@derek-m I agree but am in no position to do that.

It was my post and it should have read Mitsubishi and not LG.

@alec-morrow welcome to the forum, I’ve only been here a few weeks. As a casualty of an underperforming ASHP controlled by a dodgy thermostat it’s good to see an installer seeing this problem you refer too.
 
Through the help on this forum I am improving my system and I’ve detailed this on another post. I’m still monitoring things and I need to get the manufacturers remote controller installed but that’s something for me to pick up with the installer, which might be an interesting discussion. 

It really saddens me to see the heat pump industry go the unsustainable way of the boiler industry.

The reasons it is the way it is are complex and probably boring to most people. Briefly almost all heating technology is developed out of the UK and has been for the last 30yrs. In Germany outdoor sensors on boilers were mandatory since 1985, thus the technology is highly advanced. Many heat pumps and boilers work perfectly well just with weather guidance and no indoor temperature reference. 

Boilers in the UK last an average of 8 yrs, their design life is 20-25 years with a maintenance spend and a component replacement. But to achieve that you need to use the outdoor sensor and if possible a compensation controller if required inside. That puts the machines into a sweet spot and how they are designed to be used. Any deviation from that compromises everything.. reliability, comfort and efficiency.

As Britain doesn't make any components for heating and almost all is  R&D on heat pumps has now been completed outside the UK britain where it is understood "stable state" heating in regularly occupied spaces offers the opportunity for efficient use of energy minimising energy consumption.

Policy makers dont grasp that,  where small zoning is encouraged and a simple on off input is taught to this day in colleges, supported by the boiler manufacturers, who advise the government.

But all the manufactures who advise the government  work for companies owned outside the UK. Who benefits from the additional sales by not up skilling installers and the industry... yes you have guessed it the boiler manufacturers in the rest of the world

A virtuous circle for everyone except the UK consumer and very difficult to break.

All I can do is guide consumers to  the right choices (bundles from one manufacturer), and hope George Monbiot or some other ecowarrior runs with this in the press... 

There are certainly a number of things that caused / influenced us to end up in this state of affairs. Offshoring production, the ability of larger companies with power & lower costs to undercut smaller producers (or UK producers), UK companies either failing or being bought out by larger ones, the UK consumer's desire to spend as little as possible, government's inability to support or guide or even think clearly about the UK situation. It's not that long ago that the Govt cut support for the solar industry, when we are in the middle (beginning / endgame?) of an eco crisis, where solar is surely an important element. Of course we can always import it from China... let them be the experts, saves us in educational costs. 

Definitely a difficult problem to solve

So many UK condensing boilers are being run almost flat out when they are most efficient running at much lower settings, the "sweet spot". Very few people I have talked to seem to have any idea at all about it. "It was cold so we turned the boiler up". It could have been made mandatory to fit weather compensation exterior sensors, why has it never happened?

Why aren't all newbuilds required to have solar roof panels? 

In gas boiler installs on jobs I have been involved with, it seems the gas fitters are rarely also electricians, the electricians called to do the job, wire it up the way they are accustomed to; internal thermostats. Very often the condensing boiler is replacing an older boiler, so the controls are already in place & are just reconnected. Customer saves a bit of money on not having "fancy wiring", wifi controls etc. I appreciate that the newer generation may be better informed but I wouldn't bet on it.

I do think that if / as we move over to ASHP's (or in smaller numbers, GSHP's) that "consumers" (the bulk of the UK public) will have to adjust to lower domestic heating temperatures. I know that newbuilds or total renovations will, or should have, very much higher levels of insulation, entirely appropriate to the new tech. But there are so many (most?) houses that will remain difficult to insulate sufficiently & a huge number of people on really quite low incomes who may just about afford the ASHP install but not the insulation, or vice versa. Either that or ASHPs will have to be overspecced to put sufficient heat into "leaky" houses, or consumers will be running them flat out, exactly as they do the current gas boilers, & paying huge electricity bills.

@flowboy ironically the technology upon which these systems rely (open therm) was developed at Glasgow university in the late 80s, and sold by Honeywell to a consortium of European boiler manufacturers for £1 in 1992

the rest is history…

Reality of my ASHP in cold weather. 1st Jan okay, last couple of days shocking to the point that I’m around x3 usage, and cannot heat the house even with 9 hours of running.

The costs of running are not affordable, and I would envisage an electric bill of £600 this month?

Mitsubishi engineer on site this Monday to verify, plan B is rip out and put in Oil or LPG

Will update after Monday visit

@rann1888, I regret to tell you that LPG is not that much cheaper to run. Oil (kerosene) is a bit more economical than electricity at current tariffs (for us anyway). People with all types of heating are feeling the pain this winter.

@editor my current rip off rate is 22p kwh, excluding standing charges. Pretty sure there are cheaper options out there?

@rann1888, we're on the same tariff as you, and it's a killer. Our area oil club had kerosene at over 65p/litre last week - we will get a new tariff on that tomorrow probably. If it goes over 70p, which it almost certainly will, it will make kerosene marginally cheaper for us to run than our ASHP. LPG prices are through the roof too. There's no cheap fix at the moment, and quite honestly, it's a scary time financially for everyone.

@editor Ouch, wasn’t aware.

Thoughts on getting a multi fuel log burner installed to heat main rooms, and keep ashp?

Yes, extra outlay day one, but I need a plan b and at least one warm room the family can live in without walking around in fleeces while at the same time paying a fortune

@rann1888, we have two wood burners that bring rooms up to temperature quickly.