@jamespa mine was costing me 25 quid a day and I had my log burner running. It might be a free grant she has but it will bankrupt her unless it gets kicked into touch.  It sounds like it’s being installed akin to a conventional boiler and they are miles apart.

@transparent OK! I hold my hands up to gross inaccuracies there - Sorry, Mea Culpa!

My bad statement was based on information provided by various installers of heat pump systems who all informed me that they set their flow temperatures to 50 degrees C as per MCS guidance. I heard this so many times, I assumed it was true - hah!

I was also sold the line about the guidance on temperatures that the surveyor should provide for in various rooms. In this instance I decided to dig further into some MIS documentation and found that these guidelines may be subject to discussion with the customer and their personal needs. (This was one of the difficulties I experienced with Octopus Energy after they told me they could not factor in my request for 22 - 23 degrees in the living spaces and 25 - 26 degrees in the bathroom.) When I pointed out that the customer may request variations for reason of health etc., I received an email explaining that my installation was ‘outside of the scope of their work’ - though this variation was not the sole reason for declining my installation contract, I think they wished to adhere more closely to the MCS guidelines than my request might allow. They also would not budge from the 50 degree C. flow temperature for the heat pump - as quite a number of other readers on the forum seemed to have found (am I wrong in claiming this I wonder, are there many people out there where their survey was based on lower flow temperatures.

So, @transparent, I still feel that there is some rear-end covering going on by installers and I can see no good coming of it. BTW, sorry for the delay in replying - life intervened! Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @david999

↑

@jamespa mine was costing me 25 quid a day and I had my log burner running. It might be a free grant she has but it will bankrupt her unless it gets kicked into touch.  It sounds like it’s being installed akin to a conventional boiler and they are miles apart.

Well in truth boilers should also be installed with weather compensation and operated at a low flow temperature, but our heating industry has been getting it wrong for the past 20 years which is why most 'condensing' boilers have plumes of uncondensed vapour coming out of them, increasing costs by about 10 percent.

@jamespa Yes, throughout the life of our condensing British Gas Glow Worm boiler, plumes of vapour could be seen leaving the balanced flue! Efficiency - my ar.. Toodles.

@jamespa once it all goes wrong and you research you then realise how bad. When you confront the installer they don’t understand. Change isn’t coming anytime soon, heating engineers or even plumbers trying to install heat pumps and it’s going to be a disaster. Get a bloke trained up and if I’m honest he will still be finding his way, most are profit motivated, get it done bonus and move on. What you can’t see and lack of your knowledge leaves you exposed, and MCS are a waste of space. And I have said this many times but the financial ombudsman has proven to be the same. 

@toodles my daughters is similar and I installed it. I reduced the temp but without gauges I have no idea what flow and return temps are.  I need to try harder as they say.

Thankfully I do have a electricity smart meter thing so I'm watching the cost.  However I am still waiting for someone to come explain/show everything and find out why setting up melcloud app is not working.  Interestingly the guy that did the install suggested one of the electricians would be best for that as he ''deals with it all the time''.  Hmmm...

I am struggling so not been able to get outside to photo the heat pump yet. (semi-disabled)

Posted by: @ellyse

↑

Thankfully I do have a electricity smart meter thing so I'm watching the cost.  However I am still waiting for someone to come explain/show everything and find out why setting up melcloud app is not working.  Interestingly the guy that did the install suggested one of the electricians would be best for that as he ''deals with it all the time''.  Hmmm...

The cost/efficiency wont be apparent until it gets colder.

You should demand a system diagram and also ask whether weather compensation has been set up.  Form the above ot looks possible that it hasn't and if there is any hesitation then demand that they do so as its an MCS requirement.  Running without weather compensation inevitably increases running cost by about 15%. 

You will need the system diagram if there are any questions later and when anyone comes to repair it should anything go wrong!  If its not too late withhold payment until you have these (and explanations how it works, preferably written!)

I'm re-posting two of your photos with my annotations:

I wouldn't be happy with this internal pipework.

I can't tell the thickness of the insulation from the photos, but it should be at least 13mm (not 9mm)

The insulation should cover all metalwork, including valve bodies.
There are larger diameter sizes to achieve this.

Insulation joins should be glued.
There are special adhesives offered by the insulation manufacturers, but they are very similar to the standard "Contact" glues.
You apply it to each face and allow it to dry for a few minutes before pressing the pieces together.

See this animation by Climaflex:

I don't like the lack of mechanical support for those pipes.
I can only see one support bracket for a pair of vertical pipes.

There's a prominent lever valve with a blue-handle in the photo.
It either needs to be labelled, or you require a system diagram with each valve identified...
... preferably both!

I don't like seeing the use of 90° soldered elbows on pipework.
They have a higher resistance to the flow, thereby causing loss of pressure.
There are swept-elbows if there's little space, but it's best to use a pipe-bender to re-direct the pipework.

This video clip shows how sharp elbows reduce pressure and flow-rate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC7bb_bA-OM

In the second photo which I've reposted, there are two 90° elbows within 10cm of each other.
That suggests the join to the original pipe was pointing in the wrong direction,
so the two elbows could be an attempt to put that right. 🤨 

@transparent is that relief valve on the cylinder a built in g4, mine was high up on the pipework with an air gap. It all looks a bit how mine was, that insulation etc, goodness knows what it’s like under the floor. Why do they get away with this, when is somebody going to quality control these installations. Mine was all photographed apparently since they get reviewed but must have been Stevie wonder that viewed and signed off mine.  Disgraceful!!

Floors are concrete. Piping routed through the attic.  Also the attic got extra insulation added, which was done after the pipework was completed. 

Right now heating is only running early morning, before 6am, then warm enough all day to stay off.  This mornings heat time, plus kettle for coffees, used 74p of electricity.