Gone West Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 I would like to thank Jeremy @JSHarris as I have now received the Genvex unit from the supplier, in Denmark, that he recommended a while back. The whole purchase went very smoothly with a ten day delivery time. The cost including VAT was over £3100 less than if bought from the UK supplier. Of course the VAT in Denmark is 25% so no doubt it will be interesting doing my VAT reclaim in the next few months. At 210Kg it was quite interesting moving it from the driveway to the back door for an oap and 8st partner. Once we got it there I asked a couple of friendly farm workers in the orchard who lifted it into the house for us. Now I just need to connect it up, that is after I've turfed the front garden! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz07 Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 What kind of price is that saving on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragg987 Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 VAT reclaim should be straightforward, just enter the GBP equivalent of the 25% in your reclaim form. I attached a currency conversion screenprint to the invoice to show how I had arrived at the GBP figure. The converter allows you to set the date you want the conversion for. https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/ I did a fair bit of purchasing direct from Europe, reckon i saved many thousands - primarily lighting, sanitary, some glazing and a few other bits and bobs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 5 minutes ago, Oz07 said: What kind of price is that saving on? The price on the UK website is £8641. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz07 Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Some saving on that amount well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 I can confirm both the saving and that HMRC will refund the Danish VAT. I needed to provide HMRC with the exchange rate between the Danish Kronor and GBP for the date that the payment was made, and they accepted a printout from one of the well-recognised exchange rate websites. I also pencilled a note translating the Danish on the receipt to show clearly which element was the VAT. Nice to see the saving is still substantial. Makes me wonder quite what's going on with the only UK supplier. When it comes to replacement filters, I can recommend Jasun Envirocare: http://www.jasun-envirocare.com/ who will make custom filters that look absolutely identical to the Genvex branded ones, for around 1/3rd the cost, with the biggest cost saving being if you buy in bulk. I bought ten filters (five intake, five exhaust), or five sets of filters, from them for less than £100 including postage. The delivered price from the Genvex UK supplier was over £70 for just one set (one intake and one exhaust)......................... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Wow, that's a serious amount of money to save. Well done. I'm convinced that we often pay more for continental products because the manufacturers insist on having a local distributor, which adds a further layer of mark-up. There's really no excuse for it costing an additional £3k to buy in the UK compared to Denmark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 The daft thing is that the Danish distributor is working in a country with higher overheads than the UK, and yet can still sell the same product for a very much lower price than any UK supplier. My personal view is that the UK supplier is just adding a massive markup because they view their market as people with more money than sense. They aren't selling to the mass developers here, either, whereas in Denmark I think it's probable that more new houses have MVHR and integrated MVHR and heat pump units like this, so there may well be some competition between suppliers there. Here in the UK there is only one supplier of Genvex stuff, AFAIK. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 I'm sure that's part of it, especially with the Genvex where you have only a single UK supplier of a relatively unique product. However, the higher prices often seem to exist even where there's more than one supplier of the product, and the product itself is competing with other comparable products. It does seem worse with products (like MVHR) that are still considered somewhat niche in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oranjeboom Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 1 hour ago, PeterStarck said: I would like to thank Jeremy @JSHarris as I have now received the Genvex unit from the supplier, in Denmark, that he recommended a while back. The whole purchase went very smoothly with a ten day delivery time. The cost including VAT was over £3100 less than if bought from the UK supplier. Of course the VAT in Denmark is 25% so no doubt it will be interesting doing my VAT reclaim in the next few months. At 210Kg it was quite interesting moving it from the driveway to the back door for an oap and 8st partner. Once we got it there I asked a couple of friendly farm workers in the orchard who lifted it into the house for us. Now I just need to connect it up, that is after I've turfed the front garden! Hi Peter, Let me know if you need a hand installing it. No expert, but if you need an extra pair of hands/muscle, I'd be happy to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 6 hours ago, oranjeboom said: Hi Peter, Let me know if you need a hand installing it. No expert, but if you need an extra pair of hands/muscle, I'd be happy to help. Thanks Erwin. Hopefully it will be just a case of sliding it into position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbersmateuk Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 9 hours ago, PeterStarck said: I would like to thank Jeremy @JSHarris as I have now received the Genvex unit from the supplier, in Denmark, that he recommended a while back. The whole purchase went very smoothly with a ten day delivery time. The cost including VAT was over £3100 less than if bought from the UK supplier. Of course the VAT in Denmark is 25% so no doubt it will be interesting doing my VAT reclaim in the next few months. At 210Kg it was quite interesting moving it from the driveway to the back door for an oap and 8st partner. Once we got it there I asked a couple of friendly farm workers in the orchard who lifted it into the house for us. Now I just need to connect it up, that is after I've turfed the front garden! Congrats on that saving, would it be possible to provide a link to the unit you purchased, for information purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Plumbersmateuk said: Congrats on that saving, would it be possible to provide a link to the unit you purchased, for information purposes. Not sure which unit @PeterStarck bought, but the one I bought is this one: http://www.sundthus.dk/genvex-ge-premium-1l-hoejre/ The people at Sundthus all speak and write excellent English, and were very helpful, I found. When I bought the above model, the total cost, including shipping to the UK on a big pallet, but excluding VAT (as that was reclaimed from HMRC) was £4035.32. The quote I had from the UK supplier for exactly the same model was £6859.00, including shipping, excluding VAT. Curiously, the shipping cost from the UK supplier was greater than the shipping cost from the Danish supplier. As our US friends might say, go figure.......... Edited October 5, 2017 by JSHarris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbersmateuk Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 12 hours ago, JSHarris said: Not sure which unit @PeterStarck bought, but the one I bought is this one: http://www.sundthus.dk/genvex-ge-premium-1l-hoejre/ The people at Sundthus all speak and write excellent English, and were very helpful, I found. When I bought the above model, the total cost, including shipping to the UK on a big pallet, but excluding VAT (as that was reclaimed from HMRC) was £4035.32. The quote I had from the UK supplier for exactly the same model was £6859.00, including shipping, excluding VAT. Curiously, the shipping cost from the UK supplier was greater than the shipping cost from the Danish supplier. As our US friends might say, go figure.......... Thanks for that. My build is not going to be for about a year as I have problems getting people to do work (I'm 300mls from tthe plot) So I am gathering as much information as poss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 13 hours ago, Plumbersmateuk said: Congrats on that saving, would it be possible to provide a link to the unit you purchased, for information purposes. Yes I have bought a Genvex Combi 185LS. This is a compact unit which includes a hot water tank, MHRV unit and ASHP which provides warm air heating and hot water with immersion backup. It is PHI certified. Genvex is part of the Nibe group and their products are very well constructed. http://www.genvex.dk/en/products/combinated/combi-185-bp/ https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sundthus.dk%2Fgenvex-combi-185-l-s%2F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Plumbersmateuk said: [...] I have problems getting people to do work (I'm 300mls from the plot) [...] An important issue to address. I notice that you are a newish member. Which is excellent: we need new members. While we are fundamentally an online community, we are physically distributed all over the country(ies). I can't speak for everyone, but there are a good few of us who have visited one another's sites. Some live fairly close to each other. Others live within easy reach. Can I suggest you edit your profile to give a general indication of where you live in the UK? That might be the nudge that someone needs to make contact with you. And that might be the start of beginning to solve the the problem cited above. There's nothing to stop you PMing someone in the area of interest for you. I have been helped by at least four members - I'd like to return that generosity sometime. You'll find many generous people on this board. Give it a go. Click your logo> Personal Information> Location> edit it. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbersmateuk Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 21 hours ago, PeterStarck said: Yes I have bought a Genvex Combi 185LS. This is a compact unit which includes a hot water tank, MHRV unit and ASHP which provides warm air heating and hot water with immersion backup. It is PHI certified. Genvex is part of the Nibe group and their products are very well constructed. http://www.genvex.dk/en/products/combinated/combi-185-bp/ https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sundthus.dk%2Fgenvex-combi-185-l-s%2F Thanks very much for the info.........more to digest. I actually looked at something very similar about 15 years ago and was very impressed then, can't remeber what it was called but it was a UK company their was another I believe called "life Breath" could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbersmateuk Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 20 hours ago, recoveringacademic said: Can I suggest you edit your profile to give a general indication of where you live in the UK? That might be the nudge that someone needs to make contact with you. And that might be the start of beginning to solve the the problem cited above Thanks for the tips and profile edited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted December 14, 2017 Author Share Posted December 14, 2017 As an update to the purchase of the Genvex Combi from Denmark, we had a problem with the hot water tank leaking around the anode. I emailed the suppliers (Sundthus) who wanted evidence, so I uploaded a short video showing the leak. They helpfully told me the anode needed refitting. I asked them what they could do under the two year warranty and they told me I would have to send the unit back to their workshop in Denmark for repair. As it weighs 210kg and is bulky that's not realistically an option for a small leak. I then asked for more clarification and they haven't replied. I was hoping for a small refund but I guess the savings I made in buying it from Denmark is my guarantee. So if purchasing something large from Europe check on the warranty conditions in case something goes wrong. I was very surprised that a UVC made by Genvex leaked at two bar when it's rated at 12 bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moira Niedzwiecka Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Hello Peter, The Genvex unit you have is the one I have been looking at. In spite of the leak problem how are you finding it? Does it give sufficient hot water & is the heat pump effective? What is the sqm of your house? Any feedback would be very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckylad Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 This forum is a mine of information! I didn't know such units even existed. how is the warm air heating distributed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted December 14, 2017 Author Share Posted December 14, 2017 (edited) @Moira Niedzwiecka and @Luckylad unfortunately the saga with Sundthus has meant I haven't been able to get it going yet so we're still waiting to see how effective it is. Maybe @Nickfromwales can help me with carrying out the repair. The UVC is enamelled steel with a welded boss for the anode. Is it okay to clean up the thread and wrap PTFE tape round the anode and reinstall it? I wasn't sure if that was okay because the tank is rated to 12 bar and I don't know how much I can tighten it into a steel tank. Edited December 14, 2017 by PeterStarck Add picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 @PeterStarck, it looks as if there may be a fibre washer under that anode, so it could be something as simple as just removing the anode, checking the fibre washer and refitting it after a bit of a clean. It may even be that the anode just needs to be tightened slightly, say 1/4 of a turn, to seal on to the washer properly. Failing that, removing it, wrapping PTFE tape around it and refitting it would almost certainly fix it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 +1. The reason it's a fibre washer is because the anode is sacrificial, so will need inspecting and replacing with some frequency. I'd try taking the anode out, filing the mating steel surface to get rid of any imperfections, dabbing a bit of hammerite on the then exposed metal and reinstall with a new fibre washer. Do NOT use any lubricant or jointing compound as the fibre washer will displace outwards when you rotate it and it tightens. . It needs to be clean and as dry as possible to seal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted December 14, 2017 Share Posted December 14, 2017 Peter, I've access to various large fibre washers if you need another. Just tell me the dia and I'll see what I can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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