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359 Topic threads
Ben_OVO
Community Manager
Ben_OVOCommunity Manager
 Home and heating
Book your air conditioning installation with OVO
Book your air conditioning installation with OVONews

Book your air conditioning installation with OVO You can now book an air conditioning installation through OVO. We’re using highly rated installers, fully backed by OVO, and we’ll handle everything from paperwork, to design and install. You don’t have to be an OVO customer to get air conditioning installed with us.  Book your installation in 3 steps: Request a no-obligation home survey by filling out this form. A local engineer will then contact you to arrange your survey, with no obligation to buy. We’ll design a system tailored to your home, needs and budget, and will send you a detailed quote with no hidden fees. Once you’re ready, our certified engineers will handle everything from design to installation, backed by a five year workmanship guarantee.  How air conditioning installation works Modern air conditioning uses reverse-cycle heat pump technology to deliver total, year-round climate control from a single system. By using a clever valve to flip the direction of the refrigerant

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Ben_OVO
Community Manager
BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
 Home and heating
Diary of an ASHP install - Part 2Blog

The Install WeekOn the lead up to our installation date for our Heat Pump (HP), we had everything in place:Space outside clear for the heat pump itself Internal loft space for the pipework and any system parts A clear space inside around the existing boiler for removal Storage space for the pipes, insulation and other equipment (being delivered on the first morning)I got a text message from the lead installer on Sunday evening letting me know that he would be arriving at 8am on the Monday morning. He was actually early and supervised the off loading of the delivered equipment. This can take a little time as there is often quite a lot of items alongside the heat pump itself which need agreeing as scheduled items and delivered.Other trades were due shortly and so we walked the install route around the property from the HP position, through the loft access, existing pipework, boiler, radiators (6 out of 12 to be replaced), gas supply point and electricity supply.One of the things I partic

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Abby_OVO
Community Manager
BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
 Home and heating
Diary of an ASHP install - Part 4 (Conclusions after a year in use)Blog

A Years Worth Headlines:Cost - energy bills reduced by £160 Cost reduction despite unit costs for electricity rising and despite keeping a gas supply with the associated standing charge. Home comfort - our temperature levels in the home during heating season were increased (compared to the previous year) to run the heat pump more efficiently (20 deg C during the day and 18 deg C overnight) Hot Water - as previously reported, this has been changed during the year and the system now ensures our preferred set point is reached giving hot water at the points we use it most. Looking across the monthly usage, it becomes fairly obvious that any savings are focused on the higher usage months. I mention this in particular because as the heat pump is still used for hot water in summer, during these months in fact costs increased slightly compared to the equivalent months in the previous year.  We have a busy household with 4 adults and so heating and hot water are important throughout the year.U

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BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
 Home and heating
Diary of an ASHP install - Part 3Blog

An Air Sourced Heat Pump in useNow having had practical usage of our ASHP (Air Sourced Heat Pump) I thought it might be a good idea to update the story with a look at how it has performed over the months, including the start of the current winter.After the install our heating needs have been well catered for. It is important to understand that a heat pump does not operate like a gas boiler. The ‘instant’ heat does not happen in the same way and therefore it is suggested that any temperature set-back is relatively small. We have a single temperature zone set at 20 deg C throughout the property and set-back to 19 degrees overnight. What this means is that the heat pump never needs to suddenly reheat the whole house by several degrees and in fact, the comfort level in the property is higher than previously experienced.What does have to be taken into account is that the heat pump can either heat the home or heat a hot water tank and therefore it is important to time the switch over to prov

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Ben_OVO
Community Manager
BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
 Home and heating
Dashboard for Home UsageBlog

With the raft of online apps and services now in everyday use, I had begun to get frustrated that for some simple things (like thermostats, energy usage and security cameras) it was necessary to open a whole array of different programs. I stumbled across the concept of gathering these together under one service and now have a very easy, comprehensive option via something called Home Assistant (HA). (available on mobile app and pc)Although it has been many years since I did any real programming, I decided to try out this system and have found it a lot easier to put together and operate than I expected.First of all, I need to say that it is often not totally without cost. The system can be run on an existing computer but as the service really needs to be running all the time, most people tend to use some sort of minicomputer. I used something called a Raspberry Pi. This is a small electronics board – which can be bought as a full system or piece by piece – which links to your broadband r

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Peter E
Super User
B
Super User
BeePeeSuper User
 Home and heating
The Mysteries of LegionellaBlog

I am not a biologist; in fact it is nearly 50 years since I passed my Biology “O” Level. HOWEVER I would like to be re-assured that if I make changes to my heating system I will not compromise my family’s safety and well being. The following I have gleaned from various sources on the Internet. If you disagree great, but PLEASE supply the basis for your differing view. I’m afraid “a mate down the pub said” will not wash. What is Legionella? From the NHS website:Legionnaires' disease is a lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water from things like air conditioning or hot tubs. It's uncommon but it can be very serious.You can get Legionnaires' disease if you breathe in tiny droplets of water containing bacteria that cause the infection.It's usually caught in places like hotels, hospitals or offices where the bacteria have got into the water supply. It's less common to catch it at home. Where does it come from? From the CDC Website:Legionella bacteria occur naturally in fre

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Chris_OVO
Community Manager
BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
 Home and heating
Diary of an ASHP install - Part 1Blog

As often happens, a second generation of new technology provides better results for the user and so, although installers and training still require some updating, we decided to make use of the offers currently in place and see what was involved for a Heat Pump installation.For qualifying properties and systems, there is a Government grant of £7,500 (BUS) and we went with a scheme which also allowed a ‘free’ survey (£200 payment which either is refunded or goes towards the final cost of install) and an opt out right up to the days before installation.Our survey was arranged in a few days and a surveyor arranged an appointment to measure and review the property. The survey suggested a heat loss just under 9kW and so the plans revolved around a 9kW heat pump installation. We currently use a condensing gas boiler for our heating and hot water and part of the survey looks at the pipework and radiators to check their suitability. Our outcome was that the pipework was ok but 6 out of 12 radia

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BPLightlog
Super User
D
Rank 1
DerntoRank 1
 Home and heating
A
Rank 2
AstraroyRank 2
 Home and heating
I have FIT with new battery and inverter, do I have the right meters?

Wondered if anyone can answer my query Im an existing FIT payment receiver (solar panels installed with single string inverter 11 years ago) so receive a decent FIT payment. Recently had installed a EcoFlow 3.6kw inverter with 10kw battery storage, the generation meter was changed to a bidirectional meter as instructed and followed the correct schematic. However the meter is showing a negative number and I can’t seem to work out what the solar panels are generating apart from what shows in the EcoFlow app We charge the batteries up at night using an off peak rate and then any solar during the day tops the batteries up. am I correct in thinking there should be another meter of sort between the solar panels and inverter just to monitor the generation from The solar panels? installers seem to think by summer it will change to a positive but that’s no good to me right now when I’ve generated about 30kw of solar   

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BPLightlog
Super User
C
Rank 6
confused off peak bRank 6
 Home and heating
C
Rank 1
Colin at homeRank 1
 Home and heating
moira9b
Rank 2
moira9bRank 2
 Home and heating
J
Rank 4
JudesmanRank 4
 Home and heating
J
Rank 1
JohanhendrikRank 1
 Home and heating
J
Rank 5
Jacko6625Rank 5
 Home and heating
Jeffus
Rank 20
JeffusRank 20
 Home and heating
Cadent have cut through the mains electric cable to our house

Cadent managed to cut through the mains electricity cable to our house earlier today.... Just our house has been impacted. I don't think Cadant have been careful all week with their digging.... Cadent are in the process of replacing all the mains gas pipes in our area so have been digging in the area for weeks UK Power Networks were quickly on the scene after we told them. Cadent hadn't even told UK Power when we phoned... But UK Power Networks couldn't start work until Cadent made the area safe. No eta to get fixed yet. Just wondering is it worth putting in a complaint to Cadant? I would rather not claim on house insurance for  spoiled food. UK Power have been excellent keeping us informed, Cadent useless.  

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Chris_OVO
Community Manager
C
Rank 4
Cloudliner79Rank 4
 Home and heating
Offered solar, battery and heat pump, but then told offer not available

I have been with OVO for over 20 years but recently my attempt to upgrade to an Air Sourced Heat Pump and also get a Solar plus battery survey and feasibility assessment has been a total failure and as a result I have left OVO and joined OCTOPUS who within just 10 days have got everything assessed and sorted . By comparison the designated OVO assessor cancelled his appointment at very short notice, made a new appointment and then failed to show up. I phoned his number and emailed and left messages to reschedule but received no reply and when I visited my OVO account ALL the publicity and links to the ASHP and Solar plus battery offers had been removed so I must assume that OVO has PAUSED ITS CAMPAIGN FOR LOGICAL or other reasons. WHY DID IT ALL GO SO WRONG?

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vertesol
Rank 2
C
Rank 4
Cloudliner79Rank 4
 Home and heating
ASHP plus small condensing gas boiler Hybrid Experience?

I am exploring the possibility of asking my energy supplier to  design an Air Source Heat Pump- plus small Condensing Gas Boiler Hybrid System as this would appear to offer the best of both worlds and enable the whole C/H system to work both efficiently and give strong ‘on demand’ heating and hot water ‘on tap’ plus a degree of resilience against individual unit performance degradation. DO any OVO Forum members have first hand experience of design, installation and use of such a system? This Hybrid approach is intended to be an alternative to having an ASHP for whole house background heating and hot water storage plus a balanced flue gas fire added into the living room or lounge to cater for all those sudden ‘on demand’ room heating moments during the year. at a similar overall installation cost (but with the potential for a more intelligent control program to be applied) that is essentially an enhanced ‘fit, setup and forget’  solution to home heating for the future. Apparently, as lo

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juliamc
Rank 20
vertesol
Rank 2
vertesolRank 2
 Home and heating
H
Rank 4
hydrosamRank 4
 Home and heating
Correctly sizing Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) - Bigger is not always better
Correctly sizing Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) - Bigger is not always betterBlog

Updated on 16/02/26 by Abby_OVO​ This is a long and quite technical post ASHP fitted – Daikin Altherma 11kw monobloc - part of the BEIS government trial with OVOAs you may be aware, I have kept a close eye on the performance of my system since this trial started, partly due to the bad experience with the first installer (Northern Gas 👎) and partly due to my instrumentation background. I have gradually improved the seasonal coefficient of performance of the installed heat pump from a COP of around 2.0 originally, up to ~2.7 when the system was refitted, and up to about 3.0 now. There is still significant room for improvement but I will need to wait until the trial with OVO is over before I embark on the next alterations (a smaller heat pump, changing a few radiators). I believe that a correctly sized heat pump would provide significant energy and financial savings.An OVO article online about the size of heat pump a property needs, made me review the heat pump choice for my house. Over

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C
Rank 4
T
Rank 3
TrickoRank 3
 Home and heating
Solar Panel limits in Summer

Back again with a weird one. I’ve had to chase Octopus a couple of times for Outgoing payment since starting tariff in March. Which they have done when asked, just prefer not to be asking. Anyway since the last payment the Solar export figures have been way down. With the decent weather we’d been getting payments anywhere up to £1.15 per day. But as of last Weds after the payment they gave us most we have received is 19p. And we have had some amazing sun. Our usage hasn’t changed in the house but it’s dropped right off. It’s not as though it’s not doing its thing it’s just not as much as I would of expected considering it’s getting warmer.Does something weird happen to panels if it’s very hot? Any insight would be really appreciated.Also they’ve been in a year now do they ever need cleaning? 

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Peter E
Super User
D
Rank 2
Dave-Nice-VIIIRank 2
 Home and heating
M
Rank 2
martinwinlowRank 2
 Home and heating
vertesol
Rank 2
vertesolRank 2
 Home and heating
J
Rank 2
janieRank 2
 Home and heating
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