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.