Actually thinking about it, I just sold a house where I fitted the heat pump and it was never mentioned by anyone 🙂

Posted by: @jamespa

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By the time the outcome of 'engagement with community groups' has been summarised and diluted by well meaning civil servants many of which, sadly, will not have a science or engineering background [...] it will almost certainly be meaningless and certainly the industry lobby groups will find ways to argue against it

Well that's the issue which was on my mind.
The physics/engineering input is weak.
Submissions from the energy sector are often made by directors with a background in accounting.

We currently have energy policies which don't make sense.
They may well make money for the energy industry, but there's a lack of basic science underpinning the strategy.

I've just found the 'report' on the BEIS-funded 'Electrification of Heat' trials which started two years ago under auspices of the Energy Catapult.
It cost £14m to rip out gas boilers and install ASHPs in 750 homes.

The headline outcome is "Heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers", whilst overlooking the fact that electricity then cost four times more than gas!

When taking part in public consultations by Ofgem, National Grid or DNOs, I can usually participate as an individual (which they refer to as a 'stakeholder').
But I don't receive invitations if the remit of the public consultation is framed as 'community groups'.

As you know @transparent, I am in one of those 742 homes and things didn’t go well for many us. I have provided plenty of feedback to them during the trial which wasn’t acknowledged, and probably made it no further than the administrators inbox. 

Glad to see some reference to the experience I and many others have but they didn’t tidy up and improve all the poor sites. Had they done the results would have, and should have been much better. 
From the report:

whilst the average performance has improved, performance variation remains high. This suggests that progress is still required to improve the consistency of heat pump design and installation to support a large-scale rollout of heat pumps in existing homes and to deliver positive environmental and consumer outcomes.

I think most people on this forum could have written this without needing to spend £14m

@editor I am in an 'Eco-house' near Brecon and we are struggling to get te MVHR to work. Incoming air is barely warmer than outside. There seems to be a lack of service people in this area. Can anyone make suggestions for competent people to service an MVHR - may need recalibrating.

Hi @gutoffowc so does your MVHR only warm the incoming air by extracting heat from the air being expelled?

Or is it the type where there is a secondary 'heater' in the pipe which leaves the heat-exchanger to supply the living rooms?
That's the yellow pipe in the following drawing:

Servicing isn't particularly complex on these units... but could be expensive if warranty terms require you to use a firm that's been accredited by the manufacturer.

In most cases you simply pull out the heat-exchanger element and any filters.
Then use a vacuum cleaner hose to remove dust.

... which reminds me - I ought to do this to my unit!

@gutoffowc 

It sounds like it needs more than recalibrating.  Perhaps the original installers?

We have a vent axia sentinel kinetic BH plus, it has an automatic summer bypass mode.  Perhaps yours does too?  If allowed to, and the sensors suggest it is beneficial, then the unit heat exchanger is bypassed.  It’s useful in summer when it’s cool at night but too hot indoors.  Maybe yours has that, and a sensor is bust?

Hi All

After sitting on the fence for a few years and with a couple of previous false starts I'm looking again at getting a PV and Battery system installed (hopefully this year!!). Also, at some point I will want a HP but really at the moment I can't be going through the amount of hassle with all the mallarchy around MCS and permitted development installs.

Cheers

Rob

Can you clarify those interesting comments please @rob99 ?

Does that point about MCS also apply to your proposed PV & Battery installations?
If you're not intending to claim the few pence per kWh for exporting excess power back to the grid, then you don't need a completion certificate from an MCS-accredited supplier.

I spent 2 years on a 'trial' of solar and battery storage.
That yielded just 4p/kWh for export...
... but the 8kWh storage battery consumed a large amount of electricity to keep it operational on the days when there was not enough PV generation to store anything!
At the height of the 2022 energy-crisis I was buying back in £200/year of electricity for that task.

I've now added more solar panels and a different style of inverter and battery which will run off-grid.

• no MCS approved contractor required
• no export to the grid
• no approval required from my regional Distribution Network Operator (DNO)

Think carefully... and then discuss your ideas with others in the Forum area about battery storage.

Hello! I'm not a tech-savvy person. I'd like the moderators and other members to dumb down the complex subjects to my level. 😀 

Posted by: @jamespipe

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Hello! I'm not a tech-savvy person. I'd like the moderators and other members to dumb down the complex subjects to my level. 😀 

If you post a question then we will try to answer it.

Speaking for myself, I'm happy to do so @jamespipe

Some of the enquirers here are obviously raising issues that are technically deep, and we tend to address those at the same level as the questioner.
Even so, I add drawings, photos and maps wherever I can!

If there's any energy-related subject matter for which you'd appreciate a lower-level explanation, then let's do it!

What would you like to discuss?

@transparent The unit has had new filters put it, and a new heat exchanger; but I don't see how a plastic heat exchanger can work! To get it serviced by the original installers would cost an arm and a leg because of the distance they would travel. we could do with local expertise in the south wales area.
We have been running it on summer mode as incoming air isn't being heated.