You will remember some weeks ago, I mentioned that my girlfriend ended up with a huge heat pump connected to her radiators and full loft insulation. And that I thought that there had to be a catch and she would get a bill to pay.
Well, it is all up and running now although she still will not equate a higher electricity bill than normal to a zero fuel bill - but another story. She has admiral qualities in other things…
Anyway, she now has a letter from NELY hoping all is well and if she is delighted, then recommend a friend they can call on and she will get a cheque for 500€ if they are successful.
I’m certainly interested but I’ve been told by a local supplier that my 1700 stone house with no attic space and vestigial insulation under the floors would not be suitable for conversion But I’m delighted that it’s worked out so well for you
Does it have to be that sort of heat pump - ie. invisible - to qualify?
Our c.1400 stone house has wall mounted heat pumps in every room (not original!) though after installing a wood burner and a pellet stove on different floors, we now use them mainly for cooling in dehumidier rather than air con mode.
Our Daikin inverters came with the property; we bought our house twelve years ago, so I don’t know if they old ones or modern ones. Never had any problems though and hope they’re ‘modern ones.’
If they are inverter models, i.e. variable speed then they would be quite modern. Another thing to look at the refrigerant type as that can give an idea of age if its not marked anywhere.
Our GSHP is 11 years old, and is on it’s last legs. There are three separate circuits and one is broken and on one other, the compressor makes more noise than it should. It does look like something from the Ark as well.
The run/start caps were just ordinary plastic cased run/start caps, with no failsafe protection and so one burst into flames, damaging that circuit. I immediately replaced the other two with metal cased equivalents with short circuit/overpressure protection.
It will need replacing with a modern unit next year and I’m not looking forward to the bill.
For something which is so expensive to install I hope not - people would not be very keen to (have to) switch from gas to a heat pump if they knew it was going to be over 1000 dollareuropounds per year in amortised capital costs.
Our Stiebel-Eltron air source unit seems to be fine & it was installed around 2008.
Heat pumps have evolved a lot in the past 20 years and still improving now, if you buy the latest model of a good well known brand it helps for longevity. Having some roof cover for a ASHP helps guard the electrical components from moisture damage preventing component failure. The hard work is in the installation so replacing just the heat pump is fairly easy.
But I’m delighted that it’s worked out so well for you 