Heat Pumps: anyone have one/thought about it?

Only thing is most people I’ve seen on YouTube seem to have solar panels when they get a heat pump fitted . That’s another reason I wasn’t sure because I don’t have them nor am I in a position to borrow more money for them.
If I get a heat pump that’s another thing I’d have to purchase.
 
RogerOut said:
Only thing is most people I’ve seen on YouTube seem to have solar panels when they get a heat pump fitted . That’s another reason I wasn’t sure because I don’t have them nor am I in a position to borrow more money for them.
If I get a heat pump that’s another thing I’d have to purchase.
Click to expand...
You don’t need solar panels and batteries but there is a clear link as to why people get both.

Solar panels reduce your average cost of electricity significantly, not just the panels themselves but batteries also mean you can better take advantage of time of use tariffs, combine the two and electricity effectively becomes ‘free’. This is because you can also choose when to consume electricity from the grid and you can target the cheapest times.

Heat pumps have comparable running costs to a gas boiler at price cap prices and have cheaper running costs when using a time of use tariffs like Octopus Cosy.

When you pair other technologies that use electricity with solar and batteries like a heat pump or an EV, you can dramatically reduce their running costs also.

The vast majority of electricity I buy from the grid costs me 7p. I’m selling back my export for 15p, so for every unit I sell to the grid, I can import 2 overnight and still come out on top.

I use a bit of peak time electric in winter but I’m still paying an average of under 10p/kwh in December and January - my batteries don’t last all day when it’s cold and dark.

My export payments cover all my import and standing charges and my heat pump service plan.
 
Last edited:
I should add that I don’t plan on living here forever. More more than 8 years really.
BUT- should I need a new boiler in that time there might not be that much difference in price between them anyway.
 
I’m in the same boat, I don’t plan on living hear forever but even if it doesn’t as value, what my install will do is make it far easier to sell the house than say my neighbour who has £2000 energy bills.

I would expect any solar install to fully pay back within that period as long as you don’t go mad with battery storage based on current prices.

My solar setup will pay back in under 8 but I paid a lot more than today’s prices for it.

My heat pump payback was zero years. Due to the complexity of replacing my existing gas boiler, it was actually cheaper to install the heat pump.

I had a powermax range integrated thermal store and 14kw gas boiler located in the middle of the house.

A combi would require a new gas pipe as the existing was only 15mm and it being re-located in another room or a roofer to install a new flue coming out the roof.

A system boiler could have needed a full re-plum of the airing cupboard, cylinder and the boiler relocating or a roofing job.

The heat pump on the other hand just needed a re-plum of the airing cupboard and a cylinder and there is a lot of flexibility for the location of the outdoor unit.
 
I just had a thought. I don’t actually have anywhere to store the water cylinder, I have a combi so no airing cupboard in the house.My loft isn’t boarded either , so I guess it’s a no go. I don’t know about the garage area that’s probably not suitable I’d assume.
I’m certainly not prepared to pay lots of money just to get the property ready for it.
 
The cylinder supports would need to go directly on the joists either way. It’s actually a bonus it isn’t boarded because that would need to be removed first.

The main limiting factor with the loft is the size of the hatch as you can’t break the cylinder down into smaller bits, it has to go up whole.

A garage is also fine, attached is far less complex and much shorter pipe runs.
 
RogerOut said:
I should add that I don’t plan on living here forever. More more than 8 years really.
BUT- should I need a new boiler in that time there might not be that much difference in price between them anyway.
Click to expand...

To tell you the true, if I was you, I'd cancel the Octopus survey. You can buy a decent new boiler on eBay for 600 quid or so - e.g. IDEAL Exclusive 2 30Kw Combi Boiler. Depending on where you live, you can get a gas engineer to replace your current boiler for another 600 quid or so. That's 1000 quid plus the Octopus refund.
 
RogerOut said:
I just had a thought. I don’t actually have anywhere to store the water cylinder, I have a combi so no airing cupboard in the house.My loft isn’t boarded either , so I guess it’s a no go. I don’t know about the garage area that’s probably not suitable I’d assume.
I’m certainly not prepared to pay lots of money just to get the property ready for it.
Click to expand...
With Octopus a loft install would require a structural survey so add another £500-700.
 
reef said:
Did anyone else get an audit call/email from MCS after their install? It was just asking about the install, commissioning date, BUS and if the MCS certificate was received etc.
Click to expand...

Yes didn't take very long but at least they are checking a few installs.
 
bimbleuk said:
With Octopus a loft install would require a structural survey so add another £500-700.
Click to expand...
Sod that , again if I was really bothered then I might consider paying it. Other than that , im not going to great expenses for it.

However I could just keep my survey appointment, atleast for future reference to see if my house is suitable for one even if it’s not going to be me living there when the time comes. I’d be interested to see what they say.
I can still have the survey then get the refund. Nothing to lose with that.
 
RogerOut said:
I just had a thought. I don’t actually have anywhere to store the water cylinder, I have a combi so no airing cupboard in the house.My loft isn’t boarded either , so I guess it’s a no go. I don’t know about the garage area that’s probably not suitable I’d assume.
I’m certainly not prepared to pay lots of money just to get the property ready for it.
Click to expand...

We had ours fitted in the loft. The exterior unit is on the wall under the eaves so the pipe runs are pretty short. Ours is a Mitsubishi Ecodan & people kept warning me about noise at night having it on an upstairs wall, truth is I can barely hear it even running at full tilt.
 
Iamzod said:
We had ours fitted in the loft. The exterior unit is on the wall under the eaves so the pipe runs are pretty short. Ours is a Mitsubishi Ecodan & people kept warning me about noise at night having it on an upstairs wall, truth is I can barely hear it even running at full tilt.
Click to expand...

Did it fit in the loft ok? Loft hatch an issue? How are you getting on with your heat pump and hot water ? Genuinely interested.
 
RogerOut said:
Did it fit in the loft ok? Loft hatch an issue? How are you getting on with your heat pump and hot water ? Genuinely interested.
Click to expand...
We've not gone through a winter yet but the hot water works just fine, I have it set to 45c.

The rads are noticeably hot within a half hour of turning it on under testing but of course the winter is the true test, so far i've only played with the heating as a test.
 
I think the issue is, heat pumps are relatively new to the UK market and very few people actually have them currently. I would think most people are replacing their gas boilers with other gas boilers, unless they are actively going green.
That said I am interested in what Octopus have to say, they may even say its not a good option right now, or the price will simply be too high for me.

My current boiler leaks, but British Gas are doing an annual service on it next week, so it will be interesting to see what they say about my leaky boiler. It does however work.

Is the £200 charge from Octopus really refundable? If so why do they bother charging in the first place?..I guess in their view people who pay a deposit are more likely to go ahead?
 
Well today British Gas came over and serviced my boiler. The guy fixed the leak and hopefully we have another few years out of it. So I have cancelled my heat pump survey with Octopus for now.

Firstly, my boiler is working fine now. British Gas said they still stock the parts for it so should be able to repair it for future faults. As the saying goes, Why fix it if it ain't broke?. Even with a government grant, I would still have to spend possibly anything from 3- 4k on the installation. Quite frankly I could do without spending that kind of money on something that isn't vital to me at the moment. I'll wait until the time comes.

Secondly, the faff of having the work done. I don't have an airing cupboard, so having my loft used to house the cylinder or even losing garage space doesn't appeal to me now either.

As technology moves on, I think heat pumps will improve, as well as the accompanying appliances. The water tanks will likely get smaller, there will be possible better systems. Just like with time all technology improves, think of cars, mobile phones, televisions..

Don't get me wrong I think its great coming away from gas , but I shall wait until my boiler packs up for good before I consider making the switch..
 
RogerOut said:
As technology moves on, I think heat pumps will improve, as well as the accompanying appliances. The water tanks will likely get smaller, there will be possible better systems. Just like with time all technology improves, think of cars, mobile phones, televisions
Click to expand...
News flash, heat pumps are not new, they've been around for decades, so maybe incremental improvements but I doubt there will be anything major. Water tanks won't get smaller, if you need a 200ltr tank, it can't get smaller, you can get smaller tanks but they have less capacity. There may of course be alternatives to tanks, like the recent heat exchanger from heat geeks which isn't yet in production.

The trouble with waiting for the boiler to pack up, is your then without heating and hot water, getting a heat pump fitted takes ages, so you'll almost certainly end up get another boiler fitted.
 
I can sort of understand people replacing a failed gas boiler with another for that very reason. It's one of those things you generally never buy until you have to.

What I don't understand however is when new builds don't have them. Of all the new build sites local to this area, almost all are still fitting gas boilers. Quite a few don't even have EV charging points too. Its ridiculous at this point.

Even worse, most don't even plan for them in the future. They often have awkward electrics, nowhere for a water cylinder and nowhere suitable outside.
 
You live in a bubble (as we all do), that's why you don't understand it :)

Heat pumps have very bad reputation in UK. The difference between gas and electricity prices in UK is one of the largest in the world. It's probably cheaper to install a gas boiler and have the owner replace it with a heat pump, using the government grant.

Why would a builder install an EV charger, if 97% of the cars on the roads are not able to use it? On top of that, quite often a free charger is included when buying an EV. And if the property is rented, there is government grant for getting a charger.

Bidirectional chargers will soon be widely available, which means there's a good chance if a builder installs a charger now, it will have to be replaced in a year or two.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom