Does anyone have a heat pump?

[MousseMousse]

What's it like?
Ground source or air?

Is it noisy? How well does it heat your house?
How are your bills?

And was there much work to do to have it fitted? I've heard some houses need new radiators fitted throughout.

I am from New Zealand where there is no central heating and many homes have heat pumps instead, so have lived in a few homes with heat pumps.

They can be expensive if you leave then running 24\7 but are probably more cost effective and energy efficient than radiators, gas or fan heaters etc.

If you live in a small to medium size house and you leave the doors open it can heat the whole house decently, but if the heat pump is in the living room and all the bedroom doors are closed the bedrooms aren't going to be very warm. My grandparents had a five bedroom house and needed two heat pumps as one simply wasn't sufficient to heat the whole house.

The newer ones are fairly quiet, I wouldn't notice they are on.

When mum got hers installed there wasnt much faff but I guess it depends on the electrical layout of the house. You probably need to get them serviced every year or so.

The air conditioning from them was fairly good imo.