Life has been busy since I started the blog so apologies for the lack of posts.  However, the hot water went off in the bungalow on Monday so this has become an issue again.  In April, the hot water also stopped working.  I called Worcester then as the hot water cylinder was still under warranty. When the engineer arrived, he replaced the immersion but he did say that the installed hotwater cylinder, a GreenStore SC 120l indirect unvented cylinder, should have a boiler to heat the water.  We dont have a boiler.  The hot water is heated overnight by economy 7, via the immersion.  He said it was not designed to heat the water all the  time and that was probably why it failed.  It was installed in Dec 19.

So I am not sure if the plumber who provided and installed the cylinder gave us something incorrect or not?  He obviously knew we didnt have a boiler.   But too late to moan about that.

It does mean that we really ought to to get cracking on installing a new system that works.  And I would like to make use of  the government grant for ASHP, before they close down it down.  Especially as we have a new government!  Having looked at the Air-to-air systems, I believe we should just go down the ASHP route, with radiators. 

I have therefore contacted CVC to come up with a plan!  The extension and renovation of the kitchen/rear of the bungalow is not looking like it will happen in the next few years.  So it makes sense to go ahead with the ASHP, add radiators to the bedrooms and rear of the lounge, keep the night storage heating for general heating in the lounge (my parents like to be warm) with an electric fire for when it is really cold!  the system will need expansion for when the extansion is built, whenever that is.

If we remove the old warm air unit, which is in the centre of the bungalow, we will gain an extra cupboard.  But where would the ASHP go?  I'd rather not put it in the rear garden or side as thats where we will add the new extension.  Am i able to put it in the front garden?  I have asked if CVC do site visits, so I can be sure they understand the requirements and oddities of the bungalow.  But I dont think anyone does these now - its all done via email and drawings 😕.  I shall let you know what they suggest. 

The second decision is with regards to the addition of PV on the front roof.  If we are doing all this, I need to find out if this would be a good time to add the PV too.  My guess is that it is worth doing everything together. 

I shall report back what CVC suggest. 

Another call from the parents this morning changed things slightly.  They had not realised but it was the whole night-time electricity supply that wasnt working, not just the immersion!  They have a very strange system with 2 completely separate rings. One, runs off daytime, and has everything on it apart from the hot water cyclinder immersion and the night storage heaters.  The other, night time has the rest.  It would make sense to run the washing machine at night but this is on the daytime ring, so uses daytime supply, whenever it is used!  Very odd.

So I therefore cancelled the Worcester engineer and called Octopus who were very good and sent an engineer out this afternoon.  he checked and confirmed that the night time supply was not getting though so installed a new smart meter.  We are holding our breathe to see if tonight, it heats up the hot water.  But the cable did light up his gadget - so it looked okay.  And the Smart meter should help us see what is using their energy as they seem to be using far more than I would have expected from a small bungalow. 

I have also contacted a local supplier of Renewables to get a quote from them to give us a comparison.  I shall post in the relevant section for comments.  

I guess we knew as part of the renovation, we would have to change the heating system, but we had hoped to do it all in one go.  Hopefully we can make the changes needed now, with the ability to expand into the new extension, once done.