Hi Iain, hope your heat pump is working well. Look forward to hearing about it.

I had my gas meter removed recently after getting the ASHP. Some suppliers who are most keen for you to decarbonise will remove the gas meter for free so it’s worth looking around before paying for this yourself.

I was speaking to someone at OVO online chat the other day about the same thing and they quoted an amount of money to remove the Gas meter so that i could stop paying the standing charge, so it does seem to be a standard fee, when speaking to a trial phone operator though a few days later i raised the same point and they said it had been raised a few times and that OVO were looking into it as it does seem strange that we are trying our bit for the planet and then get charged for doing so.

Welcome back, @Giant Iain! Have double checked and you’ve already got a key so have full access to the Smart Home Trials area for more exclusive ASHP chats!

Some great points being made hear about the additional costs involved in your journey to Zero Carbon heating. It’s worth mentioning here that OVO charges any non-essential maintenance jobs at cost (ie. the same price we’re charged by our third-party engineering company), although it’s interesting to hear how other suppliers cover these costs.

and echo @nealmurphy on this one, we’d love to hear how you’re getting on with the new setup! Had a chance to compare it to our other trialists’? - 

Hi Tim, I'm a bit late signing up, but we’re part of the Carbon Heat Trial with an ASHP install that has been working for a few months, but is still having a few things tidied up yet. Very pleased to have it, but it’s been a long journey!

Hiya @chiefmac !

Welcome to the OVO Forum. I’ve gone ahead and asked @Tim_OVO and @Jess_OVO to give you a key to the Smart Home Trials Treehouse, so you should be able to get access by the end of the day. We’ll let you know once you’re in.

Thanks for joining us!

Rocking up to the party fashionably late, @chiefmac? - We like your style! 

Great to hear things are starting to bed in despite the long ASHP journey.

Just given you access to your special area so why not head on over and introduce yourself and your heat pump setup here:

Great to have you here! 

I’m on the powervault trial - please add me to the private chat

Welcome @Jenny Smith !

Sure thing. I don’t have that power myself, but I’ll let @Tim_OVO and @Jess_OVO know that you’d like to get a key for the Treehouse. We’ll let you know once you have access, but it’ll probably be at least tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, feel free to explore the forum and fill out your profile. Hope to see you soon!

Hi @Jenny Smith and welcome to the OVO online community!

Great to have another Powervault trialist on board here to share you trial experience - I’ve updated your profile giving you access to our dedicated Smart Home Trials area. Why not head on over and introduce yourself and your Powervault setup here:

There’s already a wealth of peer-peer knowledge sharing going on in this area - some of it can get a bit technical at times - but don’t be afraid to get involved and start a new topic if you’d like! We welcome all contributions and encourage you to ask questions, share tips and observations or discuss the future potential of your green tech.

It’s what this place is all about! 

Hi
I’m on the trial, can I be added please? Installed in June, a bit slow on the uptake but here I am. Thank you :)

Hi @Bev and Welcome to the OVO online community.

We’re always happy to see another Heat Pump trialist getting involved here so no harm in turning up a little late!

I’ve just updated your forum profile so you can now access the exclusive Smart Home Trials area.

Why not check out the other trialists’ set-ups and introduce yourself over here:

Hello, I am part of the heat pump trial. System installed in March, but did not work so a month with no heating and having to manually turn immersion on and off. Correct breaker was then installed so had heating for the summer!

New Honeywell wireless thermostat installed a month ago, heating now does not work again. All pipes have not been lagged properly. Looking forward to having a completed system within the next month.

Howdy @Jsc !

To gain access to the Smart Home Trials Treehouse, first you must solve this puzzle. With one truth, you may pass.

Who is the Community Manager of the OVO Forum?

Clue: His name is similar to Tom, but not quite the same.

Hi @Jsc and welcome to the Forum.

I don’t think we’ve had any other participants comment about a problem with a ‘breaker’.

Are you able to elaborate?

Was it a trip installed alongside the internal enclosure for the Heat pump system?

Do you have a photo of what got installed to resolve the issue?

Thanks.

Hello @Jsc - I echo the warm welcome to the OVO online community.

I’ve just updated your profile so you’ll now have access to the Smart Home Trials area, we’ve got a great introductory thread going on over here, if you’re up for sharing a bit of info about your setup:

As @Transparent mentioned, we’ve not heard of anyone reporting issues with their ASHPs and a smart thermostat yet.

We’ve had a recent discussion around the compatibility of smart thermostats with your Air-Source Heat Pump (ASHP) trial, the advice given that this should be possible if this is checked with the ASHP installer prior to fitting the smart thermostat. If you haven’t already we’d recommend getting in touch with them to report the recent issues - Let us know how you get on, this will be really helpful to others who might be intending to install similar devices with an ASHP setup. 

@Jess_OVO wrote:

we’ve not heard of anyone reporting issues with their ASHPs and a smart thermostat yet.

… and we still haven’t.

@Jsc referred to a breaker

So I assume we’re discussing one of these

but it could be a ‘breaker’ inside one of the major control units, which is why I’m asking for details.

@Transparent 

Hi yes it was the RCD. Required a type F that no local supplier stocked so had to wait for a special order from a manufacturer. Type Bs were available which I think would have worked for the variable load but they are more expensive.

With reference to the smart thermostat, can not see why it would not work. The wireless one that has been fitted has a similar receiver than the normal boiler smart systems. Problem at the moment is that the thermostat is calling for heat and the receiver is indicating it is sending for heat but the wiring to the system must be wrong as does not turn on. Heating is on with the daikin controller (the inbuilt room thermostat has been disabled).

Thanks @Jsc 

Ah… so you are convinced that the failure of the heating and the change of ‘smart’ thermostat a month earlier are linked events are you?

I had discounted that possibility as unlikely. Such a failure should’ve been almost instantaneous and therefore visible to the installer.

As for the RCD choice, I just happened to have covered that subject recently in the topic about Installing an EV Charging Point at home. Have a look at the table in the lead article.

If you had posted that problem here on the Forum at the time, then there are several of us who may have been able to quickly track down a type-F for you.

Even so, I don’t think other participants in the Heat pump Trial have a type-F RCD. Let’s see if anyone else responds here.

@Transparent thanks.

Have only just had the invite to the forum so a bit late in joining. The engineer installed it and set temp to 26 degrees and said it can take a bit of time to "kick in"! Northern gas did not know what they were doing.

It must be wired wrongly from the receiver to the system. Thermostat and receiver are showing calling for heat but pump not activating.

When I had the combi moved and installed by a gas safe, he was not up to speed with electrics so I installed the hive unit while he was there with boiler panel open. It is likely to be a misplaced call/live wire so should be easy fix for the engineer when he is next out.

I have not looked to see if they did install an F, was just happy to get some heat back in April.

I'll put some photos of the system up in the closed area.

Hi, we're part of the Zero Carbon Homes trial. It would be great to be able to chat to other people on the trial.

Howdy @M.isterW !

That’s a really ingenious name there! :D

I’ll go ahead and ask @Tim_OVO and @Jess_OVO for help with that, as they’re able to hand out the keys. Bear with us for a bit and we’ll keep you posted.

Feel free to explore the forum in the meantime. :)

Hi @M.isterW - great to hear from you!   

I’ve now given you access to the Smart Home Trials private area. You can browse, you can post your question as a new topic (here), or as a comment on an existing topic. For example, this one:

Also, I notice you’ve filled in your profile and have been an EV driver for more then 12 months. Nice! Fancy heading over to this thread next time you’re in an EV geek mood and consider leaving a review about your wheels?

You sound like you’ll fit right in over here on this forum!

Hi @Tim_OVO . I’ve tried the links you’ve provided but this one - https://forum.ovoenergy.com/smart-home-trial-treehouse-146/my-equipment-installed-for-heat-pump-installation-what-s-yours-9109 - gives me an error message “You are not authorized to access this page.”.

Sorry @M.isterW  - I suspect @Tim_OVO ‘s done a typo whilst entering your name in the Permissions List. That’s what happens if he tries to ‘work late’ on a Friday evening when he’s meant to be out buying drinks for the rest of the team!

Oops - bit of a Friday arvo slip-up there, @Tim_OVO!

Sorry for the confusion caused, @M.isterW - If you try again you should now have full access to all the Smart Home trials discussions including this one:

We’d love to see some photos of your set-up there if you’ve got some to share?