Starting out on my heat pump journey

[Joeboy]

Yes, I'm certainly getting fed up with it, wishing I'd paid the extra and used the other company now (no guarantee of a better install though).

Did they add any inhibitor to your system?

I can't remember.

[Richard77]

Do you do online courses Joeboy on how to channel your inner Joe when dealing with tradespeople?

I'll definitely sign up!

[Ronski]

It seems it's not recommended to use inhibitors, although water quality should be tested.

https://www.heatgeek.com/heating-water- ... -vdi-2035/

VDI says to fill with potable water and only use inhibitors in extreme circumstances where it's required, and that the engineer putting in the inhibitor should be appropriately trained in that chemical area.

On a brighter note we generated 71 kWh and exported 77 kWh yesterday, and it wasn't quite a perfect day either, had a couple of hours of intermittent cloud mid afternoon.

[Fintray]

Yes, I'm certainly getting fed up with it, wishing I'd paid the extra and used the other company now (no guarantee of a better install though).

Did they add any inhibitor to your system?

I can't remember.

They probably did as I know they added to mine and during the service Bartek said the water was still clear and no further inhibitor was needed.

[Joeboy]

Do you do online courses Joeboy on how to channel your inner Joe when dealing with tradespeople?

I'll definitely sign up!

It comes from decades offshore. There is the critical path @ £360 to £500 a minute minimum and all else is secondary or girlish bullshit that will be given no oxygen whatsoever.

It's basically a dialled back version of that.

From my pov the men of the world have become weaker and look for excuses not to rather than to fully engage and see it all as a challenge to be bested.

I personally can't stand it and I am incredibly intolerant of weakness.

As for the woke crew and their feelings, "oh just f**k off" fits the bill as a valid rejoinder

That's the course introduction.

Back onto tradespeople, you work hard for your money, pay tax, deny yourself things to achieve goals so you should be able to expect a high standard when its your cash on the line.

I have absolutely zero problem with confrontation, it is just another way of communicating but in a higher charged atmosphere. If you have discussed your expectations beforehand and the contractor has agreed then it's on you to show them what you want and where they are lacking..

Communicating to the chargehand should be enough. If it's not, develop your list of works to be rectified and once commissioned and operational present the list in E format to the company owner explaining why you are withholding balance payment until the required standard is met.

If they continue to fail to reach the standard you require do another email stating this and the amount of the balance you are now regretfully completely withholding to pay a 3rd party company to bring the job up to your discussed, communicated and agreed specification.

Best of fortune in it. Take no S**t.

[Joeboy]

Yes, I'm certainly getting fed up with it, wishing I'd paid the extra and used the other company now (no guarantee of a better install though).

Did they add any inhibitor to your system?

I can't remember.

They probably did as I know they added to mine and during the service Bartek said the water was still clear and no further inhibitor was needed.

Thanks Iain, I think I remember the containers sitting outside beside the machine but can't be certain. Cheers!

TBH, I'd expect them to have as all else was a high standard. It's a bad sign if they haven't at Ronski's and only filled system without a powerflush. That's a critical step to remove restrictions and maximise flow?

[Fintray]

I can't remember.

They probably did as I know they added to mine and during the service Bartek said the water was still clear and no further inhibitor was needed.

Thanks Iain, I think I remember the containers sitting outside beside the machine but can't be certain. Cheers!

TBH, I'd expect them to have as all else was a high standard. It's a bad sign if they haven't at Ronski's and only filled system without a powerflush. That's a critical step to remove restrictions and maximise flow?

At least with the powerflush you can see the change in the colour of the water as you get rid of any sludge then you are starting from a position where the system is clean. I would be concerned that any sludge left in the system would eventually get into the heat exchanger of the heat pump.

Thinking about it now when I said Bartek said the water was clean and no more inhibitor would be needed my old system was open vented and I don't think I added any further inhibitor to it in the 25 years since it was filled when I put in the underfloor heating.

[Joeboy]

They probably did as I know they added to mine and during the service Bartek said the water was still clear and no further inhibitor was needed.

Thanks Iain, I think I remember the containers sitting outside beside the machine but can't be certain. Cheers!

TBH, I'd expect them to have as all else was a high standard. It's a bad sign if they haven't at Ronski's and only filled system without a powerflush. That's a critical step to remove restrictions and maximise flow?

At least with the powerflush you can see the change in the colour of the water as you get rid of any sludge then you are starting from a position where the system is clean. I would be concerned that any sludge left in the system would eventually get into the heat exchanger of the heat pump.

Thinking about it now when I said Bartek said the water was clean and no more inhibitor would be needed my old system was open vented and I don't think I added any further inhibitor to it in the 25 years since it was filled when I put in the underfloor heating.

Even after running for many hours Jim left it on and on, I thought it was clean. Nope, onwards went Jim for another hour. That so much time is taken to ensure max unrestricted flow through to reduce load on the pump it reads like a bad decision to me. It reads like shortcuts to save time and that is to Ronski's longterm detriment for their short term gain. Plus I don't like that the sparky lied. I'm.not impressed.

[resybaby]

Always a good plan, indeed its in the Benchmarking requirements of boiler manufacturers to powerflush else the warrenty is void. I cant see any difference in the need for the same with a HP.
The amount of crap that comes out of a radiator is immense, but whilst flushing and filling/draining will improve the clarity of the water coming out "ooh look mrs the water is clean so we dont need to flush" its something that needs doing to get the crudded up rust and contaminats out of the system, before it breaks down and spreads by itself over time.

Plumbers tend to try and duck out of doing it simply because it can create more issues for the existing pipework appearing, and the customers getting more remedial work (and costs) added to the original quote.

The most common issue is radiators that were previously ok suddenly develop pinhole leaks once the crude is removed = new radiator + associated costs on top of the bill for the unhappy punter.

All tradesmen want to be able to at least stick to the quote given, rather than add loads extra, saves customer confrontation and the nagging doubt that they are a rip off merchant, so best to not do it and let sleeping dogs lie.

[Ronski]

The Vaillant engineer arrived at 8:30 this morning, no message to let me know what time he was coming though, turns out the installer had given them the wrong number!

He was here for just under an hour and half, he changed multiple boards, and came to the conclusion that the e-bus cable between the heat pump and uniTower was at fault, although he didn't do a continuity check on the cable, I asked him to but he didn't seem interested.

He did say it made a change for the installer to use the correct cable though, often the wrong cable is fitted which causes issues.

Other things he commented on when asked/prompted.

• A power flush is highly recommended.
  He mentioned only one side was filled, not sure what he meant by this - I forgot to clarify.
  No strainers appear to be fitted, and that voids the warranty.
  Outside weather compensation is fitted to an ESE wall, ideally should be a north wall.
  Poor insulation finish on outside piping at the ASHP.

I've been in contact with SGS, he said that a power flush was supposed to have been done, and is annoyed that it wasn't, he's trying to organise people to come out today and sort the issues, although he's adamant that strainers aren't required and it's the first he's heard that it will void the warranty.

Ideally the power fluch should have been done prior to the boiler removal, that would have really set them back as it seems to take quite a while to do, I'm sure squeezing the install into 4 days has impacted the quality.

The uniTower, there will be a fridge freezer next to it, so the pipewort etc will not be visible.