More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

[Stinsy]

I ran mine in heat mode the other day. I'm not sure how much of a test it was because outside temperatures were around 17℃, I'm more interested in how it performs when outside temperatures are below 0℃.

The main learning point was that it sits there doing nothing for quite a while in heating mode because it only turns the fan on once the exchanger is fully up to temp. And, well, a lot of toasty-warm air came out so I took that as a "win"...

[nowty]

The main learning point was that it sits there doing nothing for quite a while in heating mode because it only turns the fan on once the exchanger is fully up to temp. And, well, a lot of toasty-warm air came out so I took that as a "win"...

I read that it does a several minute delay purposefully to allow the gas pressure to equalise if it switches between cooling and heating modes.

[Joeboy]

The main learning point was that it sits there doing nothing for quite a while in heating mode because it only turns the fan on once the exchanger is fully up to temp. And, well, a lot of toasty-warm air came out so I took that as a "win"...

I read that it does a several minute delay purposefully to allow the gas pressure to equalise if it switches between cooling and heating modes.

My Turkish ones do the same.

[Stinsy]

My guess is the delay exists to prevent blowing cold air while you want heating...

A couple of pics from my testing:

[nowty]

My guess is the delay exists to prevent blowing cold air while you want heating...

Your right Stinsy, I just read the instructions.

[nowty]

As we approach the Sept Equinox, the night time temps are dropping off and I have been using the A2A HP's to solely heat the house. This is working ok within the core of the house and seems to be more efficient than my Ground Source HP (GSHP) heating radiators as the A2A HPs modulate down to very low power consumption.

But the extremities of the house are a little more chilly, especially in the morning in the bedroom and bathroom. So I ran my GSHP on the radiators early morning for a few hours to get the temperature up everywhere, then switched to the A2A HP's after breakfast.

Seems to be the way to go here.

Still no grid import yet, everything running nicely off the solar PV and batteries, but after the Equinox, Solar PV goes down hill rapidly and I'll have to start the grid import on the cheap slot. Usually its like a switch, come October.

[Oldgreybeard]

Still running the aircon in cooling mode overnight here, house is sat at 21.5°C in the hall. Bedroom was just over 20°C this morning, with the aircon on and set to 20°C. Without the aircon the bedroom would have been around 23°C I expect. Don't anticipate using any heating for at least another month, based on previous years.

[Tinbum]

I've just started to use our air con unit to heat the house and have been rewriting a lot of the Arduino frequency diverter code so I can now control everything over LAN using MQQT and Node Red. I can also now see what the diverter has turned on.

[nowty]

Still really blown away with my A2A HP units, I just don't understand why these things are not mainstream here.

Tonight, 1am, its low single digits temperature outside, lounge is 25 degrees.

Inside unit,



Outside unit, not even a hint of any icing on it.

[Adokforme]

Still really blown away with my A2A HP units, I just don't understand why these things are not mainstream here.

Tonight, 1am, its low single digits temperature outside, lounge is 25 degrees.

Hi Nowty, I'm with you on that score. We've had our two for four years now and well chuffed with them, not only their responsiveness and efficiency but capital layout too being far lower than those utilising radiators etc. Don't get me wrong the latter are great when designed into a new build with UFH or correct sized radiators and plumbing but as retrofits which the government subsidies are limited too are awash with complications.
From what I understand A2A HP's are classed as air conditioning units, predominently supplying cooling in summer months so not considered environmentally friendly! There appears to be no recognition they are just as efficient supplying heating as well. Checking back on our two, then for every kWh used for cooling they've supplied ten times that for heating.
I believe they'd be a great alternative for heating in quite a proportion of properties throughout the land and all at lower cost to owners without the need of a government subsidy.
Do you think the minister currently holding the purse strings is aware of their benefits and enormous potential.
Oh, apparently there's also a matter of local planning permission requirements and especially so when installing two. Something I wasn't aware of but as no one has complained then I'm not of a mind to apply for it retrospectively.