UK energy company Octopus Energy has launched new heat pumps for residential applications.
“The system will enter the market with a 6 kW heat pump – aimed at a typical three-bed UK home – with more and larger models following over the next six months,” the manufacturer said, noting that the new product will be available for sale in December for the UK and other major European markets.
Yes – FREE for small homes with an up-to-date hot water tank and heating system.
Where a bit of work's needed, Cosy Octopus starts at £3,000 (after the Boiler Upgrade Scheme).
Cosy 6 is a 6 kW heat pump (great for the avg 3 bed home). Larger models coming in next 6 months. pic.twitter.com/x3oNH4PvqH
— Octopus Energy (@OctopusEnergy) September 14, 2023
The company said it makes the new Cosy 6 heat pump at its facility in Craigavon, Northern Ireland.
It said the new product features two control systems – Cosy Hub and Cosy Pods.
“Cosy Octopus is free for homes that don’t need any work to fit the system after the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS),” the company said, “Homes that need adjustments – such as new radiators, piping or a hot water tank – will get the system from around GBP 3,000 (around $3,700) after the grant.”
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How will this work given in suburban areas, networks are sized on an ADMD of circa 1.5kW. If the answer is, well the pump will only run @ 1 or 1.5kW – i.e. partial load, well fine. Why then size it at 6kW.
Well it provides hot water for heating and potable water. This makes 6kw a very good starting point. Also, it would likely have an inverter driven motor which means it could ramp from 0%-100% load to hold setpoint.
The 6kW is the heat output, and heat pumps usually have a coefficient of 1 to 3 or 4 for energy consumed Vs heat transferred. So a 6kW heat pump will realistically only need 1.5-2kW to run. It’s the same as air conditioning units – ours has an energy output of 4kW but only consumes 1kW max when running. That’s the beauty of heat pumps.
What does 6KW mean? Heat output, or power it consumes? If its heat output – low and slow – might be okay, just, but what is its power consumption? If it means 6kW max power consumption it would throttle back during milder tim es, hopefully. The problem I can see, Octopus supply me gas @ 7.6p per kWh, and electricity @ 30.3p per kWh. I know we have to save the world. I’ve got a gas fired power station in a district near me! If a heat pump needs super insulated building with large area heat emitters why not use a properly regulated range rated gas boiler? Can the DNO’s supply enough power for heat pumps, cars, etc anyway?
6kW is the output of the heat pump. Depending upon the coefficient of performance (i.e the efficiency), the actual energy consumed could be as little as 1.3 kW with a COP of 4.5 to produce a maximum output of 6kW.
This efficiency is dependent on outside temperatures – the lower the temperature, the more the COP reduces. Every heat pump is different, so it will be interesting to see how the Octopus units perform.
It’s 6kW output, at 6kW in ‘normal’ winter temperatures it should consume about 1.5-2kW electricity (but that depends on many factiors). You run a heat pump in a different way to a boiler. Generally keep your house fairly warm all the time. It should have a sCoP between 3 and 4 (or a bit more even), meaning that if your ‘average’ home uses 12,000kWh of heat, you’ll consume around 3-4,000kWh of electricity with a heat pump.
Heat output of 6kW, so power will be 1.5-2kW
The economics aren’t that straight forward. Firstly I would assume that since this is branded “Cosy” by Octopus Energy you would also switch from the flat rate 30p tariff to amore intelligent tariff such as the ‘Cosy’ tariff from Octopus Energy specificly designed to work with the ASHP to optimise heating your hotwater and home at times outside the peak demand times the heat pump can then back off demand during those couple of really peak demand times. Secondly, modern ASHP can achieve really good SCOP Efficiency and you can easily achieved a SCOP for a correctly installed system so since the Cosy 6 has a Max output of 6 kW I’d expected it not to be running at 6 kW all the time so likely you’d be maintaining temperature in the house with an input of just 1 kW. Thirdly because you have a Gas Powered power station in your region it doesn’t mean that that’s where your power comes from because we have a National Grid your power consumption comes from the Collective supply far and wide including wind and solar and imported Nuclear from France and other European countries. Gas Powered plants are not baseload but are used to respond fast at peak demand. Since Cosy Tariff is also designed to avoid these peak demand times Octopus Energy would significantly improved your reliance on Gas for heating. Fourthly, and this is a cost benefit, if you cook by electricity you can also have Octopus Energy disconnect your gas for free I believe and this saves you Gas Standing charge which is currently about £100 a year.
The answer to your question is the cosy 6 has an output to water of up to 6 kw. It has an input that’s current consumed, depending on weather conditions, of between 1.5 & 3 kw. But remember that in most situations the current consumed would be near to 1.5. As for power stations they are more efficient than your gas boiler at burning gas, mores to the point we are trying to get rid of them. Octopus also have a special tariff for heatpumps that’s a lot less per kWh than yours. As a simple example using your current 30.3 pence tariff , a heatpump at a cop of 4 would means every 1.5 kw of electricity used would give you
6 kw of heat to water. 30.3 divided by 6 = 7.57 pence per kWh of heat. That’s the same as your gas price however on octopuses special tariff for heatpump you can almost half that cost. It true to say that you won’t always get a cop of 4 but it’s very rare it would be a cop of 2. Even then with the octopus Heatpump Tariff you still about the same cost as gas.
There’s a lot if misconceptions about heat pumps. 6kw is the heat output, and as they run at at least 400% more efficient than a gas boiler you will be drawing considerably less electrical power. So no major problem for the power grids (Electric cars are mainly charged at night when there is an excess of power) so at that efficiency your running costs are cheaper than gas. Especially if you factor in the fact you can go off grid , saving the fixed daily charge also.
Plus a major benefit is we can reduce the amount of foreign gas being imported, which has got to be a good thing.
Are heat pumps suitable for granite walled houses with air gaps between the lathe and plaster and the granite outside?
What is the output in relation to input ? Ie for every Kw what’s the multiplyer
What temperature is hot water heated to “ by the heat pump “
Historically heat pumps have been good for 30 dg, what does this run at in the winter
What can be done for homes that have no gas and only have storage heaters
Combination of solar panels / battery and heat pumps, sized correctly can make you self sufficient. But solar panels and batteries have to come down further in price.
Combination of solar panels / battery and heat pumps, sized correctly can make you self sufficient. But solar panels and batteries have to come down further in price.
The 6kW will refer to the input so the output will likely to be 18kW assuming the heat pump has a COP of 3.
Your gas boiler will presumably be in the region of 30kW so that should be the comparison and not the price per unit.
My own heat pump 5 kW rarely demands more than 3kW except on extremely cold weather so enough power available with ore coming on stream.
The DNO is banking on most EVs charging at home during the off peak cheap rate period so plenty of power with more coming on stream.
You’re wrong, the Octopus Cosy 6 has an output of 6 kwh. The reason is that heatpumps unlike gas boilers are designed to be run for longer periods of time and in so doing give a more even heat through the house.
Heat pumps are typically 300% efficient in that they produce the times as much heat as a similarly powered electric boiler – more than that compared to gas. So simplistically, you would be paying a third or quarter of the electricity cost to compare with gas. As gas prices will increase relative to electricity as the market shifts and more wind power comes on stream (and as the tax on electricity to subsidize other forms of power is removed) the maths looks good. If so you see the local networks are upgraded as the pumps are rolled out
What will be the annual cost of running this new heat pump in a 4 bedroom home, using current EDF std rates & power usage?
Footprint of house 12m × 8m, ground & upper floor.
This is all well and good but if u are working class you can’t afford the pumps even with grants who has 3k spare hmm and you have no choice but to but the high prices of gas and electricity 7.50pkwh for gas so running a boiler for just one hour at 28kwh is 7.50p x 28 which costs 2.10p per hour of use is a joke and half of my bill is standing charges gas is 28p per day which is about 9 pounds a month and electricity is 0.61p per say which is around 18 pounds a month and the electricity price per kwh is 29p per hour how is thus right hmm you cook ur tea it costs you 50p its nuts the cost of energy now why have we got like this we pay one of the highest prices yet we make our own though north sea oil and gas granted we don’t or can’t provide enough gas for our needs but less then 2 years ago electricity was 17p kwh and has was 3p pwh how is it we are paying 3 times more in less then 2 years its nuts and u can’t blame the war for this government’s need to get a grip on this and I think this is a form of tax as the government needs cash and it can’t rise real taxes so it uses things like ulz and energy to pay taxes on and it stinks.
What is needed is heat pumps that will produce hot water at 65C for radiators and hot water in a tank. This must be done with a high COP during a cold winter. A COP of 3 that reduces to 1 or 2 in winter, or when water at 65C is produced will not be a good user experience compared with a gas boiler.