Mawsley Posted February 26 Posted February 26 Evening. Wife got told she was going to be unemployed. Banged the first interview, so that disaster has been averted. Means the €548,000,000 I found in the garden can be handed over to the police so they can work out who it belongs to. 3 Quote
Grumpy Old Git Posted February 27 Posted February 27 9 hours ago, Mawsley said: Evening. Wife got told she was going to be unemployed. Banged the first interview, so that disaster has been averted. Means the €548,000,000 I found in the garden can be handed over to the police so they can work out who it belongs to. I thought I had hidden it better that that! 2 Quote
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted February 27 Posted February 27 This afternoon I have been giving my old Astra an oil and coolant change. I hate bleeding cooling systems so I tried one of those funnels that fits onto the expansion tank cap. Absolutely brilliant! It cost me a whopping £11.39 on ebay and made the job a doddle. It's quite scary how much air was trapped in the system even though the new coolant was dribbled into the filler. I can see why they call it "burping" the cooling system. 3 Quote
Mawsley Posted February 27 Posted February 27 Good afternoon. Our boiler has been on the fritz for three years. It's good for the Dad in me because I skip the whole turning down the thermostat or switching it off - everyone has to wear jumpers and shroud themselves in a blanket. But the wife has celebrated her new job by ordering a heat pump from Octopus. I know nothing about heat pumps. Quote
Mississippi Bullfrog Posted February 27 Posted February 27 3 hours ago, Mawsley said: Good afternoon. Our boiler has been on the fritz for three years. It's good for the Dad in me because I skip the whole turning down the thermostat or switching it off - everyone has to wear jumpers and shroud themselves in a blanket. But the wife has celebrated her new job by ordering a heat pump from Octopus. I know nothing about heat pumps. We looked into one but it wasn't viable. They work best in a well insulated building with piping and radiators specifically designed for heat pumps. In our house the lack of insulation a crap heating system meant it wouldn't be cost effective. 1 Quote
Joeman Posted February 27 Posted February 27 2 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said: We looked into one but it wasn't viable. They work best in a well insulated building with piping and radiators specifically designed for heat pumps. In our house the lack of insulation a crap heating system meant it wouldn't be cost effective. until the cost of electricity comes down significantly, they wont make sense for many households. People rave about their efficiency because heat pumps output somewhere between 2 and 4 times the kWh that you put into them as electricity - that sounds great - free energy right!? The problem is that electricity costs around 5x the price of gas at the moment and its due to increase again with the next Ofgem update. So unless you have solar panels or some other access to cheap electricity or a passively heated house, for most homes heat pumps will work out more expensive to run than a gas boiler. You also lose the benefits of instant on heat and nice hot radiators to warm your hands or dry your wet biking gear! 3 Quote
curlylegend Posted February 27 Posted February 27 4 hours ago, Mawsley said: Good afternoon. Our boiler has been on the fritz for three years. It's good for the Dad in me because I skip the whole turning down the thermostat or switching it off - everyone has to wear jumpers and shroud themselves in a blanket. But the wife has celebrated her new job by ordering a heat pump from Octopus. I know nothing about heat pumps. God help you ! I would hang onto the jumpers and blankets if I was you. Also I would make sure you have a totally separate form of emergency heating. Sure they're pretty good in mild weather but when temperatures drop to below 8C they get less and less efficient. Below zero and you're just paying for electricity that just hopes to stop the bloody thing freezing up, you'll get no heating from it ! And we're in the balmy west of France in a twenty year old modern house. We've had three bloody miserable winters with a heat pump that was too small to start with and an absolute cock up of an installation. Just over a month ago I managed to get in touch with a firm that has been in business fitting heat pumps for twenty five years and when they came out to see what was wrong with ours they just shook their heads. I got them to ditch the old one and supply and fit a new Panasonic unit and what a difference ! Mind you the weather has got milder, so I dont know how it will perform in the odd really cold snaps we occasionally get here. But like the boss of the firm said, hang on to your paraffin stove ! 1 Quote
Fozzie Posted February 27 Posted February 27 1 hour ago, Joeman said: until the cost of electricity comes down significantly, they wont make sense for many households. People rave about their efficiency because heat pumps output somewhere between 2 and 4 times the kWh that you put into them as electricity - that sounds great - free energy right!? The problem is that electricity costs around 5x the price of gas at the moment and its due to increase again with the next Ofgem update. So unless you have solar panels or some other access to cheap electricity or a passively heated house, for most homes heat pumps will work out more expensive to run than a gas boiler. You also lose the benefits of instant on heat and nice hot radiators to warm your hands or dry your wet biking gear! Firstly, bloody hell! Welcome back! Not see you for a while. And adding to this, the most common type of heat pump (air source) is at its least efficient during the colder months. Right when your highest heating demand hits. At present I’d always advise people to install all viable insulation upgrades to their home first to get the best out of the boiler. Then as renewables on the grid increase and we get more periods of surplus, it might be that battery storage comes into play if the right tariffs exist. 1 Quote
Mawsley Posted February 27 Posted February 27 We have a new build - well, new 15yrs ago - but it's done bloody well to repell the worst of winters without proper heating over the last three years. I kinda figure that mean a heat pump will do OK for us. I don't need piping hot radiators, just some warmth on the three days I was freezing in the office each winter. Quote
Bender Posted February 27 Posted February 27 5 hours ago, Mawsley said: Good afternoon. Our boiler has been on the fritz for three years. It's good for the Dad in me because I skip the whole turning down the thermostat or switching it off - everyone has to wear jumpers and shroud themselves in a blanket. But the wife has celebrated her new job by ordering a heat pump from Octopus. I know nothing about heat pumps. The in house octopus heat pump is not one of the more efficient ones on the market and it's way behind the best ones from colder countries, why does that matter, because the more inefficient the more electric it's going to use. They do have sensible survey and installation is usually ok but you may want to look at which pump they are wanting to install, the in-house one they make is what they will push but your paying the electricity bill, look at the scop and SPF. Look at valiant or nibe s2125 scop and weep the nibe will laugh at our winters where as you will be able to stand next to your octopus heat pump and keep warm from all the electricity it's using It's not worth it for us as our combined electric and gas is just over 1k a year, would never make it back, our heating is usually on for a couple of hours then it's off, can't do that with a heat pump you have to know how cold your going to be tmrw Solar and batteries help, just spend another 10k, you should break even some time about 2099 as long as electric don't go up, which it will. 2 Quote
Joeman Posted February 27 Posted February 27 Did anyone else buy one of those Chinese diesel heaters that were all over social media a couple of years back? I got one, it's great for heating my mancave! 1 Quote
Bender Posted February 28 Posted February 28 7 hours ago, Joeman said: Did anyone else buy one of those Chinese diesel heaters that were all over social media a couple of years back? I got one, it's great for heating my mancave! Make sure you have a co alarm in there, I take it it's an indirect one with an exhaust ? 1 Quote
S-Westerly Posted February 28 Author Posted February 28 Some of my colleagues who live in the Baltic States swear by their heat pumps and reckon they are brilliant. They get significantly colder weather than us but and here's the kicker their electricity costs are about half of ours. Also there's a political / patriotic thing going on as well as a lot of their gas came from Russia which is now a big no-no. No idea of brand or model though. My house was new in 2017 and could theoretically use a heat pump. I'm seriously considering buying a gas boiler to have as a spare in case my current one packs in after net zero BS kicks in. 4 Quote
Bender Posted February 28 Posted February 28 The heat pumps are much better, that's why I put those up, 1.5 or 2 increase in scop don't sound like much but it's a big deal, I think octopus is a min of 3 if it were a 1.5 it would be in the bin, so a 5 is a huge difference. As above it's all great unless your paying over the odds for electric just like we are and I doubt long term it's going to improve. 1 Quote
Mawsley Posted February 28 Posted February 28 22 hours ago, Bender said: The in house octopus heat pump is not one of the more efficient ones on the market and it's way behind the best ones from colder countries, why does that matter, because the more inefficient the more electric it's going to use. They do have sensible survey and installation is usually ok but you may want to look at which pump they are wanting to install, the in-house one they make is what they will push but your paying the electricity bill, look at the scop and SPF. Look at valiant or nibe s2125 scop and weep the nibe will laugh at our winters where as you will be able to stand next to your octopus heat pump and keep warm from all the electricity it's using It's not worth it for us as our combined electric and gas is just over 1k a year, would never make it back, our heating is usually on for a couple of hours then it's off, can't do that with a heat pump you have to know how cold your going to be tmrw Solar and batteries help, just spend another 10k, you should break even some time about 2099 as long as electric don't go up, which it will. Thanks. I think. Got to be honest, it's all a bit... So I want high SPF/SCOP? 1 Quote
Bender Posted February 28 Posted February 28 20 minutes ago, Mawsley said: Thanks. I think. Got to be honest, it's all a bit... So I want high SPF/SCOP? Same look you will have when the electric bill arrives 1 Quote
Mawsley Posted February 28 Posted February 28 1 minute ago, Bender said: Same look you will have when the electric bill arrives Wife pays the utilities. I won't care about what it costs as long as she still rocks up home on a Friday evening with a curry and Leffe. We are saving on the £3000 we got quoted for a gas boiler - that £2500 we trouser will pay for a few years of leccy...or a deposit on a Street Glide if I ever win that battle (I won't). Quote
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