Octopus Heat pump Install issues

[blacsun]

Hi All,

New member, have been trawling through the very helpful discussions here and decided to go for a heat pump but facing issues.

TLDR: - New heat pump install. Living room has two radiators - both working pre-install. Octopus replaced only one radiator(as per design). After commissioning the system old radiator worked but new one didnt, so install team “rebalanced” and left without waiting for confirmation. Now old radiator doesnt get any hot water and a different octopus engineer says the valve on the old radiator has corroded and no pin (or pushed in?), so I need to get it sorted by a third party. Any ideas welcome as after being asked for £5500 (after the £7500 BUS grant) by octopus I’m not keen on parting with even more money. Details and radiator schedule below.

We have just had a new heat pump (11kW Daikin) installed by Octopus but now an issue has cropped up with regards to radiators/balancing and I would like some advice as to what are my options.

Mon 3rd Mar - install started 2 member install team from kent/essex (installation in north bucks)

Tues 4th Mar - rads replaced / heat pump situated


Wed 5th Mar - rads and hot water tank connected - system started wed afternoon.

Wed night I notice that living room isnt heating up correctly. It has two radiators octopus survey only replaced one radiator and left one old radiator in place. Only the old radiator was working, new radiator didnt seem to get any hot water at all.

Thursday morning I tell the install team that the new rad isn’t heating up - they respond that they will balance the radiators. By Thursday midday they have completed all other work and finish for the day. I tell them that the living room still isnt heating up but I’m assured that it they have balanced and that it will take a bit of time. I accept that at face value (perhaps being a bit naive) and they leave.

Thursday evening and the living room still isnt heating up but now the old radiator is cold while the new one is luke warm. I shoot off an email to the “install co-ordinator”. It seems he isnt aware that the install team left on thursday afternoon and he was expecting someone to be here on friday.

I dont get any indication of when someone will be here to look at the issue , until today lunchtime when I get a call from an engineer saying he can visit in the next 30 mins or it will be another few days.

The engineer takes a look and says the old radiator valve is broken and I need to get is sorted by a third party, and refuses to acknowledge that it was working until 4 days ago or that octopus did any rebalancing. The install team never mentioned a broken valve when they said they rebalanced the radiators and neither did the the survey ask for any work to be done on the old radiator.

Presumably he will report back to octopus with his findings and I will then have to see what octopus say, but was wondering if anyone had any advice as to how to proceed. My worry is that this is masking a bigger problem in terms of balancing? i.e. even if the old radiator was fixed, the new radiator might not get the hot water as was the case when the system was first switched on.

After being asked for £5500 (after the £7500 BUS grant) by octopus I’m not keen on spending any more money.

There are other small issues like the heat pump and hot water tank positions, rubbish not being take away / toilet out of action due to switch to mains pressure but I’m not bothered about those - the main living area of the house not heating up is the main issue.

conspiracy theory:

the install team “rebalanced” the radiator by breaking the old radiator valve and ensuring that all the water goes to the new radiator - however as the new radiator only provides about 40% of the output as compared to the heatloss calc the room doesnt heat up.

Thank you if you got this far - any ideas welcome.

[dmajwool (David Woolley)]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I’m sorry your install hasn’t been completely smooth, but keep engaged with communicating with the installer’s various departments and, if my experience with them is anything to go by, you will eventually get satisfaction. But it does take time and patience.

Fortunately, we are now past the coldest part of the heating season so even if that one room is a bit chilly, your whole house won’t be freezing throughout whilst this gets sorted.

Have you paid your final instalment yet? If not, that can be the obvious way to keep your case open at Octopus.

[tims24 (Tim Stephenson)]

@blacsun

Presumably he will report back to octopus with his findings and I will then have to see what octopus say, but was wondering if anyone had any advice as to how to proceed. My worry is that this is masking a bigger problem in terms of balancing? i.e. even if the old radiator was fixed, the new radiator might not get the hot water as was the case when the system was first switched on.

Sorry to hear you’ve had issues with the install. From your post I’d have said your best course of action is to phone your install coordinator or go direct to the heatpump team ([email protected]), perhaps trying Aftercare (sticker on your system somewhere with a contact number/email or in the handover pack) - and insist they get someone to visit and resolve. They’re normally pretty good at dealing with faults so should hopefully be able to address it via the Aftercare / Service teams if nothing else.

If the old rad forms part of the required heat output then it seems reasonable to assume it should really have been left working although assuming the valve gets sorted, then the system probably just needs balancing properly. If you need a plan B, any heating engineer / plumber / practical DIY’er can replace a radiator valve and balance rads.

As for these…

@blacsun

There are other small issues like the heat pump and hot water tank positions, rubbish not being take away / toilet out of action due to switch to mains pressure but I’m not bothered about those - the main living area of the house not heating up is the main issue.

Heat pump & cylinder positions really should have been discussed with you and agreed before any work started. Rubbish will be taken away by a sub-contracted waste disposal service. They used Clearabee for our install but might be someone different depending on area. The toilet - too much mains pressure or too little? Might just need its supply valve turning down a little to restrict the pressure; or one fitting if it’s not got one… problem for a local plumber?

[blacsun]

Thanks David and Tim. I was a bit demoralised last night so wanted to vent a bit.

Glad to hear that they are good at resolving issues. Yes it seems to be a matter of patience - not sure how I’m at that . We are away next week, so was hoping it would get sorted before that but that seems unlikely.

I think the frustrating part is that I seem to get bounced between my install co-ordinator and the aftercare team. I’m resigned to this not getting fixed before we go away next week and hope that octopus will have proposed a resolution in a weeks time.

[tims24 (Tim Stephenson)]

No worries! If you’re really not getting anywhere, there’s always the option to ask for your issue to be escalated via the Heat Pump team to the relevant Team Leader which might help get some movement.

Raising a formal complaint can also help get a response if you’re still not getting anywhere: Something not right with your installation | Octopus Energy

That’s actually the route I ended up needing to take to get a conversation properly started about replacing our 9kW.