Pete

I must admit I have committed to memory to move in spring/summer next time I self build (NOT). It is a fine line of wanting to feel comfortable when just sitting and not feeling a tad chilly now I am no longer a young whipper snapper. I will be a little disappointed if I have gone to the trouble of achieving .4 air test (with known air leak in missing window trim which is now in) and spending my money on a well insulated house to think my elec bill will be quite large. I think I also need to accept that the house is quite large in volume so common sense tells you it will take some heating. The problem I am trying to sort out is how to control it as at the moment the pump is just left running otherwise the temp setting on the stat will not be reached by just doing the heating in chunks. I know it is early days as I have had to heat the house up from cold and the temp outside has been -4 so the pump is working overtime at the moment.

I tried to include as much info as possible but it sometimes gets things all mixed up. Now it is 21 degrees it is lovely and warm but when we had it at say 20 it felt cool at times. If I set my heating to come on at 6 to 9 it would not heat the house but my house is obviously different to yours Dave. What have you got your settings at for the heat pump to deliver hot water for the heating and it must be direct if on set times? My figures do include the hot water so I realise my usage is not all heating. The large kw usage was the first time I used my large bath so that accounts for the high usage here!!

I have had my heat pump on now for over a week and it does seem to be working a lot. I know the house has a large footprint (predominantly g/f with only one room upstairs) but I am unsure how to set it up for the long term. I know @jackhas a similar heat pump and he uses the weather comp curve instead of the direct setting but is this the norm? I had mine set up in the direct mode to start with but changed it later to the comp curve just to see if the amount of time the pump was running was reduced but if anything it has increased the pump running times. I understand each house is different and with this cold spell the house will need more heat to sustain the internal temp but what have people set theirs to? Have you got worked out a more efficient way of running your heat pump? If I was to go onto E7/E10 then I am not sure that there would be enough time to heat the house in the time aloted for the reduced rate of electricity. At the moment I have my heat flo temp set to 35 down to 30 and the outside temp setting -5 to 15 as I tried what @jack (30 and 25 and 0 to 7) had his set to and the house was not getting warm. The house is Passive with ufh pipes laid at 200mm and is all one zone. At the moment I am not sure whether I should have had closer pipe centres to increase the heat output or whether due to the larger footprint my heat load will always be high OR whether my settings need changing to work better? The system is run by a room thermostat set at 21 and the house is lovely and warm so I know I could lower the temp but when you are sitting it can get quite cold. I have had a look at the power consumption and I used 52kw yesterday, 37kw day before and 31kw before that but the weather has turned colder these past few days and the average COP is 2.2. I seem to recall that people run their pumps in segments throughout the day but I cannot do that as the house would not be warm enough. Do I increase the output flow temp to heat the floor quicker(?) or is that not the correct approach as I am then reducing the efficiency of the heat pump but would the heat pump not run as long? I know some people run their heat pump using the buffer tank instead of a room stat but not sure if this would help me? Any advice or insight into how people run their heat pumps would be greatly received as at the moment my elec bill is on a steep upward spiral!! TIA

The tiles cracked long their length and not the mortar joints.

Since the initial dripping I have not had anymore and have not had the cover off the unit. I wonder if the airless trap was stuck together as I had this with a sink upstairs. The weather is colder and I would have thought I would have had more dripping if there was a problem so will just keep monitoring under the unit.

Hi Ian, just another point. The guy who built next to us had a large portion of his ridge tiles crack. The roofer had foamed them on and they believe the roof/house settled (house t/frame)and the ridge tiles could not move and thus cracked. They have been replaced and all is well. I know you do not have a t/f house but just a another area to check how water may be getting in although a long shot. I realise if the membrane was doing its job water would not get in but ar the moment you need to find the reason it is getting in. Sorry it is happening

We put a mat down throughout. Did not use expansion joints as it is slab only (not screed) and so far no problems

My tiling behind the bath. Glad I did it this way as after moving in had a small weep on one joint so had to re-do it. Made sure it was easy to lift bath onto two pieces of eps and there where the unions, took me half an hour from start to finish.

It could be worse, it could be behind a shower cubicle and then you would have to take that off as well!

I am currently going through this with my Panasonic Aquarea 9kw. Everytime I go past the plant room I check the parameters on my ashp. With help from @jack(many thanks) I have turned the heat down now to reduce the hot flow as it was over 35 degrees. I also think you have to get to know your house as mine is predominantly ground floor (26m x 9m ish internal) so will take more heat than a smaller footprint. It is a steep learning curve and you do not get instant results like a boiler so you have to persevere!

As you know we have just moved in and it is a steep learning curve with all things ASHP and MVHR. When it was freezing on xmas day I noticed the casing on the Vent Axia Sentinel was dripping slightly. I checked the controller and it was flashing anti-frost. With it being xmas day I just turned it off for now but just wondered is this the norm for it to drip? Have I not got enough slope when I fitted as I assume this is what the condensate drain is for? I wrapped the inlet/outlet pipes in armaflex and then the flexible pipe insulation from BPC so all should be ok there. Have people come across this before and if so what did you do please? I am trying to come down from the exertions of the last month of trying to get in the new house before xmas and my head is a complete mash of new tech and mundane issues that need sorting. TIA

Gin and tonic much needed with a view of the down draught extractor. Getting used to the ASHP and then all the tech to understand as I am a bit of a luddite and not sure it will stick first time eh @joe90

That's me also, window cleaning I mean!! Thanks Ian, have a good one

We have moved into the big white cheese wedge. The ASHP is in the bottom L/H corner and is working a treat. Temp inside at the mo 18 @Gav_P. Many, many thanks to all the people who have helped me over the last three years. Merry xmas to everybody on Buildhub. Pete

As of 1800 hrs it was 15.5 and we are moving in tomo!!

Getting there, rise of 2 degrees overnight. Be toasty just in time for Santa!!

As far as I know all valves open as we flushed all the ufh lines before starting so all good there (I think)

Not a clue. Designed it three years ago on Loopcad so will have to start searching!!

The other option is direct heating or use the inbuilt weather curve so not sure which setting to use to acheive the best results?

Have done, will just wait and see. Thanks

It just feels weird to not have warm flow pipes that's all. Patience is not my forte!

Its saying 5c outside

Nothing has changed internally temp wise for over 7 hours? The unit keeps defrosting as well, is this right?

Blending valve is open and the flow pipe is barely warm so something is not right

will do