Good morning.  Just joined on invite from the My Home Farm site. Looking at installing ASHP water and radiator central heating system to a 1950’s detached ex farm house.  Hopefully I can pick up enough good advice here that convinces me to confidently go down this route and then share the experience of the retro fit with others. 

Good morning and welcome @douglas. If you have any comments or insights please free to post them. What ASHP brand and size do you have?

@morgan thanks for coming over from My Home Farm. The comments (and some great help) are getting lost in the post comments, so these forums should be much easier to navigate.

If you have any specific questions pertaining to ASHPs, please feel free to post them here: https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums/renewable-heating-air-source-heap-pumps-ashps

Hello I'm Kev. I've been MCS for nearly 10 years now and was in the first 5 one man bands on scheme. Been fitting heat pumps since 2010. 

Good morning all. I have just joined after following "My Home Farm" for a few weeks now. Excellent content and information. I have recently moved to a beautiful 1950's house on  rural Herefordshire. Following quite a lot of research I have just signed up for an ASHP installation to replace our ageing oil-fired boiler and radiators. We don't have underfloor heating and are replacing the radiators with larger units to give the necessary heat output given the lower flow temperatures. Our installation is booked for end of March so a leap of faith on our part...  watch this space!! I will report on progress as time goes on. 

Welcome to the forums @chris-richardson and for sharing your journey. Have you decided on your brand and size of the ASHP yet? Looking forward to receiving your updates, and maybe you could write a review of your pump for us when it's in? Please keep us posted.

Good morning @kfiskplumbing and thank you for joining our forum. If you have the time to spare, it would be wonderful if you could share your expertise and insights to answer homeowner's questions.

@editor Hi Mars, it’s an LG HM121M U33 unit which I believe to be 12kv.

Hi, my name is Derek,

I am a Professional Engineer, who has specialised in Instrumentation and Control Systems (Automation) for most of my extensive career, but have also been heavily involved in the design, construction, commissioning and optimisation of complex process plants in various industries both large and small. This has also included heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC), so although not an expert, I would like to think myself quite knowledgeable.

I have had a Solar PV system for 10 years, so would be happy to answer any questions.

I have not taken the plunge yet on an ASHP system, since at present we are on mains gas and it would not be financially viable to do so.

I also have concerns that the RHI and Home Grant schemes are being abused by some, if not all, of the providers/installers of ASHP systems.

A similar thing happened with Solar PV. Our 4kW system cost £10.5k 10 years ago, the same system is now available for £8k or less.

It's great to have you on board @derek-m

@derek-m Great to have you on board and your experience will undoubtedly be very helpful. Agreed that if you can get mains gas then it really doesnt make financial sense to go for ASHP as it is a major cost initially. Air source heat pump for me makes sense when i dont have access to gas and I’m using an oil boiler. My concern is that the bigger the house the bigger the air source heat pump required to heat it and the electric bills will be bigger also. After reading about it I feel that air source is always going to be best matched with underfloor heating and maybe some oversized radiators. 

Hi Bob,

Pleased to see that you are a fellow moderator.

I was brought up in the years when it was a 'make do and mend' society, rather than the 'throw away' one we have today.

I was trained and worked in the Electricity Generation Industry for many years, when it was the Central Electricity Generation Board and then later National Power. It those days it was engineering excellence, which is not always the case now. For quite a number of years I have also been concerned at the knowledge and capability (or lack of) of many of the so called Engineers with whom I have worked, particularly the younger ones, many of whom did not appear to understand the basic laws of Physics.

Anyway, rant over, I am just happy to be able to put some of my knowledge and experience to good use before I become too senile.

Looking forward to working with you.

Best regards,

Derek.