Air to Water heat pump

barry1708

Hello everyone I hope you’re all doing well.

My partner and I recently had a look to change our current boiler , To a chair to water heat pump I just hung up with a society where explain to me about the BER of the house And the fact that the house needs to be evaluated by someone in order to be sure that the air to water heat pump is the best system for us,
However in terms of pricing he couldn’t tell exactly for obvious reasons what kind of price we are looking for however I wondered if any of you guys installed one of those things and what kind of prices are we talking about here around 5k - 10k etc etc etc .

Thanks a lot and have a great day

MicktheMan

What's wrong with your current boiler?

If end of life then why not go like for like?

Most Irish housing stock are not suitable for hp technology because the heat loss is simply too high and you will be left cold when you need the heat the most. It can cost 10's of '000s to get the house to a good enough state suitable for a hp.

barry1708

MicktheMan wrote: »

What's wrong with your current boiler?

If end of life then why not go like for like?

Most Irish housing stock are not suitable for hp technology because the heat loss is simply too high and you will be left cold when you need the heat the most. It can cost 10's of '000s to get the house to a good enough state suitable for a hp.

Hello and thanks for your reply .

We wanted to get a greener heating solution.

Our house BER is C1 which seem to quality it for the gouvernement grand .

But it needs to be assessed first

ongarite

While your idea of a greener heating system are admirable, A2W setup for your house isn't suitable IMO.
C1 BER is too low for cost efficient A2W system
House is probably 15 years old on original windows, doors with open vents in walls?
You need to get a heat loss survey rather than BER inspection.

A2W ideally needs A-rated home with mechanical air extraction system & plumbing/radiators/UFH designed for it.

KTBFFH

Agree with above comments here. First recommendation is get a heat loss survey done of the house, you'll be in a much better position to know exatly where the heat is being lost and what work is needed then to bring your house up to a higher standard.
A2W is great, but loses its usefulness if the heat is being lost all over the place to vents, windows, doors, lack of insulation etc. etc.

mickdw

KTBFFH wrote: »

Agree with above comments here. First recommendation is get a heat loss survey done of the house, you'll be in a much better position to know exatly where the heat is being lost and what work is needed then to bring your house up to a higher standard.
A2W is great, but loses its usefulness if the heat is being lost all over the place to vents, windows, doors, lack of insulation etc. etc.

Yep. The last thing you want is an over worked air to water system producing mad esb bills.
You will need significant works to get to A rating so costing those works should be your first step.

ted1

Unless your house is airtight forget about it.

The only people doing retrofits are the council and that’s because they think it’s acceptable to spend 50kof public money upgrading a house so the occupants save 200 a year on bills

harr

We looked into getting it done as our oil burner on its last legs , our house is also C ber rating but the company who assessed our house said next to impossible to get the air tightness needed for a pump and if we did go ahead our ESB bills could be multiple of what we currently pay on oil and solid fuel .
So currently sticking with oil but looking at a more efficient burner and upgrading our controls and a certain amount of new insolation .

Calahonda52

ted1 wrote: »

Unless your house is airtight forget about it.

The only people doing retrofits are the council and that’s because they think it’s acceptable to spend 50k of public money upgrading a house so the occupants save 200 a year on bills

So pi$$ing in on the LA's time again. I suppose it has been a while.

Can you please put some facts together to back that up.
eg: the before and after BER.

MicktheMan

barry1708 wrote: »

Hello and thanks for your reply .

We wanted to get a greener heating solution.

Our house BER is C1 which seem to quality it for the gouvernement grand .

But it needs to be assessed first

Do not use the BER result of an existing house as the basis in making such decisions without a full understanding of what's going on here.

To serve as an example -

I live in a 210sqm 1970's deep retrofitted house with 200mm ewi, passive certified TG windows, air tightness <1 m3/hr/m2, MVHR & €300 heating bill, yet the BER cert says C1. Our house is always comfortable winter & summer.
My next door neighbour also live in a C1 rated house, heating bill of €1600 yet still need an extra layer or two when I visit.
Both houses heated with standard OFCH & rads.
A hp would be perfect for our house but a disaster for my neighbour.

This is why a proper assessment (heat loss survey) is vital before spending big on something that might well not work.


Also, please remember that just because there is a gov grant for some measure or other and your house qualifies does not mean this is necessarily the right thing to do!!

MicktheMan

harr wrote: »

We looked into getting it done as our oil burner on its last legs , our house is also C ber rating but the company who assessed our house said next to impossible to get the air tightness needed for a pump and if we did go ahead our ESB bills could be multiple of what we currently pay on oil and solid fuel .
So currently sticking with oil but looking at a more efficient burner and upgrading our controls and a certain amount of new insolation .

Interesting. Did the assessment company not make any recommendation wrt airtightness improvements at all?
I've being doing these heat loss surveys for nearly 2 decades and have yet to find a house where some major air tightness improvements can be readily made by addressing some very obvious weaknesses (low hanging fruit) resulting in significant improvements.

harr

MicktheMan wrote: »

Interesting. Did the assessment company not make any recommendation wrt airtightness improvements at all?
I've being doing these heat loss surveys for nearly 2 decades and have yet to find a house where some major air tightness improvements can be readily made by addressing some very obvious weaknesses (low hanging fruit) resulting in significant improvements.

Our house is timber frame if that makes any difference? they did make recommendations but the cost was going to be substantial to bring it up to what was needed for an air pump.. we will be implementing some of the recommendations before we upgrade our oil boiler..
Do you think we need a second opinion ?

MicktheMan

harr wrote: »

Our house is timber frame if that makes any difference? they did make recommendations but the cost was going to be substantial to bring it up to what was needed for an air pump.. we will be implementing some of the recommendations before we upgrade our oil boiler..
Do you think we need a second opinion ?

While construction type (for example TF) is an important consideration for sure, in my experience, it should not be the determining factor on its own.

On the second opinion question, not enough information to answer. I presume they did at least an air tightness test using a blower door to determine the current of air leakage and you have a list of weaknesses broken out by severity.

ted1

Calahonda52 wrote: »

So pi$$ing in on the LA's time again. I suppose it has been a while.

Can you please put some facts together to back that up.
eg: the before and after BER.

What do you want to see a BER for?
They are pretty useless.

It makes no financial sense to upgrade a house that isn’t airtight to have a heat pump.

So of course we can pi55 all over them. They need to be held a accountable.

If it made financial sense do you not think home owners would do it ?

phobia2011

I have a 1960’s house
DG windows
Insulated roof space - icycene foam
UFH retro fitted - lifted all floors and insulated
Wall lined with 50mm on external walls

Reading this thread has me doubting the HP route?