Reply With QuoteI am in a similar situation - would be interested in peoples thoughts as well.
So my boiler is coming towards the end of its life.
Octopus currently has a deal where it applies for a grant on your behalf, it would therefore cost me £4000 to upgrade to their new heat pump.
Anyone made the switch - the economics put me off previous but at £4000....
I am in a similar situation - would be interested in peoples thoughts as well.
We have gone for it in our place in Devon, but it is too early to tell how it operates in reality as the renovation has yet to be completed.
It should, coupled with Solar PV, a battery, change to an appropriate supplier and some thermal improvements to the property's performance, ensure that it has a reasonable payback, and is almost Carbon neutral over the year.
But like I say, too early to tell
Pointless unless your house is insulated to the hilt with triple glazing, wall insulation, underfloor heating and anything else you can throw at it to become a mini sealed biosphere.
If it is already then a heat pump could work.
The other thing that puts me off is aftercare and maintenance. I've heard some disheartening stories about lack of engineers, parts and long waiting times to diagnose and repair broken pumps.
My brother lives in Sweden where everyone has had heat pumps for years, but he was left without heat for nearly a month when his pump broke and they basically replaced the whole thing, part by part, until it worked again.
I wouldn't be brave enough to consider it just yet.
Last edited by Onelasttime; 19th September 2023 at 13:28.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0fzltvd
There was this BBC prog about them.
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Totally agree with this, matches the stuff I read up when we were considering a new build which had all these implemented sounds good. But older builds I'm not convinced.Originally Posted by Onelasttime
I used to live in a small cul-de-sac that was built between 2014 and 2016, so pretty good standards of insulation. Initially they were heated by oil but my two neighbours took advantage of a government initiative to have air source heat pumps installed. I can't remember the exact costs but they got back a large proportion of the £12-14K outlay for the installations (well the particular scheme is paying it back in instalments over 7 years).
Each found that the cost to run them was greater than oil (before it rocketed after the invasion of Ukraine)
- one had a good array of solar panels so wasn't too worried - he pays virtually nothing for running his house and his car. His heating works well even in the depth of winter - he did not have to upgrade radiators, piping etc.
- the other had a bumpier ride. He doesn't have solar panels so the cost to him is at least comparable with what went before. In the first two years the heating was inadequate on the coldest days. He had to have the pump replaced by a bigger one - this was done by the installer, at their expense. The new system works well all year round.
A few points to note - it's a coastal location so probably doesn't get as cold as many places - frosts aren't that common.
Both pumps have been installed a few metres from the house, so their noise doesn't reverberate through their houses.
AFAIK they haven't had any breakdowns so far, though long term reliability isn't known.
If I still lived there, I probably wouldn't have been in a hurry to change from oil unless the deal was at least as generous as the very good one they got. I was a bit sceptical about oil heating when I moved there but overall I was pretty lucky with the timing of refilling the tank (I filled it to the brim the day before the invasion) and the boilers are simple and pretty bomb-proof as far as reliability is concerned.
Heat pumps are not a new technology, it is basically an air conditioning unit working the other way round (throwing the cool stuff away and keeping the heat, instead of keeping the cool stuff and throwing away the heat).
It consists of a closed loop compressor pump, evaporating heat exchanger, another one for condensing it gain and a fan. Not at all high tech.
They are generally made by big companies that have making similar for decades, ours is a Mitsubishi.
Such units are inherently very reliable, the only "early adopter" downside in the UK is from selecting a designer and/or installer that doesn't know their onions. The technology is well set.
My inlaws have a hybrid pump: it runs on solar power most of the time. And they're happy with it. But you need a very well insulated house to begin with. Theirs is a good example of well-insulated.
In June 2022 we had a bunch of people (heating, plumbers) working on our 'Mother in law annex' (as a friend calls it). I asked them about their opinion: 'heat pump Y/N?' Those professionals were very clear: a new normal boiler for their central heating. "We'll see again in 10, 12 yrs time when we need to replace it again!"
One of my brothers fits heat pumps and is also a heating engineer who fits traditional oil and gas boilers.
If the house is insulated well enough and/or you size the radiators for the lower energy output from a heat pump, then they work well enough.
He’s honest enough to say when the correct route is not a heat pump system though, and he has had issues with reliability on some units, but like most things that varies by manufacturer.
Our house is over 200 years old, his honest assessment was oil boiler replacement.
I heard this when I was driving a few weeks back. It wasn’t a glowing recommendation. Put me off even thinking about it.
The increase in the grant means that a heat pump install would be about £1500 which would be cheaper than a boiler...
Came here to say exactly the same.....
Shame it is not backdated, we could use an extra £2.5k on the build
It will be interesting to see what happens to prices with the increase in the grant, I wonder how much of it will be absorbed in future price rises?
Depends on the house I guess, I want one to ditch LPG as we only use gas for hot water and heating. I would need to go the whole hog and get a solar install too though.
I have a quirky house and it would need some internal modifications to suit that make it non cost effective even with the grant. Neighbours came in at 12k for the full monty and from the outside it was quite a messy install.
My house is stone, single skin walled, built mostly in 1860ish.
We have all the secondary insulation that can be installed, short of recladding the walls.
Some of the rooms don't have 'central' heating but have woodburners.
I'm just about to install a brand new Grant external oil boiler.
New houses in the UK should/will be mandatory air or ground source heat pump installs. Imagine street wide ground source installs when the builder starts an estate project. Group supply, metered at the property. With solar built into the roof, replacing tiles, not on top.
The government needs to legally force housebuilders to obey. This is stick.
Retro fitting old house stock is obviously harder, but large grants is carrot.
Some houses are just too old for it,
Never had one fitted so can’t comment on costs but had an air source heat pump in Norway for a couple of years in a 200 year old wooded construction house. I am sure the house had been refurbed to have good insulation but nonetheless I was impressed with that unit. Decent heat and also good cooling on the odd hot summer day at 30 deg C.
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Even recently built houses are often not sufficiently well insulated, or the proposed insulation system and air sealing has been installed so badly that UK houses leak heat. Unless you have privately commissioned a specialised build.
Last edited by ernestrome; 21st September 2023 at 18:41.
Two years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAKMAcmJFg&t=2s
Most recent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqBNmcFMBQ
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