Joyosa

Not a pretty sight. We have an old guy round here, in his 80's, still wearing leather trousers and platform soles

The funny thing is that the book could have been written yesterday, as nothing seems to have changed.

Good to know. Hopefully my fixes are not defective

House has 3 floors, without Granny flat. However a little hard to detail, as it has been cobbled together over the years. I think I will need to put is a sketch to make it clearer, but certainly some large volumes.

It is an old stone building, probably parts dating back to 1700s. I think the footprint said 350m^2 but I do not recall whether that is for the main floor, or the others - will spend some time at the weekend, do some proper investigation. The house was probably renovated around 20 years ago, when the heat pump was put in. Essentially I see 4 or 5 zone pumps including 1 for UFH, plus a really big heat exchanger, that goes to a pool - I have never used that circuit, pool capacity about 100 m^3. I think the advice seems to be do a proper heat calculation on the place and then see about a new HP or 2. Really appreciate all the advice so far from all of you.

Yes, I have now separated them. The water tank is what they refer to as Thermodynamique over here, similar to this : https://www.ariston.com/fr-fr/produits/chauffe-eau-ballons/chauffe-eau-thermodynamique/nuos-primo-hc/. Basically runs only at night, on cheap rate electricity, with a built in heat pump on top. So now the Main heat pump is only doing the heating of the house and a granny flat.

I don't think my floor is quite that big. I guess that is the reason the tank is there.

It probably is.

It is an old one, think installed around 2006/7. Plain 3 phase, with no inverter. It is a Carrier 30RH-060-B0358-PEE. She is certainly a big old beast. 13426_IOM_12_2008_30RH_LR.pdf

Thanks for the feedback - mine is the model 060 so 57kW heating - it is a big drafty place. So you think, I should go for 2 zones (UFH and Radiators). Presently there 5 or 6 zones, which I am sure I can simplify. I guess I have a lot more studying to do. The data sheet says 143 litres, minimum loop volume - 600L max - does this mean I should be trying to size all pipework, radiators and UFH for this min volume, then work back for pipe friction losses, for pressure and flow of pump? Sorry if these seem daft questions, only just starting the adventure.

Hi All I am looking for some advice on improving the design of an existing ASHP setup. Sorry for the long intro. Originally the setup had a big 56kW HP feeding buffer tank & DHW, coupled with a gas boiler. The system runs both UFH and radiators. I was going through stupid amounts of gas, just to have enough water to have a bath. I ended up scrapping the gas boiler altogether and replacing it with a heat pump hater water cylinder, which paid for itself in 3 months. So now the main heat pump just does heating. We have also recently had a Linky (French Smart Meter) installed, which seems to have made the metering of electricity used go up dramatically. Also to add to the equation, our tariff has a red period - where the cost is 5 times normal (for 24 days a year) - these days we actually shut off the HP and just use the fire place. My plans are: Install a large buffer tank (2000 litres) - existing is 300L, to be used as a heat store, to heat radiators and UFH, even when Heat pump is off (Red days). I have read that buffer tanks are actually inefficient, or that they have a relatively small maximum size to be used. Also I think this will dramatically reduce cycling when heat pump is on. Connect the ASHP through a 3 phase condenser to the reduce the electrical loads and power factor that the Smart meter senses. I can add some pictures a further details a bit later I was just wondering if these plans seem reasonable or if I am barking up the wrong tree. Any advice will be gratefully recieved - Thanks in advance

Very true, I found the same in the UK, but at least my level of English made things easier. But it has allowed me the excuse to get lots of new tools

Hi all I stumbled on some articles on heat pumps and thought this would be a useful group to join, to hopefully get some direction as possibly add things I have learned along the way. We have been living in Rural France and have found it impossible to get reliable people to finish work, be it electrical, plumbing, building etc. Much of this is a language issue, but even for the locals, they have similar difficulties - so doing what I can, myself. It is turning out to be quite a learning curve, which can be quite daunting as well as rewarding. Anyway looking forward to the ride