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Saving Energy, money and the planet

Kandi1977 said:
What @Rorschach says. I've got air-air heat pumps. You don't need very well insulted houses for them to work though. My house is from the 60's, with only 5-10cm glass wool insulation, which isn't much nowadays, at least up north here, where the norm is now 30+ cm.
They should be perfect in Britain, where the climate is relatively mild. A decent one like those I have, will have a COP (coefficiency of performance) of over 5, measured over a year, meaning that for every kW you put in to it, you get 5 kW output. And they're relatively inexpensive and easy to install compared to other units.
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Am i reading this correctly, 5 x the power out that you put in?
That doesn't sound believable.
 
Definitely going to look at a heat pump then - more about the wiring for me.

One question- does it need planning consent?
 
Rorschach said:
Those types of heat pumps you describe are pretty rare actually. They are called ground source heat pumps and you need to have lots of pipes buried all over your garden (or alternatively bore down). Very good but very expensive so you don't see them very often as you need a big garden and wallet. There's another similar type heat pump where you throw the pipes into a body of water. A lake on your property would be ideal but I've never seen one in the flesh as I stay away from those types of people.

The most common type of heat pump in these isles is an air-to-water heat pump. This transfers heat from the air to water (unsurprisingly) which gets pumped around your rads. You can retrofit this to your current system usually. I'm guessing what @Kandi1977 has is a split air-to-air system. These have units up on the wall or ceiling which blow hot air in (or cold in the summer).

Heat pumps will be everywhere at some point in the future but there are a few hurdles. One is that they are not cheap to buy at the moment (air to air is not bad actually) but they will drop like everything else over time so that will solve itself. Problem two is they only work efficiently in well-insulated and relatively airtight houses. I check that houses meet the minimum criteria for the government to pay out a grant for their installation. If the house is not up to spec the heat pump will be working as hard as a victorian child all day long and cost too much to run.

The heat exchanger idea you describe is called heat recovery ventilation which is a little different. You can get these as small units to replace your wall vents, or a more sophisticated MHRV system with ducts running to each room (hard to retrofit). There are few other systems that are halfway between these extremes. As you say, they recover some amount of the heat from the air being exhausted so you are not pumping all your money away.
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Don’t forget small bore pipe is an issue with retro fitting heat pumps
Modern houses don’t have pipe work of a big enough diameter so would need replacing
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Don’t forget small bore pipe is an issue with retro fitting heat pumps
Modern houses don’t have pipe work of a big enough diameter so would need replacing
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Mircobore? Rare enough in this neck of the woods but anyway that's the plumber's problem ;).

There's a lot of heat pump talk in this thread but in the short term I'm thinking this will not help a whole lot for someone looking at massive bills just over the horizon.

If I was advising a few cheaper measures to take it would be...
- draft proof openings, including chimneys
- attic insulation
- heating controls (time/temp) for your space heating and cylinder
- lag your cylinder

If anyone wants me to expand on any of these feel free to ask.
 
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Rorschach said:
Mircobore? Rare enough in this neck of the woods but anyway that's the plumber's problem ;).

There's a lot of heat pump talk in this thread but in the short term I'm thinking this will not help a whole lot for someone looking at massive bills just over the horizon.
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I don’t like them
It’s ac by another name
 
Gutter Boy said:
Just go back to work. Free heating, air con, power, food, drink etc all day, every day. Then a few beers on the way home and you'll almost never need your heating on :cool:
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Haha.

Where do you work that supplies free food ? Or is that something they do that they do not know they do?
 
johnola said:
Haha.

Where do you work that supplies free food ? Or is that something they do that they do not know they do?
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FWIW my office has piles of fruit and chocolate bars and cereal etc. All designed to keep you at your desk rather than walking down to M&S.
I literally never go into the office.
 
I work for one of the worlds biggest providers of facilities management/workplace experience and pretty much every sensible customer has accepted a 50/50 split for staff working in and out of the office
We’re working on a number of options to support their staff working at home as it’s the next big corporate risk
 
I don’t have any specific energy saving tips like heat pumps etc. but I have a friend who’s works for utility warehouse (they save people money by consolidating all their bills to one provider), who I have introduced to a few people and they have saved them between £20 and £150 a month. If anyone wants an introduction then Pm me and I will get her to call you (uk only)
 
DTA said:
I don’t have any specific energy saving tips like heat pumps etc. but I have a friend who’s works for utility warehouse (they save people money by consolidating all their bills to one provider), who I have introduced to a few people and they have saved them between £20 and £150 a month. If anyone wants an introduction then Pm me and I will get her to call you (uk only)
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Don't they operate on a Pyramid scheme model?
 
We have tax breaks for working from home over here. 30% of energy and broadband costs. Might be worth looking into.
 
Aldo said:
Don't they operate on a Pyramid scheme model?
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I’m not sure to be honest, I’m not affiliated with them. But recommended a few people to a friend who works for them and they have saved money.
 
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