Cutting costs at Poacher's Cottage

Kenninghall, a village in rural Norfolk, is home to Nick Hall and family. As well as the main house on their grounds, they also have Poacher’s Cottage, a self-contained annex that is used by visiting friends and family. The annex, a former office space converted into guest accommodation, had long been a drain on their energy bills, due to an all-electric heating system. So much so that their electricity company contacted them to ask exactly what kind of set up they had: due to the fact they were running up such expensive monthly bills – close to £1000.

Tackling sky-high electricity bills

When Nick inherited the property seven years ago, both the main house and the annex were heated by electric boilers and wall heaters. The system proved costly to run and was inefficient, particularly during the cold months. “Last winter, before we put in the Daikin air-to-air system, we were just paying an absolute fortune,” Nick recalls. “We were racking up bills of about £1000 on electricity - it was terrible.”

The annex, which provides overflow accommodation for visitors, was particularly inefficient. Its seven-kilowatt electric boiler and wet radiator system consumed vast amounts of power, while the main house ran on an 18-kilowatt electric boiler. “These boilers only output the same as they input,” Nick explains. “The efficiency curve is really low.”

Eventually, the family’s unusually high energy usage caught the attention of the local power network. Daikin specialist and installer Graham Sheppard from Service Cool Ltd, puts the situation into perspective: “Nick was drawing so much power off the grid for the main house and Poacher’s Cottage that the energy company contacted them to highlight the fact that something wasn’t right. They had a Tesla regularly charging at the property, a 12-kilowatt all-electric boiler in the annex, and a similar 18-kilowatt one in the house - both recent additions that Nick felt he’d been badly advised on. They were eating energy – a fact reflected in their bills.”

From solar to air-to-air

Graham is based in Suffolk and was brought into the project by his long-time collaborator Mark, a solar panel specialist. “My solar PV colleague was commissioned by Nick to begin addressing the energy situation,” he says. “Mark has been fitting domestic solar panels since 1986, and I convinced him years ago that air-to-air was the most efficient home-heating system and the way forward as complementary kit to the PV panels. I even put one in his office so he could see for himself. He says it changed his life. Since then, every job he goes on, he advises homeowners that ‘You need to go air-to-air’. He’s my best salesman!”

Mark had already installed solar PV at Poacher’s Cottage, and together the team saw an opportunity to pair the rooftop renewables with a Daikin heat pump. “Nick had installed solar panels and was thinking about adding battery storage,” says Graham. “But the heating side was the real problem. That’s where I came in.”

The decision was made to remove the annex’s electric boiler and radiators completely, replacing them with a new Daikin Multi+ outdoor unit connected to two compact floor-standing air-to-air indoor units. The system was designed with future expansion in mind: “Nick could probably have got away with one floor-standing unit,” Graham explains, “but for extra comfort, decided on two. The third way on the Multi+ will go to the water cylinder, following a bathroom renovation.”

Installation in just one day

Despite the property’s challenging clay lump construction - typical of old Norfolk cottages - the installation was fast and efficient, completed in just one session. “Two of us did it in a day: we took out the radiators out, ran new pipework, mounted the outdoor unit, put trunking on the wall, and finished everything in about 12 hours.”

Nick was very impressed by the speed and care of the work. “It was a pretty fast, but very precise and clean installation. We were terribly impressed with how efficient they were and how well Graham managed things,” he says. “He was really considerate about how it would all finally look - very neat and tidy.”

Efficient and highly economical technology

The system’s operation has exceeded expectations. “The performance is astonishing,” says Nick. “The new Daikin set-up in the annex now runs at about 2.7 kilowatts of draw, but the output is right at the other end of the curve. It works immediately - the area around the units heats up fast. It’s just so efficient.”

The impact on their bills has also been dramatic. “We’re with Good Energy, which is a great energy company.” Nick says. “Last week we had someone staying in the annex, who used the set-up manually – switching it on when they needed the heat. That week’s bill, for the annex and the main house, was about £70. Last year, it would probably have been four times that.”

Technology that makes a difference

Both Graham and Nick point to Daikin’s build quality and technology as the key factors in the system’s success. “I only fit Daikin, I don’t fit anything else,” says Graham, who has been working with Daikin UK for about 15 years. “We’ve got a great relationship. I was originally getting equipment through a local supplier, but they closed, so I moved to working with Daikin directly. Never looked back.”

Nick, meanwhile, has found the system easy to use and control. “The Onecta app is very intuitive,” he says. “It’s easy to work with on the smartphone. All I need to do now is programme a timed schedule and it’s all set.”

Looking ahead to the future

The next step for Poacher’s Cottage will be to add the Daikin hot water cylinder once a planned extension is complete. “Nick is adding a new bathroom, so I’ll be back to connect the cylinder,” says Graham. “At the moment they’ve got the two air-to-air units running, and they’re really happy with how it’s working out.”