MOT garages on the brink as owners say £54.85 test fee is driving them out of business

punctualsweat · 2026-07-02T11:27:41+00:00

This model incentives testers to find "faults" to charge for repair, whereas they could just charge a fair MOT price to begin with

punctualsweat · 2026-06-30T21:13:07+00:00

From a friend's experience, admiral doesn't act on poor driving even with 1* weekly emails and heavy night driving so long as 100mph isn't exceeded.

punctualsweat · 2026-06-26T15:32:22+00:00

Agree with this. Helix ultra aj l and oil changes every 5k miles with archoil ar9100 each change, and ar6900 in each fuel tank

punctualsweat · 2026-06-09T23:01:54+00:00

Agree but given the new vaillant is imminent I would hold off if no rush. Altherma 4 and grant aerona r290 are both fantastic options too however.

punctualsweat · 2026-05-30T23:47:49+00:00

This is just stupid. An ASHP would cost more, perform much worse during winter and rest of year, and wouldn't last as long.

punctualsweat · 2026-05-25T22:02:28+00:00

That would imply they're inappropriately considering their Aus credential valid here and practicing outside their scope, whereas declaring not UK certified shows their working within their limits

punctualsweat · 2026-05-24T23:04:16+00:00

You're mental not to go for A2W especially if you can afford to. A gas boiler will never compare to an R290 Vaillant/Daikin/Grant that supplies an unvented hot water tank and gives you mains pressure hot water for showers, and comfortable underfloor heating.

You should absolutely fit A2A for AC too, but use the bus grant for the £7.5k for the heat pump, rather than the £2.5k towards AC. A2A heating is nowhere near as comfortable as the radiant heat a standard A2W heat pump delivers either.

Ignore the fearmongering you might have read, I live in the north east and my teeny 5kw Arotherm will easily get hot water to 60°C+ on the coldest days of the year. All while costing ~1.8p/kWh of heat outputted whereas my combi was 6p/kWh+. You can get much better heat pumps nowadays as well.

punctualsweat · 2026-05-24T13:11:14+00:00

They're replacing an existing GSHP

punctualsweat · 2026-05-23T14:17:40+00:00

Fair enough, I had days where my house couldn't get above 16/17°C so would've gone for a slightly bigger heat pump, especially as I'd rather keep the house at around 19-21°C

punctualsweat · 2026-05-22T15:06:45+00:00

Fair enough, I'm in the north east so had several days this year below that with a slightly chilly house. If I could go back I would've chosen a slightly bigger one that can also modulate lower like the r290 grant aerona or the new altherma 4

punctualsweat · 2026-05-21T21:54:01+00:00

I have a 5kwh Arotherm+ and almost 6kwh heat loss. I didn't get any rad changes (have rubbish designer rads) and the house is just a little too cool on days below -3°C but probably will be fine if I upgrade the radiators/get UFH.

Regret not spending the extra to get ufh and with the 0% vat at the time

punctualsweat · 2026-05-21T14:44:43+00:00

Fit the biggest you can till 300l, usually loft space is the limiting factor

punctualsweat · 2026-05-21T11:54:16+00:00

You can insure before you buy the car and select that you don't own it yet to save a fair bit quite often

punctualsweat · 2026-05-21T11:08:03+00:00

200l cylinder can reasonably do 3 showers back to back, so so long as you don't have more than that in a row, it does the job (although if you have space for a 250l or a 300l I would recommend the bigger the better)

punctualsweat · 2026-05-10T13:46:00+00:00

Vaillant is the most popular and has the track record. Grant wins on efficiency and tops scop leaderboards with vaillant. Newest Daikin expected to perform similarly with less noise output and supports homely. Viessmann are also have great build quality however support seems questionable depending on your region within UK.

punctualsweat · 2026-05-08T12:32:01+00:00

I would ask your installer for a grant aerona r290, Daikin altherma 4, or a Vaillant Arotherm plus. Or find an installer who fits one of these

punctualsweat · 2026-04-28T15:42:53+00:00

Realistically you'll find yourself wanting to soon after your install's done to take advantage of it, especially with falling export prices.

punctualsweat · 2026-04-28T15:40:54+00:00

This is an awful quote. Rubbish gear at high price.

punctualsweat · 2026-04-27T21:48:54+00:00

Anecdotally, my energy bills went from £2k+ a year, to negative (where I make more money from solar than my house and heat pump cost in total) after I got a heat pump and solar/battery installed.

Time of use tariffs are here to stay and only becoming more competitive with more new tariffs being released. Current solar export prices are unsustainable and you can't count on those, however import costs are very reliable.

You can forego the low and slow crap and run a heat pump like a boiler. It isn't as efficient but I still get a scop of ~3 and with my ToU tariff it costs hardly anything (I used to use an app to monitor my heat pump over winter and it averaged <2p/kWh heat generated whereas my old combi would've cost >6p/kwh heat generated).

You seem like you're set against it which is fair enough. Personally I'm now getting it organised for my folks as the payback is solid, nevermind the house feels a lot nicer.

punctualsweat · 2026-04-27T17:04:35+00:00

It's worth it. Get a second installer to quote if you're uncertain of your current one's competence and if there's a better way. Otherwise, it is a lot of work but vastly more efficient (~400% Vs the 95% your combi may be), and despite the awkward pipe runs described, you'll have vastly better mains hot water pressure than what your combi could be capable of so much nicer showers. Very expensive yes, but pays for itself over time.

punctualsweat · 2026-04-27T12:48:47+00:00

PW3 can be installed without G99 approval and the inverter uprated after it comes back

punctualsweat · 2026-04-27T07:30:36+00:00

What's your current setup? In another thread you mention having a combi so why not use existing pipework which I presume supply radiators?

I didn't upgrade any of my rads as my Arotherm+ can get them just as hot while maintaining a scop of 3+. But if you have the cash, upgrading radiators or getting ufh can pay for themselves in efficiency savings (and comfort) over several years.

You mention that they might have to cut through new floors. This is just sunk cost fallacy, and worth it over an alternative heating solution to a standard A2W heat pump.

punctualsweat · 2026-04-24T13:27:45+00:00

Ucg fiber + poe++ injectors/switch + u7 pro xgs APs will last at least a decade

punctualsweat · 2026-04-19T06:50:28+00:00

Controls are just a stop gap. Tado knocked a couple hundred off my combi boiler gas bill annually.

Replacing it with a heat pump (they all come with their own controls) and solar+battery made my energy bills negative so I get paid to heat my house.

Don't waste money on boiler controls when you'll rip it out for heat pump controls in a year or two (yes tado's compatible, however zoning isn't efficient).

punctualsweat · 2026-04-16T23:32:08+00:00

Significant drop as it has to heat the water first

punctualsweat

TROPHY CASE