Is an Air Source Heat Pump efficient enough in a damp bungalow for someone who has disabilities?

Hi, I would just like to give you an example of my own property. There are many reasons for dampness but before I had a heat pump in the winter my windows (they are double glazed) would be streaming with condensation every morning when it was cold over night. With my gas boiler I ran it as gas heating is typically run with the boiler off while I was in bed only coming on an hour before I got up.

With the heat pump I have it on all the time day and night. The house never gets cold and hence condensation never forms on the windows when its cold. I have to say that I find the heat pump far better than the boiler. Now summer is here it is costing pennies to heat the hot water as the heat pump has lots of outside heat available and doesn’t have to work very hard to get the water up to temperature.

Hope this helps

Bruce

Thank you for your positive answer, thats made me feel a little better. However we have since been told that there needs to be a six foot tank installed as part of the Air Source system..... our bungalow looks like something from Toyland, its very small and am just wondering how many other tanks need installing , as where we have our current condemned oil boiler is in a small out building almost like as though it used to be an outside toilet in the old days.

Do you have any details of the system and components that are proposed? Do you have a garage or internal cupboard where the hot water cylinder can go ? If the heat pump system is properly designed, installed and commissioned you will find it a great improvement in terms of comfort and hopefully cost. 

No unfortunately, we have to have an Asbestos  check first, then there are plans to go through with the engineers, before they install it so that we are happy.   Unfortunately there isn't a garage and there isn't a cupboard.    To be honest there isn't room for a cupboard, unless there is one built to go in the place of the oil boiler.   The people that have answered so far seem to think  its OK  and warm, so thats good but what about expense?  Have your electricity bills gone up?

Morning ​@Viv1966, I hope you’re well.

I don’t have a heat pump myself, so my knowledge is limited. I just wanted to drop by and say that, thankfully, this Forum has proved indispensable when it comes to heat pumps and you’re in good hands!

Thanks for your replies as always ​@brichard and ​@juliamc 😁. I wonder whether ​@BPLightlog and ​@Peter E might be able to share some of their wisdom here as well if need be.

You might also find these Forum topics helpful:

Hi ​@Viv1966 and ​@Ben_OVO 

I was monitoring the progress of this and my only advice, given the number of issues that you have is to have a heat pump survey done. Now this may end up recommending a 7kW pump as the bungalow is at the moment but if you had work done to address any insulation and damp issues then it could be a 5kW pump with lower running costs. As a rough estimate I would guess that your running costs would be similar to an oil fired boiler because those are not cheap to run. That is more or less what I have to say because although I have a very low cost Air to Air Heat Pump I use it in conjunction with my new gas boiler which now only contributes 20% of the heating to the house.

Peter

Knowing almost nothing about your property and the cost of your fuel oil it hard to make any useful suggestions. Obviously your electricity bill will increase significantly when you are paying for heating but this is off set by not having to buy fuel oil. All I can do is relay my experience. My house is a large 5 bedroom 1930s property and I have a 7kW heat pump. The cost of running the heat pump is roughly equal to the cost of running the Gas boiler. I have only had my  heat pump for 8 months but my house was consistently much warmer during last winter.

Bruce

Hi ​@Ben_OVO , ​@brichard , ​@juliamc and ​@Peter E.  Thank you so much for your time explaining to me what's what regarding Air Source Heat pumps. Yes Ben i do agree there is a good team here to help explain things to those who don't have a clue.  I will answer the questions asked but I also have some more to ask myself, so dont go away please! I will get back to you ASAP.  You are doing a great job at allaying my fears! 

​@Viv1966 We are a bunch of people here both inside OVO and volunteers who are more than happy to stick around whilst you find your way through the ASHP Crystal Maze. Just tag us and ask away.

Hey ​@Viv1966,

I can see our community members have offered some helpful advice here. 

Just wanted to add as you mentioned that you have disabilities, ​​the Priority Services Register (PSR) is a free service for people who have extra communication, access or safety needs. Each energy supplier has their own PSR. It’s a system developed by Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, to make sure help’s available for those who need it.
 

How the Priority Services Register can help you

• Alternative communication – if you’re visually impaired, we can send black and white, large print, audio or braille bills and statements to you and/or a family member/carer. We can also give you a call to read out your bills and statements to you if you prefer. 
• Free Gas Safety Checks – some PSR members can get free Gas Safety Checks. Check if you're eligible for a free check:
  • Live with a child under five years old,
  • Live alone or with others and have reached state pension age, or
  • Live alone or with others and are disabled or chronically ill,
  • Live with others who have reached state pension age or are disabled, chronically ill or under 18 years old
• I’m eligible. How do I apply? Just call 0330 303 5063 (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday) and we’ll get you booked in

• What happens at a gas safety check?
  • A Gas Safe registered engineer will come to your home to check the safety of your gas appliances and other gas fittings.
  • They’ll also examine the effectiveness of any flue, the supply of combustion air, its operating pressure and/or heat input and whether it's working safely. If the engineer spots anything that’s faulty or not safe, they’ll disconnect your gas supply before they leave
  • The Gas Safe Register replaced CORGI as the gas registration body in Great Britain and the Isle of Man on 1 April 2009.
• Notice of planned power cuts – we’ll tell you well in advance of planned power cuts. This is especially important if you have medical equipment that needs power. 
• Move your meter or Pay As You Go meter – if you find it difficult to read or reach your meter, we can move it for easier access. 
• Send an engineer to read your meter – if you can’t read your meter, we’ll send someone over to help. For your peace of mind, you can ask our OVO engineer to use a password, so you know who you’re letting in.

Hi ​@Peter E, ​@Emmanuelle_OVO  and ​@juliamc. ​@Peter E  thank you for sticking around your advice is what I need, ​@Emmanuelle_OVO  yes I am aware about the PSR list and appled to be put on there when I joined Ovo which was two or three years ago now, although I dont get notified of any forewarned power outtages though. ​@juliamc  the combi boiler we had would enable us to get hot water on demand.  We don't have hot water at present so we use  an electric shower as our boiler is defunct. We have 6 radiators.  As said previously I have a couple more questions for you all , so please stick around as ​@Peter E  says!  You have all been so helpful. Thank you so much!

​@Viv1966 there is a scheme where you can visit a home with a heat pump, https://www.visitaheatpump.com. There might be one near you depending where you are in the country. The scheme is run by Nesta https://www.nesta.org.uk

Hi ​@Viv1966 ,

there is a lot of good advice already here. I just wanted to say that after a while, assessing options, we went ahead with a heat pump install in March this year. I put a couple of diary entries together to share our experience. 

Of course we haven’t been through a winter with it yet but so far the outcome has been good. My wife needs heat and was unconvinced before my research but she’s now won over, especially as our bills (compared to last year) have reduced as well.

Hi ​@juliamc and ​@BPLightlog.  Thank you for all the info.  I will definitely be looking at that website and I will read your diary thank you. All this is so helpful to me right now.  The other thing I wanted to know is my partner has  COPD, so  do you think she should be around whilst works take place?  I imagine there will be plenty of dust ​about @PeterE, @Emmanuelle_OVO @Ben OVO.

The drilling of bricks, breeze block and plaster where these are present is a very dusty process so it would be sensible for anybody who doesn't need to be there to keep away whilst that is happening. Older houses have asbestos as well so that should also be a concern. The Artex ceilings from the 70s often contained asbestos as well.

Peter

​@Viv1966 how are you getting on with your investigations into heat pumps ?

Hi Everyone,

You may  remember me from last year i was looking for answers regarding having air source heat pump installed as my oil boiler had been condemnedby our housing association. Well we still don't have a heating system but we are looking at Storage heaters and i have been asked to arrange  with Ovo to have a new Smart Meter put in. I already have a smart meter installed just so you all know. I spoke to someone at Ovo last night and he/ she said "you just need to change your tarriff." Is this correct? I need to let my housin association know fairly sharpish so if anyone is around to let me know that would be great!!

You were all so helpful to me before which i was so grateful for i thought i would speak to you all first before speaking to an Ovo official if you  get my drift! Then i'll know what to expect.....thank you once again hope you had a great Christmas and New Year!

​hello again - I’ve been wondering how you were getting on. 

@Firedog is the expert on storage heaters. What will they do for your hot water ?

​@juliamc we now have a medium sized water heater which works very well i must add.

​@juliamc Thanks for the ping!

​@Viv1966 I wish I could be more helpful, but I can only say that there are just so many factors involved that it really needs an expert on site to advise properly.

As regards what you were told by the OVO agent, of course he has access to a lot of information about your metering arrangement, which should put him in a position to make sensible suggestions. I really doubt, though, that it would take only a tariff change to set you up for making the best use of night storage heaters. It depends on precisely what sort of meter you have and what tariff you’re on currently. If your housing association say you need a new meter, this could well be true. 

If you’re up for it, a couple of photos taken with your smart phone would help us to see what’s what:

• A close-up of the meter itself (with the display lit up by touching a button if necessary) clear enough to be able to read the display and the markings on the meter itself;
• A view of the whole backboard so we can see the main supply cable coming in from outside, and all the cables to and from the meter itself;
• If it’s not clear from the previous photo, a close-up of the meter exchange label - the card left by the engineer giving the numbers and readings of both the old and new meters (assuming he did leave one, as he’s supposed to do);
• A view of the consumer unit (fuse box) clear enough to be able to read any labels the electrician may have left to say which breaker is which.

Sorry if that’s a bit daunting …
  

​@Firedog Thank you so much for your reply.  Your suggestion sounds like a good idea, but there are two reasons why it may not be possible.   The first reason is that i cannot open the cupboard door to my smart meter, however i may! be  able to give you a meter number.  The other reason is that i mamaged to speak to Ryan a storage heater professional based at Ovo who is ringing me back thus Tuesday to let me know the process of how the changes take place. But if i gave you a meter number would that be ok?? 

Hiya ​@Viv1966, I hope you’re doing well - nice to see you back.

I do know a Ryan who works in the multi-rate meter side of the business - if it’s him you’re speaking to you’re definitely in good hands. Could you confirm why you’re not able to get into the cupboard? Just to confirm, our engineer will need access to this cupboard to be able to change the meter.

For ​@Firedog to help you, a meter number won’t suffice I’m afraid. Is the meter in a communal cupboard? If so, the Facilities Management for the property should be able to give you access.