Energy useage/cost for average 1930s 3 bed semi?

Not the Ruskis taking a practice before they sod up the UK grid;?..

Why do you think Miliband needs help?

They and the EUs 'renewable energy obligation' have already *done* that...

Precisely...anyway like Trump he is just another Russian asset anyway

This was discussed some time ago, and my understanding is that you do need to apply for permission to install an ASHP. However the requirement was waived for heating only.

If I have enough energy I will search back for it.

Cheers

DAve R

I remember RevK (of A&A fame) fell foul of it

We have a large, by most people’s standards, 5 bed, 1980s, detached house. Well insulated, built with cavity wall insulation (polystyrene), condensing boiler ( must be 15 + years old). Double glazed.

We pay £250 / mth in total (gas & electric) but I expect to be in credit - we normally are.

That includes charging our hybrid several times / month and, in the winter, running a small heater in the Motorhome on a thermostat to keep it above 10 C and a dehumidifier.

One tip, several years back I changed our ‘dumb’ heating controller for a Hive system. The kit cost about £120 and I installed it myself - about an hour if that.

Using the data from the system, I was able to ‘tweak’ the schedule and, without any loss in comfort, reduce our gas bill dramatically.

Add in the ability control the system remotely - for example when returning from a trip I can turn on the heating and/or hot water - and it is a game changer.

Yes. That's separate from being eligible for the grant. ie you can install air2air for heating only without needing PP (as long as there's only one outdoor unit), but you won't get a grant for it.

Theo

'There is, however, a catch, and it is one even the council seem to be unaware of most of the time, and that is G3(a) states "the air source heat pump is used solely for heating purposes". That's right, an air-conditioning unit that cools, or heats and cools, is not allowed under this permitted development, so even if you have only one, it needs planning permission!'

Yes, that's why I said 'air2air for heating only'. But I don't know if such a thing exists, or how far you need to go to disable cooling.

(on mine there is no way to fully disable cooling, but it was configured to be controlled by a dry contact. They then deleted all mention of cooling from the manual including this input - hey presto it doesn't do cooling)

Theo

Town gas had a fair bit of hydrogen in it. North sea conversion was just re-jetting - why wouldn't it be the same for a methane-hydrogen blend? Or even put hydrogen?

Andy

I think that's what they mean by 'hydrogen ready' - either switch the jets over or the jets are designed to work with hydrogen. But they're really using it as a smokescreen because home heating by hydrogen isn't happening.

The CMA gave them a slap:

Ultimately the cost of simple non-heat pump boosted electrical heating from nuclear power would be less than electrolysing water to make hydrogen and piping that in.

Hydrogen makes no sense at any level at all. Except interplanetary rockets.

Going back to where we started, as far as I can tell a hybrid system with an air2air heat pump has no provision for cooling.

It would need an additional internal unit with a fan to blow cold air out.

Cheers

Dave R

Air2air can do cooling easily - you just reverse the refrigerant flow in the system - the condenser turns into an evaporator and vice versa. A hybrid system for that would just be two separate systems (one A/C and one boiler with radiators) with shared controls.

ITYM air2water. The units can do cooling no problem, but radiators aren't a good way to distribute that cold into the rooms. UFH or fan coil units (FCUs, 'a unit with a fan to blow cold air out') are better.

Theo

You wouldn't really want cold radiators with condensation dripping off them onto the carpets, would you?

You can manage it if you limit the flow temp to above the dew point so there's no condensation. But radiators aren't great at distributing cold - fans are much better.

Theo

Even if you have your own solar panels to provide *all* the necessary power ?.

Fans are also much better at distributing heat. I have never understood why there is so much animosity to air-distributed heating yet air-distributed cooling (ie centralised air conditioning) is happily accepted.