ASHP ? | What They Don't Tell You !

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
01:04 Short Term Issue 1
02:02 Short Term Issue 2
02:39 Short Term Issue 3
03:29 Short Term Issue 4
03:54 Long Term Issue 1
04:55 Long Term Issue 2
05:39 Long Term Issue 3
06:04 Long Term Issue 4
06:19 The Pros
06:58 Question 1
08:08 Question 2
08:42 Question 3
08:56 Question 4
09:30 Question 5

Are you looking to get an Air Source Heat Pump?
Have you looked into the pros and cons?

Part Video Transcription

A wise man once told a simple life principle.... KISS... Keep, It ,Simple,Stupid.
Don't make aspects of your life over complex which can make things a little bit more difficult longterm.

Can something simple like keeping our home warm or heating out water for long periods of time and reducing our carbon footprint be complex, Have we over complicated things?

The Questions i have got is if i'm going to retro fit something in my house to reduce my gas and reduce my carbon footprint is the solution an Air Source Heat pump?

Let's go through this.
I'm going to go through the negatives that are all open to debate. I'd like to make a few points which i think are short term issues, long term issues and potential positives perhaps we all forget. All of these points should influence your decision if your looking at removing a gas boiler from your house and going to an air source heat pump.

My issues with air source heat pump short term point 1

Homeowner education.
The UK market currently has around 10 brand to choose from. All of which have different controls, different functions and large variety of information out there with tips and tricks to get yourself really efficient. Unless your a keen learner, have the time, really tech savy or live on a facebook forum. Making changes would inevitably mean calling your installer or previous contractor which could cost you between £50 and £350.

My issues with AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS short term point 2.

Third part controls.
Most systems work really well with third party controls inevitably your going to have a third party control.
Underfloor heating, radiators, smart tank controls these are all example on what can be controlling your air source heat pump. In my option the challenge comes when the house is sold and you inherit an air source heat pump and you have no idea how it works. Your paying for someone to come out and tell you how to use it.

My issues with air source heat pump point number 3.
Setting up controls for maximum efficiency.

There still seems to be alot of speculation out there about the different ways an air source heat pump should be installed. What's current..... What's best and what's not best, your really putting your trust into the installer on how efficient your pump will be.

Some people say manufacturers aren't given the best designs to design air source heat pumps and there are better ways to install them for max efficiency. I say well yeah that is true and there is always a better way of doing things however this is such a vast area if you are going to have an air source heat pump designed specifically to be super efficient a different way there is going to be a lack of knowledge to pass down to a new homeowner.

My issues with air source heat pumps short term point number 4

The energy market is one of the best stocks at the moment out their as we know some of the organisations are making huge profits. Check the news get googling.

Is getting everybody off grid really smart for homeowner? Control is probably the word i will mention and i will leave that point their.

My issues with ASHP long term point 1

Life cycle of equipment.

If you get googling on how long an ASHP will last you will get 15 to 20 years im sorry folks thats a lie. Ive been in the air conditioning industry for 15 years, Ive got many air conditioning friends and if someone was to say to me how often to we come across and air conditioning unit which is 15 years old i would say 2 in 1000. An Air Source Heat pump in my opinion will last between 5 to 10 years.

[RobFisherUK]

I installed my AC system (an air to air heat pump) to keep me cool in the summer, not to save money or energy. But right now it's keeping me warm while I work from home. I ran the gas heating all day on Saturday and it cost me £5.80 for the 56kWh of gas to do that. On Friday I didn't use gas at all and ran the AC on heat mode all day and it cost me £2.85 for the 8kWh of electricity I used to do that.

Differences: with my gas system currently I can't turn off the bathroom and hallway radiatiors; with AC I get no heating in the bathroom or hallway. With AC I just heat the rooms I'm using. With gas I do that with smart TRVs up to a point. But apart from being colder in the bathroom in the morning (and probably having to use the dehumidifier more in there), they're functionally equivalent, and the AC is cheaper (though tbh, sitting under a blast of warm air from the AC feels toastier than sitting next to a hot radiator). Maybe when it gets colder outside the efficiency balance will change in favour of gas.

But the point is: I can use both systems when appropriate (and I'm still figuring out what that is: currently I have settled on a blast of gas heating in the morning to warm the whole house through, and AC for the rest of the day). I would worry with an air-to-water heat pump replacing my gas boiler that there would be times the efficiency (and effectiveness) would drop too much and with no gas boiler to fall back on... a problem.

I'm a bit concerned about the lifetime of the system, though. Let's see if I can make it last 10 years!

[AdrianColes]

…we do not burn lots of coal in the UK (<2% in the last year)

[maracservices]

My issue with heat pump hot water systems is that they are less efficient precisely the time you want it most. When it’s cold outside 😂

[AdrianColes]

…wind and solar is now the abosolute cheapest way of adding electricity to the grid (wind and sunshine prices are not affected by geopolitical events, like gas for example). Also what on earth is a hydrogen turbine?? Production of wind turnbines is less polluting than building a gas power plant, and even the blades (once a long term disposal problem) can now be recycled.

[nattyco]

Will it heat my living areas to a constant temperature of 22C in freezing conditions in Scotland?

[migsteele]

There is so much misinformation in this piece. 

I trust your expertise around AC and heat pumps, but when you start mentioning the use of coal for our grid (less than 2%), how china is burning so much of it (they have the biggest renewable production in the world, ramping up heavily in the last year), and negating the gains we have from clean electricity production, it's just disheartening and misdirection.

Electricity has the benefit of being produced by many different forms, and the reality is, we need to be getting away from fossil fuels. 
Renewable energy is not a mindset, words have meaning... it is renewable because the energy is derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. That is what it means. 

And a 1 degree difference in global average temperatures is a huge difference. Right now money is being spent to diminish further warming, no conversations are being had about cooling back down, this is incredibly important to our ecosystems and that impacts humans as well as all those healthy animals you spoke about.

Your videos have been super helpful for advice, I've got an air conditioning system to replace my old electric storage heaters, so it's still my cheapest option.

But this piece is really disappointing, it doesn't account for progress and the progress yet to come. Hydrogen is a non-starter as its efficiencies are super low and will make gas exceptionally more expensive than it is currently, with most hydrogen currently coming from fossil fuels, more of a green washing exercise than anything.

I appreciate your videos, but the misinformation contained within it potentially damaging to progress.

[hvacdesignsolutions]

Thank christ i held onto my old wood stove boiler.