Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed - Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Deltona — Wed, 13 May 2026 17:25:34 +0000

So financially speaking you'd have been better off with a gas boiler 🙄

Initial outlay should be made up by lower running costs. At the moment, our leccy is 3.5/kwh and gas 7.. Before efficiency is considered.

The above occured over several weeks during which I also sought quotations for a brand new system. To keep them all comparable I had restricted these to suppliers/installers of Vaillant units and on the basis that we would have a new water cylinder too. Our existing UFH pipework would remain. The quotes came in at from £11k to £14.5k.

This thread is about Mike, my response was to Mike.

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Deltona — Wed, 13 May 2026 17:20:54 +0000

@deltona …without any of the many advantages provided by the heat pump regime! Toodles.

There aren't many, if any 🤣

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Batpred — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:29:05 +0000

So financially speaking you'd have been better off with a gas boiler 🙄

Initial outlay should be made up by lower running costs. At the moment, our leccy is 3.5/kwh and gas 7.. Before efficiency is considered.

But as @mike-patrick found, replacing a pump can easily hit the hurdle posed by the simple estimating approach that most installers are using.

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Toodles — Wed, 13 May 2026 10:43:56 +0000

@deltona …without any of the many advantages provided by the heat pump regime! Toodles.

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Deltona — Wed, 13 May 2026 09:19:33 +0000

So financially speaking you'd have been better off with a gas boiler 🙄

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Batpred — Tue, 12 May 2026 19:42:00 +0000

One of the most common failures was drive belt failure; their service engineer became very adapt at extracting the snapped belts, applying a single drop of cyanoacrylate to one end of the broken belt and mating the two ends for a second or two - then refit the belt and the mechanics would run normally again! Rewards, Toodles.

You make a great point to the value of continuity in service operation! 😉 These days, the site manager may move around too much to keep such knowledge about warranties (in the odd case where they last more than a year or two). So no wonder most products are just thrown and replaced every few years.. 😳

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Batpred — Mon, 11 May 2026 17:24:50 +0000

@mike-patrick + some installers focus on the spec/new build market and only do retrofit when time allows.

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Mike Patrick — Mon, 11 May 2026 12:32:47 +0000

@jamespa I have wondered if the grant that's available for new installations under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is actually pushing installer quotes upwards (depends on the price elasticity of demand for heat pumps) so that part of the grant effectively ends up in the pockets of the installers, rather than the end customer.

If so then replacement of existing heat pumps, which don't attract a grant, will be relatively unattractive to installers compared with doing new installations, unless they jack the price up to give them a comparable return.

Mike

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Batpred — Sat, 09 May 2026 16:33:07 +0000

@jamespa Our ASHP has a history and about 5 years ago we did have a new PCB, which cost then about £800. That was on the recommendation of a different local Grant approved installer. But based on what I have since learned I now believe that was just the easy route for him. The error code at that time was one that indicates a drop in system pressure. That's usually caused by a leak somewhere (we've had a few of those) which can be fixed easily. My journey with the ASHP has been a bit like owning a yacht - it's been a money pit!

Sorry to hear.

Grant seem to be selling the R290 pumps very competitively these days.

I wonder if the design of the model you have is still similar to today´s?

RE: Our 10 year old Grant heat pump failed

Toodles — Wed, 06 May 2026 15:46:33 +0000

Back in the 70’s and through the eighties, one of my responsibilities was to ensure that an open reel tape based ‘language lab’ remained in working order for the students to use daily. The system had been installed in ‘72 and was still in warranty when I took up my post in ‘73. Now the warrenty had been very vaguely worded by the manufacturers and I managed to wangle free servicing for some years after. One of the most common failures was drive belt failure; their service engineer became very adapt at extracting the snapped belts, applying a single drop of cyanoacrylate to one end of the broken belt and mating the two ends for a second or two - then refit the belt and the mechanics would run normally again! Rewards, Toodles.