Heat pump retrofit case studies

[Linto]

Came across this report with a few case studies for older properties installing various kinds of heat pump. Haven't yet read it but may be of interest to somebody, it has some fancy looking graphs and stuff.

I think it's a government funded thing to make the case that retrofit isn't as difficult as some would have you believe. 

[joth]

Hmmm only had a quick skim (the reports themselves are behind a registration page) but I don't like the reporting methodology. It seems they're mixing up two different study endpoints:

- installing 742 and reporting that by large "installation" was successful on them all (i.e. just to the point of commissioning, not report a month let alone year of successful operation!)

- publishing a few cherrypicked case studies with individual participates giving glowing reports of how well the thing works.

 

To give confidence that they work at scale we need to hear multiyear results from all those 742 participants (or a statistically powered subset of them) really.

 

 

 

[ProDave]

It's no good if they cherry pick and only present good cases, that helps nobody and just ensures there will be dissatisfied customers in the future.

 

I don't think anyone disputes that you can get a heat pump of some sort to heat any property.  What many of us are sceptical about is just how much work is needed to do it properly (insulation, changing radiators and piping, changing hot water tanks, even installing UFH) and how the running costs compare to the previous system.

 

If they are being installed without addressing those issues then you may be left with a "green" system that ticks a government wish list, but misses the ACTUAL target of reducing energy use and reducing CO2 emissions by a mile.

 

Which is why I think the No 1 target should be to find a way to properly insulate and make air tight the older poorer properties first, and then think about a greener heating system for them.

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

I don't think anyone disputes that you can get a heat pump of some sort to heat any property.

 @Dave Jones "knows for a fact" that heat pumps can't work.

 

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Which is why I think the No 1 target should be to find a way to properly insulate and make air tight the older poorer properties first,

We had a system that was successfully doing that and the government pulled the plug on it.

 

I do often wonder where parliament gets its information from, and how they can so consistently get the wrong end of the stick.

[Radian]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

Which is why I think the No 1 target should be to find a way to properly insulate and make air tight the older poorer properties first, and then think about a greener heating system for them.

 

Insulating the entire housing stock might just be technically possible but air tightness? I only wish.

[tonyshouse]

But neither are deliverable in any reasonable time scale, even with a money no object approach, it just can’t be done