@adrian thank you for your insights and yes, you’re absolutely right about the timing of the install being at the worst possible time of year. Add to that, the extreme cold we’re currently experiencing, -9 here last night, it’s all combined and had me staring at the smart meter in sheer panic.. But with the help I’m receiving here, I’m slowly (snail pace) getting to grips with it. 

@judith it sounds as though you’re happy with the system which is encouraging to hear. Can I ask what type/age of house you have?

As for room temperatures, I’d be more than happy with 18 degrees in the living rooms and 15/16 in the bedrooms. Happy to wear a few layers when it’s cold as I’m a country lass 😊

I was moving the ecotherm around the house but I’ve now got it permanently positioned in the coolest room (hall/dining room) which can be as chilly as 11 degrees… 

Posted by: @jaynieq

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Radbots - are on all but one radiator. We have  x 13. The one without, we were told, was to ‘balance the system

Hmm.  Sounds like a load of baloney TBH.  One rad without - yes, better still at least 8-10 without and the radiators properly balanced to give the right temperature whilst always on.  Once we get some data lets discuss.  Im surprised you arent having problems with defrost.

Posted by: @jaynieq

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The tank on the pic is a 300l DHW. We questioned why such a large tank was needed in a house with no bath tubs and were told it was needed for the system to operate efficiently..(?)

Sort of baloney.  It does need to be large enough that you can get away with heating it to (say) only 48C and run all day - which obviously depends on how much DHW you use.   If you take 4+ showers a day then, yes, 300l is probably needed.  If you don't then it isnt.

Fortunately the Vaillant tanks are very low loss, so apart from loss of space there isn't any real harm with it being large, and possibly some good.

Posted by: @jaynieq

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Im working on the info needed from the Senso panel but am finding it tricky to work with. I will get there in the end. 

No problem, when you are ready!.  You could just send photos of the relevant screens rather than having to transcribe all the info!

’

Posted by: @jaynieq

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The myVaillant saga continues as we don’t have a QR code and suspect that may be with our installer who registered the product on our behalf. I have been trying to contact the installer for 3 hours this morning but they are not answering their phone. I’ve also sent my query to Vaillant and am waiting for their response.

The wireless interface is a tricky device to set up it must be said.  My install was split into a week and then one day a week later.  I tried to set it up in between and thought Id failed.  My installer then came along, did what I had done, got to the same point that I had got to and declared it would sort it self out within a day. It didn't.   On inspection it turned out that the bus cable had become disconnected.  I fixed that (very fiddly!) and it all worked.

You can bypass the QR code somehow, cant remember exactly how but the instructions do say.  I think it involves pushing the button on the wifi interface and/or dialling into your phone the mac address of the interface which is on the back.

Incidentally, I couldn't see the wifi interface in your picture, but I could see several cables disappearing off, so hopefully one is connected to it.

@lenny thanks so much for your reply and your encouraging comments. I think you’re right about the administration of the Eco4 grants.. Recipients seem to have less positive experiences with their installation. If I go onto Trustpilot and read the reviews for my installer there is a massive difference in the reviews of those who have paid for their renewables vs those of us who did not. But I hate to seem ungrateful! Despite having a lifelong medical condition, I’m still troubled by getting ‘summat for nowt..’ and then complaining about it! 
Its good to hear that your system is working for you and making life more comfortable for your son.
Incredibly relieved to have stumbled upon this forum and absolutely blown away by responses I’ve had. People are so good.. 🙏

@jamespa oh dear, I’m really showing my age and ignorance here.. We don’t have wireless interface. Am I right in thinking this is another gadget, like a dongle, that sends info from the Sensor to the MyVaillant app..? Or am I completely off kilter? 🥴

Posted by: @jaynieq

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@jamespa oh dear, I’m really showing my age and ignorance here.. We don’t have wireless interface. Am I right in thinking this is another gadget, like a dongle, that sends info from the Sensor to the MyVaillant app..? Or am I completely off kilter? 🥴

Yes, without it the MyVaillant app wont work. It sends the info from the sensocomfort/the control unit/ (which is the box bottom right in my photo) to Vaillant's servers, MyVaillant app access the servers.

In the picture below on right hand side the middle of the three boxes (basically a boring beige box with a button and a LED on top that you cant see).

Most of the info it gives is available from the SensoComfort, albeit in less user-friendly fashion.

Posted by: @jaynieq

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@judith it sounds as though you’re happy with the system which is encouraging to hear. Can I ask what type/age of house you have?

As for room temperatures, I’d be more than happy with 18 degrees in the living rooms and 15/16 in the bedrooms. Happy to wear a few layers when it’s cold as I’m a country lass 😊

I was moving the ecotherm around the house but I’ve now got it permanently positioned in the coolest room (hall/dining room) which can be as chilly as 11 degrees… 

Our house has a solid concrete floor cavity walls with old foam insulation and 300mm of insulation in the roof. It’s 190m2in area and 1950s build. The key point is our heat loss is about 7kW and our heat pump is 7kW, but the Vaillants will produce more than their label says.

You have a larger model and from your oil usage (ref James) your heat loss is about 9kW. So you should be OK and not have such horrible low temperatures inside.
11C in your hall /dining is horrific, does it have a new radiator in there? It does imply an actual fault in that room. 
I’m watching the weather forecast and it does look like we will all be a lot warmer by middle of next week 

@jamespa thank you for the clarification. Sadly we don’t have one. I doubt I will be able to get our installer to do this for us, so my next job is to find someone local who will.

It all makes sense now. I’ve been wracking my brains but couldn’t remember the install team ever mentioning WC, wireless interface, or myVaillant.. Mind you, our handover tutorial took about 2 minutes so it’s unlikely he’d have had time to touch on those tricky technical areas.. 

Until we get myVaillant sorted, in your opinion James, is there anything we can be doing towards sorting WC..?

As ever, big thanks to you. 

@judith the house is indeed warmer than it was before the pump was installed. it’s the considerable cost that has caused the worry and stress. I think our bill this week will be £80.. now that I’ve stopped running around turning everything off.. 

Yes I think we reached the end of the cold snap, it’s minus 2 here today - considerably warmer than yesterday! 

We have solid concrete floors with no foundations, which is why the hall is so cold. It is a dining room too but we only use it as such during the better weather, otherwise it’s just a corridor to reach the kitchen and living room. It does have a new radiator - a whopper! - which brings the temp up to 16. This was unheard of pre ASHP. 

Posted by: @jaynieq

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Until we get myVaillant sorted, in your opinion James, is there anything we can be doing towards sorting WC..?

MyVaillant is a nice to have not an essential. All the information it gives you is also available on the sensocomfort, its just that MyVaillant presents it better and allows you remotely to control the heat pump.  You do however need it, or rather the wifi interface that enables it, to benefit from the OvO heat pump tarrif but otherwise please don't feel obliged to get it.  There is a risk anyway that you lose interest in the data after a year of operation and all the add on tech becomes redundant!  Ive got data feeding also HomeAssistant which is great for producing graphs like this one of FT vs Time

But will I be interested in a years time - I doubt it!

So for now I suggest to revert to using the sensocomfort.  Here is what I said earlier

.

In the absence of the MyVaillant app can you post the following from the sensocomfort

From Information - Energy data:

• All the figures under Environmental yield
• All the figures under Power consumption

(its probably easiest just to screenshot it)

The ratio (environmental yield + power consumption)/power consumption is the COP and should be between 3 and 4

from Settings - Installer Level - Installation configuration - circuit 1

• the value against 'heat curve'  (BTW this is where you adjust the WC).
• the value against 'target flow temperature'
• the value against 'room temp mod'

I wouldn't change anything in installer settings yet.

Its worth reading the Sensocomfort manual section 2.12  this explains how Vaillant go about WC and how you change it.  The latter is far more user friendly than many, once you get your head around the concept.

Do you have a Sensocomfort?

it looks like

Hi again @jaynieq 

I hope your daily consumption has gone down to the point where you can see that it will average out the horrible very cold days. Most of the country seems to be warmer. Now is the best time to learn your system and how to tweak it so you’ll feel more confident making adjustments when it gets cold again.

Vaillant have a very good help desk which might be able to get your more connected for example. 
There are lots of people willing to help on this forum too. Just keep asking questions.