We are talking to NIBE about replacing it, but there is since a lead time with installers in SE Scotland. At the moment we have no way of heating water.

In 2024, Go Geothermal partnered with Broughton Sanctuary to supply comprehensive ground source heat pump systems across multiple properties on the estate. 

@editor perhaps might be an interesting video case study?  I recall that you have spoken to GoGeo previously so perhaps you also recd the email.

We did a barn conversion in the Brecon Beacons National Park in 2010 and installed a ground source heat pump from IVT. In an attempt to learn about it, I used a proprietary interface on a Raspberry Pi to populate a Home Assistant (HA) database with the metrics from the heat pump. (We did have an excellent heat pump engineer to install it at the time.) We had the RHI payments from it whilst we were there.

In 2010 we moved to Carmarthenshire into a house which already had a GSHP installed. Although badged as Worcester Bosch, I was pleased to see that it used the same controller as I was used to and had the same functionality as the IVT heat pump so linked it to HA again.

I had set up HA to alert us via text messages if the controller detected an alarm condition and also if "Additional Heat" was requested. 

A few weeks ago we were surprised to see the Additional Heat alert in the middle of a fairly mild morning with nobody at home. When I returned, I interrogated the heat pump to find that the compressor was not working even though HA detected that it had been activated. Also, there was no alarm condition recorded.

Some research led me to the soft-start unit and the capacitor which had blown its top - literally. Gel all over the inside of the unit. On the Saturday I managed to obtain a replacement which I duly fitted. I used the engineer service menu to manually start the compressor to test it. When the thing made startup noises, I cheered, punched the air and walked to the other side of the garage for a celebratory beer - as the final match of the Six Nations was about to start. I touched the beer bottle then BANG! Damn new capacitor has blown due to knackered compressor.

By the way, this heat pump was never registered for RHI so we did not receive those payments.

I have disabled the compressor on the heat pump and tweaked it so it just produces DHW (at a lower temp than normal). Lucky we have a logburner. I have spent days splitting logs the last couple of weeks. Also lucky I can borrow my neighbour's hydraulic logsplitter which fits the back of my tractor.

It seemed sensible to obtain a very similar but newer GSHP which would fit in the rather complex plumbing here: Big buffer tank, 250l cylinder, hot water solar panels, zone valves galore. House was only built in 2010 so has UFH throughout. (GSHP is/was a Greenstore 11kW system.)

I see a lot has changed in the past 16 years. Some GSHP producers now only sell ASHP. There is no compatible GSHP for the rest of the kit that I can see. By the way, ground loop is in excellent condition with no leak since we have been here. There is always at least a 4c difference between the in and out temperatures.

The ASHP's have come on in leaps and bounds and are now much more efficient than they were. I assume a lot of the research effort has gone that way as GSHP needs a pile of ground work. We may just blank off the ground loop and go ASHP instead. 

I don't suppose we can even get a grant for the new one. Wife is doing the calcs on whether we just to go a cheaper oil boiler and do the sums based on a "normal" oil price and not the silly price it is now.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you.

Looking for some valued advice regarding selecting a GS system for a new build installation.

Essentially we have an extensive plot size that would lend itself to a horizontal pipe installation - hence consideration of a GSHP.

Given that we have 'zero' experience with heat pumps, I would really appreciate what manufacturers we should look at in terms of reliability/efficiency/cost etc.

My friend has recently built a new home in Denmark and is really impressed with the NIBE GSHP (his previous property had a Thermia GSHP). We had a Viessmann gas boiler in a previous property and it never gave any issues.

Therefore we are considering NIBE and Viessmann initially....but on a deeper search other manufacturers are of course available - Thermia/Mastertherm/Stiebel Eltron/Vaillant to name a few.

In the first instance - are there any manufacturers to avoid completely; conversely are there some we should look closely at?

Apologies for the broad query......but I do appreciate that it is important to design the overall system correctly from the start.

If it helps we are in SW Scotland, and approx floor area of 200m2 (UF Heating plus x2no upstair bed rooms(rads)).

Look forward to hearing from you, and thanks in advance.

-W

we live in Northern Ireland. Build our house 10years ago and installed a Thermia GSHP 8kw system. The brine loop goes straight down 350ft.

All has been amazing with running it. however 2 weeks ago an alarm  message - Brine pump - came up and we had to switch the unit off as it was going to AUX2 so using alot of electricity. 
Our problem is getting someone to look at it. The company who installed it is no longer trading!
I have researched and found that the brine antifreeze can deteriorate over time.

We cannot seem to find someone to look at it here - Northern Ireland.

Help

We are using around 60kwh a day at present. 

Heat pump seems to be on all the time - an engineer has been round and has been trying to help but he is v busy. He thinks the water heating part of the heat pump is kicking in throughout the day and night which has sent our electricity usage through the roof.

I was wondering if maybe something is broken and the immersion is kicking in all the time.

I'm really really not technical. Would anyone be able to please recommend a GSHP expert engineer in the Midland region?

I dread to think how much our electricity bill for this month will be.

We're in the process of installing the horizontal coils for our GSHP. There is enough space in the field we are using to dig an extra trench and the manifold has the capacity to have an extra coil.  Obviously there's an extra cost for the slinky etc but we do have the people on site to do this and they are getting faster as we do more in the field (especially now we've found a water pipe running across our land to another property) but is it worth doing? My gut feeling is that it will improve the efficiency of the system but it's only once its all in and we've done a couple of years that we'll know if it was worth doing. GSHP is new for us and our builder who is nervous to do anything other than follow what Alto (the supplier) is specifying. We're on the top of the Chilterns and temperatures are always 2 deg C lower than surrounding areas. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received! TIA  

After more than two years of false starts and dubious advice, we finally had our heat pump installed. God help the push to decarbonise heat if every household has to go through the pulling of teeth that I had to endure! I'll save that journey for another day 😉 

Although the heat pump is operational, I won't consider the install complete until the company sends me the Handover pack that might answer some of my questions. The plumber gave me a brief handover, and while his work his well done, I'm not convinced he has much experience with GSHPs. I'm left with a raft of questions that the company or heat pump manufacturer (Kensa) might answer in the coming weeks, but I want to check with the collected Brain Trust to see if I'm asking the right questions so that I'm in a better position to understand or challenge what I'm told.

• How should the GSHP be set up to operate? The plumber said treat it like a normal boiler and use the house thermostat/programmer to set when it comes on and at what target temp. Most people talk about heat pumps being on low and all the time. Is this different for ASHP/GSHP or Fixed/Variable output? The Kensa is fixed.
• How do I set up weather compensation? The plumber and electrician both said I didn't need it. In fact, I had to be annoyingly persistent to even get the weather sensor that comes with the Kensa HP fitted.
• Return CH temp has been set at 30 degrees at the moment, so about 35 going out. I'm assuming the weather compensation should be used to change this when the cold days return; rather than me changing the temp manually.
• Do I need to set the setback temp if the system doesn't even come on overnight? Common sense says no.
• There is a 3-way valve from the heat pump that feeds the CH and DHW. I'm guessing that although this allows both to be served at once that this is not optimal and I'd be better using the timers to deconflict each demand.
• There is basic monitoring on the Kensa unit and nothing remote I can view from the comfort of the house. Are there third party system available and how easy are they to install?
• The new DHW tank is as far as physically possible from the kitchen taps (approx 25 m of pipes). So we have a secondary return (SR) fitted to pre-charge the hot pipes in the house before the morning and evening rush. These are on another timer. How should the DHW and SR timers be set up to avoid unnecessary loss of heat?
• Should TRVs all be opened to the max or can I use them to drop the temp in the bedrooms?
• What sort of details should I be looking for in the handover pack?

Lots of questions and I'm sure there will be plenty more as the system starts to earn its keep in the autumn.

Algie