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Starting Our Heat Pump Journey: 1962 build 3 bed detached house

Ian S · 2026-08-11T17:50:15Z

Hi We are just starting our heat pump journey, we have a 1962 build 3 bed detached house which has the usual large windows. We did a fair amount of upgrades done when we moved in 15 years ago, re wire, replacing an old floor standing gas boiler with numerous radiator changed from poor performing ones new hot water cylinder and moving to a sealed system, A classified double glazing etc. We have solar and 10kW battery storage and run 2 ev’s. We have had someone from ARIA to do the initial pitch, lots of videos, slideshows etc and an initial estimate subject to survey. Main concern is their design includes a buffer tank which seems a bit overkill and watching numerous YT videos question their use. Current recommendation is a 6kw outdoor unit and 250l cylinder. Heat Geek certified installer coming on Monday to do a survey so should get an idea of heat loss and a better idea on cost over initial online estimate. Did the initial online quote with Octopus, energy provider, requested a call but currently finding it impossible to get anyone to talk to me. Was hoping to get a rough idea of amount of energy used by their heat pumps to get an idea if it is worth increasing my solar battery storage. Looking for any recommendations for the Reading area for us to consider as it looks like we won’t be having Octopus through the door now. Sorry for the long intro. Cheers Ian

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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

Last Post by JamesPa 1 hour ago

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JamesPa

(@jamespa)

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Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 5271

17/08/2026 9:13 am

@ian-s

I can understand where you are coming from but I do think that, particularly given what you have already told us, the risks are being overstated.

There are basically 3 recurring errors that we see on this forum namely

Grossly oversized heat pump

Buffer tank

Poor controls or poor control

These account for the overwhelming majority of the problems.

You have estimates of around 6-7kW. That needs refining a bit (to work out if you can get away with 5 mostly) but you aren't going to be fitting a grossly oversized pump because, even if your house is only 3kW, you are going to want a 5-6kW one for the and anyway you can't buy anything less than about 5. So this error won't apply. Exact sizing at the 6kW level is unnecessary.

You can simply tell people you won't accept a buffer tank.

You can simply tell people you won't accept third party controls other than those specifically designed for heat pumps.

If you do the above you will get a directly connected pump running open loop on its native controls delivering, assuming the flow temp is say 45 or less (if it isn't just upgrade a couple more rads) a scop of around 4 (which should mean cheaper bills) and a higher level of comfort than you get at present.

For houses like yours it really is that simple. There are some workmanship matters, eg insulation, to observe as the work proceeds, but nothing compoex.

The industry makes it more complex than it needs to be because they try to cover all bases with a single process, which is fine at one level but overcomplicates it (and introduces potential for error) for the simple cases.

This post was modified 1 hour ago 3 times by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

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