Heat Pumps: anyone have one/thought about it?

[PermaChanged]

Installation wasn't done by a professional then?

They claimed to be - but clearly are absolute useless morons.

Not got a good word to say about the company to be honest, but more fool us for using renewable heating experts who specialise in solar and Tesla batteries for a heat pump.

There's too much to list in terms of issues we've had with them - if you're in Guernsey I'd recommend avoiding The Little Green Energy company like the plague.

 

[tonys]

They claimed to be - but clearly are absolute useless morons.

Not got a good word to say about the company to be honest, but more fool us for using renewable heating experts who specialise in solar and Tesla batteries for a heat pump.

There's too much to list in terms of issues we've had with them - if you're in Guernsey I'd recommend avoiding The Little Green Energy company like the plague.

Ours was put in by a company who claimed to be heat pump engineers, but we had problems, main one being that water would be ejected out the overflow when you had a shower and it was heating up. We told them about it on the first or second sevice but nothing was sorted. Last year they had disappeared but another company had taken over the service list( strangely same directors in both companies), the heat pump failed which has been repaired and a new expansion tank was fitted which cured the problem.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

My column rads struggle to get my house up to temp with 50 degree flow rates tbh. I doubt they'd do anything at all if the flow was as low as 18 degrees. I never realised how poor they were in throwing the heat, I am tempted if I don't do something drastic to rip them out and put a regular rad in. The 600mm double panel in the current bathroom feels 100x more effective than the 2.2m vertical column rad and the 1.4m normal one combined.

Just going round commenting on all your posts. Vertical rads aren't known for throwing out a lot of heat unfortunately. I always cringe when I see someone putting them in.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Just going round commenting on all your posts. Vertical rads aren't known for throwing out a lot of heat unfortunately. I always cringe when I see someone putting them in.

Any specific reason why vertical rads are not good?

 

[ristac]

Just going round commenting on all your posts. Vertical rads aren't known for throwing out a lot of heat unfortunately. I always cringe when I see someone putting them in.

I’m surprised at that as we have two that I’d not be without and are far better than the ones we removed

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Rads are all about BTU.
Many of the vertical ones are actually low BTU, they are often more about look than practicality.
If you get verticals with decent BTU then they will not real world perform any differently to a horizontal.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Any specific reason why vertical rads are not good?

The size/shape usually means they have less surface area. Design takes precedence because it’s at eye level.

Convection, there is a bigger differential in air temperature at the bottom of the room than the top so horizontal rads at ground level are move effective even at the same surface area.

 

[tonys]

We have 2 vertical rads because of where we needed to place them also they were bought to go on a gas central heating system not a heat pump.

 

[dlockers]

Just going round commenting on all your posts. Vertical rads aren't known for throwing out a lot of heat unfortunately. I always cringe when I see someone putting them in.

The one I have is comparable BTUs to the normal horizontal rad, possibly more. The issue is the column design in general I think.

Just looked it up:
1.4m x 0.6m horizontal is 4606 btu.
0.49m x 2m vertical is 4709 btu.

A comparable single panel 1.4m x 0.6m is up to 6000 btu.

Because I've got my flow rate so low as well the column design is probably even less effective. I need to find the graph to see where the sweet spot is.

 

[ristac]

I did also read that many people have furniture blocking heat pathways so sometimes vertical are better. In all honesty though, when we replaced ours I did look at the BTU and ensured we purchased verticals with a higher rating than those we already had in place. My only gripe with verticals is they can be a pain to bleed, it takes forever

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

The one I have is comparable BTUs to the normal horizontal rad, possibly more. The issue is the column design in general I think.

Just looked it up:
1.4m x 0.6m horizontal is 4606 btu.
0.49m x 2m vertical is 4709 btu.

A comparable single panel 1.4m x 0.6m is up to 6000 btu.

Because I've got my flow rate so low as well the column design is probably even less effective. I need to find the graph to see where the sweet spot is.

This basically.

Modern panel type rads are basically the most effective they have managed to design so far.
Columns etc are based on looks vs efficiency at delivering heat.

Your horizontal vs vertical example above, the vertical is 17% larger in effect, but only 2% higher output.

 

[dlockers]

I'm tempted given the 1.4m main radiator is hidden and out of view to swap it for a daddy double panel.

The vertical rad is in the living room which is compromised for tonnes of reasons anyway, so the alternative is a double behind the sofa which is probably even worse. So possibly best answer to a bad problem!

It cost me 6.57 for 9 hours of heating yesterday and it's comfortable so no major demand to change at the mo!

 

[PermaChanged]

It cost me 6.57 for 9 hours of heating yesterday and it's comfortable so no major demand to change at the mo!

What's the charge per unit/kwh on the tariff you're on?

 

[dlockers]

What's the charge per unit/kwh on the tariff you're on?

I fixed at 6.8p/kWh. I can't vouch for the 9 hour time being constantly on that's just what hive is saying (so boiler would have been modulating and switching off entirely throughout that).

Edit: HA plots it quite nicely.

 

[tonys]

I fixed at 6.8p/kWh. I can't vouch for the 9 hour time being constantly on that's just what hive is saying (so boiler would have been modulating and switching off entirely throughout that).

( Costs are just averaged )Octopus flexible tariff
I'm on Economy 7 and mine has varied from £3-£6 for 24hrs, don't know yet what yesterday's was. August time we paid £3.50-£5.50 per day (no heating just immersion heater) to now £8.50-£12.50 per day (24hrs heat pump and hot water).

 

[200sols]

I fixed at 6.8p/kWh. I can't vouch for the 9 hour time being constantly on that's just what hive is saying (so boiler would have been modulating and switching off entirely throughout that).

£6.51 here yesterday, £6.50 club wooo

Also have a single panel vertical rad in the lounge, definitely style over substance if it wasn't out of necessity i'd avoid in the future.

 

[dlockers]

£6.51 here yesterday, £6.50 club wooo

Also have a single panel vertical rad in the lounge, definitely style over substance if it wasn't out of necessity i'd avoid in the future.

It is quite nice to cuddle it every now and then tho.

 

[PermaChanged]

My daily average running cost between 15th November and 28th December were £2.48/22.28 units per day.

Setback temps of all living spaces is 20c, between 15:30 and 21:00 they bump to 22.5c.

Bedrooms sit at a constant 19c (and struggle to get much warmer due to carpet and UFH not being best pals!)

Will read the meter when I get home tonight and see how many units we've used since Dec 28th and today, as temps have dropped significantly resulting in higher flow temps - 2c here today, flow @ 44c.

 

[vectisitch]

Are heatpumps effective in the uk's climate?

 

[PermaChanged]

They're more than capable in the UK climate, UK housing stock is a different story