Why did you choose an air source heat pump?

[SimonD]

There always lots of content about why not to get a heat pump installed, but I would like to know why you chose to get a heat pump installed instead of a fossil fuel boiler? Doesn't matter whether it's for retrofit/renovation or new build, I'm just interested to know. And what were the pain points that were most difficult to overcome? Was it just the price or is it in line with so many posts on BH that it's difficult to find a decent system designer and installer?

[JohnMo]

26 minutes ago, SimonD said:

why you chose to get a heat pump

Swopped from gas in stages, but ASHP motivation was cooling via UFH.

 

The boiler basically ended having to go it couldn't pay it's way, with gas standing charges and preferentially better ToU tariffs for electric, once I got the smart meter sorted

[ProDave]

I was building a new house that I knew would be well insulated, airtight and low energy.  There is no mains gas here, so other realistic choices were oil boiler or lpg gas boiler.  I did not want an outside tank taking up space and looking ugly.

 

So i chose ASHP.  Entirely self installed with UFH.  Cost of parts no more than oil boiler and oil tank and not difficult.  ASHP gives electric heating at comperable running cost to fossil fuel boiler, so what is not to like.

[Nestor]

No mains gas and used oil in the past.

New self build, air tight, MVHR, 3G etc. 275sqm.

RHI was available so paid for kit and install.

Our personal use for 2025 was 2700kWh for hot water and heating.

However, I would not recommend ASHP in average insulated home with mains gas available if cost is a major factor.

[Dreadnaught]

New build. Had gas available.

 

Chose ASHP because (i) fuel bills are lower; (ii) low-and-steady gives a nicer sense of warmth; (ii) cooling in summer; and (iii) and especially because it gives a whisper quiet home as the main noise-generating part is located outside.

[Andeh]

Was a tricky decision, as I knew nothing about them and have always had gas in the past. I love my technology, but worried about earlier adopting, and shortage of skilled people on them. Had gas available and on site already.. So seemed mad not too just keep it simple. Even with UFH and the Grant... I still wasn't sure. 

 

Architect and builder both looked at me as if I was mad when I hesitated over ASHP, and explained the above.... I generally declined but said I'd think about it. The builder went ahead and costed and put it into the plans anyway. 

 oooooooh were they correct.

 

I love the ASHP, it works well, is cheaper then gas, with smart tariffs it's just brilliant. No gas standing charge , no big noisy boiler inside the house, no stupidly high flow temp to then try and reduce for the UFH. 

[JohnMo]

12 minutes ago, Andeh said:

no big noisy boiler inside the house, no stupidly high flow temp to then try and reduce for the UFH

If you get that it's just piss poor design from installer not the boiler. Mine was pretty much silent, directly connected to UFH manifold no mixer and pump. Just ran a steady 32 degs, and was managed by a low hysterisis thermostat. When it did DHW it just ramped up slowly to 60 degs, by the time it got the cylinder was at 52 degs.

[Beau]

We moved into my late parents old place that had no central heating and just an LPG AGA and wood burners (no mains gas available). The AGA was using over 2k of bulk LPG a year and only heated a couple of rooms, hot water and cooking. Having had a heat pump in the form of a GSHP for 18 years in our previous barn we were comfortable a well designed heat pump system would work well enough. We didn't cost up a FF heating system and just went straight for the heat pump as we could afford it, it shouldn't be more expensive to run and has environmental benefits. A year in its managed an SCOP of over 4 and cost around £850 a year to run. The heat pump grant combined with getting the VAT back on all the radiator work made this all a lot less painful than it might have been.

 

Edit. We went for air source over ground source as I couldn't face the chaotic mess of the trenches for a GSHP which would have to go through our yard which is our main farm access and has lots of drains and water supplies in it. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Beau

[Post and beam]

New build well insulated, UFH and air tight ( ish). 

Mains gas is not available on our plot and the delivery was going to be £6500. Not usually factored in when people discuss how expensive heat pumps are.

Finding a heat pump installer was difficult and to be honest the company i chose have ended up being a total incompetent nightmare. Hey ho! lesson learned.

 

[DamonHD]

Because our gas boiler kept expensively failing so replacing it is expected to be a financial win, and I am definitely a supporter of electrifying everything, and heat pumps are the main focus of my PhD research!

 

Part of my reasoning is here: https://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-combi-replacement-dilemma.html

Edited 6 hours ago by DamonHD

[sharpener]

190 sq m  barn conversion dating from 1995. Kidde oil boiler not too difficult to keep running but last remaining service engineer (and source of spares) nearing retirement. No gas available. Oil-fired AGA which we have kept.

 

Had already put in 8kW of solar, EV charging point and Victron/Pylontech ESS so HP the obvious next step.

 

Had some difficulty finding an installer who would not insist on replacing the hard-to-get-at hw tank at great expense. Solved with custom 12kW design from Vaillant with thermal store and two heating zones. Eventually got 6 quotes of which 2 were realistic. Job finally done by Eljay in Ivybridge to a high standard, happy with result.

[Andeh]

7 hours ago, JohnMo said:

If you get that it's just piss poor design from installer not the boiler. Mine was pretty much silent, directly connected to UFH manifold no mixer and pump. Just ran a steady 32 degs, and was managed by a low hysterisis thermostat. When it did DHW it just ramped up slowly to 60 degs, by the time it got the cylinder was at 52 degs.

 

Yeah, I do agree. Context is important.... Last house the boiler was under the master bedroom, and we had a faulty zone valve which triggered it randomly, plumber miss diagnosed it so I lost a lot of sleep with it firing randomly and me being twitched about it.

 

I accept zone valves can do the same to ASHP, but I still carry frustrations over that period of home ownership!

[MikeGrahamT21]

Does anyone worry about the thoughts of replacing the heat pump should it fail? Have just had a look at Vaillants which seem to have 7 year warranty, vs their gas boilers which have a 10 year warranty. Obviously the first install with conversion from gas/oil/lpg gives you the £7.5k grant, but if it should fail out of warranty then essentially its full price for another, the thought of that scares the hell outta me having one. Appreciate in 7 years time they maybe a lot cheaper, but only maybe.

[JohnMo]

11 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

Does anyone worry about the thoughts of replacing the heat pump should it fail? Have just had a look at Vaillants which seem to have 7 year warranty, vs their gas boilers which have a 10 year warranty. Obviously the first install with conversion from gas/oil/lpg gives you the £7.5k grant, but if it should fail out of warranty then essentially its full price for another, the thought of that scares the hell outta me having one. Appreciate in 7 years time they maybe a lot cheaper, but only maybe.

I just replace one - the old one is being used for hot tub.  The new one was a mornings work to install - I did install the wiring centre that came with new one, and pre-invest a cable the old unit didn't have. Cost £2100, plus some new insulation near heat pump. If you install a Vaillant you could be 3x that.

 

In 7 years time, grants will not be available, so suspect like solar PV prices, will drop like a stone

Edited 26 minutes ago by JohnMo

[MikeGrahamT21]

22 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

I just replace one - the old one is being used for hot tub.  The new one was a mornings work to install - I did install the wiring centre that came with new one, and pre-invest a cable the old unit didn't have. Cost £2100, plus some new insulation near heat pump. If you install a Vaillant you could be 3x that.

 

In 7 years time, grants will not be available, so suspect like solar PV prices, will drop like a stone

So you are saying the bulk of the price is for the initial install and those bits will remain viable for another HP?

 

I guess if thats the case then a replacement HP would maybe only be slightly more expensive than a gas boiler, but would save money in long run (as long as electric prices come down). I wonder how much a company would charge to do all of the work for a replacement unit?