Solution re geotherm and no ESB

clarabelle

I have installed geotherm system (vertical collector system) in new house but we are awaiting ESB connection and in meantime cant heat house and complete work ie floors and doors, stairs. We were told a few weeks back that heat pump could be plugged into generator but then heatpump comany would not stand over that. We have UFH downstairs and rads upstairs. Has anyone any ideas on temporary sytem that might work? Our plumber hasnt been so helpful and I dont know enough about these things. Any ideas or do I just wait for ESB?

Qwerty?

Would imagine you will just have to wait for ESB, heatpump will be too heavy starting for a generator to handle, unless you get a high KVA geni

clarabelle

Thanks for reply, even with high KVA they wouldnt let us .Time is important to us but will have to wait and see how ESB work comes along.

Qwerty?

What about using the immersion in the tank to heat the UFH, shouldn't be as heavy on the geni, and it won't be using the compressor. At least our heat pump has that option, for exmaple if the geothermal ground loop was faulty/not yet installed, you can heat the house using the immersion afaik. (ours is a NIBE heatpump)

smadger

I was in a similar position and the heatpump installer suggested using an old oil boiler he had lying around. My builder also had one lying around. As it turned out we got the leccy just in time, but you might want to see if you can lay your hands on one and have your plumber hook it up temporarily.

clarabelle

Thanks for both those ideas. I had pitched the idea of temporary oil but plumber said too much hassle. I might try the immersion idea as it would be great to get heat on even downstairs. Thanks for help.

JohnBoy

whats so special about a heat pump that it can't run off a genny?

ass covering

clarabelle

It has something to do with start up spike
but is prob also to cover themselves

The start up load could stall an inferior generator,

Where I used to work they had a standby generator for a computer room, one day they decided to test it, switched on the load and it stopped dead.:eek:

They had forgotten that since the last test they had replaced all the dot matrix printers with laser ones (each one has 20A start up current, and there were ten of them:eek: )

The diesel engine was never the same afterwards!!

JohnBoy

sure there's a startup spike, so if you know the gear you're selling you'll know how big the startup spike is and be able to advise on a suitably specced genny

paddyp

Surge could be up to 40A, you should be able to hire a 10kW welding generator to supply this kind of power. I'm sure the hire company could tell you more.

clarabelle

We have a huge generator well in excess of needs of heat pump but the company wont guarantee it . AT this point we hope to be close to getting ESB connection so we just have to hang in there. Thanks for help on this matter though. Maybe it will help someone else. Remember to allow lots of time for electricity connection!!