offthepiste

I know a company, well experienced in passivhaus and enerphit, that has been installing ASHPs in council properties (along with appropriate insulation, etc. measures.) They have taken great lengths to inform and try to educate the residents about how ASHP works and how to live with them. They have found that the vast majority of residents have ignored them with many switching off the ASHP and resorting to electric heaters .. and then complain about their heating bills. I know, having recently completed our retrofit, that ASHP and associated low operating temperatures take a little getting used to .. and have had to be patient with myself! It does take time to learn to live with ASHPs and configure them for a whole house (we have GF ufh and low temp jaga rads upstairs along with mvhr)

Re @ProDave comment regarding octopus offering ASHP. Whilst I absolutely support ASHP suspect the octopus initiative will automatically attract serious negative (gutter) press. I answered their online questionnaire knowing that it should not recommend ASHP without first having addressed insulation and airtightness issues we previously had in our victorian terraced house. The implication from the outcome of the questionnaire was that I was good to go in installing an ASHP without addressing the other - very expensive issues. octopus should seriously be upfront about these issues.

👍 @SteamyTea

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If anyone is interested in the Grohe unit, I have been reading various review - some regarding the Grohe App. I think from what I have read that the hardware is good, if not excellent. However, the main issue seems to be that it is pretty dumb - and primarily based on a daily water usage limit which seems to be the primary value for triggering it to say that there is a leak. There is also some measure of water pressure so am not sure how this affects its behaviour. Probably the biggest issue is regarding the Grohe App. The reviews on the Apple App Store are pretty damning. This is a shame as the Grohe portal is pretty informative. One big issue seems to be that the Grohe unit shuts down the mains triggered by a water softener going into regeneration mode. We have just had an east Midlands Eco Premier whole house system installed - so I have contacted East Midlands to see what & when regeneration is triggered. I am very keen to get the Grohe unit so want to understand its limitations and possible work arounds. My Options: 1. If I can accurately predict softener regeneration then I could use the Grohe sprinkler schedule cover this water usage. 2. If the Eco premier regenerates on a daily basis then I could include this usage into the daily limit. 3. I could switch off the Grohe Controller so that it does not shut off mains automatically and just notifies me. I could also invest in a couple of floor sensors to validate any warning. 4. Not install the Grohe! Re the Grohe App, I think their team probably needs a kick up their collective nether region. They could include more exception scheduling and possibly some machine learning (I am not a great fan of AI - being very much a determinist!). Cheers Wonder if @SteamyTea and @ProDavehave any view on this? They, among many others on this site, have views that I greatly respect. PS: Just had a reply from Grohe recommending installing Water Controller after the Water Softener unit ... why did I not think of that!

Has anyone got any experience, good or bad, regarding the "grohe water sense smart water guard" which can water leaks directly through mains flow and can switch oof supply, etc. I know that @lizzie mentioned one in 2019. Thank you in anticipation

Hi @Archer they are not fitted yet, will give you an update once they are fired up. The retrofit is being done as a turn key project by a main contractor. But wil try to get detail on dealing with Jaga. We are not using them in cooling mode as this will be handled by Zehder MVHR. cheers

I would not want to have a battery located in doors, so have selected one of the few (I think) that be located outside, i.e Powerwall. The new Enphase batteries can also be located outdoors but do not seem available in UK yet and I think there is a German model also. My rationale is fire risk. I appreciate that Solar PV panels can also cause fires - so have gone for micro inverters. Reasoning is based on quite a few years in the speciality renewable energy insurance market, e.g. insuring large Solar PV install in the US - many on roofs and with batteries, and the various real losses that occurred.

Hi @S2D2 am afraid my consumption is pretty much best effort estimate. I itemised appliances etc. now and future and validated against actual consumption - came quite close to actuals. Have taken a conservativ'ish on the resulting space heating requirements post my enerphitish refurb, i.e. @45 - 50kwh/m2. Other than that probably being a bit naive but basically think I am optimising what can be done (and know I am spending a lot of post tax cash) but view it all as a bit of alternative hedging and given inflation (which I am discounting) of both electricity and kit think a 10 year return is OK - equivalent post tax to a 7% return on equity - and given my personal circumstances quite happy with that.

Hi @Radian contractor install I'm afraid. Was a bit worried that I had dithered too long .. should have commited back in May. Understanding is that the Solar PV will be installed soon and Powerwall next September! Just going my optimistic view on number of panels, i.e. 11, will be realised. Panels should be Sunpower Maxeon 6 AC - ideally 440w, possibly 420w, each with an enphase microinverter. @SteamyTea yup, haver the Zehnder Comfoair Q600 with enthalpy. Cheers

An update, have bitten bullet and decided on Solar Pv - Sunpower Maxeon 6 - hopefully about 5.2kw and Powerwall 2. And having done the sums, the total energy saving gadget package of ASHP, MVHR, Solar PV, and Powerwall will have payback of about 11 years assuming some sort of E7 currently capped tariff. And payback 10 years with export such as the Tesla tariff. Assuming energy costs go up, e.g. no cap, then payback will obviously be better. Plus, I am guessing given inflation & related demand panels and battery may be more expensive. Also @SteamyTea have decided on a small laundry room with UFH and MVHR extract - so I will follow your advice and hang things up to dry

We are replacing our Viessmann 222F gas boiler with a Viessmann Vitocal 200A ASHP. Viessmann are handling the BUS grant, EPC, etc, for us. Its a new scheme and we are one of the first. We cannot remove our boiler and terminate our gas contract until Viessmann had done all the paperwork. Cheers

Thanks to all, cheers

Hi, I am hoping someone might be able to advise. Am trying to find out which are the "best" recirculating kitchen extractors that can be built-in (aka integrated?) 650mm above 800 -900mm wide induction hob - and which can be fitted with an active carbon filter. I stress the built-in / integrated aspect of this. Our home retrofit will be relatively airtight and we will have a Zehnder mvhr with appropriate supply & extracts throughout the house. Was interested in the Falmec "no drip" extractor models but seem impossible to source in the UK. "no drip" as they have an interesting solution to catch condensation - we have a temporary rental and have observed this problem in spades. Also I very regularly cook / griddle fish - hence need for a really robust solution. And would like to minimise our exposure to cooking generated PM,.5s! Thank you in anticipation, cheers

Hi @Jenni thank you