer Show about this, and most seemed to take the line - 'well the installer just sets it up according to the heat loss survey/design and so the customer doesn't need to touch anything.'   Yeah, so the heat loss survey and the design are perfect, and thus the WC curve the installer programs in June (when it cant possibly be tested) is going to be optimum.  Furthermore the emitters are all perfectly sized according to the perfectly accurate survey, so balancing them for deltaT/flow will mean that they are correctly adjusted for the room losses.  

This is quite obviously a total fantasy and is why the likes of Havenwise, Homely and Adia, and indeed this forum, add real value.  Perhaps some installers schedule a revisit, but I suspect many/most don't.  We need heat pumps that auto commission/auto adapt their WC curve (in fairness some do), and LSVs/flow regulating valves that auto-balance very slowly for room temperature (not available yet other than from Adia).  Until these become the norm homeowners must, so far as I can see, either suffer an efficiency penalty, learn to make these adjustments themselves, or use a third party dedicated system like those mentioned above to optimise for them.

It would be interesting to find out what happens in countries where weather compensation is normally switched on for boilers not just heat pumps.  Quite possibly, because the penalty of operating on/off at a higher flow temperature is less with gas, the practice is to superimpose a room thermostat on top of a weather compensation curve which is actually slightly too 'high'.  

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

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And on the second day, we have a completed installation!

Congratulations on having your system up and running.

I just wanted to check with you the above image, as I'm not sure if that is the final installed image, or during the installation process, but the installation of insulation does not look ideal. Firstly, there is a small gap between the insulation and the heat pump, where the pipes are exposed. This should be sealed.

Ideally cable ties should not be used to secure insulation. The insulation should be bonded and sealed so that there is no way water can penetrate and leach heat away from the copper pipes. The rest of the insulation looks to be loosely fitted and it is not possible to see if it is sealed and water tight.

The plastic trunking running vertically down the wall is good as it should shield that section of pipework from the weather/rain, but the pipes within should still be well insulated.

@old_scientist It's not the clearest photo, so I will have to look again when I'm home.

In terms of the pipework in the ducting, I know that this was insulated as it's something I checked on (out of interest, rather than any suspicion) during the installation.  I took pictures, when feasible without disturbing any of the workmen, and there's a couple showing the part-completed installation with insulation being added.

@jamespa Your post reminded me of an interesting interaction at the start of the installation process, when I was walking the guys around the house on the initial tour.  I mentioned that we had an existing Hive system on our boiler system and that I assumed this would all be disconnected, and the installer looked a little surprised by this (NB: this was within the first half-hour of meeting them, so there hadn't been a huge amount of time to build up any rapport with them).  He was clearly used to customers expecting the opposite to happen, and it led on to talk about the fact that there was another thermostat in the conservatory, so set up for two heating zones (as I believe would have been required when the conservatory was built, as it's considered to be an extension, rather than part of the main dwelling). 

It was within this conversation where I was able to spell out that I was expecting a single zone setup that I could run with TRVs fully open using weather comp to control it, and it was very obvious at the time that it was a request/expectation that he didn't typically hear from customers when they turned up.