Heat pumps - would you recommend?

[VolcanoPedalo]

We're dithering about whether to go ahead with getting an air source heat pump, and I'd love to hear from people who have one - would you recommend it?

We've been approved for one of the government grants, and Octopus have been to do a full survey to design the system. We'd be getting new radiators throughout the house too. Would cost us about £2.5K for everything.

I like the idea of getting rid of the huge hot water tank in my daughter's bedroom, which I guess could also be achieved by getting a combi boiler instead of a heat pump.

Our current heating/hot water set up is a bit weird, we don't have hot water on demand (which I appreciate we wouldn't with a heat pump either) and the controls seem to have a mind of their own. I like the prospect of tearing it all out and having a new set-up. The house is cold at the moment. The living room is around 16 degrees. We don't have cavity walls.

Any advice or experience very welcome.

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Updated by MNHQ
Landed on this page in search of heat pump advice? Find our guide to installing a heat pump in your UK home here. HTH!

Don’t do it. I have an air source heat pump (had to) and it’s the biggest waste of time and money. My electricity bill is over £950/month (4500sq ft house) and the way the hot water and heating works is ridiculous. I have gas to my house and now it’s signed off, I’m thinking of ripping it out and putting a gas boiler in. Seriously, don’t do it!

From my friends experience I wouldn't do it. Unless you have a very insulated home (almost like a sealed unit) then they are not worth it. Hers is also always breaking down. She is currently saving to get it replaced back to a combi boiler as it has driven her mad. And it is very expensive to run.

I love mine. It’s really quiet, my bills have gone down. I got the government grant too so it made financial sense.

I know 3 families who have it in their old, not particularly well-insulated houses. They all say that they're fine and the bills are reasonable. TBF I would say that they keep their houses at a lower temperature than I personally find most comfortable, but they're certainly not freezing.

Our friends had them installed in a large detached house. Absolutely disaster in winter. They sold the house!

@Runninghappy your house is huge at over 400m2, it would cost 3x what a normal would cost to run anyway.

We just had a heat pump installed at the start of December and so far it's been great. Our house has never been warmer
Not had any bills yet, but from looking at usage it looks like they will be the same as before

My neighbours have one and love it. Very quiet - we didn't even know it was there. And it's a medieval house, no insulation to speak of, they didn't make any adjustments and it still heats the house fine.

I was surprised as always assumed they weren't appropriate for our type of house.

I've got one. Had it 12 months now. The company who put it in was a disaster, they had no idea what they was doing (and since then the director is serving 3 yrs for tax fraud and the company has been dissolved) My house (well insulated) is a constant 19/20 degrees. It's an odd heat as the radiators feel aired but it works. I've had a struggle this year ironing out the issues but I've found a great company who have altered lots of stuff. Last month (the snowy / icy month) my monthly electric bill was £260 but that includes charging my plug in hybrid car night. We've batteries and solar as well abd I think that makes the difference as we fill the batteries when it's cheap and use them when it's expensive.

Would I have another ? Probably not without even more insulation and underfloor heating. Do I love it ? Again no as it's not 'instant' so if you need to boost the temp (don't do it often as it knows what temp it is outside so knows what it needs to do inside) it takes a while. It took ages to get my head round no instant controllable heat and ages to get used to the house being warm overnight,

If you've got one then technically you can't go back to gas - it's against some sort of building regs so could be an issue if you want to sell.

Happy to try and answer any questions

Looks like there are mixed views so far. We looked at air sources heat pumps but the estimate for our solid wall 5 bedder was very high so we bought a gas boiler instead.

Why is it costing you so much? Your experience is an anomaly not at all the norm.

My mum had one installed on a similar government grant a few years as with the grant it was initially cheaper then buying a new combi & radiators, which were needed. He house is now much colder and and even using it sparingly she has spent far more on the increase in electric bill then she saved by using the grant. (Electric is about 100-150/month more then gas & electric combined used to be)

Heat pump installations often come with insulation added as well.

What people don't realise is that if you added that same insulation to a gas heated house you would see quite a reduction in bills as well, probably well below where the heat pump+insulation is.

Heat pumps can beat gas for costs if the SCOP is less than about 4. But to achieve that is not guaranteed, although most modern systems will come close if you have a good installation and the installers are getting better after so much negativity about the pumps.

Then you have the maintenance costs. For most people it is too early to tell whether or not they cost more or less to maintain than gas boilers.

For water heating by heat pump you need a cylinder like a system boiler, so there is not much reduction in space over this. I think there is some restriction that the cylinder has to be close to the pump, whereas with a gas boiler it can be pretty much anywhere. If you are looking for space saving a gas combi is better, but of course these have their disadvantages.

For me a heat pump still just isn't worth the risk over a gas boiler, unless maybe a) you have solar power and b) you are getting it installed for free c) or you don't have mains gas.

The only way this may change for me is if the government whacks up the tax on gas to penalise people with gas boilers, as gas is so cheap. At the moment this would probably cause outrage and is unlikely to happen. But maybe in the future if enough people get heat pumps the situation may change.

I'm in my first winter with a heat pump. So far it looks like its going to be about the same cost as gas but the house is much warmer as its on all the time.

What I did find out on my research is that whilst the technology is proven and reliable, the system design and installation is much more important than a gas boiler - you can't just throw it in and it will "be fine".

We are at early days in the UK. You might get a great system or you might get something put in by someone who doesn't understand the technology.

You mentioned Octopus. Whilst that's not a guarantee of success, for sure it will help your chances.

@VolcanoPedalo did Octopus not recommend wall insulation?

Are you getting solar too?

We don't have cavity walls. We had a separate quote for external wall insulation - was crazy expensive

No, we weren't planning on it

Aren't you just supposed to leave it on all the time?

@VolcanoPedalo
I don't think I would get a heat pump without solar and battery.
The grants such as HUG2 offered heat pump and solar (though you had to pay for your own battery).

My parents had one fitted this year alongside solar panels. They rave about it . They also live in a massive 4 bed detached and the water tank takes up loads of room in their pantry.

For that reason alone it's not an option for us, we simply don't have space available for that sort of set up. If space is a premium I'd go for a standard boiler.

Yes but she leaves it on at 16-18 as that's as high as she can afford to run it at, whereas she used to keep her house around 20

You can get internal insulation.

Anecdotal feedback will be mixed and can't tell you if it will be right for your house. There have been lots of mis-sold heat pumps that should never have been installed that the poor home owners then suffer the consequences for.

In the right circumstances they are awesome though.

I know a lot about this but don't have the time to type out a sensible answer.

But a good starter for ten for you to start to get a handle on the factors you need to consider from a technical point of view to make this decision would be this programme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0016pvn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I don't see how solar would help because at the time of year you're needing your heating pump most, the sun doesn't shine much! We can't meet our normal usage with our panels at this time of year, let alone run a heat pump off them. Batteries are worth considering so you can charge them at cheap times, but you'd need a large capacity to run a heat pump.