Anyone using an Air Source Heat Pump?

[andrewc]

According to the Committee for Climate Change, most of the UK will have an air source heat pump in their homes by 2035 while gas central heating gets phased out.

Anyone local got any feedback about their air source heat pump?

[Townleygreen]

I was considering buying one a few years back, but got second thoughts when I saw that it was more expensive than using gas. Might well do the job in the future when we need to give up using fossil fuels.

[Cozza01]

Yes we have one....didn't take very long to install but there are rules on how close to the house, how much space next to it etc....works well with our underfloor heating....

My advice would be...until you have completed the following list of energy improvements....its not going to work that well in a victorian/edwardian house which just leaks heat

1. Decent double glazed sash windows - would throughly recommend Marvin windows....white aluminium on the outside, wood on the inside! Not cheap but fab!

2. Wall insulation - either inside or on the outside of the house...depending on if your house is brick or render

3. Under floor insulation plus under floor heating - most houses are floorboards over dirt foundations not exactly robust from a heating perspective.

4. Solar panels

Hope that helps

[mynamehere]

I have one. Agree with Cozza01. If you DM me you can arrange to see the system I have installed

[andrewc]

Thanks for the info...I thought there was no one out there!

I spoke to an air pump fitter who said don't bother until the house is tip top (super insulated) as suggested above.

[Townleygreen]

Cozza01 said

"My advice would be...until you have completed the following list of energy improvements....its not going to work that well in a victorian/edwardian house which just leaks heat

1. Decent double glazed sash windows - would throughly recommend Marvin windows....white aluminium on the outside, wood on the inside! Not cheap but fab!

2. Wall insulation - either inside or on the outside of the house...depending on if your house is brick or render

3. Under floor insulation plus under floor heating - most houses are floorboards over dirt foundations not exactly robust from a heating perspective.

4. Solar panels"

That would cost an absolute fortune to get done!

[Nigello]

The under floor insulation would be expensive. A much cheaper (and probably less effective) way would be to use a special kind of bendable, thick tape that wedges into the gaps. https://www.google.com/search?q=gaps+in+floorboard+filler&rlz=1C1GCEV_en&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjflZC8mIPnAhUxoXEKHXWXBnsQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw&biw=1188&bih=872#spd=11147586910290357765

[Sue]

Nigello Wrote:

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> The under floor insulation would be expensive. A

> much cheaper (and probably less effective) way

> would be to use a special kind of bendable, thick

> tape that wedges into the gaps.

> https://www.google.com/search?q=gaps+in+floorboard

> +filler&rlz=1C1GCEV_en&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&v

> ed=2ahUKEwjflZC8mIPnAhUxoXEKHXWXBnsQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw

> &biw=1188&bih=872#spd=11147586910290357765

I have used StopGap.

Although it is very easy to fit, and does stop draughts coming up between the gaps, it does not stop the rest of the floor being very cold, due to lack of insulation.

Admittedly I have painted floorboards, though I do put rugs down in the Winter, but due to a pile of earth and rubble in the coal hole/cellar, I can't easily insulate beneath the floorboards without taking the whole lot up, because I can't get at them from underneath :(

[Townleygreen]

I'm thinking the wall insulation would be really costly. And if you've got a typical Victorian house, you wouldn't want it putting on the outside and covering up all the nice features? or would you??

[Cozza01]

Actually the thermal render on the outside of the house is actually quite reasonable to put up but you are correct it works best when a house is rendered as its just swapping or adding a white layer for another layer. Most of the time the thermal render can be added on top of the existing render if it is still in good condition.

(Our house is a mixture of brick and render and inside the Dulwich Estate so we used a combination of insulation methods!)

With a Victorian brick house in a conservation area or the Dulwich Estate this is obviously not possible...so the alternative is inside insulation... on the exterior walls of the house in each room.... this can be done on a room by room basis as you redecorate and or change the windows...it makes the room about 2 inches smaller but in a north facing room in our house it added 2 degrees to the temperature.

When we did this the builders removed the picture rails and our non-standard coving from the walls and added them back on the insulation layer. (Invisible.) The obvious area of change is around the window frames and window sills so when we did our changes we were typically changing the windows at the same time so could take into account the extra thickness we were adding to the wall on the inside and adapt the frames accordingly.

As to cost in the long run the saving is on your electricity and or gas. We only now use gas for the hob and our electricity bills are significantly below the national average for the size and type of house we live in.

[bobbsy]

It's not as expensive nor time consuming as you might think to have the floorboards lifted, the void insulated and then the floorboards refitted.

[Sue]

bobbsy Wrote:

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> It's not as expensive nor time consuming as you

> might think to have the floorboards lifted, the

> void insulated and then the floorboards refitted.

What sort of price would I be looking at to have that done in a through living room in a small terraced house?