Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install - Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

bontwoody — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:24:16 +0000

@deltona Yes older houses are problematic like that, but the standard air change assumption figure is know to be on the very high side and often leads to over sized heat pumps being fitted particularly in newer houses.

If you are fitting a lot of insulation and double glazed windows that should reduce air changes greatly. The core of my house is 1840s stone walls and we have no problems heating it with a 5kW Heat pump after our renovations.

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

Deltona — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:12:03 +0000

@deltona No worries. The air change issue is a well know error and easy enough to correct for.

Can you explain more, or point me in the direction where I can research it? Initially I had assumed i'd have to do my own test to be accurate.

It seems to me that you have to test it to be sure as nothing or nobody can assume what my house is. It's a bit like the solid, rubble filled walls, because nobody knows how well they were built (therefore what they contain, muck, voids, etc) it's just guesswork as what the U value is.

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

bontwoody — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:39:20 +0000

@deltona No worries. The air change issue is a well know error and easy enough to correct for.

Sounds like a plan to fit pipework etc with a heatpump in mind for later

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

Deltona — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:30:56 +0000

@deltona A diy install isnt as scary as it sounds. Its not rocket science and there is a lot if good info out there. Check out glyn hudsons videos on youtube. That was my starting point. 😁

Thanks for the tip, I watched his two house installs over Christmas, but not the inlaws one yet. He's certainly a smart guy.

As previously mentioned you need the practical experience to go with the software so you know how to fudge the figures to give a sensible output. Or even supply your own as he outlined a big flaw in the heat loss calculations with air change (he maybe biased there due to his product). I've worked with programs before that spew out unrealistic results because their assumptions are binary, wrong and need correcting by someone who knows what they're doing.

He put loads of rads in his house which lost a lot of space, looked ugly, but I did understand the need for them. I think with an ASHP the need for UFH is even greater.

I've come to realise that at the moment I, my house, nor the industry is ready for us to be having one installed. The HP and energy suppliers are in a state of flux, our house part way through renovation and insulation. I believe the best way atm is to have a new gas combi fitted, I can get one with a 10+yr warranty for circa £1200, a heating engineer would fit it in a day.

It's become apparent that everything you do to prep your heating system (and house of course) for ASHP is ditto for a gas boiler too.

So what I will then do is carry on improving the insulation value of the house and the efficiency of the heating system by (in Summer) putting in bigger pipes, rads and/or UFH. This will reduce our energy consumption and make us ASHP ready if we go that route in the future. Will also go down the route of creating some of our own energy.

By then things will have changed somewhat, we'll likely 'miss the BUS' and nobody knows when it will be wound up, only when it's projected to be so.

£7500 is a fair chunk of money, but lets face it, the Government aren't giving this money away because they love us so much, it's a business plan. On balance I think my current plan is better than what likely would happen.

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

dgclimatecontrol — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:54:51 +0000

@old_scientist This does make the unit smaller as the box of tricks is indoors which is an option (online) and includes all but the pump. Midea however includes all but their unit is longer, suppose its whatever you require.

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

Old_Scientist — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:24:39 +0000

"Add buffer tank at 350 (Why?)

Wireless thermostat 150 (already included in Samsung extras pack)

2 x 25/80 circulation pumps 300 (Why does Samsung need this and Ecoheat not?)

Flow setter 80 (ditto)

Extra labour time

Not all "Heat Pumps" are created equal. Some outdoor units contain the circulation pump(s), others do not. The Samsung outdoor units does not contain any filters, strainers, flow sensors or circulation pumps, so when specifying a Samsung unit, these will all needs to be specified separately, along with the time and labour to install them. My Samsung ASHP unit was installed as part of a package including a Joule pre-plumbed cylinder which came with all the extras pre-fitted (including 2 x Wilo para circulation pumps and flow sensor), but at significant extra cost (but saved time and labour during the install).

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

bontwoody — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:17:37 +0000

@deltona happy to help as much as I can if you decide to investgate the diy route. You might look at heatpunk to do a heat loss survey and check it against any previous usage figures you may have.

I paid 2k for a samsung HP, 1.5K for a mixergy cylinder and maybe 1K in sundries. My system has a SCOP of 4.3 which many "professionally installed" systems struggle to match

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

Deltona — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:30:53 +0000

@deltona A diy install isnt as scary as it sounds. Its not rocket and there is a lot if good info out there. Check out glyn hudsons videos on youtube. That was my starting point. 😁

Have found his channel, thank you 👍

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

bontwoody — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:09:52 +0000

@deltona A diy install isnt as scary as it sounds. Its not rocket science and there is a lot if good info out there. Check out glyn hudsons videos on youtube. That was my starting point. 😁

RE: Free Ecoheat Heat Pump Install

Deltona — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:52:22 +0000

As it wasn't initially relevant I didn't mention this isn't our first rodeo, we were on the list for an Eco4 Flex install until it was stopped (two weeks before they were due to start) so we've now had 3 surveys and 2 sets of calcs done. I've amassed a lot of info over the past few months, I've gone from knowing nothing to knowing a bit. Still a lot to learn though.

RE: DIY

Look at it this way, if I gave you a blank piece of paper and told you to go design a car engine then (unless you're an engine designer) you couldn't do it, no matter how long I gave you.

If I gave you a non functioning engine to sort out, a kitted out workshop with books and access to the internet you'd be able to fix it.

Same applies here, put something (an ASHP system) in front of me which isn't working properly then (given time) i'll fix it.

I couldn't do it for a job of course.

When you've got something in front of you to look at it becomes a whole lot easier.

There are downsides of course and yeah, the cheap ASHP will probably fail on the coldest Christmas eve we've ever had. Being sensible about that you'd give it a year or two whilst you learned then swapped it out before it let you down.

I don't think i'll be going down this route now, but haven't ruled it out.

We don't live in a normal house btw, it's complete (lived in) farmhouse renovation, aside from electricity we're off grid too.

I don't know if you knew, but you can get pre-piped cylinders now paired with an appropriate ASHP, how much of an advantage they are I don't know (yet).

So i'm pondering now over fitting my own.

Pros and cons as ever. Because these things don't go where the combi boiler sits I won't need to take it out, so we'll have that as a back up. This is a big advantage, I can spec and build an ASHP system in my own time, alongside the Combi.

Then when the time is right swap the pipes over. As said I could even link it in to the system (via gate valves) so it's there as a possible back up for the first Winter.

Big problem: House is only partially insulated and I'm only going to do the rooms one by one over the next few years. This means trying to spec a system which will have to run flat out now, to be in-spec when the walls are insulated and some better windows installed. I wonder if a system could be so flexible, sounds tricky.

Forum project maybe? Do you have the know-how to spec a system? 😀

It's not what you know you don't know you need to worry about, it's what you don't know you don't know, that's what catches you out.