2 years living with a heat pump - any regrets?

A tip if you have the space: When you have electricity prices tied to time, like hourly prices (i have that here in Sweden), then you should install large water tanks. A bit depending of the size and heat need but think at least one cubic meter. Then a pump that is connected and knows the prices per time unit. This makes it possible to heat a lot of water when it is cheap, and then use that hot water to heat the home during the rest of the period. Often it is cheaper during night as an example, and then it will run like hell during that time, and then shut off during expensive day time. To refine even more, you could tie it to weather forecast and outside temperature to find the sweep spot where the outside temperature makes it more beneficial to run since is is more efficient in high temperatures compared to cheap electricity price. This is just basic math so really not difficult at all although manufacturer have not stepped into this game yet, so you have to build it yourself. Basing on electricity prices, here there are available solutions already.

Can I ask this. If you were using a gas combi boiler the heating and hot water would be instantaneous and you would only use fuel when needed. Does the heat pump store the water which gradually goes cold and if you don’t use it it’s wasted fuel. I wonder if you could explain if this is the case.

What temperature do you have in the house though? Due to an elderly family member’s health condition, we can’t turn down the thermostat in our house. It’s at a minimum of 22 Celsius. And my costs with a latest model efficient gas boiler were the same as yours in my 3 bed semi with solid walls (no cavity wall).

Hi I am trying to find out how does it work out in the summer with 40 degree Celsius

Hi Tom, thanks for the update and very interesting and looks like it is working very well for you. I have solar and battery and have Airconditioning units throughout the house as they do heat and have a slightly higher SCOP as a air to water solution (ASHP) Airconditioning units being Air to Air. they get installed next week. The main issue with Solar while it is absolutely is the way to go and absolutely get battery with it as that maximises the full potential, the winter sun is not good at a time when you have the most heat demand so while it is still great value you might not see as great a saving from solar in winter to meet the peak demand for your heating. Having said that if you match it with a battery it will give you the option to offset the time you charge the batteries with cheap Cosy rates and then use them in the evening for your heat demand. Sounds like you are on a great journey and thank you for sharing.

A saving of £200 a year when the upfront costs are double that of a boiler means it will take at least 10 years to pay for itself. At least.

Hi Tom. Interested in how you actually run the heat pump. I’m out for most of the day so I would probably not have the heating on and therefore I would want to know how long it takes to heat the house from cold. The time this takes will likely to be longer with a heat pump vs a boiler due to the delta T.

Tom this is helpful because I really don't know what to do. Octopus have offed me a very good heat pump deal there are so many mixed messages out there. Also what about tareifs, currently I am on GO for the EV but how does the heatpump tarrif work with the car?

Hey Tom, thank you for this video. I am about to start our heat pump journey. We have a 1900s stone house. We are having external wall insulation and bigger radiator and solar panels. Long term plan looks like trying to buy a battery to store energy to offset electric aswell. Thanks for giving me the confidence im making the right choice

I've just been on a podcast with a very experienced plumber who has just given out his experience with these heat pumps and he pretty much given them a roasting regarding pretty much in every aspect ,he says that heat that is generated isn't giving the warmth inside the house as a modern gas boiler and as for solar panels it takes a minimum of 16 years to get a return on a household financial outlay and after their guarantee runs out how expensive they are to repair that they try and persuade people to install new panels so the costs are never ending as for moving away from coal that's a falicy ,just because the coal mines are shut doesn't mean that we aren't consuming coal we are just importing it and in the transport of bringing that coal to Britain means you are emailing more co2 into the air not less

the difference you didnt mention is the temperature in the house? gas may not be as efficient but the temperature in the house would heat up quicker and to a higher level? what temp do you set your house to during winter?

Where do we get these solar panels and batteries? Assume they’re free or I missed the cost being included in the calculations

What was the total cost of supply and fit the heat pump system?

Really interesting Tom, thanks for that. Did you know that Ebac down the road in Newton Aycliffe are making heat pumps in the Uk now? Looking into it for our new build...

DUDE!!! I didn’t know your hometown was Southport? Mike Simon commissioned our Heat pump installation. I live in Crosby now, but are used to live in Southport near the football ground on Forest Road. I am more than happy with our heat pump. I ended up installing all my own solar PV and home battery, saves me an absolute fortune!!

Could anyone offer advice regarding when we should set the ashp's water heating timer for? We have solar and battery and i was wondering when others set their timer for both cost effectiveness and suitability for their daily hot water needs?

What about noise levels ? 60 houses in a village are being built next to me (30 metres from house) with these things on. Will I now suffer a drone forever more that I live here ? 60 all at once is so much, especially at night when right now it is silent.

Thanks for giving such detailed answers to the comments. Also, thanks for explaining emissions, 1kw in for 3kw out seems amazing. Is that 300% efficiency?

Thank you. Really good info! 👍 Would you be willing to say what city you reside in? Your historic weather data could be useful in evaluating heat pump applications in other parts of the world. We're considering an air source or possibly a ground source heat pump. We live in the Midwestern US 🇺🇸 on the Illinois-Iowa border.

Hi Tom, Good to hear that your getting on well with your pump. We finally have ours installed, at the moment its only really being used to heat water, the engineer returns on Friday to finish commissioning the heating side of it. Ive learned loads since i last commented on one of your videos (legionella) and ive scrapped my cycle and dropped the water temp to 45... so im on your page now. (however im not recommending anyone else to do this... ;)) Ive installed 30KWh of batteries and a 8Kva inverter and solar comes next month. Im trying to work out if my battery bank is big enough or if i need more. What is your heat loss? our house sounds very similar to yours. And do you by any chance know what your highest daily use for the pump was. Im on Go charging up at night so all of my elastic trickery is at 9p for the entire day.