Air source heat pumps….opinions

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I keep getting loads of adverts for air source heat pumps. Curiosity got the better of me with EDF as they had a calculator and even with a 7.5k grant they predicted an extra cost of 8k on top. If you went with a local company it might be cheaper etc.

Just wondering on peoples opinions. Anyone switched from a gas boiler?

or are they a gimmick not really thought through?

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Updated by MNHQ
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I looked into them a year ago when I was getting solar panels installed and didn’t think that the technology was quite there yet. The amount of electricity that they used was phenomenal.

Compared to standard electric heaters, it’s really not. Resistance heaters are 100% efficient, heat pumps are 300-400% efficient.

We also looked at them a year ago. We would have needed an extra radiator in most rooms to heat the house to the same levels as a conventional boiler. I was really keen to try and be as eco friendly as possible but the figures really didn’t add up for us.

Possibly, I was comparing it to my current heating which is gas. Staying with gas was much more affordable.

I'm all for being as green as possible, we had solar panel installed a few years ago etc. But a little look into heat pumps showed they were great if this, and if that, cheaper to run but compared to heating a big house with electric heaters not to the decent gas boiler we have already, extra rads or maybe under floor heating, this and that needs doing to mitigate that and this, and it will cost you a bomb, and so it goes on.

I really hope the technology is there soon to make it a reasonable option rather than replacing old boilers, but its just not for many cases yet.

There are so many threads on here about them worth a search

we have one, plus 13 solar panels plus a battery. Got disconnected from gas thrrr years ago. We love it, it’s a bit different to gas central heating though as the heat is constant 24/7 rather than on demand. The whole package saves us money (atm we’re hardly paying anything at all) but an ashp by itself won’t necessarily. It depends if your house is well insulated enough to start with. The biggest issue though is rogue installers. It’s quite complicated to install to the right temperature and there aren’t enough out there who get it so loads of unhappy customers atm where houses are too cold, ashp too noisy etc

ours isn’t noisy at all, you don’t hear it unless you literally stand next to it

it’s rubbish saying the “technology isn’t there yet”- they are entirely normal in Scandinavia (which is colder!) and have been for decades. They’re only relatively recently become quite quiet tho.

Also true that you might need to replace your radiators with bigger ones. We did, that was about £2k I think

Gas heating runs eg morning and evening for a few hours. Heat pump runs 12 hours -can cost more.

That's interesting, I'm glad it works for you, maybe we'll look in to again next year.

I'll say I've spent a bit of time in various places in Scandinavia including above the Artic circle, and the properties are very differently built to the ones here (as are the people 😆). And I'm yet to see one without a log burner too...

I used to live in Sweden and you re right heat pumps are common, however, most use a collective heating system, not each flat having an individual one, plus homes there are far better insulated, so when an individual one is used, the home is already passive, so a tiny amount of heat is all that is required.

We don't have this in many homes, our housing stock is some of the oldest in Europe & we have the highest electricity prices to run them.

Sure as part of a package of Solar, batteries and HP it can be a good option but then you re looking at 25k plus.

How long before it pays for itself?

On noise, we'll have to disagree, we've a few near me - rural - and i can here them despite being several meters away, its the fans and fan bearings are only going to wear.
They can't all have been installed by cowboys.

I have a vailliant one installed through heat geeks. The initial cost was just over £5K plus the grant. All my radiators were upsized. It has actually saved money compared to gas, winter 2023 to 2024 I was using gas boiler and mostly only heating my house to 15c this winter with the heat pump kept the house st 18C all day and saved about £40 over the winter. This winter weather was much colder too. The trick is you need to get the right installer. The government really need to make the installers more accountable then the horror stories would stop.

The main reason for doing it is the environment though much less carbon produced.

Do homes in Scandinavia still have a fireplace though? A real fire would massively supplement a heat pump in the winter.

We're a cold, damp country in winter. From what I understand, Scandinavia is more of a dry cold, happy to be wrong though.

We had loads of solar panels put in a couple of years ago. I think we have 38 in total, on our house and outbuilding. It’s not an eyesore I promise ;)

I am at present without hot water as we are 3 days in to a 5 day heat pump installation. I think it cost similar to someone upthread, a 7.5/8k grant and about the same from us.

My DH is a major fusspot and he does masses of research about these things. He will only ever use a reputable local company with a brilliant reputation, and one that can come out and tweak or fix something in short notice. That means it costs a bit more, but it’s worth it.

Last year my electric car cost £200 to run. That included all expenses on it. My DH sells excess solar to the grid, at a higher rate than we buy it to fuel my car at early o’clock in the morning. Last month we made £200 from the national grid.

For us it’s being eco, but also the principle of the thing. We are not paying massive energy bills which will keep going up. I know it’s cost a lot of outlay, but I’d rather give my money to exceptional local companies who are run by professionals than some massive cutthroat energy giant.

The heat pump we are getting means permanent hot water, underfloor heating, no gas standing charge and in the summer cool water through the pipes bringing the temp down around 3 degrees in the house.

It depends what house you’re in. If it’s older, large housing, forget it.

we had our oil boiler serviced last week and the chap was telling us about another customer who had put one in - large house, older, rural - it was costing him £400 a month in electricity. Impossible to keep warm. And you have to put bigger radiators in so a lot of upheaval on that front too if pipework also needs upgrading.

He also cautioned on the people fitting them. Some are very good, but for others it’s just a job and they won’t do the right calculations etc. to ensure size fits requirements etc.

Used to be, far wetter/warmer now.

Never saw a log burner in 3 years living in Stockholm, its a myth, something a log cabin has.

I lived in a 50s built flat, it had triple glazing as standard, communal heating too, even when it was 10 to 15 below, it was toasty, yet rads barely warm.

Properly-sized heat pumps don’t need to be massively supplemented by anything. Where does this idea come from?

indeed our heatpump def does not need to be supplemented with anything. We choose not to, but can have the house very toasty if we want.

The initial cost was just over £5K plus the grant.

this winter with the heat pump kept the house st 18C all day and saved about £40 over the winter

So it's going to take 125 years to recover the initial investment.

At 3% annually, your £5k would be worth well over £100k in the same period.

I looked into this last year. For my particular installation it wasn't worth it from a cost perspective. I am in a 4 bedroom detached, and the position of the roof doesn't get the best from solar. My findings were:

1. It would only have been worthwhile if I could have underfloor heating. For various reasons this isn't possible.
2. Solar wouldn't have generated sufficient electricity.
3. It is unlikely I will be staying in this house for the 30 years it would take to pay back the installation cost.

Of course, renewable energy isn't just about the cost, it's about the environment too, but I just don't have the money for the outlay, so it was a non starter.

Well, if you have solar, batteries and a modern or v well insulated house with underfloor heating, then sure.

But that is not the case for the majority.

Also the 7.5k grant is for around 90k homes, the UK has 25 million homes!

The money isn't there to make HPs an option, a replacement gas boiler, which can run on a 20% hydrogen mix is around 3 to 4k.

Its the same with EVs, how are the millions on low wages, who need a car for work etc going to afford a 2nd hand EV and then there is the charging point, unless they want to wait 72 hours to charge it, & that assumes they don't rent and have off road parking?

The net zero/green agenda is for the well off.

We looked into it, but we’d have needed to replace all radiators, and the pipe work as well.

I have one, new build so was put in when the flats were built.

The flat stays warm, water hot. Radiators warm etc. Bills not much different to what I would have paid.

Never need to supplement it with anything. I have an immersion heater but never use it.

I can control it from an app on my phone so I can easily check if the water needs heating (very rarely) or I'm at work and want to come home to a warm flat (very rarely as well). I had no heating for about 3 years whilst I saved to to get it replaced and the difference coming home to a warm flat was so noticeable.

I did need to replace it, but it was over 13 years old and had been completely neglected by the previous owners so like a boiler you need to look after it and get it serviced regularly.

I don't think I would go out of my way to get one installed though.

You are being bombarded with leaflets OP because Ed Miliband has set an unrealistic target of 600,000 to be installed per year, and wants everyone to get one eventually. That's not a reason to ignore the idea though, but do read the very good advice here.

Friends have just demolished an old outbuilding and built a house on their farm and have put in an ASHP, they also have solar and batteries. For us it would be totally impractical as we have solid slate floors. We also live in a rural village which is very prone to power cuts, especially in stormy winters.

So it's definitely horses for courses.

I do wonder about replacement cost and life expectancy of heat pumps

I would imagine a like for like replacement is going to still be more expensive and need to occur more frequently than a gas boiler. There will be no grants for this.

So this needs to be budgeted for too. These costs don’t appear in any of the examples that appear in the promotions.

It seems dishonest. And I don’t trust Greg, Octopus man anyway.

My house is much warmer though and my comparison was a mild winter with the gas boiler versus a cold winter with the heat pump. Plus I needed a new boiler anyway.