@pvonhellermannn

• We went with a German make of heat-exchanger, Vaillant, which we’re very pleased with. You do need a fair bit of space for it though, which for us was ok, as we have a basement. If geo/aqua thermic are 'no go' for you and you’re still considering air-air, then they may be good for that too, notably they talk of very low-noise levels. I should add that I researched and chose the heat exchanger.. then asked them to recommend a company in my region.

https://www.vaillant.co.uk/product-systems/heat-pumps/flexotherm/

@pvonhellermannn

... but our aquathermic, which consumes only electricity, wasn’t so affected. Either way though, our savings relative to our previous gas heating, became pretty huge, so much so, that we’ve pretty much recovered the initial investment, plus of course, with a brain dead psychopath as US president, we’re set to increase our gains. (NB, our gas still worked fine. This was about renewables and climate change).

@pvonhellermannn

• Cost … we were elligible for a subsidy which was great, but I looked at it simply as a financial investment, like shares. I estimated that we would recover our investment over 8 years, but what’s important to take into account here, is that after the 8 years, you continue, every single year, to gain the same return on your investment. Our case was slightly blown apart by Covid, in which energy prices exploded somewhat.

@pvonhellermannn

OK some of the criteria that persuaded us to go this route:

• Aquathermic is the most energy efficient currently available
• We have an old house with wrought iron radiators, which are ideal for 'slow heating'
• We have a large enough garden, to enable an extraction drill hole and a return drill hole, which under French law, must be 10m apart with the return hole 'down hill'. Maybe different under UK law?
• You must have workable access for the drilling machines

@pvonhellermannn

As I recall, you live in Eastbourne??

If so, then it may be possible to have aquathermic heating, which is a LOT more efficient than air-air heatpumps.

We switched from gas ~5yrs ago and it reduced our KWh consumption to 1/4 of before ... + our old house is now at ~20.5°c for 24hrs a day throughout the winter. No more chilly mornings.

If it's of interest, I'd be v.happy to fill you in on all I know on the subject.

@timkmak

Follow the hashtags, or put them in your account 'description'.