Detached property, hosted by Alex

We completed an Octopus Cosy 9 install with limited changes to the house beforehand. Loft insulation was topped up to 400 mm as some areas had previously lacked any. The house already had double glazing but it is showing its age and air tightness is poor.

Our previous system was oil with microbore and single panel radiators. The utility was unheated and the downstairs shower room had an electric towel rail. We chose to fully re-pipe the house, replace all radiators and add new ones to the utility and shower room. That maximised the offer from Octopus but would have cost lots more with a private firm or Heat Geek.

The install took 6 days. New piping runs under the floor boards upstairs and then drops down to radiators downstairs. Clever use of existing boxing for three radiators reduces visible pipe runs in living spaces. Vertical radiators further reduce the impact of new pipes by largely hiding them.

Knowing a little about heat pumps helped during installation. We were offered zones and that would have reduced the system efficiency. Otherwise everything ran smoothly and the team were excellent. The fact we required a full re-pipe potentially means we got a more skilled team lead but there was clearly a great support network available for the team and they were assisted with more complex aspects of commissioning.

Simple. The house is warm. The SCOP is >3.5 so far including bills. We just leave the system on constantly with it set to 21 overnight when electricity is cheap and 19 during the day when jt costs more. The thermostat is in the coldest part of the house and it works well.

The water tank is possibly on the smaller side but that can be managed by increasing the water temp when guests visit to increase the dilution with cold water and cope with more showers. We also have kept an electric shower just in case, although that isn't used at all now.

We use Octopus Intelligent Go tariff so as well as the off peak price we boost hot water and temp in free periods of electricity and sometimes boost them if the car is charging earlier in the evening.