Posted by: @little-lights

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Oil: Approx 1,250 litres. Bit of a guesstimate. We supplement with electric heating and kettles for hot water when the oil boiler fails (not infrequent maybe approx. 2.5 weeks in total across the past year, in fits and starts, during the winter months).

OK thats indicative more of 4kW than 7kW, although given you let the house cool a lot and use supplemental heating one might stretch it to perhaps 5kW or even 6.  7kW is a lot for a 80sq m or even a 100sq m well insulated house, mine is about double the size, 1930s, tolerably well insulated (but floors uninsulated) and 7kW. 

What Im saying is that you may well be able to get away with a good 5kW machine and if you can you may get slightly better performance (because it will modulate down further).  It might be worth getting a quote from a heat geek if you havent already, they tend to keenly spec albeit they tend to be pricy.  Also Octopus who seem almost invariably to get good reports (other than the recently introduced Cosy 12 which was/is noisy at least when first released).  Mostly I would do that to be certain you have covered all bases.

You wont want to operate your heat pump on/off, it will be very inefficient.  

With the EDF quote I would check

'heating controller' - you do not want any third party controls, this is probably just the Daikin one but check

'250L PRE PLUMBED R32 CYLINDER' - check that does not include a low loss header or a buffer tank

What flow temp are they designing for?  If >45 dont go there.

I cant speak for the Daikin controls but I can speak for the Vaillant ones which are definitely good.

You may be able to get a cheaper quote if you shop around and I believe the grant will go up shortly as you are replacing oil.  Personally I would get some more quotes.  A good technique with Vaillant (and some others) is to ask them for local certified installers.  There may be people who dont advertise because they dont need to!  Those can be a good bet.

@jamespa Perfect thanks - because we're doing an extension and it isn't built yet there's a few won't look at it until all the building work is done. Which is a tad annoying because if it's planned now before foundations are dug out and laid it may make the actual install easier overall. Also - we will be removing the boiler as part of the work we're doing, so would need some form of replacement, for hot water mainly, before the extension is completed.

Heat Geek were going to charge £800 for their planning stage, which seems a decent % of the overall cost of a heat pump, so I'd counted them out. Octopus and British Gas won't look at it until the extension is built. Aira did quote for us, they offered Aira Heat Pump 6kW, with the Aira Indoor Unit (All-in-one) 250L, and a Buffer Tank 40L. I decided against them because of the buffer tank and advice I've seen on here regarding that. I've asked for Ovo to contact me a couple of times, but they haven't as yet.

Are there any other companies you'd recommend?

Thanks so much - with installation and planning being such an important part of the process, I really do appreciate the input and advice!

Posted by: @little-lights

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Are there any other companies you'd recommend?

 

I cant, but @editor probably can if you tell him roughly where you are.  

I wouldn't ignore the smaller operators in your vicinity.  I found my installer through Vaillant.  I had never heard of him and he doesn't advertise widely because he doesnt need to.  As it turned out excellent.  He was literally a one man band  - even the electrics with the exception of the power feed which had been done by an electrician in advance.  Worked long hours to get the job done and did a very neat job.  I do agree that they can be unknown quantities though so need more due diligence, but if you find a good one then they can also be very good.

Posted by: @jamespa

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A good technique with Vaillant (and some others) is to ask them for local certified installers.  There may be people who dont advertise because they dont need to!  Those can be a good bet.

I second that. The third time I tried using the Vaillant list I found one possible mid size installer - and they were happy to install Grant and Bosch as well. 

Posted by: @little-lights

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@jamespa Perfect thanks - because we're doing an extension and it isn't built yet there's a few won't look at it until all the building work is done. Which is a tad annoying because if it's planned now before foundations are dug out and laid it may make the actual install easier overall. Also - we will be removing the boiler as part of the work we're doing, so would need some form of replacement, for hot water mainly, before the extension is completed.

 

Heat Geek were going to charge £800 for their planning stage, which seems a decent % of the overall cost of a heat pump, so I'd counted them out. Octopus and British Gas won't look at it until the extension is built. Aira did quote for us, they offered Aira Heat Pump 6kW, with the Aira Indoor Unit (All-in-one) 250L, and a Buffer Tank 40L. I decided against them because of the buffer tank and advice I've seen on here regarding that. I've asked for Ovo to contact me a couple of times, but they haven't as yet.

Are there any other companies you'd recommend?

 

Thanks so much - with installation and planning being such an important part of the process, I really do appreciate the input and advice!

It seems odd these companies don't design and plan for you before the build, I would say this is at least half our work load, in fact I quite like these jobs as they seem to have a 6-9 month lead in time, we also often will fit the cylinder way before the heat pump for the exact reason you mention, you need hot water sooner than heating. I find that providing you build the home to the specification, it is easier for us to desk top design from your build documents as they normally have very detailed fabric specs so no fabric assumptions on our part. If you are in Kent I would be very happy to help you.

Also worth noting if you are not in Kent and need to find someone, the Vaillant list works, we are on the Vaillant register and its right that some of us don't advertise loudly as we are already booked for a fair few months so what trickles in just keeps topping up ahead. We currently have orders and no space up to July and have planned orders in nearly every month this year and a couple next year, these much longer planned dates are all self builds secured way before ground is broken. It is defiantly a normal thing to plan, design and book once you intend to start your new build.  

Hi Mars,

I've sent you a request to connect me with an installer in my area. 

Thanks

Hi,

Does anybody have experience with Heat Geek installer Asset Plumbing & Heating in Surrey?

Thanks

A quick update... we've just launched the beta version of the Renewable Heating Hub Installer Finder.

You'll find it on the homepage, on the find heat pump installer page and in the forum sidebar. Enter your postcode and email and we'll match you with installers in our network. We have vetted and listed tiers... vetted installers have been through our independent review process, listed installers are not vetted.

The tool is in beta and the network is still growing, so there will be areas without coverage yet. If you search your postcode and come up empty, that's useful data for us... we're actively working on filling the gaps.

Feedback welcome below to help us make the best possible tool we can... and if you have an installer you think deserves to be added email (editor@renewableheatinghub.co.uk) or DM me.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share something with you all and to show you what you get with the service on the find an installer service here. We were matched with a member of this community, this happen organically due to this members research and carful study using the resources here and our responses helping this community where we can (so before the find an installer setup). With AAC based in the same area (Kent) it was a good match, we met our client, we surveyed, we installed a top brand and all was well for quite a few weeks. 

We installed an Airothem 5kW on Vaillant's new now in house built 150ltr slimline cylinder, looks smart seems to perform well. Several weeks later after installation which was this Tuesday evening just gone, our client contacts us and explains the new cylinder is leaking, over the phone we explain how to isolate everything safely and offer to attend within the hour, our client requested we attend in the morning. On Wednesday 08.11 we attend, identify that the actual cylinder vessel is leaking somewhere inside the insulation skin meaning we are unable to repair.

We AAC contact Vaillant service and warranty desk at 09.40, they send an engineer within 5hrs (so Wednesday afternoon 1pm ish) to investigate under warranty and confirm the same issue. On Thursday morning Vaillant confirm a new cylinder and start to work out logistics to send the cylinder and some an engineer to install, unfortunately Vaillant's 1st available labour is Tuesday next week, although this is probably a lot quicker than a lot of manufacturers for us it was important to get this water back on before this weekend. 

After agreeing with Vaillant, we arranged for the cylinder to be shipped straight to site this morning so we could use our own teams to fit the new cylinder, we attended today at 08.15, cylinder arrives at 10.30, new cylinder installed by 11.30, hot water at 50c by 1pm, clean site and away after re-insulating and checking by 2.30pm.

Although the bad news is that one of the top brands in the UK had a cylinder failure, the warranty support and perfomance of your system after installation is just as important as price and design when choosing your installer. We at AAC do our very best to supply the best kit, we do our best to support that kit with maintenance care and warranty. 

Within 3 days we managed to attend, diagnose and change a whole cylinder under warranty with all of the red tape and confirmations, not bad for a good brand if I may be so bold to say considering some of the horror stories I have seen here.

If you choose an installer here you are choosing quality and support.

Please note, this is my opinion only and is intended to show that when things go wrong and they do even for the best installations, it is about the support, which starts with the installer, leads to the manufacturer and ends with a solution and not excuses.

All the bast ASHP-BOBBA