Samsung HP any good?

[CharlieB]

Hey folks,
I'm having to accelerate plans to replace oil boiler with ASHP as the boiler has given up the ghost. Plumber (who I broadly trust as he installed some Nav evacuated tubes 15 years ago so he's not new to clean energy) is suggesting Samsung ASHP. It's not a brand I associate with HPs. Are they any good? It would be the biggest 16kW thermal unit, as we're in a big old hard to insulate farm house.

Also, what's your ballpark guestimate for cost to install, including new HW tank but no changes to radiators? (They're already oversized as old people lived here for a while.)

Thanks folks
Charlie

[CharlieB]

Btw it's the new 'high temp' version with R290 (propane I think) as the refrigerant. Not sure if that actually makes much difference..

[Fintray]

A Samsung heat pump was my other choice and a local company gave an estimate of £13,300 for the 12kW HP plus a 200L HWC, the price also included removal of the oil boiler and tank and up to £900 for radiator replacements.
The R290 one is the one I was considering.

[CharlieB]

Thanks Fintray. So I'm guessing you did some research and concluded that Samsung is a decent brand..?

Thanks for cost indication. I'm pleased to be using an independent plumber. Big company costs seem to be inflated because of the grants available. (Which it's not clear we'll get.)

[HML]

Graham Hendra, who seems to be a heat pump guru, likes them. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heat-pum ... card_title describes how he put a 10 year old Samsung in an old house. He mentions them positively in other posts on llinkedin.

I installed a Gen 6 Samsung last year. It works, it was dirt cheap (relative to other ASHPs, it was easy to install and fairly easy to set up. It's been running 24/7 for the past month or so (undersized!).

You need to buy the control interface and pump separately and you should use a variable speed pump to get the best out of the system, but those should be dealt with by your installer.

Cons of my particular ASHP, it's noisier than I expected and the performance at low temperatures (<5C) is worse than I expected. Those shouldn't apply to the newer models. The HTQ look to be a lot quieter as well as being a bit better at low temperatures. I can't find any meaningful figures for noise or performance for the R290 ones but R290 heat pumps generally seem to perform better at low temps than R32 heat pumps.

Samsung tend to be looked down on by some installers as the cheap option (which they are to some extent) but Samsung are a large company who have been making air conditioners for a long time.

[CharlieB]

Thanks a lot HML. Just what I wanted to hear.

[CharlieB]

(Not quite as happy as that though, if I’m honest. Auto smiley converter thing is a bit over enthusiastic!)

[CharlieB]

Hi folks. I thought I'd post on here in case anyone looks it up later. 14 kW Samsung (16kW for cooling I think) ASHP was installed 5-6 weeks ago now and has been running well. Better than expected, tbh, but that's because there seem to be a lot of anti-HP scare stories and press out there these days.

A few things to note:
- Seems well made and good kit. Controller is fairly easy to use.

- Manages to keep our stone built and fairly drafty farmhouse relatively warm. (Not 22 degrees warm, but we never kept it there when we had oil.) Works very well with woodburners, which is no real surprise.

- Zero changes to the heat delivery system at all and it seems fine. HP has just been plumbed into upstairs and downstairs heating circuits. Only change is we have a bit more indoor space where the boiler used to be. We may choose to replace one or two radiators in time but I'm very pleased we're doing it in this order rather than maxing out beforehand on replacing a lot of radiators that don't need replaced. We also now have a better idea of how to prioritise draft proofing and insulation. And the installer assures me there's zero reason why we can't replace radiators with underfloor heating room by room.

- We did replace the HWT but only really because it was old.

- I wouldn't recomend a NEST learning thermostat in this sort of house. It fails to send/receive a signal through old walls, and it's 'smart' ness is pretty dumb as far as I can tell (and seemingly impossible to over-ride). Tbh I hated the thermostats before we installed the HP.

- (Scotland Specific: We didn't get the homeowner grant in the end. Mostly because the house is owned by a family member so we fall through the cracks. But also because we couldn't wait the several months for Home Energy Scotland's absurd process. And in any case I think the way the grant has been set up many installers seem to just add the grant amount to their prices.)

- we're using between 20 and 40 kWh a day. Which seems horrific but actually that's about £5 - £10 a day (without any time-of-use tariff - smart meter has no signal. ) and we paid £1182 to fill the kerosene tank in Feb 23 and another £1409 in Dec23 so I think it's actually a bit cheaper. Certainly better for me as I think about GHGs all the time and it's great not to worry about oil running out.

Overall I'm very pleased with it and I'm pleased we just went ahead and did it when the boiler broke, rather than thinking and thinking and thinking and in the meantime contiuning to burn oil. I'd say don't listen if someone tells you you need to renovate your whole house just to replace a fossil fuel boiler with a Heat Pump.

[richbee]

Sounds great!

[GarethC]

Where are you located in Scotland Charlie? Looking at options for my Edinburgh home.