Okay, new to the forum here. But I feel my experience needs to be shared so that others don't get issues the way I have had them.
I chose to have an ASHP, Solar PV and Rainwater Harvesting installed. My reasons were to mitigate my energy costs as well as helping to save the planet - lower my carbon footprint etc. Recovering my costs, well I'm not sure that's possible so that's not my reasoning.
It's been a complete nightmare. The rainwater tank was improperly installed and collapsed! Part of my property was damaged and I was told it was 'My Risk'. Some tiles were broken during the PV installation, we are still waiting for those to be fixed and an add on to my inverter which was shown as 'optional' on my quote suddenly became 'mandatory' once the system was fitted. I feel I am now being held to ransom by my supplier who will not issue me with my receipt to claim my grant back because I will not purchase the add-on! The ASHP was installed but all of the upstairs rads were getting warm whilst only Hot water was Selected. It was over a week before that was rectified. BTW, we have paid in full for the ASHP and the PV!
Any good points? Well the ASHP now works and seems fine. We haven't used a single therm of gas all this week. Our hob is now the only gas device in the house. The PV seems to produce the 1.1Kw that was specified. The collapsed water tank has been dug up and a new tank installed but as of yet is still not commissioned and the garden is like a battlefield. I'm sure it will all be fine in the end, but it's been my experience so far that most of the green technology companies I have contacted want the consumer to get it all organised and installed so that they can turn up and 'commission' the system for vast sums of money. It was my misfortune to pick the supplier I chose.
Sorry about the long post.
bmbyker
1 Aug 2009, 6:00 PM
Fridheim.
You are right although my dealings with both sides of the business have not resulted in any differences in the treatment I feel I have recieved.
Contact me offline if you need clarification. If I am asked for my opinion as far as I know it is legal to divulge it without any comeback.
I also have discovered that I have legal insurance from my insurer. Also this does not affet my excess ot No claims discount, yippee. So as we speak that is starting to happen to address some of my 'Your Risk' issues.
I intend to contact Trading Standards about this organisation as well. They may not act on my case alone, but once noticed, other complaints start to add up.
Kind Regards,
heinbloed
2 Aug 2009, 10:43 PM
@ fridihem: The British consumer is usually not aware of the declaration of the human rights, their impact on every day's decisions. An adult illiteracy rate of over 20% and a school system were children learn from examen to examen (and forget about what was last year), were parents pay for school visits, books and uniforms isn't that efficient as what we are used to. The fear to speak out what is true is inherent. And bred into people's minds from early child hood onwards. Hence they fall easily victim to the wolfes, being trained to shut up and join the pack. Marx, a mining accountant, worked in Germany before he came to England. There he studied capitalism, at the fore front of mass surpression. Not that the German workers conditions were much better then those of their British counterparts, but the ignorance and incompetence of what he saw there was so obvious that he translated the British social situation into a world wide formula. An ey-opener.
From this point we have to look at the current building situation in GB and most other Anglican countries: Those who work hard for their homes don't know any better. And those who don't don't know any better as well. Ignorance causes the failure of any building, be it a physical structure or the building of a common sense.
How many serious consumer magazines have you seen in GB for sale when you were there? One? And comparing it's intellectual level with what you're used to from home you know why this system is a failure and needs the atom bomb, 16 year old soldiers to bully the world. Intelligence has different methods to succeed.
Shaming and blaming the naked king can be done in a society were the king isn't armed and the people have a good vision, a common sense.
But were the individual is societies best predator- no chance.
bmbyker
3 Aug 2009, 2:35 PM
Frustrating or what?
Just an update. After consulting my Insurance companies lawyers about some of the issues I have faced, they are just going to pay me my claim. It appears it's too expensive to get lawyers involved. So the firm get away scot free. I get paid, but surely we all suffer because the real culprits are not pursued and probably all our premiums go up!
heinbloed
3 Aug 2009, 3:05 PM
@bmbyker: Here is a link to a discussion forum with further links towards independant scientific research concerning heatpumps. The AGL21 link is an eyopener, see the translation of summary on the CI link: http://www.aecb.net/forum/index.php?topic=1983.0 Esp. the air pumps have scored very badly. The AGL21 report was done with the aid of many, the heatpump manufacturers as well as electricity dealers (who promote the installation of heatpumps, ...why....?)had their say, all figures and results had been checked many times. The British authorities are afraid to publish their own report, they're propably not as well insured as you are(smiley).
When thinking about purchasing a heat pump (or any heating system)then better get a written guarantee stating the exact Heating System Performance. The COP of the compressor is irrelevant. Like asking the car trader how much energy does a particular motor consume. The TOTAL energy consumption of the VEHICLE is the relevant question, not the consumption of the engine on it's own. And when asking this particular question and demanding the answer in writing, signed and sealed, you'll see the self-crowned speciallists walking out. They know how bad their products are and how bad their installers work after all. So no guarantee from them concerning the heating systems anual efficiency.It's total energy consumption or overall costs for a life time. Just phrase-bubbles to be filled in with expressions of feelings, emotions, minced words and a greedy look at the cheque book.
fridihem
3 Aug 2009, 4:25 PM
One of the best ways of how they work and their performance, is to go and see someone locally who has installed one and has had it running during a winter season. Friends of mine from Denmark have had one installed in their summer cabin, and by telephone they are able to start and adjust temperatures. As I live near, they sometimes ask me to pop over and check it out before they come up, and as always the cabin is lovely and warm, about 16-18+. Far better than arriving in the middle of winter to a cabin where its perhaps -10 inside.
bmbyker
4 Aug 2009, 12:26 PM
Update2.
Not going well at all really. Trading Standards gave me a lecture! REA, well the person who deals with that is off on sickness.
However, Onto another point. I have noticed that there are a lot of people who appear to have strong negative feelings about ASHP, Solar etc. We have started to keep a spreadsheet showing daily usage of all gas & electric usage. So far in the 2 weeks it has been running, it makes interesting reading. I think if we hadn't changed GAS suppliers the old bill may well have turned up to see if we were bypassing the meter! We will make this spreadsheet available once it has been running for some time so that others can get a real-world idea of the technology. We also highlight in the spreadsheet all high usage electricity device such as Fan Oven etc so we have a clear idea of the daily fluctuations.
In terms of Rainwater I will not be visiting the outside meter to take readings but we have started to connect up the toilets etc and today both cars were washed using the system. I am confident that there will be a bill reduction simply based on the fact that we are only using water for personal washing, drinking etc. Every flush is about 2 gallons, 9 litres?
I never intended to recover my costs using these systems. My main aim was to see if I could save some money that would otherwise go to the utility companies. Only time will tell.
fridihem
4 Aug 2009, 5:17 PM
NINE liters of water for every flush, dont you have the new modern toilets that you can choose, 3 or 5 liters, we have had them for years, and no problems either with flushing away thingies. It is good that you have started using rain water for flushing, such a pity really to use expensive treated water for that purpose.
quizzicool
5 Aug 2009, 3:01 PM
Sorry to hear about your problems, hope it all turns out well in the end, nothing worth doing was ever easy! I'd be interested in your spreadsheet of gas and electric usage, especially if you can attach your bills for the previous year. I'm installing floor cavity insulation as my next project - ground floor wooden floorboards are lovely but draughty and cold in winter.
Julian
22 Aug 2009, 2:05 PM
In all I don't think you're doing badly. It is a pity that the installation of the PV resulted in broken tiles but that's not really connected with the issue of green or sustainable technology. That could have happened with having a new TV aerial installed for example.
The negative comments about ASHP and solar don't surprise but they're very different. The solar - whether thermal for hot water or PV for electricity generation are a real step forward. Anyone who tries to negate their impact is trying a spoiler. Heat pumps however are a little different. However efficient they are the use electricity and most of that is generated (inefficiently) by burning gas in power stations. So it may be cheaper for you to heat your home this way but it may well have used less energy and been more efficient if you had used your gas supply directly.
