Renewable heat systems

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Discussion

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
I purchased a house with a air source heat pump, it was sold as a positive and even that i'd earn money from it. Great.

It's taken 4 months to register it, and it turns out I will get £99/quater. But, I get charged £100/month eletric bill to run the thing. It's also started playing up, so a service is £500, which is yearly. It also only heats to 55degrees on a good day, so my house is never that hot and we drain the tank with just a bath.

The previous owners installed it, we don't get gas, at a cost of about £15k.

I'm struggling to see what the benifit is to these things!

(I've tried 4 of the 'approved suppliers' as well, and 3 no longer do it and 1 won't answer!)

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
The house is very old, with an extension. The system was put in when the extension was done, as well as the rads. But I highly doubt they are special rads, knowing how cheaply everything was done. (How does one tell? they look standard)

We do have an immersion, although I've never seen the water temp up to 65.

No gas, hence this system. It's a Mitsubishi.


illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
They are doubled up, and most of them very large. Freeze up like this you mean?



Happens a few times on a cold (0 or below) night. It only takes a few minutes to do it.


illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
It's a PUHZ-W50VHA. Boiler? I don't have a boiler. I have the PUHZ-W50VHA and a hot water tank.

Think the tank is 190l.

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
I don't think it's comparable to say a log burner. Mitsubishi seem to think it's fine for a new build. (maybe not my 300 year old house though).

https://heating.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/Products/...

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
87sqM, over 3 floors. Basically a 2up2down with a basement.

Front half is old, with secondary glasing. Ground floor is semi detached, 1st floor is terraced (flying freehold over an archway) not a cavity wall. Rear half is the new build, double glasing, cavity wall. Some of the rad are about 2meters wide, usual height.

By what you say, I need a 13KW HP.


illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
Well, thats all good and well, but I'm less than impressed with the whole thing anyway, so I'm unlikely to drop £5k on a new HP!

We've got a fire and it's not been too bad the last few weeks (we've seen -6, I doubt we'll get much colder than that).

I just want the damn thing to run consistantly, if that means dropping the temp and having it on for longer so be it. The main issue is it doesn't want to swap from hot water to heating.

The error code I get is U1, which is something to do with pressure, I'm hoping it just needs topping up or something.

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
No problem, thanks for the insight! We've got a suggest ASHP guy coming soon, hopefully he will take a look.


illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
No problem, thanks for the insight! We've got a suggest ASHP guy coming soon, hopefully he will take a look.


illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
My garden is about 8x16m, no chance!

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
I can answer why mine was under rated. The previous owners knew someone who installed these, I imagine a cash job for old stock or similar!

There is a slight difference to the pipe temps, don't have my laser to hand to get real figures. As said, a Mitsubishi accredited installer is coming next week.

With regards to the error; the pump was on 3 (fastest) and still errored so I suppose that rules i that out.

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Thursday 29th January 2015
quotequote all
Hot water stopped working this time! Heating was ok, but it hadn't clicked over to hot water yesterday afternoon, resuled in a bath full of cold water. I reset it all, in the hope it'd be ok this morning, and I had a cold shower.

Guy coming tomorrow, hope he fixes it while here!

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Friday 30th January 2015
quotequote all
Incoming update from the missus:

He's already uncovered some shockingly dangerous wiring. Live cables just tucked behind a panel with the live bits wrapped in duct tape. The pump is wired into a plug, so it's running 100% of the time.

I should sue the previous owners, so many things have had to be fixed.

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Friday 30th January 2015
quotequote all
And the report:

pump not big enough
flow rate indicator dirty, can't see water
water temp thermostat in wrong place
LIVE cable - covered in duct tape
"Eco" swtich - Not sure what it's for!
motor not regulated, straight into power, constantly on
need a timer in this for legionnaires
needs overflow pipe

Wouldn't give a price on site, Seems they may as well tear the install out and start again!



illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Friday 30th January 2015
quotequote all
Surely I'd then need an oil tank or something?

The house stays warm fine with the system we've got, add in the fire and all of the holes I've plugged and there is no issue, apart from it not swapping between heat and water.

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,211 posts

199 months

Thursday 5th February 2015
quotequote all
£385+VAT to fix it. Hopefully next week, gladly, as I'm fed up of luke warm showers.