ESB €1350 - PLEASE HELP - Heat Pump -

sunnymeade01

PLEASE HELP - HP Disaster - ESB Bill €1350
PLEASE HELP

hi all, I got a Thermia DUO 1550 heat pump installed in 2007

New build 4000sq ft, radiators upstairs,
my ESB usage in 2008 was 35063 units
my bills in 2008 varied from €370 - €1350(i got two bills for this amount)

my ESB usage in 2009 was 15012 units
my ESB usage in 2009 varied form €250 - €730

my first bill for 2010 was €1306 and 11264 units

this has put me in the poor house and if I get another bill like this I
will loose my house

I am prepared to go all the way on this
- to organise protests whatever it takes because there is no income we cannot get social welfare
and I get bills like this - i will let you know when I am homeless

heinbloed

You are propably not alone with your amazing bill.
Check the other thread here:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055263818&page=2

I'm not sure if the boards.ie rules allow for direct naming and shaming when starting a poll, but here a data base where you're welcome to share positive as well as negative experiences with HPs, namely electric energy consumption versus seasonal/anual efficiency:

http://wp-verbrauch.in-tostedt.de/index.php?lang=en

caesarthechimp

Your bill is approx 8 times a "normal" household bill.
But you can expect your bill to at least double with a heat pump, and your house is 4 times the size of an "average" dwelling, so the 8x is not so outlandish. Get in some tenants?

sunnymeade01

my electricity bill from 8am 28/04/2010 to 7am 29/04/2010 without the heatpump was €2.63 cent

Sorry, but that comment is somethiong I would expect from someone that lived on the moon, simply no idea what your talking about

but thanks for the time to make a comment

Enrate wrote: »

Your bill is approx 8 times a "normal" household bill.
But you can expect your bill to at least double with a heat pump, and your house is 4 times the size of an "average" dwelling, so the 8x is not so outlandish. Get in some tenants?

Qwerty?

Thats does sound high. We have NIBE heatpump, and a 3500 sq foot house, and our bills vary from 300-750 at the highest.

Have you checked what temp the Heatpump is heating the domestic tap water to, as domestic HW gets priority to space heating. I find this it what has our pump working the most. Also you mention Rads upstairs, are these normal rads or special Heatpump rads?

Are you submitting readings every 2 months, doesn't sound like you are, otherwise it is easy for the bill to be way out after a few months.

I've switched to Airticity with their monthly billing it has averaged my bill at a manageable €155/month.

sunnymeade01

I do think it has something to do with the hot water, the rads are very rarely on

Qwerty? wrote: »

Thats does sound high. We have NIBE heatpump, and a 3500 sq foot house, and our bills vary from 300-750 at the highest.

Have you checked what temp the Heatpump is heating the domestic tap water to, as domestic HW gets priority to space heating. I find this it what has our pump working the most. Also you mention Rads upstairs, are these normal rads or special Heatpump rads?

Are you submitting readings every 2 months, doesn't sound like you are, otherwise it is easy for the bill to be way out after a few months.

I've switched to Airticity with their monthly billing it has averaged my bill at a manageable €155/month.

sinnerboy

sunnymeade01 wrote: »

I do think it has something to do with the hot water, the rads are very rarely on

Do you have a stat on your hot water cylinder - to stop the demand from the heat pump when water reaches 60 degrees ?

hohojojo

i am sorry about you problems but if you had have done some researce you would have found they are expensive to run

i would say to you if your bills are so expensive there is a very simple thing to do and that would maybe the intigration of maybe an oil system to use for the time being i understand that you want to be eco friendly but when it comes down to costs crazy prices you have to look out for yourself financially

its not the esb's fault that you electricity bills are high it just simply the usage and the only way to stop that is start to produce you own power to off put the pump ie wind turbine and it wouldn't have to be big or an solar panel

Qwerty?

hohojojo wrote: »

... maybe the intigration of maybe an oil system to use for the time being i understand that you want to be eco friendly but when it comes down to costs crazy prices you have to look out for yourself financially

I don't see that as a solution, you would be spending a hell of a lot more on oil to heat the house to the same degree if the OP's system was running correctly. ( I'm heating a 3500 sq foot house 24/7 with continuous HW water supply for €1000 a year - estimate how much oil would cost for the equivalent of that!)

You need to sort out the Hotwater cut off. 60 is more than hot enough, even 55 would do most of the time, and only occasionally going higher to kill bacteria. Get you installer back immediately, or if you weren't happy with them, pay someone else, you'll recoup the cost in the first month.

fergus.wheatley

One tip is to use a wood stove or hook in an oil boiler to work on cold days when the efficiency of the heat pump drops off.

You might have your underfloor heating on all the time. Try putting it on a timer to come on an hour or so before you need it and off an hour before you go to bed. (to compensate for the thermal lag of the floor).

Next can you reduce the temperature your heat pump runs at, the lower this figure is the better the efficiency. Also consider installing a 1000 litre buffer tank and running the heat pump at night on night rate electricity. 1000 litres raised by 10 degrees stores 12kWh.

PeteHeat

Hi,

My first question would be why radiators unless they are especially designed for a low temperature heating system ?

The lower the temperature you ask a heat pump to achieve the higher the COP especially during the past winter, which is why they are installed in houses with underfloor heating as the flow temperatures can be as low as 35c with UFH whereas the average radiators need 60c at minimum.

Perhaps it may help if you can switch off or lower the thermostatic valves on the radiators and try to make the most of the heat that rises from downstairs.

Definitely you need to control the temperature at the hot water cylinder, it may be worth looking at using the immersion on an as needed basis instead of the heat pump for hot water because again you are trying to achieve a temperature in excess of 60c.

I agree with the buffer and another heat source such as a boiler or stove even add solar but reading your post you are not looking at further spending at the moment.

I hope the above helps.

.

freddyuk

hohojojo wrote: »

i am sorry about you problems but if you had have done some researce you would have found they are expensive to run

i would say to you if your bills are so expensive there is a very simple thing to do and that would maybe the intigration of maybe an oil system to use for the time being i understand that you want to be eco friendly but when it comes down to costs crazy prices you have to look out for yourself financially

its not the esb's fault that you electricity bills are high it just simply the usage and the only way to stop that is start to produce you own power to off put the pump ie wind turbine and it wouldn't have to be big or an solar panel

I can't believe you were sold a GSHP with radiators as that is madness but fitting a windmill is not going to help you and yes it would have to be a big one to be any use at all but the capital cost on top of what you have is not an option.
I would retrofit upstairs U/F if it is timber joists. I reckon that is the cheapest option and dump the GSHP or as said above get woodburners which are super efficient if handled correctly and would negate your space heating needs.

meercat

sunnymeade
is there a dual tarrif esb meter installed to benefit from cheaper night rate electricity?

mr_edge_to_you

I have found heatlink to be fantastic to deal with. I don't think its right that you have a poll up to see if other people share you're personal grievances with them.

soundskin

Sounds like you're compressor has failed and you are now running off the immersion.

Another possible cause is that the DHW from your cylinder is leaking into the heating system if there is a reversing valve that switches between heating and hot water.

henryporter

2008 seems to compare to 2010 in terms of usage so far, plus 2009/2010 winter was one of the severest on record - maybe it'll even itself out. Other factors to consider are amount of heat loss, insulation, air tightness etc.

Personally I don't like underfloor heating in this country due to the temperature fluctuations that we experience, compared to say Sweden where it's cold all winter and temperatures remain constant. I know that doesn't help much....