The unit was not delivered charged. I was told to give it 3 hours to fully charge. I didn't as I wanted a shower and the water was coming out hot enough after an hour. When I bought this gaf about 5 years ago, it had night storage heaters and was on a cheap night tariff to charge the heaters. I discovered that this means that I pay more for day-time electricity. Now, that I am home all the time, it has concentrated my mind into dumping night storage heaters and the low, night-time, tariff. Ultimately, I want to go on a simple,24 hour tariff, so I plan to dump the night storage heaters when I get some money. I wasn't pressure sold anything. If there was any attempt to pressure me then I would of told the guy to F.O.! My gas water heater was the original one from when the house was built about 30 years ago. For some reason that nobody understands, everybody has electric central heating and gas water heating - mad, I know. My gas water heater has been dodgy since I moved in but has got worse over the last year. The only gas engineer who I could persuade to get off his arse and come and have a look at it, only suggestion was to replace it as he didn't think that parts would be readily available and it would require some experimentation to find out which part was faulty (which I would have to pay for). So, I had to replace the boiler anyway but I did not particularly want gas. So, I started to look into electric instantaneous water heaters powerful enough to heat a shower and a bath. I contacted a few local companies about quoting me for an electric water heater to replace gas (which I wanted to do anyway). Nobody was interested in even answering the phone, let alone coming here to give me a quote. I found Fischer when I was looking at alternatives, like heat pumps, because nobody was even prepared to get off their backside to come and give me a quote. I got in touch with Fischer and a guy showed up when he said he would and quoted me. No, "I can only do this price today" and no "I can't feed my kids this weeks unless you buy!". No pressure and I did not agree to anything until I had read the blurb that he left and did some research. I then agreed and we fixed a date some months in advance to do the job. I was only ever put under pressure by my gas heater not working when it was a windy day! I always knew that the unit is much more expensive than an electric instantaneous water heater but a)I could get nobody even interested to give me a quote and b) I would have had to somehow run a dedicated spur from my fuse box - which would of been a right pain, because of my house design. So what sold it to me, was that it would be simple to install (took about 2 hours) and I could dump gas. They installed a fused spur of an existing double socket that was right there for my washing machine and tumble dryer. If it proves cheaper to run than an electric instantaneous heater, then that is just another benefit. Apart from having a hole in my kitchen wall where to old gas flue exited and having a bit of making good to do in the kitchen, It is all good. The unit is sat in my workshop behind the garage that was only occupied by a chair. It is not decorated anyway and I just need to lag the pipes. The unit is too heavy to be wall-mounted and has to sit on the floor. Dunno how much it weighs but they had to use a sack trolley as two guys couldn't manage it! So, saving power costs was not my main motivation for buying it, I've dumped gas and got a load of extra space in my kitchen that after decoration, I will shelve. I know it sounds too good to be true and it doe seem that way to me. It is guaranteed for a few years and after the guarantee finishes, it could prove to be a pain and only Fischer can fix it. So, it is a leap into the unknown that only time will tell if it was the right decision - bit like buying a Ducati and that is why I am quite calm!
Have you read the links I gave you on the ASA ruling. ..... Fischer Heat was unable to prove any of their claims and they must cease to use words like "A+ rated". "The ads must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Fischer Future Heat UK Ltd to ensure that their future marketing communications did not mislead by making unsubstantiated environmental claims about their products, or unsubstantiated claims about heating system installation costs, heating system component longevity, and heating system carbon emissions. We also told Fischer Future Heat UK Ltd that future energy saving claims must be supported by adequate documentary evidence." To date still not supplied.
Hi Harry, Is this an "Air To Water" system? What temperature is the system set to produce? If it uses R410A as the refrigerant to claim the heat from the atmosphere then it really should be set to around 30°C. This being the design flow temperature. If it is set to anything above 50°C then you are going to fly through electric units. Make sure any electric immersion heaters within the system are programmed to be off at all times. 15,000kW/hrs a year should generate around 60,000kW/hrs of usable heat... enough to make a large 5 bed detached house toasty - with virtually no insulation. When I've checked over similar systems for clients the high energy costs are nearly always due to incorrect (too high) flow temperatures and/or electric immersion heaters cutting in to supplement the high temperature demand. Air to Water heat pumps should only be connected to low temperature emitters, like oversized skirting radiators, fan coils and water underfloor heating. They should not be connected to the old Oil/Gas heated water radiators as these will be woefully undersized for the correct flow temperature. Hope this helps.... Feel free to PM me if you want any advice.
I don't GAF. It's installed neatly, it works, I've got rid of gas and an unreliable old gas heater, as well as more space in my kitchen. I didn't buy due to any misleading advert, and so I'm not worried. I bought because I assesses this as the best product for me. FOR ME! Everybody else can go and make heir own decision based upon their own circumstances. As my experience of gas and electricity fitters around here, was based upon the fact that you are supposed to go down on you hands and knees if they even lower themselves to answer the 'phone, let alone give you a quote, then feck 'em! I'm happy with copious amounts of hot water available with zero hassle. Yes, I do use some electricity that may or may not be 'green'. That is beyond my control as I don't run the national grid. I've dumped gas, which was in my control. So I care not one fig for any ASA ruling, as no advertising played any part. Just in the same way that bike advertising does not influence me. I know which are crap and which I find desirable. If I don't, then I research, as I did with this water heater.
This subject is interesting to me as I have a small cottage in the UK that only has electric. A wet system was installed back in the early 90’s with an electric boiler. Thinking recently to upgrade to an electric combo boiler as looking for more efficiency and losing the hot water storage tank. Never heard of this Fischer heating but interesting none the less.
Yes but I want to still live in the house once the petrol has finished accelerating the spread of fire.
Thankd AirCon, yes it's set to 35 degrees I think, my wife got some 'hexpert' to check it out and when she said it was cold upstairs he reset it to 59 degrees WTF the immersion does seem to kick in on occasion but I think that's for legionella control. It doesn't help that my wife uses a stand alone oil filled heater in the bedroom to supplement in the winter I'm sure the master bedroom heater is woefully undersized and badly placed so I may just get it replaced and add another to fix that issue. I just seem to use a bastard load of kWh for a supposedly efficient system, and my wife complains it's cold coz her toes aren't burning through her 1/2" thick flip flops do big magnets still slow meters down
For stored water there needs to be legionella control. Typical is 70°C for 60 minutes, each waterboard seem to have their own requirement. If you have mains gas available I'd fit a condenser combi boiler to supplement the winter heating and produce all your hot water, on demand. Dump the stored hot water. Watch for flow rates on Showers etc.... what is the cold water pressure like? Install the Air Sourced heat pump on the return to the boiler. Once the temperature outside hits 8°C or lower.... by pass it. In the UK an air sourced heat to water system is ideal in Spring and Autumn in conjunction with low temperature emitters. Using a heat exchanger and a combi this can boost the 35°C water up to 70°C easily. Basically the air sourced can efficiently tank the 8°C mains water up to 35°C... then let the gas do the rest. Hope that make's sense. Be careful where you place those big magnets..... you can speed the meter up!
OK I accept that you weren't pressurised into buying and that you found my fellow heating brethren hard work. Unfortunately your research is flawed. There is no energy saving. You are paying EXACTLY the same as an immersion heater to heat every bath of water. £29.99 from Screwfix. For a lovely Titanium one.... You will find this out and may come back later to eat crow; perhaps joining the thousands of complaining hoards out on the WWW.
this is a topic i have been bouncing in and out off for the last 5 years or so, i have a 1965 house with an Oil burn water heater, and we reviewing changing for efficiency and Eco advantages... i think everyone i have spoken to has told me not to do anything until i have a major failure/ breakdown as the amortisation period is so long i will never see a benefit of the new installation..
Sounds like good advice. Gas boilers last around 10-20 years, anything older should be swapped out. Usage / cost per year has a great deal to do with pay back. Do you have mains gas (Piped gas from the street)? How big is the house, How many bathrooms, How many people etc. Are grants available?
Simply not so. I said that I did not want (and would be very difficult to Install) a hot water storage tank. I would like to think that I've emerged from the dark ages. I have had to learn to walk again twice due to accidents but I think that I have progressed from the crawling in the swamp - I like to think so, anyway! And a hot water tank heater would use and waste far more electricity than I need. I will keep an eye on my electricity meter readings from now on. As I intend to dump night storage heaters and cheap rate night electricity, I will need a good guide to usage when I switch. I did talk to the fitters about poor reviews on TrustPilot that came from non-verified customers that were ex-employees passed over for promotion. The guy was aware of them and said, "They are stupid twats! The only promotion from his job would be office-based in Leicester. I'm a fitter! I don't want to drive a desk at head office! Everyone knows the job when you join. If you don't like it then leave but don't just moan and get fired!" Much of it is mindset. These guys come in and do the job and the f. off. They do about three jobs a day and they might have to stay away because they cover the whole country. They showed up, did the job and were off. I'm happy with that!
