Heat pumps - yay or nay

[AnguaResurgam]

Government heat pump scheme misses first year target - BBC News

This BBC report says that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (gives £5k grants) has had much lower uptake than expected.

Which left me wondering if that's just because no-one's really heard of the scheme, or because people don't want heat pumps. When our boiler died, I did start looking in to getting one, but was put off because they just don't sound suitable for older properties. Now I hope that the new boiler keeps going for years, so perhaps the technology will have matured by the next time I need to think about this personally.

But does anyone have one, and if so what's it like?

Or others who considered and rejected - why?

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Updated by MNHQ
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We are waiting for better tech, and boiler to break

We got a heat pump to replace the huge cylinder we had upstairs - just for hot water so it didn't replace the boiler. I didn't know there was a scheme and we probably wouldn't have been eligible as we never manage to qualify for anything

I think that's probably one of the issues with uptake - most people only buy a new when the old one dies, and don't really want to spend much time researching a whole new area (deciding between a couple of models is probably all you have spare brain cells for - well, true for me anyhow!) That's another reason for starting this thread - just tucking away random bits of info and other people's experiences against the (hopefully distant) day I need to think about this again

@GoodChat - how's yours performing? Proper hot, or middling? (I read reviews that suggested they tended towards middling as their maximum)

We wanted one but the increased electricity costs put us off. We have very low gas bills (and wear hats and coats indoors). So until we’re well off enough to want to spend more to be more comfortable, it doesn’t make sense.

@AnguaResurgam it's really good. You can get it as hot as you like.

It's all reliant on quite high water pressure, though, so if you don't have high enough pressure it underperforms.

That's good to know - something to watch out for one day

The notion that heat pumps are new technology is a bit of a misconception. All fridges and freezers run on heat pumps as does air conditioning. There are high temperature heat pumps that are suitable for older properties with conventional radiator systems.

There are two major issues, skilled installers and in the UK supply and distribution. For every good heat pump domestic installer there are probably 100 domestic gas installers.

We have thought about it but were rather put off my the incompetent installation of a heat pump at my parent's house which was extremely inefficient at first due to some really basic errors like leaving the transport bolts in place - there seems to be a real training gap for installers. It's now been fixed so is more efficient but we also want to do some serious additional insulation before it would be a viable option for us.

What exactly do you think needs to be improved? Genuine question not trolling.

Way too expensive. Will have to equalise in price with Gas before I would even consider.

Are you only interested in the up front cost or the whole lifetime cost,? Does the environmental impact mean anything to you?

Again, genuine question, not judging.

I have an older house with no cavity wall. From what I read it would cost far more to r7n, be super expensive to install and never keep my house warm enough. So while I’m worried about climate change for me personally being able to be warm at not too extortionate a price is the priority.

It’s not at all “new tech” - most of scandinavia have had them for years. The tech is established, not really improving.

Our was installed earlier in the spring. It was always the plan but somewhat precipitated by a shit boiler that needed several very expensive repairs last winter, including during that very cold snap. No way would we let it do another winter.

obviously it’s not had a proper winter test yet but so far so good and the hot water is plentiful. We have solar too so at the moment it’s partly powered by the sun, for free. You do need an installer who knows what they’re talking about though, ours was recommended by a mnetter and has
been excellent. We had to replace almost all radiators to get the proper output, and some of the pipework too. So fairly messy and cost a hefty five figure sum, of which we’re getting £5k back from the government once all the forms have been filled in.

our house is only 15 years old so basically deemed suitable, older houses can be much more difficult. By far the preferred set up is with underfloor heating, which is pretty tricky to do unless you’re building a new house or doing a serious retrofit. Hence my incredulity that the government isn’t insisting on them for new houses. Far easier to install in new houses than retrofit old ones. But then as I said there’s quite a skills gap in terms of people around to install and maintain. I’m on the outskirts of a major city and our installer can’t recommend a single other installer in our city. Hence he’s very busy!

We have an old house, and no double glazing. Double-glazing might be an option, but without having it already installed the company we contacted wouldn't even come out to give us a quote.

They should be standard in new houses as part of phasing out gas really but we're pretty stick in the mud and I can't see anyone having the gumption to force the change.

Cost is a factor too. We looked at our, our current house was a complete renovation and we're on lpg but it was too expensive compared with a new boiler for the existing lpg system. So now we have a fairly new and very efficient boiler. I expect we will go heat pump when the current system needs replacing but it won't be for a while.

I dont want air source as I don’t want a fan that ends up noisy (all fans do in the end). I plan to look at ground source next time, but it’ll be a while as the boiler was replaced last year. We

Hi I was worried about noise but honestly, it’s not noisy at all. Quieter than the boiler was when whirring away. In the garden and you can’t hear it unless you literally put your ear to it. There’s no way a neighbour could hear it- perhaps possible in a tightly packed terraced house situation. Some older models are noisier.

Does anyone know of a company that is reliable in Yorkshire for retrofitting this technology?

The BBC programme about Heat pumps, and building new nuclear power stations, 2 days ago, was saddening to see how few answers we have to these issues.

There's one in the house we rent. I guess it mist be around 15 years old.

I'm not a fan to be honest. There's a low level vibration that runs through the house when it's switched on, which always takes me a few weeks to tune out. Our bills are definitely not low. The downstairs is all underfloor heating, which I hate as its hard to control temps. Upstairs has radiators which seem to heat up and cool down with no particular rhyme or reason.

I suspect it was poorly/incorrectly installed, but we don't understand it and our landlord is a knob so we suffer until we move.

No point having either GSHP or ASHP without an airtight house and MVHR. The synergies between these various engineering marvels are what make heat pumps wonders of technical marvel.

if you have a classic draughty Victorian house then a heat pump can take a long walk off a short pier- it just won’t keep your house warm in the depths of winter. And if you don’t have a draughty house, but no MVHR, then you’ll end up just keeping the windows open to stop condensate and mould. Which will again make your house cold. So fuck ‘em. They belong in modern properties. Until mechanical ventilation and proper insulation is put on old housing stock it’s a pointless exercise.

Way too expensive and I've read / heard they don't keep the property warm enough so people are still using electric heaters to top up on warmth .

I think in a cost of living crisis, it’s perfectly reasonable to be more concerned about upfront costs, or simply not have the funds. For both electric heating systems and cars.

I am also worried about the lack of qualified engineers around if your heating breaks.

Yay in the long term. Right now nay as it will probably cost you more

I have a heat pump (admittedly for a swimming pool). I'm not a fan, they seem to have a tendency to leak the gas and I'm on my second. They're also noisy and bloody expensive in terms of electricity.

Reading a number of reviews, the biggest drawback seems to be the lack of controllability. I'm pretty parsimonious on heating but I'd be annoyed if I couldn't get the house to a pleasant temperature.

For me, it's another rushed and ill-thought out idea that isn't that green when you take into account the scrapping of boilers.