Heat Pump Technical Assessor Questions and Recommendation

Hello, we've recently bought an old 1970s semi detached cavity block construction in Dublin and will be undertaking renovations. We've decided to go for a rewire, windows and doors, EWI, MHRV and solar. We currently have a fairly modern condenser boiler. At a minimum it needs some upgrades.

I aim to pay attention to airtight detailing around windows/doors, lights, any penetrations etc but I won't be installing a full airtight membrane. We'll be using rads to distribute heat as the underfloor is out of budget and too much disruption. We have an internal chimney that will be blocked.

The only part of the project I'm concerned about is whether to opt for upgrades to the current heating system or go for a heat pump (a2w or a2a?). I'm worried whatever technical assessor we hire will try to push us down the heat pump route even if this isn't suitable.

Will the technical assessor steer us in the right direction and choose the correct heating system? If possible, could you recommend a technical assessor who is knowledgeable and thorough.

Thanks

Are you talking about a Heatpump Technical Assessor as part of applying for the SEAI Heatpump grant, or a more general assessor of some sort? The heatpump technical assessor’s job is to tell you the upgrades you’re going to need to do to qualify for the SEAI Heatpump grant and to give you a recommended heatpump size, they’re not going to pressure you into a heatpump but they’re also not going to be discussing gas boilers.

What BER are you aiming for after all the works are done, that might give a sense of whether a heatpump is likely to be expensive to run or not.

FWIW we retrofitted an A2W heatpump into our now A2 house and I could not recommend it highly enough. Putting the running costs aside for a minute, the constant low temperature is a vastly superior way of heating a home IMHO. No creaking pipes as they heat up to 70 degrees then cool, no hot radiators around kids, no noisy boiler, one less source of fire in your home, no air pollution in your garden and the house is just one warm temperature at all times without the swings you get even with a smart controlled boiler.

Hi. It's the Heat Pump Technical Assessor as part of the SEAI grant I'm interested in.

I hadn't thought too much about the specific BER we're aiming for. The BER that was conducted as part of the house sale has it as a C3 but we just moved from a C3 apartment that barely needed the heating on in the depths of winter to this place that struggled to get above 16c on some cold winters days with the heating blasting for hours. It seems a fairly arbitrary calculation. With that in mind I'm more concerned with cost and comfort of whatever solution we end up with.

Your points about your experience with a heat pump are well received. It sounds great. It's just the hanging thought I'm making the wrong decision based on horror stories of huge bills.

The SEAI won’t give you the grant unless you’re doing sufficient works to get the house to the point that a heatpump will be economical to use. So the assessor will be helpful in telling you whether it’s a runner or not.

The only ‘gap’ in their assessments is airtightness, but as you’re addressing that yourself and putting in MVHR then you should be in a good place.

Thanks, that's good information. I'll get onto booking the assessor in that case and take it from there. Appreciate the help.