Heat Pump - 1 Year Complete Running Costs (In Depth Edition) 

6 months into my Ecodan and finding it very similar. Very cheap to run the more technology you have. Even when the battery runs out I stick the car on charge early and it gives me a longer slot. Literally never pay more than 7.5p leccy. It’s very satisfying on the bright cold days, heatpump kicks in and the solar is completely covering the heatpump. Mega smug moment! (Admittedly that’s not a daily occurrence but it’s pretty cool when it does happen. There’s loads of conspiracies about these too. I guy basically told me the out door units aren’t doing anything, it’s just for show and the immersion is doing g everything 😆🤦🏻‍♂️

One year already. Wow, time flies.

Heat pump saves us money and lowers our gas usage. Ontario Canada, cold climate and low gas and electricity costs. Works here!!

I have now also nearly come to 12 months of heat pump use and have used for the whole house, hot water and charging two EVs, 3000kWh of net grid power, before starting our journey we used 3500kWh of electricity with no EVs to charge and 12,000 kWh of gas. So effectively our heating is "free" having installed 9kW of solar and a Powerwall. For my hot water I just set it to heat during the night, if it gets cool during the day this does not matter, we have no teenagers wanting a shower during the day!

My energy supplier, OVO Energy, has partnered with Heat Geeks to deliver ASHP installations in the near future. My gas boiler is 13 years old and looks brand new but can't last forever, therefore, I found this video more than helpful.

I agree. Vaillant, please let us have different hot water temperatures for different times of day 🙏.

Very interesting. We have just had our heat pump fitted and it's working very well for us. We took your advice and had a thorough heat loss survey and selected our installer carefully. Like you we use cheap night time electricity to heat water and boost the house. So far we are warmer with much lower costs

Thank you for promoting these. So much misinformation and conspiracy theories about them it's depressing.

Like you I was surprised at the cost of servicing air source considering the lack of anything that actually needed doing. My other system is a ground source and doesn't seem to need servicing, or at least not yet. (13 years so far.)

great video looking forward to getting my heat pump fitted soon

Excellent video, great information!

Thankyou for the video.

Love these videos. Had our Viessmann 150A installed end of October last year. Extremely pleased with it. UFH throughout so we run at a low flow temp on weather compensation. Running 24hrs a day and heat the 200ltr DHW twice a day to 46c. Combined scop 4.3. We have solar and 10kWh battery plus time of day tariff so very low running costs. Solar was already on the house when we bought it which was a bonus.

Thanks for clarifying, to see any financial savings over a gas boiler, a heat pump really needs to be supported with house batteries.

Nice overview, thanks. We’ve had our 5kW Valliant ASHP for one and a half months. For this January, the app is reporting a COP of 5.4 which I’m finding hard to believe.

Great Impartial video as usual. I am in West Yorkshire So pretty much the same climate. I have a daikin 6Kw ashp and my Heat loss is 5.25KwPh. The rolling scop is 3.25. Baring in mind i work from home so heating is on pretty much constantly and i like a warm house (21c) My Figures are:- Total for HW & CH 3,451Kw (2023) Last year for Heating :- J 488kw, F 352Kw M 361Kw A 253Kw M 57Kw J 7Kw J 7Kw A 7Kw S 52Kw O 180Kw N 315Kw D 461Kw Total for heating 2,576Kw So not too far away from your stats. Was hoping for a SCOP of 3.5 but it is what it is. I Too run solar and 20kw of batteries and i think it is this trifecta that makes it really worth it. Without the batteries i think it would be expensive.

good work

Great video as always. I am looking into getting a heat pump when in a couple of years when I replace my solar and get a battery, kinda do it all at once

Quite amazing was expecting only 3x

Excellent breakdown, hit the nail on the head - lack of decent installers and servicing. Servicing seems expensive, my gas boiler is £70 per year and one large £150 service after 6 years. My main problem - house is piped with 10mm plastic pipe. The other problem - any gas guy can come and replace the boiler with like for like for about £1.8k. Good COP though!

First morning waking up to my new heat pump. Warm - toasty warm really. The house was transformed with 10kW of solar, 20kWh of batteries and a heat pump all fitted within March. Biggest problem is Jackdaws wanting to nest under the solar panels. Get a heat pump peeps - and err bird guard for your solar!

Great video cheers for the info! I have may missed this but i have two questions about your setup: Which vaillant arothem plus do you have 5 or 7kW? Also what flow temps are you running for your heating?

We heat our 200 litre Vaillant cylinder to 48 degrees at night from 23:30 - 05:30 on octopus intelligent tariff. I agree with you on having multiple hot water inputs for the day. We have our home set to 21 degrees all day and set back to 20 at night. But I have been thinking of doing what you’ve done and overheat the house at night on the cheap 7.5p kWh rate. We have a 7kW Vaillant heat pump and the whole system cost us £8k after the grant of £5k. It made sense for us as we use solar and battery 24/7 and never really use any peak rate. The odd day the battery ran down by 20:00 at night but then the cheap rate and battery is charged up again at 23:30.

So tomorrow is the start of the ASHP installation (Octopus install), it is the final piece in our journey to changing the house to fully electric. In the last 12 months we have had a solar and battery system installed (7.4kWh south facing array, 2 x 9.5 kWh batteries, G2 5kWh hybrid inverter and an eddi). Following your journey has been super helpful, especially in demonstrating the potential savings. To be honest I am still nervous about this final step, mainly as we are doing this in the winter and therefore will need to wait a full year to fully capture and understand the data. I know that we are going to have to get use to consuming the fully battery storage each day until the weather improves and having to use some peak electricity. I have been in conversation with Octopus about the addition of the Eddi Sensor and relay board as I am keen to make use of solar energy (once the batteries have fully charged), there definitely appears to be a bit of a gap in knowledge on their part, but we shall see this week. If anyone has helpful pointed they would be appreciated. Great video by the way.

Here is my expenses for the house I rent for your comparison, not very well insulated and a god awful boiler. 2023 Electricity tariff: Standard Variable Tariff Paid by: Monthly Direct Debit Estimated annual usage: 4,042.52 kWh Estimated annual cost: £1,294.55 Gas tariff: Standard Variable Tariff Paid by: Monthly Direct Debit Estimated annual usage: 11,399.59 kWh Estimated annual cost: £905.15

This is very interesting as I have had my ASHP since February 2022. At that time our house had very poor cavity wall insulation and this was fixed in February 2023. During the first year it used 3,333kWh, according to our electric meter for the ASHP. My app for my Midea does not deal in decimal places and just seems to use round numbers. This last year has used about 2500kWh and most of my figures were very similar to yours from after my insulation. Usage of my ASHP{ was about 30% higher than years for Dec 22 and Jan 23. I see about a 30% difference with the insulation to without if anyone with poor insulation is looking at an ASHP. We have a 5 bed detached house fo info!

I really like your videos (EVs mostly). They are perfect for finding out how this technology functions in absolutely, relentlessly, shite weather. Anyone watching channels like yours must, like me, feel the need to build a new house, incorporating all the latest technology and insulation. Tip. Get an electric Induction Hob. Even professional kitchens are moving to them now. They are almost as responsive as gas hobs (once you buy the correct pans).

Very interesting, particularly seeing the individual daily consumption figures. My LG ASHP unfortunately doesn’t have that kind of data available but I can now see my consumption in Home Assistant. Comparing some days yours to mine, my typical days are a touch higher but I have an older and probably larger house, but its on what must be the cold days (eg 25/26 November) where my consumption is 2-3 times yours, peaks on 40-60kWh for the day are not uncommon. Need to try to work out why and what changes to make to the weather compensation curve

I have very simualr to what you have. Heatpump works great, I just have it set to 16C though and its plenty warm enough, mind i do have three rads in front room LOL!

Interesting, thanks. Have some engagement 😊

Thanks for your one year review. You mentioned efficiency for the year, but I'd like to know how efficiency varies month by month. My hp system is only 10 days old and the efficiency is barely keeping up with the removed gas boiler!

I am still on my way to completing the first full year with my Vaillant setup. We had a pretty cold winter here in Germany as well, down to -13 at times, and it looks like I will end up with a total energy consumption of about 1500kWh in total if February and March aren't incredibly cold. Pretty decent I'd say. I don't use the data from the Vaillant app because it doesn't measure the consumption of the external pump that circulates water through the floor heating. I have a Shelly 3EM measuring the consumption instead and then add it all up in Home Assistant. We have a variable energy tariff (Tibber) which also help keep the cost down.

Defrosting the heat pump works great. It takes heated water from the tank to defrost itself. Really effective.

One question often seen is the 'what's the payback time, or Return On Investment ?'. What's never mentioned is the value that a modern, clean, efficient, cheap to run and maintain heating system adds to your house. In many cases as much as the outlay.

Brilliant as ever Andy. I'm currently getting quotes to install similar in North Yorkshire. Can you recommend any supplier/installer. I like the look of vaillant, but similarly would like to control temperatures and time of day use. Thanks, Jonathan

The reduction in noise is a big plus for me. I stayed in a stable converted to a holiday cottage in windy West Wales in a cold November with an older heat pump, so I know they work, but Christ, it was noisy. Your new Vailant is night & day in terms of noise. Our gas boiler is only 6 years old so it doesn't make sense to change just yet.

Further south that you, but that was also my highest gas usage day that winter: 118kWh (-4 average temp)

thats eddi thanks

Fascinating, thank you. The temperature thing though - you could save more money and possibly improve your health, oh and err yeah have intersting family discussions [as I duck].... (May I recommend another fascinating listen, BBC Sounds Just One Thing 29 Nov 23)

Andy, you have used ~3000 kwh in 2023….what was a typical amount of gas used pa…pre ASHP?

Hi, I'm very interested in installing a heat pump and have started getting quotes. We currently have a gas boiler which we switch on when we need it, which is usually for 3-4 hours in the evening. Some times we dont even put it on, not because we are skinflints. Would we need to have the heat pump on constantly or can it be used on demand. Would this cost more than if it was on all day. I have a 9.5kw battery and octopus intelligent go and I'm hoping to add another 9.5kw battery if we did go ahead with the heat pump. We live in the southwest which is usually a few degrees warmer than Yorkshire. I would appreciate any thoughts.

The single water temp annoys me as well. I'm using home assistant to change it on a schedule. I can't get my head around working out the actual usage cost and what is being charged during my off peak schedule and what is being charged at peak.

That's a lot less than my gas boiler uses and it's still pretty chilly in the house. I reckon I'd be looking at 80kwh of gas on a cold day being at home all day although gas should be cheaper per kwh then electricity

What temp do you have your rooms. Thanks.

There have been some news reports and discussing going around of home insurance companies refusing to insure heat pumps or being a bit sly and not really being clear on the issue. It would be great to hear your experiences with insuring heat pumps and the other equipment you have.

The hot water electricity consumption shows the same thing as the heating. Using more in the colder months. This is just because the heat pump has to work harder in colder temperatures.

Wish my midea heat pump had all that easy to access fancy data be so much easier to see what its up to

EVM Kirbo are going on Dragons Den 15th Feb 8PM BBC 1 ,after I told them to and to get a patent number .

Im a couple of months into my research for replacing our existing aging gas boiler. I am fortunate to have 15 solar panels on the roof, and just over 10KWH of battery storage. I do need to get a proper survey done to work out if my home is suitable. However, the biggest area of confusion for me currently is working out the logistics of where the heatpump and associated bits will actually go. Our existing heating system is a combi gas boiler thats in a cupboard in the kitchen. The house doesnt have a hot water tank currently. Looking at the size of the tower unit in your garage it does seem like Im going to have to think very carefully over where some of this could fit. The heat pump obviously goes oustide, but my question is how much space does the associated internal bits take up?

Just had my solar panels and battery fitted and have now been looking at a heat pump install through British Gas...I see yours vaillant system but which model is it...I like the boiler unit you have in the garage compared with the traditional boiler exposed look...BG seem to offer Vaillant or Daiken...

EVM what sort of life expectancy are you hoping for on the heat pump?

Yes, with an overall CoP of 3.8, and with electricity costing 4x more than gas, running costs on standard tariffs are going to be almost identical. That makes it hard to justify the capital costs of an ASHP. Unless the cost differential between electricity and gas reduces significantly to around 3x or less, households are going to be resistant to installing an ASHP.

How much power do you have coming into your house because my house and the ones in the street were built in the late 50s so I have been told if I was to have a 7.5kw charger and a ashp there wouldn't be enough power, to try an put extra insulation is impossible and I have no room to put the extra water tanks and if I did the amount of investment would never pay off.

Thats makes my figues for my night storage and electric heaters they are a horror. Easily more kw and i cant get the hpuse higher than 14 in the coldest.

How many sq feet is your house ?

How much for heat pump servicing and frequency? I heard it was about £250 per year.

Maybe this is petty but you need to sort that ring camera cable out 😅

Ashp with a smart meter and enough battery's to last the day really make it worth while if you get cheap night rate electricity. Without cheap rate electric and enough battery capacity to last the day it's expensive in the winter.

I’m thinking of getting a heat pump and sunamp system

Convert ya gas to lpg.. save the standing charge

I moved ed into a property that has an Ecodan heat pump system. Its been a nightmare, the house is always cold! The radiators only get warm not hot, even when the room thermostat is at 20 or 21. Any advice woukd be appreciated.

I’m guessing that weather compensation doesn’t suit your life/work style. Have you experimented with it? Much less cycling and wear and tear on the pump

Thermostat at 20.5 degrees! My wife would be leaving me if I set that!

Seems hot water tanks are back in vogue after the combi boiler era Trouble is where the heck could you fit one unless you had a garage or utility room? Or space is at a premium

How fast does this heat up the radiators from cold please? (compared to.a gas boiler)

What's the point of heating downstairs when nobody is there? Crazyness.

hi do y

You still have baths?

7:06 over month old vid? 🤔 i better join for £1/m then...

Sorry, but how has got £17.500 pounds spare to spend, if a lot of people got all the items you have shown, they would need to get a lone, and now the banks are charging at least 5% which you have not taken in consideration on your savings. 😊

How much does big Heat Pump pay you to make these videos, I'm never giving up my coal boiler, nothing wrong with coal, just a little bit of black lung.

Surprised you have not got it on pure weather compensation. That is a disappointing COP. There must be more efficiency to get out of it. Stop overheating the hot water would be a start. Just paying to add cold water to it to get back down to a reasonable temperature. Mine is set to 40° and is plenty for three adults. I would turn to pure weather compensation and turn your room stats to 23° and keep turning your flow temperature down until you get a constant 20° in the house. Stop turning your stats down at night. HPs are there most efficient when maintaining a nice constant temperature. When you wake in the morning your HP works harder to get back up to temperature and costs efficiency.

No way this is cheaper than a gas boiler, if you include all the stuff you have installed plus the extra unreliable electrical equipment and all the space it takes up it’s just not worth it. It’s also going to be obsolete in a few years. The fan makes a right racket to which makes the garden unusable. If you compare it to a fridge freezer they only last about 5 years and they are far simpler. I’ll be very surprised if that lot lasts 5 years without going wrong.

Regards the conspiracy theory thing: The use of heat pumps is a personal choice at the moment, and not a conspiracy on that we agree. However it can not be denied that those in power are pushing to end the use of traditional forms of energy and heating systems in the home. We already know they plan to ban gas boilers from 2025 in new builds, and slowly phased out for others thereafter, because they have officially told us so. Therefore people are being pushed in the direction of heating solutions like heat pumps, whether they want them or not. Same goes for fuel based cars being banned from production around 2030 (yes that date again...), again forcing people down the route of alternative forms of transport, or more likely... no form of transport unless its public or walking/cycling. So the conspiracy theory dig does not hold much water, when they keep becoming fact with each passing year. We need some new conspiracy theories, asmost of the old ones have all come true!

What would you do after a nuclear war? Heat pumps aren't EMP hardened! So foolish! I'm sticking with my paraffin burners and gas lamps.

This fool trying to convince himself hes getting a bargain, but in reality hes being ripped off ..

How many BTU is the unit and how many square feet are you heating?