heatpumpgod
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Hi all - I feel like heat pump aftercare/customer support is poor and a missing piece of the puzzle.
What do people think?
What do people think?
Heat pump servicing
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Blackrock1
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Yet the consequences of it not working correctly are a lot more costly and impactful
Not sure why it would be more costly. Or impactful.
I guess I’m puzzled why folks think a heat pump should be serviced like a gas boiler.
How often do people get their fridge serviced?
Blackrock1
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If your heatpump is working sub optimally your heating bills are going to be high are they not?
Also maintaining your warranty is one reason for doing it, it'll cost you a lot more to replace than a fridge if it breaks down.
I'm puzzled as to why people think not servicing one of the most expensive pieces of plant in their house is a good idea.
A fridge is a simple appliance with a compressor and refrigeration circuit. It is basically unserviceable. It costs a few hundred euro to replace. It operates indoors.
A heat pump is more complicated. It has a water circuit, fan and a lot of electronic controlls. It operates outdoors and is subject to weather damage. It is vastly more expensive to replace than a fridge. It therefore requires expert maintenance.
I don't believe that there are many experienced and reliable service technicians available.
A heat pump is more complicated. It has a water circuit, fan and a lot of electronic controlls. It operates outdoors and is subject to weather damage. It is vastly more expensive to replace than a fridge. It therefore requires expert maintenance.
I don't believe that there are many experienced and reliable service technicians available.
It's a myth perpetuated by the manufacturers to keep their agents sweet with lucrative service fees. Some of the manufacturers
service manuals have been published online, much of the 'service' is replace the filters (on units with replaceable air filters) and look to see if the ducts are clean or for any signs of damage. Daikin's service procedure for example consists of a total of 15 steps, two of those are remove the cover, re-fit the cover, the rest is running the system to see it works in each mode, the rest is visual inspection for damage and checking water pressure.
The controllers aren't all that complex and are non-serviceable, if something goes wrong the unit will need to be replaced.
Unfortunately a service is unlikely to address this.
If your heat pump is working sub optimally this is almost certainly due to the way you (or the installer) have set it up.
It will run sub optimally if you have it running at a high flow temperature (high heat curve)
It will run sub optimally if you are turning it off for 3+ hours, or if you are turning it off and on frequently (instead of using setbacks)
It will run sub optimally if you have turned off lots of radiators (or if your radiators are too small)
A service will not check for these it will just check that the unit is functioning properly.
Good point, and I think there actually is a gap in the market for the tuning of these systems for greater efficiency. Anyone I've spoken to though has the same issue, the registered installers either don't know how or have zero interest in that.
As I see it the real gap in the market is for the training of the home owners (mind shift) on how their heating system works and then on how to fully optimise it using the T&E (trial & error) method to get the heat curve bang on for their particular house and comfort requirements.
There is no way an installer is going to take the time necessary to do this education piece never-mind the fact that they may not fully understand the overall system enough themselves to be able to educate. (The old gas / oil boiler method of over spec'ing the boiler and setting the flow temperature to run higher than the minimum needed in order not to be called back is still being applied from what I see with hp installs)
There is a lot of useful information on setting up Heat Pumps for lowest flow rates and weather compensation on Heat Geek.
www.heatgeek.com
I've comfortably knocked 25-30% off our (already low) usage by switching to weather compensation and the house is way more comfortable all year round.
I generally agree that the heat pump itself doesn't require much maintenance but I think a lot of homeowners wouldn't be comfortable with maintaining the internal side of their heating system. Cleaning magnetic filters, bleeding radiators etc all keep the system running optimally and should be done regularly.
It's easy for those who know how but it can be daunting for those who don't .
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I've comfortably knocked 25-30% off our (already low) usage by switching to weather compensation and the house is way more comfortable all year round.
I generally agree that the heat pump itself doesn't require much maintenance but I think a lot of homeowners wouldn't be comfortable with maintaining the internal side of their heating system. Cleaning magnetic filters, bleeding radiators etc all keep the system running optimally and should be done regularly.
It's easy for those who know how but it can be daunting for those who don't .
I've been running mine on the cheap night rate for the past decade. The house is as warm as toast in the morning and retains the heat until bedtime. The estimated annual running cost for the heat pump used for underfloor heating* is less than €250 for our 200 sq m house.
(*We also use it to heat water twice a day which ups the overall annual cost).
Only caveat is that the heat pump broke down completely two years ago and replacement parts + labour cost €1,800. Happened in the first week in January and the house was very, very cold for the five days before it was fixed. Our maintenance man (who has the same system in his house and had the exact same problem) informed us that this would happen to both of us again in 8 or 9 years' time. This appears to be a known Daikin problem and I'd love to know if other users have experienced it.
Blackrock1
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Depends on who is servicing it, we have had lots of useful tips from the company we use down the years. Ideally whoever you use for service will understand heat curves, optimal temps, usage patterns etc.
I've educated myself on all of that stuff aswell but I'm happy enough for the small annual outlaw to have the until serviced and checked. As other posters have said it's not just the unit rather the whole home heating set up.