@siko, welcome to the forums and thank you for sharing your background. You are not alone in trying to get installers to visit. Are you going to try and avail of the Green Homes Grant or RHI?

Please feel free to post questions or comments in the ASHP forum. 

I'm Mike and back in 2017 did a ground up restoration and extension of a Cotswold Cottage.

I put in underfloor heating throughout the ground and first floors powered by a Grant Aerona ASHP.

In even the most boring dinner party conversation no-one talks about their new gas central heating. The reason for that, I've concluded, having got an ASHP installation is that gas central heating always works. There is nothing to say about it. I suspect that most of us are here to talk ASHPs because our experience is that they don't always work as we would like. An ASHP is more than a heating system, it's a way of life.

I have lots more to say from my experience (especially of the freezing weather we had for a few days in January) and will start to add this in the coming days.

Mike

Great to have you here @mike-patrick. I think you're spot on about ASHPs being conversation pieces, and there's always something to talk about – tweaking this, tweaking that. It'll be great to get to your thoughts and insights. And I think this winter, for everyone with heat pumps, was a massive test. But we're through it, and we'll now enjoy efficient operation until November/December, when the cycle starts again.

Please also let me know if you'd be interested in writing a review about your Aerona ASHP.

Yes, happy to do so sometime. My comments would be as much about the service support as the pump itself.

Mike

🖐️ Hi Everyone,

I'm Ken, we've been living in Southwest Shropshire for the last 5 years, in a weather boarded Grade 2 listed wooden frame barn conversion. The Barn is "old" 1700's maybe... and was converted in the late 80's early 90's... A small connected barn where my mum lives was converted early 2010's to a much better standard.

The previous owner put in Solar PV:-

Ginlong Model 8D inverter
2 strings of 8 JA Solar JAM6-60-250/SI

I've looked at getting wind turbine but the COST!, ongoing maintenance and planning, probably rules that out.

Over Christmas I got briefly excited thinking we might be able to get micro hydro... but the head height with even our peak flow isn't nearly enough 🙄 

We are looking to replace the kitchen, so currently looking at retrofitting the ground floor with small bore (limited head height...) wet underfloor heating with some form of GSHP, getting away from our oil boiler.

My biggest worry is wall insulation and drafts, as whoever did the conversion didn't seem overly bothered with it, either that or the critters have made setup home and destroyed the insulation they used... From what I have read our bat population isn't going to make reinsulating the walls any easier and I hear less than encouraging stories about "modern" insulation in old buildings...

Hi All

I'm Duncan - currently living in Dublin but formerly from Lincolnshire.

Have fitted Samsung multi-split air-to-air heat exchanger and sunamp heat battery to replace gas fired combi system here and am currently insulating the house with hempcrete (hemp shiv and lime mix).  We had 2 x Nordic air-to-air single headers in Lincolnshire and they have been operating without a hiccup for 17 years now... sadly the excellent supplier we got them from is no longer in business.

Looking to add Solar PV longer term too so always interested in that.

Welcome to the site and forums @merrion, and thanks for sharing your set up, and we look forward to hearing more about your experiences.

hi, We're on the coast of the Lake District . 4Kw Solar panel array for 8years without a battery. Ground source Heat pump for 10 years. However that used compact collectors rather than a single pipe system with lots of underground joints. Our installer and we did not appreciate the difficulties with this in clay soil and it is no longer recommended. For 5 years we have coped with the leakage which varies with the the ground water level and the amount of time that the pump is operating. After a recent episode of increased leakage we decided to investigate replacing it with Air source HP. We don't have enough land to install slinky pipe system and boreholes are expensive in boulder clay. Sad really as even with our ancient radiators and sprung wooden floor the GSHP has performed very well keeping us warm and toasty in our retirement. 

So joined the forum looking for advice / background  on things the reps dont tell you about .

Very interesting @davef. It would be useful if you could share some of your issues with the ground source by starting a new thread in the ground source heat pump section so that other people can learn from your experiences.

We're more than happy to answer any ASHP related questions or queries. 

Hi, I wanted to say hello and thank everybody involved in setting up the website and forum.

I’ve been following the ASHP journey at myhomefarm with great interest. Mainly as we’re planning a whole new heating and DHW based system around a Caernarfon Pump.

I am new to the whole ASHP and renewables as we have recently moved from a well equipped home in a large town in the north of England to a full on project home in the western lakes.

In our last home, we enjoyed the luxury of mains gas and water and sewage services that so many of us take for granted. Here in the Lakes, we have no mains gas and sewage will be handled by our recently installed sewage treatment plant that isn’t quite commissioned yet. It will become operational when we are further into our renovation/restoration.

At present, we are wresting with the decision on UFH. We are unsure as to wether to do the large barn conversion(not yet started) ground floor and put radiators in the first floor rooms or to UFH throughout. We are also having a similar conversation about the other half of the project which is a 3 bed Georgian cottage. The two buildings are connected with a link that was built in the seventies.

Other things we’re considering are Solar PV and Battery Storage. These things would be primarily installed to help with the running costs of the ASHP. Any opinions and thoughts about that as a plan to mitigate the running costs would be welcomed. Feel free to advise on what products work for your setup and if they’re effective.

As mentioned, we’re at the start of our project and are only really at the Heating/DHW design stage.

The plan as it takes shape is to have the Caernarfon Pump at the heart of the system. It will probably provide Heating by way of UFH throughout the whole property. We hope to supplement the running costs with a solar/battery system. It is this last part that we’re struggling with as we contemplate the ROI period against our age and how long we may live in our new (to be) dream home.

Anyway, sorry if I’ve blathered on a bit. Very glad to be a part of this emerging community.

cheers y’all

Lewis

Thanks for the detailed introduction @lewb - great to have you here and look forward to your posts and questions.

@editor thanks Mars. One of our major concerns is trying to get things moving quickly in order to make the RHI deadline March 2022.

it may be interesting to find out more from @davef as I believe he’s also in the western Lakes.

I wonder, if like me, he’s managing to find a choice of recommended installers. There seems to be a definite lack of trades people round these parts.

The other major concern is overall cost of the whole installation. Could be getting toward £40k even without the SolarPV and Battery System. That is based on an initial quote from a local heating engineering firm 😱 

Right, going to have a cruise through the website.

👍