Hi @stevehsp Give us a rough idea of where you are and we might be able to suggest installers.

As for having solar panels, these are now less financially viable than having a storage battery in the house.
So both technology options would benefit from you starting a discussion topic here.

Heat-pumps will tend to demand more electricity input at times of the year when there is less sunshine.
So you could achieve lower running costs by opting for a Time of Use (ToU) tariff, and run the heat-pump off the battery.

There is no absolute answer for this.

Each homeowner will have different priorities, and the design/orientation of your roof matters too of course.

@stevehsp welcome to the forums. As a starting point, you can read this article and then email me your details and I'll try to connect you with the best installers in your area.

Thanks for the welcome. For the solar PV we are including a battery. That will be done by an installer that has an assocaition with the forum and the process is underway. Tariffs are something I'm not properly up to speed on yet, but I don't have to think about that too much for a month or two.

We've had a number of quotes from ASHP installers which I'm currently working through. The differences are quite interesting ! I do have a specific question and will start a new topic as I don't think it's come up here so far (or if it has I can't find it)

@stevehsp 

Can I suggest you read the introduction to ASHPs here as it will help understand the technology.

In terms of quote time choices

• dont accept any proposal with a 4 port buffer, low loss header or plate heat exchanger.  A 2 port volumiser is OK.  2 ports good, 4 ports bad!
• do aim for the lowest practical flow temperature, which is dependent on the emitters (radiators) not the heat pump
• sense check the sizing if you can and don't oversize too much
• dont install 'smart' controls other than Homely (which is currently the only smart control specifically designed for heat pumps).  For the avoidance of doubt this shouldn't be read as meaning that you need Homely (although if you pick one of the heat pumps with relatively crude controls it might be a good idea).
• system design matters more than choice of heat pump but some heat pumps have better controls and are quieter than others

Feel free to post here any quotes for comment.

Hi all,

Based in NW Wales. Just had solar and a heat pump installed under the ECO4 scheme. Spent a lot of time lurking on the forum over the last few weeks to try and understand what's going on with this new system and found it to be a wealth of knowledge, so thank you all.

Hi Mars

Thanks for inviting me to join the forum, I have been in this industry for 20 years now. I am have been supporting many installers over the last 3 years to gain a better understanding of heat pumps and the wider rules and regulations, and to say I have bearly scratched teh surface is an understatement. I have been looking for ways I might be able to support the industry and have been signposted here by a number of people. Feel free to challenge me with your toughtest questions, I think i'm ready. Please also bear in mind I am a veteran, I don't take kindly to banter!-or do I?

I really look forward to helping out where I can and learning from you all. 

Cliff

Hi 

I’m an avid self builder and currently living in a super insulated timber frame house built in 2012 with a GSHP,UFH and a couple of solar thermal panels, which has served me well for the last 13 years.

Im about to venture into building an indoor swimming pool with as much renewable energy as possible. 

Looking forward to the journey and learning about all the new technology out there.

Graham

Posted by: @fingers

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I'm about to venture into building an indoor swimming pool

I heard it said that when Bill Gates decided to build/renovate his house in Washington at the cost of $63m, he particularly wanted underwater speakers in the indoor swimming pool.

The architect sought out the best designers and specialists in underwater acoustics.
But they were given one over-riding condition...
... that the entire multi-channel digital audio system had be driven by Microsoft Windows.

After months of installation work, and coding the delay loops to cater for the speed of sound in water,
the engineers were ready for the dry-run.

Bill himself joined the team, standing on the floor of the part-completed pool.
As he selected tracks from the in-house server using a voice-controlled waterproof wrist-band, the pool area was filled with a rich tapestry of musical masterpieces,
each exquisitely projected from hidden speakers behind flexing ceramic tiles within the walls.

Well pleased with his investment, Bill arranged for the sound engineers and programmers to be paid, and ordered the pool to be completed.

Months later the house was ready to be occupied.

Bill decided to indulge himself with 20 minutes in the new pool before evening dinner.

Selecting a favoured orchestral track, he slipped below the water and awaited the various instruments to begin playing from the pre-programmed pattern of speakers.

All started well, but as the minutes went by the music started breaking up.
Woodwind could only be heard in the shallow end, whilst the brass section sounded tinny and the violins out of key.

When he could take no more, Bill left the pool, walked to his study and phoned the helpline for the audio design team.

Customer Services were very apologetic, and noted down each symptom as he described them.

"I'm sorry, Mr Gates. There seem to be a number of issues interacting with each other.
Have you tried re-starting it?"

"The sound system?" enquired Bill.
"But it worked perfectly well during the dry run!"

"No, Mr Gates, not the sound system..." explained the service operator. "You need to restart the pool.
Pull out the plug, then go outside into the road and turn the water stop-cock off and on again.
That usually fixes it."

I might put a couple of speakers in the ceiling if funds allow. 🙂 

I’d rather hear the quite hum of a battery charging from some solar panels!

Hi All

I've just signed up to the forum after watching a few of the ASHP videos, as we're about to commence choosing an installer for that, for which I'll post separately in the ASHP section.

I'm based in Leeds, and we've had a Sunsynk solar PV & battery system installed for 2.5 years, which is one of the best financial decisions I've ever made.  I currently use a myEnergi Zappi charger to do overnight charges on a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and my wife is getting a used Hyundai Ioniq 5 delivered on Wednesday via her work salary sacrifice scheme, which will be our first fully electric vehicle.

Our combi gas boiler started playing up a couple of months ago, requiring regular refills.  I suspect it's probably a faulty expansion valve and easily fixable, but we were already planning to replace it in the next year or two, so this has simply accelerated the decision and, having done some basic research, the cost to change to an ASHP after the BUS grant and a (hopefully) successful greener home cashback application from our mortgage provider, feels like a logical next step given that it should work well alongside the existing solar PV system.

Looking forward to learning from others regarding their ASHP experiences and hopefully sharing my own in due course.

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

↑

we've had a Sunsynk solar PV & battery system installed for 2.5 years, which is one of the best financial decisions I've ever made. 

Has the inverter got enough oomph to run your ASHP from the backup (always on) port?
Or are you content to lose heat output during a power-cut?

Posted by: @sheriff-fatman

↑

Hi All

I've just signed up to the forum after watching a few of the ASHP videos, as we're about to commence choosing an installer for that, for which I'll post separately in the ASHP section.

Welcome to the forum.  

If you are new to ASHPs I suggest you read the introduction here.  @editor also publishes a couple of books guiding you through the process and past the pitfalls.

In terms of getting quotes, be prepared to get a fair few to find a good installer who will do what you want and do ask lots of questions once you narrow it down.  Key things to bear in mind are:

1. System design matters more than choice of ASHP, but some ASHPs have more user friendly/flexible controls
2. Don't accept any quotation with a buffer, low loss header or plate heat exchanger between ASHP and emitters (and do ask if its not clear from the quote).  A 2 port volumiser is OK.
3. If you have gas meter readings DO sense check the surveyed house loss against your gas consumption.  Surveys can be wildly out and sizing does matter, gas meter readings can help avoid potentially expensive mistakes 
4. DO design for the lowest reasonable flow temperature.  As a general guide 45C or less for radiators, 35C or less for UFH, unless space constraints mean that these are impractical
5. Don't seek/allow the installation of third party add on controllers, room thermostats or smart devices like Hive etc.  Heat pumps should generally be run 24*7  controlled by their native controller, all or most TRVs and thermostats set a couple of degrees above the desired temperature so they are acting as limiters not controllers.  The exceptions to the advice against third party controller hardware are those designed specifically for heat pumps namely Homely or Adia. There is also Havenwise who do remote third party control again specifically for heat pumps.

Of course there are always some exceptions to the above, but they are rare and, if they apply to your case, there will be an identifiable reason which you may wish to test here.

Feel free to post here (as you have indicated you will) for comment, advice and further detail on the above.