They way 99% of UFH is designed (not) and done in the UK belongs in the plumbing museums of the last century - just check Skill Builder last video 🤦🏻♂️
@@UrbanPlumbers 😂 the time will come when you will be 60 + years old and maybe someone younger and skilled will come to make fun of your knowledge :) + It is not always favorable to be the best: when you have problems or when you are tired you have no one to ask for advice. 😅😊
@@UrbanPlumbers i saw it, he got the plan from his Supplier ! My builder goes the extra mile, he asks where the people will be sitting and creates zone were people sit and zones where there are outside walls so he can change the temperature/flowrate, very smart. I also was told by an architect some thirty years ago that some people feel a discomfort when the floor temperature is set to high.
For those wondering, cascade essentially means parallel in this case. Not in series or two stage like it means in the refrigeration world. Nice install, you do some amazing work!
Yeah that is borderline clickbait. I know the terminology differs between domestic and commercial technicians but the vlogger in question should know better. I think it's bonkers NOT to use cascade setups. Having an OUTSIDE unit pushing 75 degrees C INTO a property for hot water is just stupid (which is usually around 10% of heat demand in most houses). A second stage would be ideal on this project for the higher flow temps for the upper floors and HWC. Especially since there is a proper plant room with enough space to fit everything.
@m23605 I think you'll find anywhere you run flow temps that high, you might as well stick with gas. The higher the temperature rise, the lower the efficiency of anything, especially heatpumps. The flow temp on most videos I've seen seems to be around 30-40C, apart from hot water. No point wasting energy trying to get high grade heat, when low grade heat works just as well with some underfloor and bigger radiators.
@@Thermoelectric7 Yes you need high heat mainly for DHW. In the video they mentioned that the UFH is mixed down so the rads are running at a higher flow temp so a cascade makes some sense (or as you say, just stick more emitters where needed to avoid mixing). Since money is no object on this project, a cascade would have been a great showcase. Wasted opportunity IMO.
Great video thanks for sharing your knowledge. I think the only weak point with heat pumps is finding a decent engineer and then going forward finding a decent engineer to service the equipment. Your videos are fantastic and tour knowledge is first class.
Great video Szymon. As someone who also works in IT, first thing I always do is update software/firmware. Companies are under such pressure to ship products that often the software is still being written whilst the hardware is being sold. Nature of the beast these days.
Nothing better than opening UA-cam and getting a notification urban plumber has uploaded a video. What a set up that is. Gotta watch this 1 a couple times and let it sink in haha No1 comes close to you when it come to heat pumps. Love this bloody content Simon.
Nibe is amazing. I live in Sweden and I have one of those, it works even in very low outdoor temperatures, it has been like -25 and the unit was able to deliver heat energy with the help of immersion of course.
That steady state heat pump already displaying SCOP of 4.8 is quite promising, really impressive install, you're really setting the bar on heat pumps in the UK. Great content
All ways love your uploads. We did a cascade a few years ago with another manufactor and the second unit only did heating top up, which with hot water priorty totally did away with the use of the second one. Even there tech support was said it was daft. The joys or doing installs over a week, we have a 3 day turnaround for installs its so much agro.
Syzmon, you (and Marie) continue to knock them out of the park, what a superb installation. I really like the openenergy monitor kit/website and think it is a force for good in the industry and a great reference source for the installer. On the wiring side - maybe a cable ID labeller would be a good discipline.😉😀👍
Good job. Heat pumps when done right seem like a good option. But that setup looks very expensive! The cost savings would have to be very significant to make it worth it.
He wil never be able to cover the investment from the energy savings… But it's still worth it if it keeps his conscience at peace 😊 My soul is crying for the old Vitodens 200 which heated the property before.. :p
Long term it will be a good investment. When the owner comes to sell up this property will sell in 5 minutes. Like the owner I too would like to be carbon free. Also we can not rely on the global markets and governments to be able to supply energy at an affordable rate. Well done Szymon and team.
@@pt6423solar and 50kWh battery would be perfect to keep the running cost down by at least 50%. I never use any peak energy with my 31kWh battery and small solar setup.
@@pt6423will never be carbon free. The heat pumps are generated by electricity which is via a plant that is burning carbon. Until nuclear takes off if ever, the UK will always use carbon generating plants
Nice video, and very nice work. For once a plumbing heating channel serious enough to be worth subscribing. On the first day, as you were laying 28 mil pipes, I was worried you would not have enough flow, but then saw Marie laying 35 mil ones and was relieved. Still you must be on the fence for the output power, although I have no worries you have calculated it all. With that setup where the pumps have specialized roles, isn't one of the pumps going to fail before the other? All in all this installation is on the fence for me*. I would probably have proposed a 20kW condensation pellet boiler, or at least I would have put an offer with either heat pump, either pellet. Both have their pro and con. * Not on the fence about if it will work, and how well it will work. More on the fence of what to propose that would be more beneficial for the client. There is rarely a perfect heating system in renovation, so you have to weight the pro and cons of each setting and chose what's best.
Doea the system have the capability to automatically switch which heat pump is the primary unit in the cascade? On commercial systems the lead unit is usually swapped on a weekly basis to keep the wear even across multiple units.
Thanks for such a great video. Your plumbing installation and pipe work is “Spot On”, but sorry to say your installation of the Main Control Panel is really poor. All the cables should be neatly laid out and marked up, also the input cable should be marked at both ends so that is also traceable. Your plumbing skills are 120% but Electrics still need improvement. You are the only Heat Pump Plumber that I would trust to do an install.
Nice job, bit of work in that! As a sparky though I'd have to point out there's no need to use trunking like that, run it directly under the "brain" and cut a hole in the side to enter the cables. All cables are then hidden and less work - you'll never get the cables perfectly straight and it's a waste of time using stuffing glands on an enclosure that isn't IP rated.
Me too, Just enjoying your videos. For me it could very well be 30 minutes long. Like your humor and your dedication, And i also like good heatpumps😊 Viktor Janzen
@@UrbanPlumbers I agree that the film feels a bit short for such a large job. 30 - 40 mins would be optimum for me, you have a good way and folks like the technical detail and the sharing of knowledge.
I liked the details of the actual calculations etc in your earlier videos, and howtos etc. I'd watch two seperate videos at 15 minutes no problem, and you could break it into 'types' of info, ie more of an overview in one, and more technical details in another@@UrbanPlumbers
@@UrbanPlumbers As an Engineer, I always welcome detailed video's especially concerning the design and dimensioning of such a system, as well as installation and problems encountered. I have watched video's in excess of 1.5 hrs on subjects that interest me! Perhaps as a suggestion you could either make and release 2 video's - 1 a short and 1 more detailed, or maybe if you are worried about affecting your channel, have a 2nd channel for a more detailed look of your installs?
What kind of support can the customer of such a system expect post installation? Does the manufacturer have a team of field specialists? The conventional gas boiler has been around of decades yet even when they have issue good service / breakdown engineers are very hard to come by. Great video and effort by the way!
Support from manufacturers is very poor and the level of the field engineers from manufacturers can be pretty shocking. We installers have to take a lot of responsibility for those systems at the moment.
@@UrbanPlumbers it's not just about finding engineers to service them, but also the fact that, for example, my fluke multimeter operates up to -10, but from -7 the screen starts to stop reacting correctly.. At low temperatures, refrigerant hoses become rigid and the risk of refrigerant burns (frostbite) increases - when you work in the cold and maybe you are tired, you make many more mistakes... intervention times on a refrigeration circuit at low temperatures are very long if you want to work correctly... With gas boilers, a good technician can service 3-8 per day ... with heat pumps, this is no longer possible, which implies that more technicians will be needed to service the heat pumps; they will need much higher knowledge and much more expensive tools... + much higher risks of injury and much worse working conditions: out on the ground bent over regardless of the weather and if that means saving the planet then it's not very interesting...
What would your guess be for the heat power requirement for a commercial 600m2 sandwhichpanel building with 12cm foam insulation? I got mixed calculations from professionals.
Great video, but with gas prices going down it is more and more difficult to justify such a set up economically. Understand that people have different objectives and that it is part of a wider renovation so probably the tip of the iceberg in terms of costs. 👍
Great video Szymon and Marie 👏 Thanks for sharing. How do the Nibe units compare on price and performance? I am looking at doing the nibe pro training but obviously it's a few quid upfront . Are there two completely different scenarios to use Vaillant or Nibe? I know neither is a budget option. Thanks
Great Video, and nice job, thanks for sharing i have one question regarding your Ufh system shown. Is it profix plus 20mm and do you using any screws or pipe clips to fixit down specially on the bends I am in process to start 240m sq with 100m pipe spacing and just wonder how you fix it for existing concrete floor when you laying (20-30mm) liquid screed ? I know it comes with self adhesive backing but still wonder how it will hold all the pipe bends on spiral pattern?
When talking about heatloss eg 16kW, at which out door temperature is it calculated? Over here in the Netherlands it’s usually calculated at -10 Celsius
@@ReneArtoisMrOur shockingly poor insulation more than compensates for ‘milder’ winters. Hence the expense the homeowner has made to reduce the heat loss so this 16KW cascade can cope.
@@normanboyes4983 Indeed, but it’s a combination of isolation and low flow temperature. When you’re able to install underfloor heating (low temperature) you can sometimes get away with poor or non ideal insulation
Thanks for the system monitoring graphs, the heat only pump(1) performs a lot better than the hot water one(2) is 52 degrees enough for legionella control?
Love a cascade setup. Do the Nibe allow both hot water and heating at the same time when in cascade? The stupid thing about the Mitsubishi is you could have 6 units with only 1 doing heating and hot water and if there is a hot water demand it will only do hot water the others will all go off, Bonkers.
Indeed it does allow both at the same time when in a cascade. Up to 8 heat pumps can be cascaded on that controller. Best control system on the market ;)
Great video! Can I ask which supplier you use for the UFH panels and what kind of screed? I will be doing my ground floor soon at 100mm spacing and wasn't planning to use panels and have been told minimum screed depth is 40mm so curious to know what combo gets you 30mm? Thanks!
Curious as to the minimum space required in front of the unit. Normally around 1.5 meters for a heat pump of that output. The controller is crazy and looks way over complex for a simple cascade. Why only one heat pump for DHW? Would it not be better to do a true cascade with lead and lag swap over? Drying time for screed, was that not a requirement? Underfloor looked amazingly well installed and pipework is spot on.
using one heat pump for heating and one for heating and hot water means that you will never get a disturbance in comfort when in hot water mode. The controller balances out the running hours between both heat pumps automatically over time, so equal wear. Controller is as simple or complex as you want it to be. There is a step by step basic set up guide which is suitable for most jobs and a more in depth step by step guide depending on what your system requirements are.
efficiency probably the same - I really don't see much diffrence here between manufactureres. Controls and quliaty of the desgin adn isntallation is what makes the diffrence - not the box outside. Nibe is probably comparable or even chepaer than Vaillant at the moment - as they have a sale, not sure they will keep the prices low for long though? Generally a bit more expesnvie than Vaillant. Controls are in a different leauge to Vaillant but I do not hear much good about the back up from the comapny from others.
I love your videos and find them very interesting, it's a shame that a big job like that with nearly 7 days of work is only in a video 15 mins long, would love to see more in depth, good and bad. Keep up the good work though.
A good IT lesson here: Before we commission any business IT system we always upgrade firmware and set passwords before we start doing anything .. saves a world of pain.
two heatpumps means you can have two different flow rates which is more efficient than using 1 and mixing it down, and also you can fire one of them up if you have low heating needs which means you can modulate to a lower output (a 16kw heatpump would be lucky to modulate much lower than a 4-5kw output, which would mean more cycling etc)
@@Etacovda63Not sure that is the idea here at all. I believe this system will have both units running at DOT and at about 10c DOT No.2 will revert to standby. Essentially reducing cycling in the shoulder months of the heating system. There are no mixers in the installed system as shown in this video (and that’s the point in a correctly designed UFH system). What was not shown was the rads will have been assessed and upgraded where necessary to meet the heat loss at the designed flow temperature for the whole system.
Not great with heat pumps. Need flow temp that is just too high for any resonable efficeincy. Only consider this if you go cheap direct electric tarrif or if the cylinder us really impossible.
Super install, shame about the poor software and interface. I shall keep an eye on it on OEM, already been and looked and performance looks very good indeed.
@@UrbanPlumbersbut if you put a puffer for underfloor heating I think you can setup zones . And one puffer for other things what require hot water. And one Solar Water Heater . What do you think about this setup?
Why aren’t you using vaillant on this one. I’m half way though a bungalow which has 13.35kW heat loss so Vaillant recommended either two 7kW or two 10kW heat pumps. Not the best for me as it’s my first heat pump set up 🧐
I would use single 12 on that. If designed to 35-40c it will cover that heat loss. Or 2x5kw not 7kw. NIBE cascade is pure class and controls way above the vaillant offering. Vaillant is still decent and much better than most of the market, but NIBE controls is something else.
I don't think this setup is called cascade heat pump. Cascade heat pump generally means that condenser of the first heat pump in a cascade heats the evaporator of the second heat pump.
What is the projected kw savings for a system like this .I know there’s a lot of variables but for someone who’s on the fence about whether or not to say go on something like this there has to be a break even point even if it 20 years from today . My guess is that job wouldn’t give you much change from £80,000.00. Why don’t you hire a insulation subcontractor and do a really nice aluminum jacketing on all the exposed piping?
Paul - the cost was much much less than your quoted figure - kWh saving are in the region of 80% as compared to gas kWh consumption as this system will run at scop over 4 and the gas boiler it replaced was around 90% efficient
yep - one day I will cover the pipework in transpranet screed, need to find a client mad enough to do it and a pipe that changes colour with temperature
"If there are no unexpected problems" "assuming there are no unexpected problems" "hopefully there are no unexpected problems". There were in fact, unexpected problems!
Okay, 8 kW heat pump can pump 8kW of heat, right? So cascading them would increase the temperature difference, but can't increase the power delivered? Because each heat pump can only pump 8kW, you would get 16 kW in parallel or 8kW in series?! The advantage of cascading being that you can have smaller radiators?... What am I missing because this isn't making a lot of sense.
NIBE controls and cascade is in a league of its own. Vaillant controls feel like a toy compared to NIBE. I also couldn’t use R290 units here due to site limitations
I think the term "cascade " is not right in this case. Cascade is series HPs of different refrigerant where HP1 has an output of perhaps 30C and the HP2 will take that and increase it to 60-70C. It is mostly used to get very cold temps for freezers. At first I thought that was what you were doing but now I see it is parallel HPs to increase capacity in colder outdoor temps.
yes and no. In the fridge world you are completely correct with your definition. In the heating world, two heat sources in parallel is refereed to as a cascade. The joys of two industries now being the same with two different uses of a termanology.
Amazing work as always Szymon, I love this method of UFH installation. Whats your preferred method for suspended timber floors? I’ve done the 22mm pre-routed chipboard but it was awful to install!
@@UrbanPlumbers I will be putting UFH over the existing ground floor and first floor and a new loft conversion. All suspended floors. Would it be reasonable to have screed on the ground floor and routes chipboard above? MVHR would even the output somewhat, the upstairs would benefit from the rising heat, and having the bedrooms cooler would be a good thing (on an open loop)
That's pretty shambolic that the unit needed a 0 day software up to get things running and wasted so much of your time. I work in IT as well, and I find the ability to remotely update software makes certain companies incredibly lax/lazy. Same reason you see PS5 games that need a 30GB patch on release day -- because they can. It should obviously just work out of the box.
Can anyone tell me what is the long term reliability of all those pressed copper connections are and will they fail eventually when the polymer seal ages? They're certainly quick but expensive, I'd imagine but surely well done soldered fittings would last longer? But again I'd imagine all this set up will be old hat in less than 15 or 20 years times and the next owner of that house will have big expenses in fitting something current.🤔
@@nickhickson8738we have pressed commercial installations that are more than 30 years old, and never had a leak. Carbon steel tube has been a problem though.
Building new coal plants as we speak, but I’ll pretend that’s not happening and get rid of my terrible gas boiler and ‘do the right thing’ 😂 I remember not that long ago when they were saying ‘do the right thing’ about something else, that turned out well too
Blimey .. that looks so complicated imagine when it goes wrong ... any savings wiped out on repairs .. I'll stick to a condensing gas boiler thanks ... even they are pretty complicated these days
@@Saaj2 You'd have this kit if you were looking for a life of trouble ... I work on the Kiss principle .. Keep it Simple and Straightforward ... This is cascade heat pump stuff is NUTS
@@the1beard cascaded boilers are more reliable, so in theory this will be too. Either way this setup isn't saving the customer money, the ROI will be insane. The customer probably wanted it for environmental reasons
@@UrbanPlumbers no doubt the scop makes it cheaper to run, but even with that bus grant, surely it'll be years before a return is made. I was fortunate that the BUS covered almost all my costs. For expensive installs like these, surely the main driver is environmental.
You are the first UA-camr in the uk doing the underfloor pipe work the way it should be done.
They way 99% of UFH is designed (not) and done in the UK belongs in the plumbing museums of the last century - just check Skill Builder last video 🤦🏻♂️
@@UrbanPlumbers 😂
the time will come when you will be 60 + years old and maybe someone younger and skilled will come to make fun of your knowledge :)
+ It is not always favorable to be the best: when you have problems or when you are tired you have no one to ask for advice. 😅😊
@@mihaiachim5299 "not calling a spade a spade" also belongs in a museum.
@@UrbanPlumbers i saw it, he got the plan from his Supplier ! My builder goes the extra mile, he asks where the people will be sitting and creates zone were people sit and zones where there are outside walls so he can change the temperature/flowrate, very smart. I also was told by an architect some thirty years ago that some people feel a discomfort when the floor temperature is set to high.
@@UrbanPlumbers’But we have always done it like this’.😉
Great work Szymon,
Hopefully Marie will inspire more women into the Trade,
For those wondering, cascade essentially means parallel in this case. Not in series or two stage like it means in the refrigeration world.
Nice install, you do some amazing work!
Yeah. I was literally expecting one heat pump producing 60 C water and then another taking it 80 C 😅
Yeah that is borderline clickbait. I know the terminology differs between domestic and commercial technicians but the vlogger in question should know better. I think it's bonkers NOT to use cascade setups. Having an OUTSIDE unit pushing 75 degrees C INTO a property for hot water is just stupid (which is usually around 10% of heat demand in most houses). A second stage would be ideal on this project for the higher flow temps for the upper floors and HWC. Especially since there is a proper plant room with enough space to fit everything.
@m23605 I think you'll find anywhere you run flow temps that high, you might as well stick with gas. The higher the temperature rise, the lower the efficiency of anything, especially heatpumps. The flow temp on most videos I've seen seems to be around 30-40C, apart from hot water.
No point wasting energy trying to get high grade heat, when low grade heat works just as well with some underfloor and bigger radiators.
@@Thermoelectric7 Yes you need high heat mainly for DHW. In the video they mentioned that the UFH is mixed down so the rads are running at a higher flow temp so a cascade makes some sense (or as you say, just stick more emitters where needed to avoid mixing). Since money is no object on this project, a cascade would have been a great showcase. Wasted opportunity IMO.
@@m23605 Good memory, I replied half asleep and forgot that part! Very interesting.
Great video thanks for sharing your knowledge. I think the only weak point with heat pumps is finding a decent engineer and then going forward finding a decent engineer to service the equipment. Your videos are fantastic and tour knowledge is first class.
Great video Szymon. As someone who also works in IT, first thing I always do is update software/firmware. Companies are under such pressure to ship products that often the software is still being written whilst the hardware is being sold. Nature of the beast these days.
Nothing better than opening UA-cam and getting a notification urban plumber has uploaded a video.
What a set up that is. Gotta watch this 1 a couple times and let it sink in haha
No1 comes close to you when it come to heat pumps. Love this bloody content Simon.
Thank you for watching !
Amazing installation. These guys know what they are doing. Where are you based?
Nibe is amazing. I live in Sweden and I have one of those, it works even in very low outdoor temperatures, it has been like -25 and the unit was able to deliver heat energy with the help of immersion of course.
That steady state heat pump already displaying SCOP of 4.8 is quite promising, really impressive install, you're really setting the bar on heat pumps in the UK. Great content
To warm a home! Looks like a space launch pad. Love watching your work, please update on return visits. Peace and goodwill.
All ways love your uploads.
We did a cascade a few years ago with another manufactor and the second unit only did heating top up, which with hot water priorty totally did away with the use of the second one. Even there tech support was said it was daft.
The joys or doing installs over a week, we have a 3 day turnaround for installs its so much agro.
Syzmon, you (and Marie) continue to knock them out of the park, what a superb installation. I really like the openenergy monitor kit/website and think it is a force for good in the industry and a great reference source for the installer. On the wiring side - maybe a cable ID labeller would be a good discipline.😉😀👍
I just love the attitude. I'd pay over the odds for this in Ireland.
Good job. Heat pumps when done right seem like a good option. But that setup looks very expensive! The cost savings would have to be very significant to make it worth it.
Yes, this set up wasn’t cheap. The client does it for environmental reasons.
He wil never be able to cover the investment from the energy savings…
But it's still worth it if it keeps his conscience at peace 😊
My soul is crying for the old Vitodens 200 which heated the property before.. :p
Long term it will be a good investment. When the owner comes to sell up this property will sell in 5 minutes. Like the owner I too would like to be carbon free. Also we can not rely on the global markets and governments to be able to supply energy at an affordable rate. Well done Szymon and team.
@@pt6423solar and 50kWh battery would be perfect to keep the running cost down by at least 50%. I never use any peak energy with my 31kWh battery and small solar setup.
@@pt6423will never be carbon free. The heat pumps are generated by electricity which is via a plant that is burning carbon. Until nuclear takes off if ever, the UK will always use carbon generating plants
Excellent 1st class work by you both.
Nice video, and very nice work.
For once a plumbing heating channel serious enough to be worth subscribing.
On the first day, as you were laying 28 mil pipes, I was worried you would not have enough flow, but then saw Marie laying 35 mil ones and was relieved. Still you must be on the fence for the output power, although I have no worries you have calculated it all.
With that setup where the pumps have specialized roles, isn't one of the pumps going to fail before the other?
All in all this installation is on the fence for me*. I would probably have proposed a 20kW condensation pellet boiler, or at least I would have put an offer with either heat pump, either pellet. Both have their pro and con.
* Not on the fence about if it will work, and how well it will work. More on the fence of what to propose that would be more beneficial for the client. There is rarely a perfect heating system in renovation, so you have to weight the pro and cons of each setting and chose what's best.
NIBE cascade is so easy, other Manus should take note.
Doea the system have the capability to automatically switch which heat pump is the primary unit in the cascade? On commercial systems the lead unit is usually swapped on a weekly basis to keep the wear even across multiple units.
All NIBE cascades will balance the running hours between the heat pumps automatically over time.
Thanks for such a great video. Your plumbing installation and pipe work is “Spot On”, but sorry to say your installation of the Main Control Panel is really poor. All the cables should be neatly laid out and marked up, also the input cable should be marked at both ends so that is also traceable.
Your plumbing skills are 120% but Electrics still need improvement.
You are the only Heat Pump Plumber that I would trust to do an install.
Nice job, bit of work in that! As a sparky though I'd have to point out there's no need to use trunking like that, run it directly under the "brain" and cut a hole in the side to enter the cables. All cables are then hidden and less work - you'll never get the cables perfectly straight and it's a waste of time using stuffing glands on an enclosure that isn't IP rated.
Wouldn't mind if the vid would be longer.
I am worried that anything over 15min will just not be watched by many people. What exactly would you like to see more of please?
Me too,
Just enjoying your videos. For me it could very well be 30 minutes long.
Like your humor and your dedication,
And i also like good heatpumps😊
Viktor Janzen
@@UrbanPlumbers I agree that the film feels a bit short for such a large job. 30 - 40 mins would be optimum for me, you have a good way and folks like the technical detail and the sharing of knowledge.
I liked the details of the actual calculations etc in your earlier videos, and howtos etc. I'd watch two seperate videos at 15 minutes no problem, and you could break it into 'types' of info, ie more of an overview in one, and more technical details in another@@UrbanPlumbers
@@UrbanPlumbers As an Engineer, I always welcome detailed video's especially concerning the design and dimensioning of such a system, as well as installation and problems encountered.
I have watched video's in excess of 1.5 hrs on subjects that interest me!
Perhaps as a suggestion you could either make and release 2 video's - 1 a short and 1 more detailed, or maybe if you are worried about affecting your channel, have a 2nd channel for a more detailed look of your installs?
What kind of support can the customer of such a system expect post installation? Does the manufacturer have a team of field specialists? The conventional gas boiler has been around of decades yet even when they have issue good service / breakdown engineers are very hard to come by. Great video and effort by the way!
Support from manufacturers is very poor and the level of the field engineers from manufacturers can be pretty shocking. We installers have to take a lot of responsibility for those systems at the moment.
@@UrbanPlumbers
it's not just about finding engineers to service them, but also the fact that, for example, my fluke multimeter operates up to -10, but from -7 the screen starts to stop reacting correctly..
At low temperatures, refrigerant hoses become rigid and the risk of refrigerant burns (frostbite) increases - when you work in the cold and maybe you are tired, you make many more mistakes...
intervention times on a refrigeration circuit at low temperatures are very long if you want to work correctly...
With gas boilers, a good technician can service 3-8 per day ... with heat pumps, this is no longer possible, which implies that more technicians will be needed to service the heat pumps; they will need much higher knowledge and much more expensive tools...
+ much higher risks of injury and much worse working conditions: out on the ground bent over regardless of the weather and if that means saving the planet then it's not very interesting...
What would your guess be for the heat power requirement for a commercial 600m2 sandwhichpanel building with 12cm foam insulation? I got mixed calculations from professionals.
Too many unknowns to even guess
That’s a terrific job, well done
Great video, but with gas prices going down it is more and more difficult to justify such a set up economically. Understand that people have different objectives and that it is part of a wider renovation so probably the tip of the iceberg in terms of costs. 👍
As normal another great video, outstanding performance with the team workmanship and work women ship , as good as I’ve ever seen.
Many thanks!
@@UrbanPlumbers Always a pleasure never a chore.
Great video Szymon and Marie 👏 Thanks for sharing. How do the Nibe units compare on price and performance? I am looking at doing the nibe pro training but obviously it's a few quid upfront . Are there two completely different scenarios to use Vaillant or Nibe? I know neither is a budget option.
Thanks
lovely work, Urban Orthogonal Plumbers.
I don't get why its called cascade, should it be called tandem or am I missing something? your work looks excellent as always.
Great Video, and nice job, thanks for sharing
i have one question regarding your Ufh system shown.
Is it profix plus 20mm and do you using any screws or pipe clips to fixit down specially on the bends
I am in process to start 240m sq with 100m pipe spacing and just wonder how you fix it for existing concrete floor when you laying (20-30mm) liquid screed ?
I know it comes with self adhesive backing but still wonder how it will hold all the pipe bends on spiral pattern?
Those units are inverters so the need to be left under power for 24h to build protection by charging capacitors
How do the Nibe units compare with Viessman ASHP?
Did you have any issues regarding the electricity supplier? When I did my training I was told having more than one heat pump would be problematic.
When talking about heatloss eg 16kW, at which out door temperature is it calculated? Over here in the Netherlands it’s usually calculated at -10 Celsius
Varies throughout the uk from around -2 to -5
@@YMNS86 oké thanks. This mild climate makes it a lot easier to achieve sufficient power and efficiency (SCOP) using heat pumps.
@@ReneArtoisMr needs to be mild for the unit cost of our electricity!
@@ReneArtoisMrOur shockingly poor insulation more than compensates for ‘milder’ winters. Hence the expense the homeowner has made to reduce the heat loss so this 16KW cascade can cope.
@@normanboyes4983 Indeed, but it’s a combination of isolation and low flow temperature. When you’re able to install underfloor heating (low temperature) you can sometimes get away with poor or non ideal insulation
Thanks for the system monitoring graphs, the heat only pump(1) performs a lot better than the hot water one(2) is 52 degrees enough for legionella control?
Love a cascade setup. Do the Nibe allow both hot water and heating at the same time when in cascade? The stupid thing about the Mitsubishi is you could have 6 units with only 1 doing heating and hot water and if there is a hot water demand it will only do hot water the others will all go off, Bonkers.
Indeed it does allow both at the same time when in a cascade. Up to 8 heat pumps can be cascaded on that controller. Best control system on the market ;)
Hi great video did you design and spec of the system?
Yes, fully designed and specced by me.
Great work as always! What make of in-line backup heater is it?
No name one I am afraid
Cool job
Thanks for sharing!
Great video! Can I ask which supplier you use for the UFH panels and what kind of screed? I will be doing my ground floor soon at 100mm spacing and wasn't planning to use panels and have been told minimum screed depth is 40mm so curious to know what combo gets you 30mm? Thanks!
You can do 25mm if the floor is level. Pro fix plus panels
Curious as to the minimum space required in front of the unit. Normally around 1.5 meters for a heat pump of that output. The controller is crazy and looks way over complex for a simple cascade. Why only one heat pump for DHW? Would it not be better to do a true cascade with lead and lag swap over? Drying time for screed, was that not a requirement? Underfloor looked amazingly well installed and pipework is spot on.
using one heat pump for heating and one for heating and hot water means that you will never get a disturbance in comfort when in hot water mode. The controller balances out the running hours between both heat pumps automatically over time, so equal wear. Controller is as simple or complex as you want it to be. There is a step by step basic set up guide which is suitable for most jobs and a more in depth step by step guide depending on what your system requirements are.
Excellent video. Your work is very good 👏👏👏
A question from a foreigner. How is the hot water problem solved? Is 50 degrees really enough in a British house?
Top job as always U.P.!
You had the film left on the touch screen
Very clean install, again. Is Nibe more expensive than a Vaillant? What's the efficiency compared to the Vaillant?
efficiency probably the same - I really don't see much diffrence here between manufactureres. Controls and quliaty of the desgin adn isntallation is what makes the diffrence - not the box outside.
Nibe is probably comparable or even chepaer than Vaillant at the moment - as they have a sale, not sure they will keep the prices low for long though? Generally a bit more expesnvie than Vaillant. Controls are in a different leauge to Vaillant but I do not hear much good about the back up from the comapny from others.
What your opinion on joule heat pump/cylinders
That heat pump set up seems ott in cost but hey what the client wanted
Joule cylinders are decent.
I love your videos and find them very interesting, it's a shame that a big job like that with nearly 7 days of work is only in a video 15 mins long, would love to see more in depth, good and bad. Keep up the good work though.
Yep - I wish I had time to shot longer videos. It’s hard as it is to make them at all!
A good IT lesson here:
Before we commission any business IT system we always upgrade firmware and set passwords before we start doing anything .. saves a world of pain.
Whats your thoughts on electric boilers combined with solar systems?
I have no thoughts on electric boilers - probably the least exciting tech ever made, so I do my best not to think about them ;)
another great video! :)
Thank you !
I'm a QS and recently did a tender for ASHP - about 12-15k depending on house size on a tight profit margin, should I be worried?
Sounds about right for an average job
Nice job as always. What was the reason for not installing a three phase 16kw heat pump 🤔
two heatpumps means you can have two different flow rates which is more efficient than using 1 and mixing it down, and also you can fire one of them up if you have low heating needs which means you can modulate to a lower output (a 16kw heatpump would be lucky to modulate much lower than a 4-5kw output, which would mean more cycling etc)
@@Etacovda63Not sure that is the idea here at all. I believe this system will have both units running at DOT and at about 10c DOT No.2 will revert to standby. Essentially reducing cycling in the shoulder months of the heating system. There are no mixers in the installed system as shown in this video (and that’s the point in a correctly designed UFH system). What was not shown was the rads will have been assessed and upgraded where necessary to meet the heat loss at the designed flow temperature for the whole system.
@@normanboyes4983 yep, that makes sense as well
@ 11:25 do you use nail polish? 😜
It happens to everyone from time to time
What kind of scops were you getting on these once up and running and the house was warm?
Check the link to OEM below. Currently scop is 4.6
Hey Urban Plumber, have you ever installed a Sunamp Heat Battery? Im considering one of these and woukd value your expert opinion.
Not great with heat pumps. Need flow temp that is just too high for any resonable efficeincy. Only consider this if you go cheap direct electric tarrif or if the cylinder us really impossible.
Top notch mate 👏😎
May I ask what is the reason of having 2 heat pumps ? There are 17kw heat pumps on the market. Will this not work ?
There are no 17kw at -2
Super install, shame about the poor software and interface. I shall keep an eye on it on OEM, already been and looked and performance looks very good indeed.
Great work. Out of interest - have you got any zones on a system that size?
No, one massive zone of over 300m2
@@UrbanPlumbersbut if you put a puffer for underfloor heating I think you can setup zones . And one puffer for other things what require hot water. And one Solar Water Heater . What do you think about this setup?
@deshte I don’t think you can use that word anymore mate
@@UrbanPlumbers which word? Please explain
Puffer 🤣🤣🤣
Same reasons you cascade heat pumps as gas boilers? Great work...monster sized houses, what part of the country/London are they?
Was curious about that too. Tight on both sides of the plot though.
Grand job
These guys 🤩
Why aren’t you using vaillant on this one. I’m half way though a bungalow which has 13.35kW heat loss so Vaillant recommended either two 7kW or two 10kW heat pumps. Not the best for me as it’s my first heat pump set up 🧐
I would use single 12 on that. If designed to 35-40c it will cover that heat loss. Or 2x5kw not 7kw.
NIBE cascade is pure class and controls way above the vaillant offering. Vaillant is still decent and much better than most of the market, but NIBE controls is something else.
@@UrbanPlumbers He has part UFH and 8 Radiators. A very odd shaped place too.
@@UrbanPlumbers they are in their 70’s too so will feel the cold.
The electric supply must be very large, what happens when they add a couple ev charges for their no doubt many cars 😂
100amps - easily covers both heat pumps. Single phase at the moment. They have a 3 phase supply at the property if they ever want to add car chargers
Room temperature at 15DegC? Is that correct??
Yes - ground floor is off as they are tiling the floors. I need to ask the client to move the sensor to a heated area
I don't think this setup is called cascade heat pump. Cascade heat pump generally means that condenser of the first heat pump in a cascade heats the evaporator of the second heat pump.
What is the projected kw savings for a system like this .I know there’s a lot of variables but for someone who’s on the fence about whether or not to say go on something like this there has to be a break even point even if it 20 years from today . My guess is that job wouldn’t give you much change from £80,000.00. Why don’t you hire a insulation subcontractor and do a really nice aluminum jacketing on all the exposed piping?
Paul - the cost was much much less than your quoted figure - kWh saving are in the region of 80% as compared to gas kWh consumption as this system will run at scop over 4 and the gas boiler it replaced was around 90% efficient
Great job. Need a new assistant to wire the controls properly though. I’M JOKING 😂
Nice work
Such a shame to cover up that funky underfloor pipe pattern 😅
yep - one day I will cover the pipework in transpranet screed, need to find a client mad enough to do it and a pipe that changes colour with temperature
"If there are no unexpected problems" "assuming there are no unexpected problems" "hopefully there are no unexpected problems". There were in fact, unexpected problems!
Okay, 8 kW heat pump can pump 8kW of heat, right? So cascading them would increase the temperature difference, but can't increase the power delivered? Because each heat pump can only pump 8kW, you would get 16 kW in parallel or 8kW in series?! The advantage of cascading being that you can have smaller radiators?... What am I missing because this isn't making a lot of sense.
It’s parallel- cascade is a term used in the industry ‘wrongly’ for 2 heat pumps in tandem
@@UrbanPlumbers Thank you for educating me! Appreciate your content!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
What’s the reason to go nibe over Vaillant?
NIBE controls and cascade is in a league of its own. Vaillant controls feel like a toy compared to NIBE. I also couldn’t use R290 units here due to site limitations
3:23 why not use rock wool? It is fireproof….
I think the term "cascade " is not right in this case. Cascade is series HPs of different refrigerant where HP1 has an output of perhaps 30C and the HP2 will take that and increase it to 60-70C. It is mostly used to get very cold temps for freezers. At first I thought that was what you were doing but now I see it is parallel HPs to increase capacity in colder outdoor temps.
yes and no. In the fridge world you are completely correct with your definition. In the heating world, two heat sources in parallel is refereed to as a cascade. The joys of two industries now being the same with two different uses of a termanology.
Amazing work as always Szymon, I love this method of UFH installation. Whats your preferred method for suspended timber floors?
I’ve done the 22mm pre-routed chipboard but it was awful to install!
Would like to know this
This were suspended timber floors. I screed over them for the higest possible output
@@UrbanPlumbers I will be putting UFH over the existing ground floor and first floor and a new loft conversion. All suspended floors. Would it be reasonable to have screed on the ground floor and routes chipboard above? MVHR would even the output somewhat, the upstairs would benefit from the rising heat, and having the bedrooms cooler would be a good thing (on an open loop)
Nibe should be superior to Vaillant …
Especially when in comes to small details in the executions of the refrigeration circuit…
Looks like Star Trek in terms of the kit required! I wonder what the maintenance costs are?
I’d love to work with you for a week
Client updated the software. Ouch 👊
@ 0:27 Vitodens 200 🤤
That's pretty shambolic that the unit needed a 0 day software up to get things running and wasted so much of your time.
I work in IT as well, and I find the ability to remotely update software makes certain companies incredibly lax/lazy. Same reason you see PS5 games that need a 30GB patch on release day -- because they can. It should obviously just work out of the box.
I guess it works out of the box for 99% of installs. Cascades are a bit more complex, so this may be the reason.
@@UrbanPlumbersfair dos, diplomatic as you are skilled! ;-)
still crazy that the customer troubleshooted and fixed the fault@@UrbanPlumbers
God help those customers, when things go wrong and your not around . 😢😮
Can anyone tell me what is the long term reliability of all those pressed copper connections are and will they fail eventually when the polymer seal ages? They're certainly quick but expensive, I'd imagine but surely well done soldered fittings would last longer? But again I'd imagine all this set up will be old hat in less than 15 or 20 years times and the next owner of that house will have big expenses in fitting something current.🤔
@@nickhickson8738we have pressed commercial installations that are more than 30 years old, and never had a leak. Carbon steel tube has been a problem though.
As a neighbour, I wouldn’t like to have a unit making that amount of noise in the dead of night. Keep me awake.
You wouldn’t even know it is on
Great video showing how well this works if your minted and not worried about getting your money back any time soon 😂😂
When are we getting the planet back then? Nice to critisce others for doing the right thing, isn't it?
Where exactly has the planet gone?
Better address that to China and India.
Building new coal plants as we speak, but I’ll pretend that’s not happening and get rid of my terrible gas boiler and ‘do the right thing’ 😂 I remember not that long ago when they were saying ‘do the right thing’ about something else, that turned out well too
@jamiebrown8437 ahh daily fail reader strikes again, bore off dude.
Blimey .. that looks so complicated imagine when it goes wrong ... any savings wiped out on repairs ..
I'll stick to a condensing gas boiler thanks ... even they are pretty complicated these days
To be fair you'd have most of this kit if you had a cascaded boiler setup.
@@Saaj2
You'd have this kit if you were looking for a life of trouble ...
I work on the Kiss principle .. Keep it Simple and Straightforward ...
This is cascade heat pump stuff is NUTS
@@the1beard cascaded boilers are more reliable, so in theory this will be too. Either way this setup isn't saving the customer money, the ROI will be insane. The customer probably wanted it for environmental reasons
@Saaj2 running scop of over 4 in the winter so still 20% cheaper to run than gas
@@UrbanPlumbers no doubt the scop makes it cheaper to run, but even with that bus grant, surely it'll be years before a return is made. I was fortunate that the BUS covered almost all my costs. For expensive installs like these, surely the main driver is environmental.
Double trouble.
3kw backup.... buffer.... 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
all that work just for hot water very over the top / u just need a boiler / unvented cylinder 2 days work job done / over complicated
If you think you will get your money back? you won’t.
I'm sure Szymon gets more money back than what he spends on a job.