In December 2022 I was contacted by a household in Coventry who had a heat pump installed in 2010, but it wasn’t performing as well as expected. The house had a number of insulation measures fitted so they were a bit puzzled as to why it was struggling to heat the home.
I was out of action for a short while in December 2022 as a lorry had ran into us on the motorway (the lorry driver has since admitted responsibility), fortunately our injuries were minor.
So it was February 2023 before I was able to go see them in Coventry.
By doing a whole-house survey with thermal imaging I was able to advise them that:
There were a number of issues with the design of the heat pump, mainly around hot water flow rates and temperatures
Some of their insulation and glazing was not performing as expected
Their radiators were not ideal for a low temperature heat pump
Their heating controls were not as good as the kind of intelligent systems that have emerged in the last decade.
I was able to recommend a number of low and medium cost measures that could be taken, short of replacing the heat pump.
They thought about it over the summer and then decided to replace the heat pump, which was coming up to 13 years old, and also because they were thinking of selling the house.
They got a desktop quote from a heat pump installer that had been recommended to them. They came back to me and we agreed an additional fee for me to do some hand-holding.
I looked at the desktop quote and was able to advise the householders on:
The suitability of the recommended replacement heat pump
The heat loss calculation that the installer had carried out
The proposal that the installer had made regarding new radiators, heating controls
My view on whether the proposed installer had the necessary skills that were needed.
I told the householders that I was happy for them to proceed with getting a full site survey and quote from the installer, and what questions to ask the installer.
I will update this blog when I have heard back from the householders. Watch this space!
Sadly this is not the only occasion where I have been asked to help a household with an under-performing heat pump. The good news is that if you get it right then a heat pump is a game-changer for thermal comfort, running costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Heat pumps do work in the UK climate if you get the design parameters right.
Below you can see videos of two of my clients who are over the moon with their new heat pumps.
First of all, Ben;
Next up, Maggie and Dave (turn your sound up as the sound quality isn’t brilliant, or watch on YouTube and turn the subtitles on).
This week has seen good news that the grant available to homeowners and private landlords for replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump has risen to £7,500.
If you are a householder, landlord or business thinking about major energy saving measures such as a heat pump, insulation, or solar, then please check out my energy saving advice packages. I’m completely impartial and not tied to any installer or manufacturer.
I am not a fan of Amazon, as I consider their business practices to be harmful to the environment. However I want as many people as possible to have access to impartial energy saving advice, therefore I have decided to publish the book on Amazon. For every £1 that Amazon take in fees, I will invest £1 in cooperatively-owned renewable energy generation.
If you have already received an energy advice package from me, and you have decided you do want a heat pump, then click here to find out how I can help you understand how it will be designed to heat your home or business comfortably, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Green Homes Grant (Local Area Delivery Scheme) – also known as LADS – is here. It provides grant funding for some measures, but how much you get and what for, varies from one local authority to another. In some local authorities it is means tested, in others it isn’t. Also because of supply chain issues, in some areas it is behind schedule. If you have energy saving measures through this scheme, then the scheme manager chooses the installer for you. Unlike the previous Green Homes Grant scheme, it is operated by the local authority and the charity Act On Energy, which I think is a good move.
If you’re not in the West Midlands, then Google “Local authority delivery scheme [your local authority name]
As part of the quality assurance scheme that includes LADS, you should receive independent advice from a Retrofit Coordinator, free of charge, if you qualify for LADS. Which means you don’t have to pay me for advice! If however, you would still like to pay me for independent and impartial advice on saving energy in your home – or even your business – then I would be happy to help. I help you to understand where to start, and how to plan for making your home or business environmentally friendly in the short, medium and long term.
Are you looking for a kitchen appliance? My post-Brexit advice is now to compare the amount of kiloWatt hours (kWh) of electricity the appliance is predicted to use in a year. Not the energy rating (A-G), as you might have done previously.
Why is this?
It’s to do with Brexit and the UK’s antiquated electricity distribution system.
The electricity that comes into your house is 240 volts. But none of the appliances in a modern house need 240 volts. They typically run at 220 volts.
So that is quite a bit of electricity going to waste.
Since we left the European Union, that waste is now reflected on the energy label of appliances. So something that used to be A-rated, might now only be E-rated, as I found recently when shopping for a new washing machine.
So it’s best to compare appliances by predicted kWh use in an average year. So fridge-freezer A might use 60 kWh, whereas fridge-freezer B might use 70 kWh. You can compare water use on washing machines and dishwashers too.
If you’re a householder then there’s not much you can do about the fact that your electricity supply is 240 volts. But there are still a myriad of ways you can save energy in the home.
Whereas if you’re a business, it might be worthwhile fitting a voltage optimiser. This is a transformer that reduces the voltage from 240 volts to 220.
If you’re a householder, business or public body than needs advice on reducing your greenhouse gas emissions, then check out my expert advice packages.
Does your home or small business have a combination boiler? With no hot water cylinder? You could save energy, money and greenhouse gas emissions by turning the boiler temperature to your radiators down to 55 degrees or below.
If you have a boiler with a hot water cylinder or heat store? You could still save – but it’s slightly more complicated with this type of boiler. So read on …
Making better use of existing heating controls is one thing almost every home or business can do to reduce their Greenhouse Gas emissions NOW … and it’s free.
The government has recently announced that on all new heating systems, the maximum boiler temperature should be set to 55 degrees. This is long overdue. But you don’t have to wait until you have a new heating system. You can be part of The Fab 55 right now.
If your boiler has been installed in the last 15 years, it is almost certainly a condensing boiler, whether it’s mains gas, heating oil, or LPG. It is designed to run at lower temperatures than older gas boilers. In fact it MUST be run at 55 degrees or lower in order to operate in condensing mode. If you run it at too high a temperature, then the water going back to the boiler from your radiators or under-floor heating will be too hot, and this excess heat will escape through the flue. This is not how condensing boilers were designed to work. Condensing boilers have a second heat exchanger, which is what makes them potentially more efficient than older boilers. But if the boiler temperature to the radiators is too high, then the boiler will run in non-condensing mode, wasting energy, money and greenhouse gases. Unfortunately I often see clients, both householders and businesses, where the boiler temperature to the radiators has been set to 60 or even 70 degrees.
Will it be cold if I turn the boiler temperature down?
You can get the same amount of heat to keep your home or business warm by running the heating for longer. A steady background heat during the heating season is more efficient than short bursts of on/off using the timer. You should also regularly monitor your room thermostats. You should not treat the thermostatic radiator valves like a motorbike throttle – it’s not good to turn them up and down too frequently. It’s best not to let temperatures fall below 16 degrees in a home at night, because that can be dangerous for people with cold related medical conditions.
If you have a combination boiler, you can experiment with turning your boiler temperature to the radiators to below 55 degrees – to 45 degrees. Do it in stages, not all at once.
How do I know if I have a combination boiler?
These are the signs:
A combination boiler doesn’t have a hot water cylinder or heat store
Google the manual for your boiler make and model – it will tell you if it’s a combination boiler.
If your boiler does have a hot water cylinder or heat store, then it’s not a combination boiler. See below.
How do I know if I have a condensing boiler?
Insulated condensate pipe
All boilers can be condensing boilers. This includes combination boilers, and boilers with a hot water cylinder/heat store.
A condensing boiler will have a condensate pipe (see photo) that evacuates condensed flue gases down your drain. This will usually be an insulated diagonal pipe outside. If your washing machine is below your boiler then the installer might have done a very clever thing where the condensed flue gases run out of your washing machine outlet pipe, so there won’t be an additional condensing pipe outside your home.
Google the manual for your boiler make and model – it will tell you if it’s a condensing boiler.
If you don’t have a combination boiler …
Then you can still have the boiler temperature for the radiators at 55 degrees or lower, but it’s too complicated to explain in a blog as it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Google the manual for your boiler make and model.
If you have a hot water cylinder or heat store, then you must ensure that the stored hot water is not at risk of legionella bacteria. Normally this means making sure the temperature is raised to 60 degrees periodically to kill off the bacteria. Do not take risks with a hot water cylinder temperature – consult the boiler manual.
If your home is heated by a different type of heating system, e,g, electric radiators or storage heaters, then the same principle applies, that a steady background heat is preferable, although this might be harder to achieve with storage heaters.
Getting your building “heat pump ready”
If you are considering having a heat pump, then it is essential that you run the heat pump at lower temperatures of 55 degrees or lower. Practising running your existing boiler at lower temperatures is one of the most important thing you can do to make your home or business heat pump ready.
Let’s make you energy confident
If you sign up to one of my energy advice packages, I will help you get energy confident so you know you are doing the right things to reduce the environmental impact of your home, business or non-profit.
About me
I am the West Midlands’ leading expert in:
energy saving
renewable energy
procurement of energy saving products
water saving.
My customers include householders, landlords, public bodies, small businesses, charities and coops.
Phil is truly an expert in his field. I can understand why most people around the West Midlands choose to go to Phil for energy-saving consultancy. Phil has a thorough understanding of energy conservation and sustainable living. Would highly recommend. Nathalie Rush, MD, Six Star Insulation.
Claire Spencer
His knowledge of community-led sustainability is second to none, and his perspective on local and national issues is invaluable to us. He adds value, and is everything a good consultant should be, and I would recommend him to anyone in our field Claire Spencer, Sustainable Moseley.
Rosemary Coyne
It has been hugely inspiring to work with Phil. While others talk, Phil gets on and does it. Rosemary Coyne, Coordinator, Sustainable Housing Action Partnership
Ray Walker
In working with Phil I have been impressed by his level of knowledge and enthusiasm. He has a vast array of contacts and has brought us into contact with other stakeholder in the energy business that would have been much more difficult to achieve without him. I am also struck by his commitment to supporting communities and the most vulnerable client groups.
Ray Walker, Disability Resource Centre
Cllr Karen McCarthy
Phil Beardmore has a long association with Localise West Midlands and is a valued associate on environmental, housing and fuel poverty projects.
He works with us both as an individual practitioner and leading multi-disciplinary teams on larger projects, delivering high quality results on time and on budget.
Cllr Karen McCarthy, Localise West Midlands
Membership of the AECB – Association of Environmentally Conscious Buildings – enables me to keep my skills up to date
I won a Making Birmingham Greener Award for Outstanding Personal Achievement.
I was nominated twice by my peers as one of the top Green Leaders in the West Midlands
One of the weaknesses of the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy is that the grants available for heat pumps are most likely to be taken up by better-off households, and that fuel poor households are at risk of missing out. Suddenly, fuel poverty is in the news, and the internet is full of self-proclaimed experts who claim that heat pumps are no good for the fuel poor.
Let us never forget that our reliance on gas for heating homes is one of the main reasons why fuel poverty is on the increase. Even the most efficient gas boilers are only 95% efficient, whereas heat pumps are at least 300% efficient. Gas boilers are frequently over-sized, and incorrectly designed to run at high temperatures, which means they operate at much less than 95% efficiency. Gas is part of the problem.
Fuel poverty is a complex social issue. It is caused by poor efficiency of buildings and appliances; lack of understanding of how to use appliances efficiently; low income; all compounded by the fact that the fuel poor are most likely to be on the worst tariffs and use the worst payment methods. People with cold and damp related medical conditions are at greater risk of fuel poverty.
There is no magic bullet to solve fuel poverty.
Effective fuel poverty interventions include some or all of the following:
Improving the thermal efficiency of a home;
More efficient heating appliances;
Income maximisation;
Supporting fuel poor households to find the cheapest payment methods and tariffs, which is difficult in a time of price volatility.
Successive governments have failed to implement strategies that achieve a holistic approach to solving fuel poverty. Heat pumps are right for some homes and not right for others. What fuel poor households need is a whole-house plan to make their homes more efficient, starting with improving the building fabric.
Proper design is key to the successful installation of a heat pump in any home. The UK is short on heating engineers who understand how to design and install heat pumps. This needs to be addressed urgently.
Read a report I wrote about a project in Birmingham to help vulnerable fuel poor households.
Here is a video of the successful use of heat pumps to help fuel poor households.
Featured image by Amy Purdie for Saltley Community Association.
Are you giving your home a green makeover? Would you like the work you have done to be certified? Would you like to tell the world about what you have done to save the planet?
I am accredited by the Association of Environment Conscious Building (AECB) to certify housing retrofit projects as having achieved the AECB Retrofit Standard, and to list them as a case study on the Low Carbon Buildings database. Both privately-owned and rented homes (including social landlords) can be certified. Non-domestic buildings, including businesses, charities, coops, and places of worship can also be certified on the Low Carbon Buildings database.
Please contact me for a no-obligation discussion about helping you to get your green home makeover certified. As an introductory offer, this service is currently priced at £299.
Featured image credit – Levitt Bernstein, Elementa, Passivhaus Trust and Etude commissioned by West Oxfordshire, Cotswold and Forest of Dean District Councils, funded by the LGA Housing Advisers Programme.
Are you looking to take over a neglected building or asset into community ownership? Is it leaking heat and wasting energy and money like the building in the picture?
The government’s Community Ownership Fund was announced in July 2021. It has been set up to help communities take ownership of assets and amenities at risk of closure, and will run for four years.
Interestingly on the subject of Environmental Sustainability, the fund’s prospectus says that “We welcome projects that can support the journey to net zero and incorporate low or zero carbon approaches. We also welcome projects which consider their impact on the natural environment and appropriate mitigations.”
This means the Fund could potentially support:
energy saving measures in buildings
renewable energy installations such as solar, heat pumps, wind turbines.
If you’re bidding to the Community Ownership Fund and are interested in making your community ownership project low carbon, then please contact me to see how I can help you. I have lots of experience of working with community-owned buildings on energy saving, renewable energy and water saving.
Are you a school, academy, NHS trust, university, college, nursery or other public body?
Do you have a fossil-fuel based heating system that is coming to the end of its useful life?
If so, then you may be eligible to apply for grant funding to reduce your energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible costs under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme include a contribution towards capital works, enabling works, and some consultancy costs.
A typical project might include installing a heat pump in a public sector building, with associated works such as insulation, heating controls, LED lighting and lighting controls, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.
What I can do to help you
I can help you with:
deciding which are the most cost-effective energy saving measures for your public sector building
writing your application to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
choosing suppliers of energy saving measures and suppliers
demonstrating the greenhouse gas emissions savings to the funder.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is open for applications from 7th April 2021 and is expected to be quickly over-subscribed. If you would like me to help you with your energy saving project then contact me now for a conversation about what you need from me.
About me
I am the West Midlands’ leading expert in:
energy saving
renewable energy
procurement of energy saving products
water saving.
My customers include householders, landlords, public bodies, small businesses, charities and coops.
Phil is truly an expert in his field. I can understand why most people around the West Midlands choose to go to Phil for energy-saving consultancy. Phil has a thorough understanding of energy conservation and sustainable living. Would highly recommend. Nathalie Rush, MD, Six Star Insulation.
Claire Spencer
His knowledge of community-led sustainability is second to none, and his perspective on local and national issues is invaluable to us. He adds value, and is everything a good consultant should be, and I would recommend him to anyone in our field Claire Spencer, Sustainable Moseley.
Rosemary Coyne
It has been hugely inspiring to work with Phil. While others talk, Phil gets on and does it. Rosemary Coyne, Coordinator, Sustainable Housing Action Partnership
Ray Walker
In working with Phil I have been impressed by his level of knowledge and enthusiasm. He has a vast array of contacts and has brought us into contact with other stakeholder in the energy business that would have been much more difficult to achieve without him. I am also struck by his commitment to supporting communities and the most vulnerable client groups.
Ray Walker, Disability Resource Centre
Cllr Karen McCarthy
Phil Beardmore has a long association with Localise West Midlands and is a valued associate on environmental, housing and fuel poverty projects.
He works with us both as an individual practitioner and leading multi-disciplinary teams on larger projects, delivering high quality results on time and on budget.
