Octopus Heat Pump

[Adrian R2]

On Adrian R2 Said:

[…]  It might have been OK if they had kept the shiny painted finish.

 

… and the clever photographer ?

🙂

MichaelG.

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Octopus Energy unveils ‘Cosy Octopus’ heating eco-system  

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Vic … Please always feel free to speak your mind

Duncan … Like you, I am generally happy with Octopus as an energy-provider.

The recent problem is mostly down to incompatibility … Their preferred range of hot water tanks are all too big to fit in the space I could provide.

MichaelG.

The “ancilliary” bits are a problem.  Have found that on botn my ASHP fits.  However, is there any scope to use the space vacated by the oil tank for an external plant room?

BTW do ditch that electric shower, the hot water costs 3 times as much as ASHP hot water and you won’t have to run round in order to catch the trickle from the electric one!

Martin

[Martin Johnson 1]

On Martin Johnson 1 Said:

[…]  is there any scope to use the space vacated by the oil tank for an external plant room?

BTW do ditch that electric shower, the hot water costs 3 times as much as ASHP hot water and you won’t have to run round in order to catch the trickle from the electric one!

Martin

 

 

Nice thought, Martin … but the oil-tank is between the back wall of a sectional concrete garage and a panel of similar construction … it would require a lot of work to do tidily.

My best hope is that the local firm can supply either:

• a tall and very slim tank in the kitchen

or

• a short and very tubby tank in the under-stairs

The stair-case is what’s known as an ‘enclosed dog-leg’ design … so there’s good floor-area, but little height.

MichaelG.

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Point about shower gratefully noted.

 

 

 

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Vic

I have just asked Google a couple of questions 🙂

who was responsible for the styling of the octopusenergy ‘cosy’ heat- pump … We deserve to know ,

followed by

no, I just wanted to identify the culprit !

MichaelG.

 

 

It’s not just the Heat Pump, who decided to make Pink Batteries? 😮

 

Mind you, it’s not just Octopus. Whilst I believe Tesla do have some of the best technology and software, the design of some of their products is pants in my view. Their two best sellers the Model 3 and Model Y, don’t look too bad now. The first iterations of these two were plug ugly, especially from the front.

The Tesla wall charger also looks quite ridiculous IMO.

But, it’s down to personal taste I suppose. I showed my wife the picture of the purple heat pump and she didn’t believe it at first, then laughed.

[VicParticipant @vic]

A better picture.

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Michael

If it’s any help our ASHP mains pressure hot water cylinder is 470 dia x 1550 high and is made in the uk by UK Cylinders. We were shown a range by our installers from their website and worked with them on the capacity and physical size. UK Cylinders also do horizontally mounted cylinders of various sizes that can be loft mounted, or may fit your understairs cupboard. The mains HW cylinder does give a lovely shower, we don’t have a bath which helps to keep the cylinder size down, we’ve never run short of hot water.

It is contained in a cupboard built around it in the hall that measures 720 wide by 620 inside, all the controls gubbins and expansion vessel are above the cylinder, to keep the footprint as small as possible. One of the advantages of coming away from Octopus was being able to choose things like the tank and radiators ourselves.

We also found it a faff getting to the point of choosing a system , but in the end have no regrets and so far we have been very pleased with our ASHP

I could take a picture of the cylinder tonight if that would help.

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks, Dave … Yes please, a picture would be a great help.

MichaelG.

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Hopefully these may be useful, could probably been made a little more compact but the cupboard was designed to fit between a wall and a doorway. The structure is completely removeable if any major work is needed the framework is held to the wall by 10mm studding resin anchors and can be removed in about 20 mins by undoing about ten nuts, the heavy oak door is fixed firmly to the wall, with the cupboard removed and the door open access is excellent.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nice work, Dave … Thanks

I will have a look at the UK Cylinders offering.

 

I do have a strong preference for putting everything under-stairs if I can

… the kitchen really is tiny, and space there is precious.

With all the rubbish pipework removed, I think it should be realistic to use a horizontal cylinder under the stairs, with properly installed pipes and paraphernalia.

Note: I have heard mention of ‘stratification problems’ with horizontal cylinders … grateful if someone could enlighten me.

MichaelG.

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Edit: https://ukcylinders.co.uk/cyl-products/elite-cyl-heatpump-horizontal/

[VicParticipant @vic]

Is this of any interest Michael?

https://fischerfutureheat.com/blog/tankless-vs-tank-water-heaters/

 

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Michael, I did mention the Heat Geek mini store earlier. I would be interested if your installer has an opinion on these as they are supposed to address the problem of where to put all the gubbins associated with an ASHP install.

https://www.heatgeek.com/heat-geek-mini-store

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Vic & Adrian

Thanks for the links

 

… I need to go out this morning, but will investigate later !

MichaelG

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Vic,

The product looks very impressive, and they are marketing it very well, but ultimately it is an instantaneous heater consuming full-price electricity [just as my shower does].

However … If the ASHP project is no-go then it would certainly help  reduce my oil consumption … so thanks for the link.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Adrian,

The Geeks could be on-to a winner !

They have identified a vast market-sectorwhich the other suppliers appear to be  ignoring.

Their Mini Store FAT  110L measures  830 x 550mm … which should fit very nicely in my under-stairs, and have ample capacity fo my solitary needs.

Just need to discuss it with the potential installer.

MichaelG.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

For rough calculations a cubic m of water stores 1KWh of energy per degree. So the tank shown by Dave stores about 10KWh between 30C and 80C if you can operate your underfloor or fan assisted radiators with this input and a control system that doesn’t try to restrict you to say 50C to 70C.
The Octopus cosy tariff you linked way back does several short bursts of cheap energy so it is critical that you can control it to have the store fully charged at the end of each phase and not need more than the stored heat during the expensive period, especially the 4pm-7pm slot.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Bazyle,

Thanks for reminding me about the tariff

I must check to see if the Cosy tariff is available with a  third-party installation.

… copious caffeine might be required for that exercise !

MichaelG.

 

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Octopus Cosy is available for anyone. There isn’t actually any requirement to have a heat pump, if your consumption pattern matched the tariff!

Works well with inverters and batteries as well as heat pumps.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That’s great news, Mark

… I’m too tired to study weasel-words tonight.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

[ Closure ]

This morning, I  spent a couple of hours with the Surveyor from the local firm

… Very impressed !

He is clearly an honest man, and knows his stuff.

.

Bottom-line is: I won’t be buying an Air-Source to Water heat-pump from them, or anyone else … The house, and the existing system pipework, are unsuitable in so many ways.

I have just ordered 500 litres of heating Oil, at  £711.38

So be it

MichaelG.

[Author]

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