I’ve no issues with an annual service of an ashp in particular to keep the warranty up. But I’ve noticed on our new hot water cylinder that it states on a big sticker that it must be serviced each year in order to keep the 10year warranty.

I have never once had a water cylinder serviced. It’s obviously a good game, not least to void a guarantee.

Posted by: @judith

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I’ve no issues with an annual service of an ashp in particular to keep the warranty up. But I’ve noticed on our new hot water cylinder that it states on a big sticker that it must be serviced each year in order to keep the 10year warranty.

I have never once had a water cylinder serviced. It’s obviously a good game, not least to void a guarantee.

It would be interesting to find out what is actually carried out when a DHW cylinder is serviced?

Posted by: @judith

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I have never once had a water cylinder serviced.

Posted by: @derek-m

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It would be interesting to find out what is actually carried out when a DHW cylinder is serviced?

You should have been left the service manual and commissioning certificate with the new cylinder.

The annual service for unvented cylinder includes testing safety valves, recharging pressure vessels, cleaning the pressure reduction valve strainer, checking electrical connections and providing a service certificate. All pretty basic stuff but you need to be G3 certified to complete the work.

Building on what’s been covered here so far, this is an insightful video:

Just had my heat pump annual service  completed today. I qualify for three years free servicing by Scottish power who sub contract it out. I won’t mention the contractor but having checked the reviews they are crap.

Anyway took him around to see the heat pump unit and he asked me,  what is this, a hydraulic pump? 

took him upstairs to the tank room and never seen anything like it before. I told him a Samsung tech had been out and noted several faults which had been sorted. He would need to take photos for the office since none of it made sense. Said he had been at another samsung installation earlier and it looked nothing like this.

showed him the filter and was told they don’t clean it, not part of a service. I said what do you do then, he said just a visual and check the antifreeze.  When leaving he said he learned more about heat pumps than his company had given him, which was zero. I don’t even think he was a heating engineer, perhaps a labourer.  

I felt sick when he left. Now this is three years free servicing by Scottish power and a total waste of time. Going to speak with Scottish power regarding this, he said they don’t want the filters cleaned or just a lazy B.  One of the reviews detailed a service caught on cctv and nothing done and I thought just a chancer but it was the classic kick the tyres and serviced.

So anyone with this policy beware. 

@david999 let’s be honest that wasn’t a service in any shape or form. Will you let SP know that this was a complete and utter waste of your time?

@editor yup, be interested to know what it cost SP.  Said he was scheduled to do 14 a day so including travelling ?

@david999 14 a day?! That’s ridiculous.

When I’ve spoken to installers about servicing, they’ve consistently said a proper service should take at least an hour. For more complex installations or when additional checks are required, they’ve recommended allocating 90 to 120 minutes to ensure everything is done thoroughly.

If someone is claiming they can manage 14 services in a single day, that’s not servicing – it’s little more than a quick inspection. It raises serious concerns about the quality of the work and what’s actually being done during those so-called “services, which as you've described was not very much. I'd definitely flag this with SP.

We’re approaching year six with our heat pump and have hit another snag this weekend (not the first, unfortunately): the system is persistently raising a “Major Defrost Fault.” I contacted Global Energy Systems, our manufacturer, and their initial response points to a potential refrigerant issue (though I’m still trying to confirm this). It’s shaping up to be a challenging situation, especially since we skipped last year’s service. To be honest, the service the year before left a bad taste in our mouths – it felt superficial, with no meaningful checks to catch underlying problems.

After reading Global’s reply (and probably groaning a bit), my wife made a sharp observation. Every heat pump expert we’ve talked to and interviewed has compared these systems to a kitchen fridge – same basic technology, similar upkeep, and so on. But here’s the thing: when was the last time you actually serviced your fridge? For most people, the answer is never.

@editor Just the once when the American style fridge/freezer failed not longer after warranty ran out! Cost a small fortune to have a faulty PCB replaced plus the engineer’s time!!! Regrets Toodles.

@editor when my heat pump

was checked for excess ice the engineer said low gas can cause it but in my case it wasn’t and was attributed to a really bad install over and suggested that main cause was wrong flow rate for the rating of the heat pump. Too slow or too fast creates its own symptoms. Last year 25 quid a day on a minus day, now it’s sorted 10-11 quid, and thats charging my solar, running all my house cooker etc. last year I never had an EV so well pleased but it was a struggle, researching and fighting to get them to do what I wanted. And of course the chaps on here were first class.

just had mine serviced, free for three years. Guy walked in couldnt understand any of it and no kidding when we went outside he asked what that was, the heat pump. He did nothing, no filter cleaning and sent me a comprehensive service sheet all checked and ticked. On leaving he said he learned more about heat pumps from me than he knew when he arrived. Which was zero anyway.  Another customer caught them out though because they have internal cctv and noted that nothing was done either. Taking photos isn’t a service.  They wont be touching anything on mine again and I have informed Scottish power that they are getting scammed. 

@toodles mine went and it was cheaper to get another, i priced the part, common on a Samsung and it was stupid money and a cow to change.