Octopus launches its own Heat Pump

[Yuff]

Yuff, Im surprised your house has cavity walls at all ( modern extension)!?
Many will be more hesitant than you by the amount of work done for ashp in your older property, can I suggest a project summary in a thread of its own for those that come seeking info down the line? ..it would doubtless shore up a lot in the minds of those contemplating a refit that is on the cusp of an unprecedented demand, & a few horror stories to boot.

The cavity wall became widespread in the 1920's, so maybe not so surprising on a 90 year old house.
https://www.londondampcompany.co.uk/the ... f-history/

Glad I’m not going mad
Annoyingly part of the re-furb was ripping out a beautiful oak floor in a 15 year old extension, why oh why did they not put UFH in it in 2006…..
The excavating out cost multiples of the UFH …….

[nowty]

Annoyingly part of the re-furb was ripping out a beautiful oak floor in a 15 year old extension, why oh why did they not put UFH in it in 2006…..
The excavating out cost multiples of the UFH …….

A house round the corner had scaffolding up recently. I thought Solar Panels obviously.
No, just replaced some poncy wall cladding.

A year ago the house across the road from me had scaffolding up, load of roofers on took ALL the the tiles off, I thought, wow they are having some in roof solar panels fitted.
No, just replaced a few broken tiles.

[Mr Gus]

Yuff, if it is solid oak then it is deemed typically unsuitable for UFH, for which in those years the thin veneer of real oak (maybe get 1 or two sandings off it) was / is more expensive than solid (crazy right) but suitable for ufh generally ..so like ourselves opted to lay down thick planked oak which is a nice insulating layer in itself compared to carpet with underlay.


Probably no reason why oak flooring from then cannot have the adhesive scraped (agitated off) & reused elsewhere, otherwise a shocking waste!

[Mart]

Just to say I went through their questionaire and submitted a 'just looking for prices' (rather than a date) application, and they've come back with that they may be able to install one this summer.

No price/quote yet, but I'll keep folk informed.

My alternative plan was to get a much smaller boiler to replace the combi. Add a HP hotwater tank (external venting), and possibly a 3rd A2A unit. So the GCH would need minimal use.

But the cost of all that would be more than a proper ASHP install (after grant), and also if we change from a gas oven to leccy, we could go gas free. [Plus of course, I'm probably pushing my luck with the 2 small A2A units, so options may be reduced.]


Edit - Should say, I expect to be told that we aren't suitable as we have microbore, so may need a high temp HP. But hoping that we are OK, as I've been running the GCH on minimum temp this year, and it almost coped, so 24/7 HP would probably manage for those bad 1 or 2 week periods. Also hoping that the A2A units can be included.

Gas consumption has fallen from 11k kWh about 5-10yrs ago, to 8k kWh (thanks to improvements), and the last years dropped further with A2A units. 2022 was 5,500kWh (including DHW and gas oven).

So fingers crossed ...... but that microbore ..... hmmm!

[nowty]

So fingers crossed ...... but that microbore ..... hmmm!

A nice easy to understand video about microbore and heatpumps.

[Mart]

Many thanks Nowty. Nice to know there are options.

My hope is that even with the microbore, the house would be fine on the worst days, by running longer, since we don't actually use all that much heat. Plus the A2A can work as additional heating. But I'm not sure if the A2A support can be included in the assessments and still allow elegibility for the grant. Still, fun to find out.

[MrPablo]

I've also applied for pricing details, looks to be the same summer timeline in this area as well.
The main issue for me is finding space for the UVC, ideally I'd like it in a downstairs cupboard but 0.75 x 0.75 is a fair bit less than the 1.0 x 1.0 Octopus want...

[Stinsy]

Many thanks Nowty. Nice to know there are options.

My hope is that even with the microbore, the house would be fine on the worst days, by running longer, since we don't actually use all that much heat. Plus the A2A can work as additional heating. But I'm not sure if the A2A support can be included in the assessments and still allow elegibility for the grant. Still, fun to find out.

I'm same. thinking of replacing my gas boiler with a 6kW HP. Hoping the A2A can overcome the limitations of microbore and provide additional heat as required.

Not this years project though.