RE: Re: OT - Does anyone have any experience with Ice Energy heatpumps

["Gary Tall" <gtcs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Russ and Neil

=20

We have had different problems each time, the latest is with a loss of
flui=
d
in the ground loop itself. It appears to be leaking at the manifold, this
i=
s
suspected to be as a result of ice forming around the manifold and slowly
opening the connectors. Apparently the last two winters have seen lower
temperatures in the UK than they have been designed for so its =93not ICE
Energy=92s fault=94.

=20

I have got on a little better with them today but it will still be a week
before they are able to visit the site, their opening gambit was the 7th
March. I don=92t want to say too much more as this is still ongoing but
Nei=
l=92s
comments about the lack of infrastructure to support customers ring very
true.

=20

The sad thing is that this is our first problem in a year and we were
hopin=
g
that things were getting better with it. The fact that its probably cost me
half as much again as the purchase cost in lost earnings whilst I=92ve been
dealing with the problems its caused which also makes me even more angry.

=20

Regards

Gary

=20

From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
russ_olivant
Sent: 21 February 2011 14:31
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: OT - Does anyone have any experience with Ice Energy
heatpumps

=20

=20=20

Hi,
I've not contributed to this forum for a long long time....

I have a GeoBoiler heat pump, they commissioned it and then basically
disappeared of the face of the earth...

In the 10 years I've had it, it's failed about 5 times.

3 or 4 times we've had minor leaks resulting in low pressure - these have
been down to poor soldering. The more major time, the primary heat
exchange=
r
sprung a refrigerant leak.

We've also had the controller fail - a Mitsubishi Alpha - luckily when
Geoboiler disappeared, I bought a spare Alpha controller, and downloaded
th=
e
control software from the installed controller, so when the controller
failed, I simple plugged the new one in :-)

Now after 10 years, the scroll compressor was sounding a little rough, so
this summer we took the opportunity to replace it with a 3phase scroll
compressor - cost around =A3500.

I'd say now, that we (and our friendly air conditioning engineer) are very
familiar with the GeoBoiler, and quite happy to fix any issue our selves.

At the beginning I thought the heat pump was a bad purchase - but comparing
our bills (electricity versus other's elec + gas/oil, we pay significantly
less that other houses of similar sizes), I'm happy with our purchase.

When we were originally looking at heat pumps, I did have a few chats with
Ice Energy, but in the end went with Geoboiler, as they were significantly
cheaper, and could supply a unit without integrated hot water tanks.

More recently when the scroll compressor was on it's way out, I again
looke=
d
at Ice Energy, and their heat pumps are very impressive - but also very
expensive!!

Russ

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
, "Neil
Ball" <neilball@...> wrote:
>
> I have a Nibe heat pump which is around 3 years old and apart from
some
> sensors failing have had no issues with it to date. I also see a lot
of
heat
> pump installations in my day job with various issues. In most cases
the
> reliability is good, although the mechanical parts are as likely to
fail
as
> in any other kind of system. What I come across a lot is system
failures
due
> to problems outside of the heat pump unit - shut down on loss of
pressure
> due to minor leaks for example.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> 5 failures seems a lot, are they all the same problem or for different
> issues? Does your unit not have any immersion heater backup? My unit
has
> this although this only provides 6kW of heat input which would not
cope i=
n
> the coldest weather. This would keep me going if the ground loop
system
> failed or I lost the compressor. If the main controls on the unit fail
that
> would leave me with nothing though so there is always a potential for
a
full
> system failure.
>=20
>=20
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> What you do highlight is that the main suppliers do not have the
service
> infrastructure in place to deal with problems as quickly as most would
like,
> but again I also see similar problems with some of the more
sophisticated
> boiler systems that have hit the market and can only be supported by a
small
> number of specialised service technicians.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> Neil B.
>=20
>=20
>=20
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx
<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
] On Behal=
f
Of
> Gary Tall
> Sent: 20 February 2011 11:07
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>=20
> Subject: [ukha_d] OT - Does anyone have any experience with Ice Energy
> heatpumps
>=20
>=20
>=20
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> I have one, been running 3 years and its failed this weekend for the
fift=
h
> time leaving us with no hot water, no heat and they are currently
telling
me
> it will be 7-10 days before they can get someone to me.
>=20
> Buying a GSHP is undoubtedly the worst thing I've ever spent money on
and
> the attitude of this company stinks as its in still in warranty. I'm
> interesting in seeing whether this is pretty normal for GSHP's and
> suppliers.
>=20
> Regards
>=20
> Gary
>=20
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>





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