Feeling a bit cheated by "Heat Loss Report"

Marakith

Marakith

Marakith

Associate
Joined
22 Nov 2004
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384
Location
London
Hello

I've a question about the Heat Loss Report. I paid hundreds of pounds for a report (the cost would be offset against the installation). The report was delivered by email working entirely off my structural drawing plans - no visit was conducted and no physical tests were done to the place. Alongside the report was a boilerplate set of electrical requirements and plumbing requirements. I was even asked to measure up some spaces in the house to check if the tank would fit! The recommendation was for a 12kw Vaillant pump with a 300l tank, but later other things cropped up like, "We can't promise your electricity supply will cope with the pump" - this is just mind-blowing to me.

Is this normal, or even good practice? I'm quite disillusioned by the experience and am thinking about going to a different company as I've lost confidence in the installer.
 
Commonly around £300 right?
I'd expect someone to turn up with a tape measure and a notebook for that.
We're having another one done in the morning and looking like a 12kW Vaillant will be the ASHP of choice.
I'll let you know the outcome of that.
The last one we had, the guy checked the MCBs, cable runs, pipe runs, manifold location, ASHP location, HW cylinder location etc.

In your position, Id ask probing questions that they could only answer had they been on site...
 
Marakith said:
Hello

I've a question about the Heat Loss Report. I paid hundreds of pounds for a report (the cost would be offset against the installation). The report was delivered by email working entirely off my structural drawing plans - no visit was conducted and no physical tests were done to the place. Alongside the report was a boilerplate set of electrical requirements and plumbing requirements. I was even asked to measure up some spaces in the house to check if the tank would fit! The recommendation was for a 12kw Vaillant pump with a 300l tank, but later other things cropped up like, "We can't promise your electricity supply will cope with the pump" - this is just mind-blowing to me.

Is this normal, or even good practice? I'm quite disillusioned by the experience and am thinking about going to a different company as I've lost confidence in the installer.
Click to expand...
Having watched a few of the recent Heat Geeks videos about bad installs the ~12KW HP seems to be a common choice for one size fits all installations. This of course will depend on the size of the property and heat loss calcs of course.

They use a tablet mounted lidar to map the property and then they enter all the data into the package they have developed to do all the calcs. They aren't particularly cheap but at least they seem have put together a system to stream line the process.
 
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Marakith said:
The report was delivered by email working entirely off my structural drawing plans
Click to expand...
Original architect plans ? or something you created , and, had potentially evaluated heat loss yourself
... had an interesting conversation with double glazing firm yesterday - tell me(estimate) what the U is on my current windows versus the 1.4 you propose for new ones ..
we have no idea - lol what ?
 
bimbleuk said:
Having watched a few of the recent Heat Geeks videos about bad installs the ~12KW HP seems to be a common choice for one size fits all installations.
Click to expand...

Yep, and it'll probably be massively oversized too.

OP - You won't get your money back but I'd be looking for a Heat Geeks certified installer near you instead.
 
I have no idea if this would work but could you DIY it by buying a gun that measures temperature so you can identify hot/cold spots?
 
That’s at the pricey end for a heat loss survey. They come round to take measurements (room sizes, window sizes, door sizes) and check building materials (new double glazing vs old etc.). If you’ve provided all of this info or if you’re completely changing the property, then I could see not coming round. If you haven’t, they can’t have done the job.

At £600, you’ve paid for the heat loss survey. They should issue it to you and you’ll see room by room calculations, a full heat emitter (radiators) schedule - which tells you which radiators need upgrading, an estimate for annual energy consumption and so on. Have you received this? If not, you should request it. You’ll be able to tell if they’ve done a proper job by whether window sizes etc are right.
 
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Doing a heat loss survey isn't that difficult to do yourself if you've got the time, know the R or U values of your exterior walls, windows, and roof, also need to know the details of the heat pump and flow temps.
You need to put a whole load of values into the heat loss calculator and it will spit out the heat loss, electricity consumption, and Co2 saves versus other fuels. I have a copy of it in excel if you'd like it.
The company that did our ASHP install built the excel heat loss calculator themselves and IIRC, MCS were adopting their calculations. Anyway, the calculator definitely works because it got our room temps correct and predicted the kwh of electricity we use per year very near to actual.
 
tonys said:
You have to measure up the rooms, put in what walls are built of and covered by, type of windows, should take about 1/2 day to be thorough if you haven't got the special equipment.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I think you also need to put in the u value of the roof and floor (assuming you have insulation there). Any chimneys, extractor fans, or other ventilation.
U values can be calculated with online tools if you know the thickness and materials.
 
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