Long shot - anyone with experience of fake chimneys?
- Thread starter hc25036
- Start date
We are very happy, but mixed experiences across the estate. Used exactly as suggested - keeping a continuous temperature of less than 20C - we find it to be comfortable and cost effective, although keeping the bedroom heated continuously (at 16C for us) took some getting used too as we like to sleep cooler than that.
Others have kept their winter base temperature higher at 22+ and it then gets very expensive ( you need to use other heating to get the higher temperature). You also need to get used to heating up takes ages if the temperatures does drop. Final problem is that fault finding if there is a problem can be awkward as there isn’t much experience with these as yet.
Hot water uses the heat pump plus a high tech immersion heater, so regular servicing is critical and needs a specialist as these things are complicated!
It’s a fibreglass shell with a row of bricks stuck on the outside!
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
thanks - and interesting. Yes our preferred bedroom temp is 15-16, and we rarely have the radiator on in there, and frequently have the window ajar in winter. My base temp would be about 19C my wife slightly warmer....
got any brand name from your installation?
The kit is from Daikin, but installed by a local installer - who seems to have attended the installation courses but not the troubleshooting ones!
Daikin have been brilliant across the whole site when people called up with queries - even sending technicians to advise and walk through system settings free of charge. Their annual servicing cover isn't cheap but again the service has been excellent.
Daikin have been brilliant across the whole site when people called up with queries - even sending technicians to advise and walk through system settings free of charge. Their annual servicing cover isn't cheap but again the service has been excellent.
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
thank you we have Daikin users at work
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
we are in the loft, but little scope for cavity insulation. mid terrace
JensenHealey
pfm Member
The thing about heat pumps for heating in older properties.... these systems do not work well with radiators. They are really designed to run the whole floor as the radiator - but at a low temperature. Hence there is a hue thermal lag and does take a long time to heat up from cold if it has been off. Installing a system in an older property like mine (built 1785, single brick, 4 floors) is a complete non-starter. Air sourced heat pumps were always rather noisy - are they still?
Ground source heat pump to 'preheat' water would be great but economics would not stack up. Digging up the garden is not realistic, nor boring a deep hole for the coil either.
Ground source heat pump to 'preheat' water would be great but economics would not stack up. Digging up the garden is not realistic, nor boring a deep hole for the coil either.
The proper technical term is a plonk on
As long as it isn't some halfwit in a suit that's never been on a roof in his life you may have a chance
See it all the time, you can't make it up.
djftw
Heterodox Member
Next door had air source Daikin put in about three years ago along with required radiator upgrades and some solar panels, and I consented to receiving a quote from the installers. I did some maths and came up with 16 years as how long it would take to pay for itself using their figures and my own known consumption with a now F rated boiler, even making some fairly dire predictions about how much bulk LPG might go up. These claims that these systems pay for themselves in 5 years etc. are based on some assumptions that I think are fairly ridiculous. Not quite "Mr Watson, we could save you £200pa on your car insurance" when I don't even pay £200pa for my car insurance ridiculous, but a good bit of the way there. ...and if you do heat an uninsulated mansion to a consistent 85F there are probably still far better and more cost effective ways to reduce your energy consumption and bills! Oh and next door seem to have people back to fix theirs about once every 6-months, Janets said something along the lines that it seemed like a good idea because they got a grant of some sort because they're pensioners, but it's been more trouble than it's worth and the radiators don't get hot enough...
...I'm minded to think early adopters will as ever take a big loss as all the kinks are worked out. I'm hoping by the time the 90s boiler packs in BER or LPG becomes more exorbitant the technology will have been sorted out and economies of scale will have bought the price down!
martin clark
pinko bodger
The darn things are exactly that. As to why - oh, dimwitted local politics, unimaginative planning requirements, underreseourced planning depts doing things like not having a Design officer in place, so defaulting to the Conservation officer (* trying not to make this too personal...*); and also - unimaginative buyers, settling for crap.
- tl;dr: it's just one UK-development equivalent of the Hallmark/Clinton /etc cards problem:
Are they that sort of gaudy-crap because that's what <insert-brand> sells? or is it in response to what unimaginative people think they want, and buy ..?
martin clark
pinko bodger
I think I suggested that, yes. Rubbish.
Daikin equipment is excellent; first-tier supplier.
To get the best out of such approaches though, has to start at early design stage ( have some detailed examples & experience... not many of which I can publish tbh.)
The only experience I have of 'Fake Chimneys' is watching two guys carry an apparently brick chimney - 6-7' high, along a roof of some 3 storey flats near work. They put it down for one of them to pick it up and place in position.
It still looks like plastic now, even though its 5 years old.
Must be 10 20 stacks of them on the site.
Weird - why bother? There are no fireplaces in the rooms!
It still looks like plastic now, even though its 5 years old.
Must be 10 20 stacks of them on the site.
Weird - why bother? There are no fireplaces in the rooms!
Agree that the house needs to be built around the heat pump system rather than the other way round. There no gas supply up here, so it was a good shout by the developer and we are very happy with it.
JensenHealey
pfm Member
Many local authorities are keen, it seems, on preserving the local vernacular. If that is chimneys - then so be it, even if they are non functional.