Choosing a heat pump or installer? The new Microgeneration Certification Scheme will help

It has been said that about one person in 40 is an “innovator” – eager to try new ideas, and sometimes fairly obsessive in doing so. Rather than following such people, most of us are happy to watch what happens to them.

We take more notice of the slightly more cautious but still relatively adventurous “early adopters”, with whom it is easier to identify. But, on the whole, we need a good deal of reassurance on new ideas, especially with products that have a significant initial cost which we hope – but are not certain – will be repaid over time.

Although awareness of heat pumps has increased substantially over the past few years, they are not yet sufficiently familiar for most people to feel entirely comfortable with the concept. We want answers to questions such as:

• How do I know that it will work effectively ?

• How do I know that it will be properly installed?

• Who will be able to deal with any problems in a few years’ time?

• In other words, how do I trust this product?

A familiar (and trusted) brand name may go some way to giving us confidence, but it may not be sufficient. We would prefer to have independent authoritative reassurance. The government’s Microgeneration Certification Scheme aims to provide this for heat pumps.

The product and installer listing aspects of government grant schemes such as the Clear Skies and PV programmes provided a useful step but, in the light of experience, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (then the DTI) felt that a more formal scheme was needed.

It therefore set the wheels moving to define robust standards for both product and installer approval. Several working groups have been developing the standards over the past year and the first have already been published – for more information visit www. microgenerationcertification.eu

For heat pumps there are now two documents covering all types of heat pumps – ground source, air source and water source:

• MCS 007 Product Certification Scheme Requirements: Heat Pumps

• MIS 3005 Requirements for Contractors Undertaking the Supply, Design, Installation, Set to Work Commissioning and Handover of Microgeneration Heat Pump Systems.

These are voluntary standards in the sense that non-compliant products can legally be put on the market and installed by non-approved installers.

However, by making them mandatory for government-supported programmes, and by involving the industry in their development, the intention is that they should become generally recognised as benchmarks for protecting consumer interests.

The content of a product or installation standard is always a balance between the cost and practicality of extended tests or requirements on businesses and the extra value they provide to consumers. The documents must set meaningful and useful requirements, but they must also be usable. The working groups have tried to find this balance through discussions and debate between a range of industry, government and consumer representatives.

Product certification and approval to MCS 007 covers full-load performance (using the industry recognised EN14511 as the basis for performance testing), factory production control, technical documentation and periodic auditing and testing. Testing can be third-party, preferably by UKAS or equivalent accredited laboratories, although there are alternatives. Manufacturers’ own testing may be acceptable, subject to conditions such as witness testing.

Since heat pump performance varies with source and sink temperature and with load, ideally there would be a series of tests that can be combined into a standardised annual value. There is no established methodology for this, although a draft European standard exists, so only a full-load test under standard conditions is currently required. The levels of performance required are more demanding than the minimum values required by Building Regulations but lower than the “top of the market” values demanded by the ECA Technology Product List.

The performance of heat pump systems depends on proper design, sizing, installation and operation. All these issues are covered by MIS 3005. This is not, however, a detailed design and installation guide: while there is a number of specific requirements, references are made to existing industry guidance wherever possible.

In particular, there is a list of competencies that must be demonstrated by personnel involved in the installation of different types of heat pump. An appendix lists a selection of suitable training courses, though this cannot be comprehensive. It is expected that manufacturers will want to ensure that their products are installed according to their own specific requirements and that much of the training will, in practice, be provided by manufacturers’ training programmes.

Since the purpose of the standards is to improve consumer protection, the section on information for users has particular importance. This includes a requirement for the installer to provide an estimate of the annual energy performance using a defined procedure and also a clear statement of the proportion of the building’s design heat loss and hot water service that the heat pump is expected meet.

Finally, but by no means least important, MIS 3005 has a list of required handover documents.