I am so glad I have now retired from plumbing, after 40yrs, I am from an age of lead wipe joints, and solid fuel heating, towards the end of my career, I fitted combi boilers, bathrooms etc, I can honestly say, watching you clambering between roof trusts, and itchy insulation, brings back the aspects of the job people don't appreciate, your attitude towards problem solving is exemplary, I enjoy the content, and watching the next generation of plumbing, but I will stick with my multi fuel burner, running ten rads, and gravity hot water, with only the pump that can fail, all the best to you young man, your doing good....

I was impressed by the thoroughness and workmanship you demonstrated during your install. Clipping the cabling tidily in the loft was in particular a nice touch I didn't expect. Obviously some professionals (yourself) actually take pride in their work.

As a service provider for one of the main heat pump manufacturers in the UK. We get so many visits to heat pumps under performing due to badly designed systems, they just sling them in and become a nightmare for customers to get the installers back. Wiring becomes much easier to understand once you know what everything does. Will not surprise me if heat pumps become the new “have you been mis-sold ppi”

Hats off to your patience , it gets harder as you get older to commit to new ideas and products but you dealt with that like a champ !!

I love this video! Thank you so much for sharing. Shame it should have been a more positive video but what's most important is that it was honest! Just shows how some MCS contractors need to up their game in the planning and specification department. As a fellow installer currently going through the MCS process, I think you should do it and you will be outstanding. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you if I got an enquirey in your area. A credit to you how you turned this around.

This is one issue I stumbled into when getting a heat pump installed - main contractors that where cowboys. I eventually went with an ‘official’ supplier from daikin (the manufacturer) and they were great. Knew absolutely everything and let me geek out and help design the system. It works just great but let me tell you weather compensation is absolutely essential.

First I’d like to compliment you on you’re beautiful craftsmanship and installation skills. This is something we Americans are sadly missing and is almost none existent. Secondly, I learned long ago never to be a subcontractor and work under any large contracting company. As the sub you will surly lose money unless you are willing to compromise quality and safety. You seem to be an intelligent and capable man. Work only for yourself and cut out your own slice of the money pie! Good luck out there!

You my friend are an absolute legend! Your attention to detail is exactly what I would expect but sadly very few trades have it. Even when the sparks said to leave the cable you made the point to have it tidy. This heat pump thing seems like a massive failure to me though and what a lot of work to install! I'd be interested to hear what the manufacturer has to say about disabling the weather settings..

First of all fantastic video and well done for having the courage to share this video. There are so many companies out there (bigger companies) that do this, and incompetent people who quote these jobs, I was sent to do 2 ASHP's, 5 FCU's, 2x Unvented Cylinders and UFH Manifolds (UFH itself was being layed by another firm) and belive it or not that job was quoted for 4x days...............I don't need to tell you how that went down in the end. Regardless, these are brilliant bits of kit but must be done properly, again well done for sharing this and your commitment to do good work rather then just make money. 👍

I take my hat off to you for not losing it with the manufacturer and supplier! Not so much a trial run as an ordeal! Good job though! 👍

We recently renovated our houseboat and moved to a heatpump for heating, it works great together with new insulation and triple glass windows we save a lot on the heating bill! We had 4 companies came over to give an estimate on the heatpump installation. The last company gave us advice that was inline with what i could find online, the other companies gave advice that just didnt make any sense. It shows you that the market is not ready yet. It look a lot like PV panels 20 years ago. Cowboys... just selling... :)

I'm not a plumber but I work in a technical field and I love the attention to detail and neatness of your work. If only all plumbers worked like this!

I know absolutely nothing (and care even less) about home engineering. I wouldn’t be able to replace a cracked window as an example. Yet I find your videos extremely interesting. Well done Sir.

Don't subcontract. You're good enough to do it on your own. Back yourself and make sure you and your clients are happy. Don't let people leach off your skills.

Congratulations on the hit video! Good to see there are honest guys out there still

I have to say, that looked a very, very difficult job- so much complicated work. You're a top professional - very skilled and knowledgeable, and this was a great watch as usual. All the best to you.

Thank you for your honesty and thank you for sharing the information from the other person whoever they were. I am flabbergasted that to people, one who couldn’t be bothered to tidy up cables and the second who just went along with what the company and the manufacturer said - which is surely not right!? I’ll stick with a gas boiler for as long as I possibly can - And the draft from the fan is unbelievable

Great vid, loved how you shown your first air source install and the hidden joys of finding out who you're actually working for. Keep up the good work.

Nice to hear fellow builder s soloving the problems we come across, top guy

Thanks for posting .. There are videos saying heat pumps are the future & others saying they are awful this gives an insight into why some designs aren't as efficent as they might be. Gives us some of the things to look for .

Well done mate you stuck in there and never gave up even when you new you were going to lose money,you live and learn and will know the next time!

Despite the struggle it's definitely a good move to learn about heatpumps. Our company in canada in switching over to hear pumps and my boss has spent the last 6 months making courses on heatpumps and trying to improve design standards for the province. Seems to be inevitable all new build will be heat pumps in a decade or so.

Thanks for making the vid. Interesting to see the hurdles you have to over come in this line of work.

That was a lot complicated than expected... Good to have bad manufacturer / installer practices pointed out...

Mate i feel your pain i fitted a 3 phase on 10 years ago customer hated it and i hated it. Company said i installed it wrong after they gave me 10 schematics to work with. They work well on swimming pools and thats it. I would rather fit Salus controls than that again. Hope you get your money back.

Fully understand and sympathise with your frustration - working in that loft space must have been a complete nightmare!! Once completed and running - did you have the opportunity to properly assess the function & performance of the system (despite WC being disabled) - your thoughts would be very interesting??

One thing I like is when you was in the loft & you was taking time out to clip the cables as it should be done & like you said what happens if someone else comes up there on a later date..... The electrian was happy with the cables just to hang there like a washing line 🤣 this is typical of many trades people out there lazy and not doing there job correctly. Good on you _ You are the type of guy who does not bodge the job. 👍🏽

I appreciate your UN enthusiasm I enjoy your content but I'm sure like myself there are many retired tech's out there that understand misery loves company. In the current climate of HVAC&R you not only have to be more versed and trained than ever before but you have to deal with more & more entitled people than ever. Keep up the great work and make sure they pay the bill!

to me... this just confirms why I would NEVER want one of these to heat my home...

Great video and your a great installer with pride in your work. It’s such a shame the industry is heading in a terrible direction.

My Nibe air source heat pump has full configuration easily accessible via the control panel. I have learned initially how to configure the heating curve. Cooling was disabled at first but since the summer, I have learned how to enable cooling, selecting cooling curve and trigger temperatures for heating & cooling. Both heating, cooling and hot water work nicely in the first 9 months since taking up residence in my new house. The system was installed one year before.

Thanks for the warning about installers disabling the weather compensation , I will watch out for that

I'm really surprised the customer chose to have that massive unit in their small garden, blowing air into what seems like their relaxing space with outdoor sofa / BBQ etc.

A prime example of inadequate pre survey and planning. The company selling this product placed more resources selling and less resource in pre installation. Its a common problem.

A good installer can make the most of the machine.Thank you Urban Plumbers! Impressed by your professionalism and honest demonstration about the problem when replacing the boiler. I could feel your helplessness in front of the supplier's prohibition about temperature compensation of the heat pump, it violates the original intention of installing a heat pump, without temperature compensation, how can it be energy efficient?

Good and honest video, well done. It's the major players that keep tradesmen busy by their incompetence.

I did a manufacturer training course 10 years ago with a leading Scandinavian firm and I wasn’t convinced. Reading the comments below some people don’t get it. The commissioning engineer claims the manufacturer told him to turn off WC , and while there are some installers here singing how great HPs are , they aren’t the ones paying the increased electricity bills .

You showed great character. Get your own hp jobs and spec them yourself you will go into it with open eyes and make some decent money. I would only fit vaillant viessman or bosch personally. 👍 great vid

I enjoyed your video and after 40 years of plumbing and heating I also am about to retire from this trade and night mares that you have reminded me of Best of luck Paul

I have wired a few now and the NuHeat range need hard wired external sensor for weather info. Last one Mitsubishi had internet connection to access weather information. It would not work in this install but Mitsubishi do a full cylinder and controls all in one , very easy to install and control. Outside unit needed power and 2 core link to internal cylinder brain. Good for new builds !

Great video of what can go wrong in installation of heat pump. We have installed about more than 50 heatpumps and never installed the hydro box in the attic. It's crazy 😁. And i was shocked about disableing the weather dependant curve. It's the main efficency feature of heat pump. And we never use not original room thermostat(on/off) .The original thermostat compensate the wheater dependant curve. Great job and video anyway. I am sorry for my english.

Wow, you have exposed the consciously incompetent Industry of heat pump manufacturers. We need people like you to give them a kick up the backside . They should be training everyone for free and properly too. Trouble is it's all about making money for themselves .

Great job, really impressive. Good quality, stick to it - in the long run you will remain. And you are 100% correct, weather dependent it must be. Floating condensation maximizes the savings, the gut that you talked to has no knowledge.

Im a carpenter and traditional window installer, often work on jobs with plumbers on site and can say hand on heart, Im glad Im not a plumber Good work chap.

Leaving aside the electricity running costs, heat pumps - air sourced in particular - are only reliably effective installed in an up to date modern day spec home. Majority of the housing stock in UK isn't suitable for the cheaper A/S heat pumps. Recently spoke to someone who'd paid £20,000+ to have it installed in older property. Not happy with cost or performance.

Fitting these in 90 new builds….wiring is a massive headache! I feel your pain mate. Interesting watch👍

Just to add that you are clearly a very good and considerate plumber/installer let down by a major contractor..

I installed a NIBE air source heat pump in 2008, I attended the NIBE training session too, so many times the compressor wouldn’t come on. It would have been worse if I hadn’t installed a gas boiler to supplement the heat. The house was so well insulated we could heat a 20sqm room with a £10 fan heater on the lowest heat setting. Much cheaper to have a fan heater in each room than installing a AS heat pump.

This specific heat pump is one of the best as it can work up to -20 C providing 60 C water on that temperature. It is not the reliability the issue. The issue is that seller had no idea on what he was talking about. HP needs to work in low temperatures as they provide better COP and also ideally to work with two systems (heat pump warm buffer and from buffer to go into radiators). That's why in warmer days ideally need to provide less hot water and increase the temperature during cold days.The main problem on this is that radiators have been calculated for water temperature at 75 degrees so the energy the provide at 60 is way lower than design. Personally i would advice to leave the gas boiler as much as you can and invest into insulation of your house. If you will create a passive house then you will be able to warm your house with very very little energy. Heat pumps is a very good tool but not for a 50 year house with old windows and no isolation in (or out of) the walls. A last advise to people who want to install HP is to find a heat pump with R32 instead of R410 as I THINK that the latest will be forbidden in coming years. Nice work on plumbing side

This seems to prove what I have always said that heat pumps are a lot better to install when a house is been built and not afterwards.

Thank you for such an informative video. Getting honest appraisals from skilled tradespeople is essential. In my career I have seen that it is always the worst products & companies spend the most on marketing and this to be exactly what we see in the sale and promotion of ASHP & other 'green' initiatives. In terms of overriding the weather variable setting in the system software, I would think this is a breach of contract by the main contractor as they are not supplying a product that is fit for purpose (its the equivalent of a garage changing the settings in your vehicles computer system so that it runs the diesel regeneration system all the time you drive).

Excavated a few GSHP and none of the clients seem fully content with the results. The 800 metres of trenches,Mud,men,plant and crazy costs pisses off the clients. Glad I just dig the holes. The installation looks intense.

The future that looks bloody brilliant 😂😂. I will stick we gas boilers for as long as we can

Great video. In my experience putting the unit on fixed output will reduce the life span of the heat pump, and take the compressor out. And it's a joke not changing the cylinder with 3 metre square coil and increasing the size of The radiators I'll give 18 months before a gas boiler goes back in !

Very good, thanks for sharing. it’s the age old story of those who don’t know the job seem to earn the biggest bob (£) when they are the biggest nob! These companies are in need of closer regulation and inspection.

In the netherlands, in my experience, weather compensation on gas boilers runs wayy to high temps. With underfloor heating you might put it fixed on 25 or 30c depending on isolation.

This is the madness that’s going to prevail when we’re all expected to replace gas appliances. The sheer volume of equipment to change boiler is mind boggling. Also 80% of households don’t have cylinder anymore due to the combi boiler. I’ll be hanging up my tools if this is a basic picture of what an installation will become. Great video and a fantastic job done well.

I’m all for carbon reduction tech and the rest of it. It was my job for over 25 years. Everything I see on heat pump systems tells me they are okay for new build but terrible as a retrofit. I wouldn’t have one in my current house even if it was free. Great video, love the honesty. Peace.

Madness. Couldn't have come up with a better intro. You deserve a cigar.

You guys are so much more neater than tradesmen in the states

It’s good to see the future! This is the top of Iceburg for heat pumps. Loads of companies will pop up install these on “grants” then disappear. Sad to see you had to put up with this

Firstly, this is amazing content, it really captures the pain on a job (I have been there). As a heating engineer (I mainly do breakdowns) I was considering getting into heat pumps, I even had a course booked in for next month. After watching this video and doing some further research I have come to the conclusion that it would be a complete waste of time and cancelled the course! I’ll stick with boiler repairs until something comes out that will actually catch on! 👍 Thanks for the video!

Your workmanship is top draw... shame the same can't be said for the manufacturer or people organising the job... I'll stick to installing and servicing Combi boilers for now i think!

Very interesting to see this side of the industry. Great video 👏

Thank you for posting this and I suspect by doing so you have lost any opportunity for compensation for your ‘lost time’ through no fault of your own. What you have shown in this very short video is what can go wrong will go wrong if you do not do the right design and planning for any project, magnified in this case on every single aspect. You might have lost money but sometimes direct experience of what can go wrong is valuable in moving your own business forward. You have identified all the fracture points in this project and know how to avoid them (if you choose to get involved with heat pumps). I thought the segment on commissioning was f’n shocking. When you consider the time taken to install the system (in fact any system) taking any shortcuts in the commissioning let alone disabling the single most important part of the control system (weather compensation) is absolutely shocking bordering on criminal - because even if the heat pump actually heats the house satisfactorily disabling that function is costing the customer significant (unnecessary) amounts of money every single day the system is in use. An arrogant supplier with no respect for their customer.

We have the same unit (18kW 3phase version) and ours was installed without weather compensation too. I played around with the flow temperature for a while when it was first set up and think I have a good curve mode but who knows if it could be better 🤷🏻‍♂️😭

Looks so compact, & sleek design Just going the doctors to have my head looked at 😆 🤣

This sounds exactly like an experience I had having a solar thermal system installed by an incompetent company using unprofessional subbies who didn't care. Obviously with the difference being that you are very professional! Shame there are companies like the one you worked for here.

What a crock of shit , if this is the future of domestic heating you can keep it...... I'll stick to fitting boilers until I am told it's not allowed anymore then I'll retire..! Your a brave man if you do anymore work for that outfit they look look like a bunch of chancers , couldn't believe it when you where told they don't use the weather comp...! I'll bet the company that you subbed from made plenty of money and you made nothing or even lost money...... it's bollocks really.... Your install was top notch as always... Cheers.... 👍

Nice video, informative. As someone who has spent many decades working in construction I would recommend renegotiating the terms of the subcontract/employment the moment you realize the job can't proceed as planned. In the past if I hired a contractor (or sub) on a per unit or per job basis, there was always a strict understanding that if work could not proceed as planned we would both are to switch to hourly or renegotiate based on the revised plan. The quality of your work seems good from the little i could pick up eating your video. That puts you in a small and rare group of sought after craftsmen. If you stick to your guns, they will actually be more respectful of your time and treat you better. Don't be afraid to venture out on your own. I know many who have. They're all millionaires now. Oh and quit smoking, it robs you of your time, your money and most importantly your health.

Great video, thanks for sharing. I can't see these catching on for residential use, not with all that conduit on the house and a big ugly unit in the garden. Neat job though 👍

Mate I feel your pain but that is subcontracting all over and especially in this particular field. I wish you all the best of luck as you look like a decent guy. Id certainly work with you.

Given that a Heat Pump has to be on 24/7 and blows out cold air constantly, I can't see them being received well from people who have small to medium-sized gardens:- As seen in that situation

We did a few hundred of these up to about 7 years ago - massively expensive, constant complaints from customers and often not able to reach temperatures despite all radio sizings being over spec - nightmare, these aren’t the future.

Impressive pipework, and neat installation. Switching off weather compensation is an absolute no-no. In 16 years of installing heat pumps we have never heard that 'advice' from anyone. What a shame you had to go through so much on your first installation. Don't worry, it will get better. We are Borders Green Energy, in the South of Scotland. We would also recommend that you get your MCS accreditation. If you were in our area we would happily work with you. Well done. Pauline and Simon.

Well done for sticking with it. My best regards to your back and knees! Bodies aren’t meant to be that shape.

Well done for exposing the failures of the main contractor. Having fitted a few ASHPs I recommend you go to a reputable heat pump manufacturer, do their course ... and then only fit them in SW England in well insulated properties. You'll have happy customers!

I’m quite shocked at this. As one of the people that first bought heat pumps into the UK back in the 90s and worked with NIBE first single phase air source heat pump... we really realise that the best efficiencies are within 30 miles from the coast that take advantage of warmer wetter air this sort of installation is very difficult and it’s hard to see any cost savings. The environmental savings in a built-up area are very close to 0 as the power generated comes from gas turbines. Unfortunately in this installation gas sadly would be the cheapest option..

It’s sad the weather compensation was turned off. It defeats the whole purpose, but there is a better way by using indoor feed back to set the water temperature. Indoor feed back provides real comfort for the conditioned space. Indoor feedback compensates for the different heat losses of the building and automatically creates a heating curve that is most efficient for the indoor environment. Efficient equipment is ok but may not be cost effective unless the losses of the building envelop are addressed. Good for you powering through that nasty job you’re a good tradesman.

I had the same problems with daikin never knew when the materials were going to turn up and when the heat pump did it was damaged, so had to be sent back. Mine is working on weather compensation currently and has for the last 3 months like you say if you disable it gonna cost even more to run. The kit I think is good but the service and technical help is poor.

My gut feeling is there are armies of companies gearing up at the minute to take people's money and make a total bollocks of the job. Hearing about the weather compensation being disabled as routine made me sick.

Sadly this is pretty common with many of those company's getting subs in to do the work and yes they don't like weather compensation turned on. Couple reasons, most older people if they're using radiators actually feel colder subconsciously if the system is being influenced by weather comp - true with any heating appliance feeding radiators, and over riding the weather comp on many systems needs an engineer as an end user turning up the stat often won't get the effect they want (hotter radiators). It's a mindset that will change with time but the people want what the people want, until that changes call backs will happen, it's unavoidable. It's a shame because I do enjoy fitting them and I have watched some customers bills fall, and others rise depending how they use it. Sadly these days we appear to be ripping more out than fitting them. I am hoping that changes with the newer models which have 70c+ flow temps using co2 and other gases. My advice would be don't sub though, the Vaillant course for their heat pumps is really good - especially the pre-covid one. Get used to one manufacturers kit on their course and the knowledge and skills is pretty transferable as long as you've got the MI to hand.

I install heat pumps as well, and I know the feeling . I’ve been doing this work for only 6 years and fuck me I prefer gas heated units. Heat pumps are trash! It’s funny seeing how I live in Holland but the experience is the same in other countries lol. Your work looks really good though, a real craftsman ! Keep up the good work dude

An excellent video . I foretell massive mayhem caused by Salesmen, who do not understand how things are, out on-site ( but understand the principle of commission perfectly) .

just to be clear: this is completely and utterly to the fault of the designer and main company, not the installer nor heat pumps.

What an absolute shambles. Did they do the pre-install site visit from the McDonalds round the corner? Who the hell would want cable trunking run up the side of their house? If I was the home owner that whole job would have been on stop from day one. Absolute clowns. I hope you never work for them again. What a mess. That was a simple boiler swap, pressurise the system and new controls. Couple of days works and thousands of pounds cheaper. And then they disable the weather comp. can you imagine what their energy bills will be now? You gotta ask yourself. If these guys were any good they wouldn’t be using subbies would they, why are they either unwilling or unable to employ a full time team.

I'm pleased to see a warts and all installation: I'm considering it for the future as we have an electric flow boiler running wet UFH (we have no mains gas and cannot have oil or LPG for logistical reasons), but the design of our house would mean the power supply would be difficult, the pipes would have to go up to the loft much like in this example and that unit is much bigger than I envisioned. I don't suppose you can say, but I'd be interested to know roughly what this cost the customer since it's not dissimilar to what I'd need doing and it would give me an idea of how long it would take me to save up for it!! Also, very interesting about the weather compensation. If I owned one of these, I'd make it my business to know how to set that myself (I'm a software developer so I'd definitely want to know these things) just in case.

Great Video! I love the story style. I would have ran the other way. You're a better man than me!

I give it 6 months before it's all ripped out and a combi is back in place.

What a headache not to mention how bloody ugly it all looks from the exterior with the pipe trunking etc. 🧐

I commissioned myself my own Daikin Monobloc 16kw a couple of months ago, in Greece. The thing is my cousin is an official Daikin dealer, hundreds of km away so he sent it to me. I am a mechanical engineer, my plumber connected it under his experience, my electrician connected it under my advice and I started it up. Documentation was quite good, but it had to be read really carefully to understand and some details were missing. For example, I had a 3rd party boiler (solar) with a resistance heater+heat pump exchanger, I never got Daikin to explain me if and what accessory I needed to connect, for the heater to be connected on the heat pump. So I let it go and installed only the 3 way valve, IF I need the heater I will turn it on with a relay from my smart home system! However, I found the controller to have a perfect wizard for starting up, if you knew what you were doing, it was quite simple, I got it up and running within minutes WITH temperature compensation curve as well!!!

Super video, ps. w lutym jadę na trening do Northampton. Dzięki Ps. co to za muzyka ?

What a nightmare, and they are supposed to be the future, I don’t think so, bet the customer wishes they had gone for a new gas boiler, I would have done, and probably a fraction of the price of that thing, tidy work by you again, but I think you need to kick them into touch.

Heat pump are suitable in some locations but not in domestic houses government are just ticking boxes...

great work loved this video.you have talent lots of it.

You deserve £2000, and a medal.

An air source heat pump is such a simple and elegant solution to an overly complicated gas boiler😂😂

Brilliant attitude from you but not from others! ASHP seems very complicated.

This is the reason I am just getting another gas boiler fitted for now in place of my broken one. Hopefully in 10+ years time the technology will be more simple and more indipendent installers trained up, such as yourself, will be able to do the full job and not cut corners.

It’s hard to see from the video but what brand and model and kwh rating did you install as it doesn’t seem to have the riser tank for heat pump. Also isn’t the refrigerant propane/lpg based? Thus should be x feet away from any opening window?