Joined: Apr 2018 Posts: 505 Threads: 129
Reputation:
2
Location: Staffordshire
Car type: Ruby mk 2
I am so pleased to get all your replies
Thanks you very much
In particular Ruairidh your detailed history and ideas for the future.
We are paying for a survey but I think we will delay installation until we get get a much more flexible system
Still a lot of research to do
Joined: Apr 2018 Posts: 505 Threads: 129
Reputation:
2
Location: Staffordshire
Car type: Ruby mk 2
I am so pleased to get all your replies
Thanks you very much
In particular Ruairidh your detailed history and ideas for the future.
We are paying for a survey but I think we will delay installation until we get get a much more flexible system
Still a lot of research to do
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,114 Threads: 67
Reputation:
6
I have a pal with a large house with a ground source heat pump. But, here's the rub, he built his house with that approach to heating built in to the design. The house is very much a passive house, with windows only on the south facade (in the main) etc. His house is always toasty - spome time a little too much!
I think the bottom line is in a new build as part of the design, then it will be very efficient. Retro-fitting to an older house, perhaps not so much...
All of the above very subjective, of course..
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 698 Threads: 29
Reputation:
16
Location: Beautiful Northumberland
Car type: 1933 RP Saloon (aka Mildred)
12-10-2023, 04:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-10-2023, 04:11 PM by Andy Bennett.)
and my two penneth. If you go PV then get a battery. In the days of high feed-in tarif it didn't matter because you sold to the grid for more than you bought back so they were in effect your battery. Now it is the other way around, you sell the excess generated on a sunny afternoon to them for a pittance and buy it back a few hours later when you want to cook an evening meal and the sun has gone in, for 10 times the price they gave you. If you store it then you have that trickle back into your house overnight. In the summer we didn't use a single watt from the grid but only because we had our own storage.
And I have a friend who has one of these super insulated homes with ground source heat pump. They go into a panic when you visit and leave the front door open for more than 10 seconds and they keep all the windows shut tight, as the house only works as a sealed unit. A perfect sterile 22 degrees.
I sleep with windows open all year round. I need to hear the world and feel the cool breeze of a chilly winter's night in the bedroom and hear the birds singing on a Spring morning. A sealed house is not for me.
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!
Joined: Oct 2017 Posts: 1,395 Threads: 45
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7
Like Chris I noticed that the authorities were quick to blame the Liverpool multi story car park fire on a fossil fueled car.
Joined: Sep 2017 Posts: 99 Threads: 31
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0
Location: Hampshire
I'll add my experience to the discussion. We have a 200 year old end terrace house in a village in North Hampshire with four double bedrooms, three bathrooms and with the end wall facing North . The wall insulation is non-existent but the loft is excellent. Our gas boiler was coming to end of life and wishing to go green and be a bit of a guinea pig for the village we decided to have an air source heat pump installed.
The survey showed the radiators were of adequate size except one which was swapped for a three row version. The 15mm pipework has stayed. We decided to change all the radiators anyway as they were over 40 years old and of the "slab of heat" types rather than the latest convector types. Especially as we didn't have to pay VAT on them. (wish we had done that years ago!).
The installation was completed in September 2022 and we are very pleased with the performance. During the -8°C week last autumn the house was toastie warm. I just finished checking the costs for the last 12 months. We have used 46% of the previous years energy at a cost broadly similar. We find the "smooth" heating very pleasing. The highs and lows of gas heating banished to the past.
Gas will only get more expensive and electricity cheaper.
As you gather, I am a definite fan.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 704 Threads: 12
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4
Next door has a heat pump and the fan is quite noisy.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 862 Threads: 16
Reputation:
10
Location: North Yorkshire
I am currently in the middle of doing two barn conversions at the farm and they are both having air source heat pumps and solar panels. The level of insulation in the properties will be very high, we have gone for the Mitsubishi heat pumps which are apparently the best available, some are quite poor. The properties will benefit from all the afternoon sunshine and will also each have a wood burning stove. I still have reservations about the system, especially as you have to inform the electricity supplier that you are installing them, due to the amount of power they use. The barns will also have electric car charging points as they are required under the building regs. The electricity supply to the whole village is going to be upgraded as a result of the two barn conversions. They call it progress.
More importantly, my new garage and man cave which was converted from the old cow byre was very cosy yesterday morning when we had the first frost of the autumn. It has a ceiling which was put in to provide a roost for the long eared bats and the new windows are double glazed. The bats have not taken up residence yet, they obviously don't like the idea of living over me!
