Air Source Heat Pump - anyone have one?

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

Hi,
We are soon to be eventually moving to our new property and think we may change to get an air source heat pump.

Anyone have one and recommend it?
Anyone have one and wish they hadn't?

Interested to find out thoughts and opinions on whether this is a good or a terrible idea.

Yep, got one installed by Octopus. Replaced an old oil boiler. Much better, but works in a different way to oil or gas, no sudden heating demand but slow constant heat needed. Would want one again if we moved, definitely. Do some research though, they work better with good insulation and properly sized radiators. Oh and ours is installed at the front of the house so we don't see it when we're in the back garden.

I rented a house that had one. The unit was directly outside my bedroom window and was so noisy we had to turn it off. Also, it was huge (in a small garden) and created such a draught no plants would grow in front of it.

It was a good decade ago so things might have moved on a lot but I would need a lot of convincing before I had another.

Yes but our house is 2ft thick stone. And very well insulated. The machine outside is great in the summer as it blows ice cold air out onto our terrace.

I would probably not have one in a normal brick UK house witb a smallish garden.

Yes, works very smoothly, no maintenance required even after 7 years and the steady temperature in the house is bliss.

Why do it ?

If the boiler is knackered then it makes sense to look at it as an option. If it isn't then carry on as is.

You also have to consider that you will maybe want new rads if they are small and new pipework if you are on microbore.

Also if it is currently on a combi boiler then you will need to re-install a hot water tank inside which will take up space.

AFAICT the only upside to heat pumps is if the government decides to tax the hell out of gas/boilers, and make it a lot more expensive, or maybe if you have panels to use it as a sink for excess electricity.

Currently the price differential isn't really enough to justify swapping, once you consider the risk involved.

Ordinary brick semi with a smallish garden here and we have one that came with the property. The heat pump is only a couple of years old. Very quiet! It’s no more than a very quiet hum when it’s running. Blows out cold air if you walk past while it’s running but no big deal. We have switched off the heating now so it’s only heating the water, but we have constant hot water and when the heating is on it’s just right, all the time.
It’s more expensive for us because we’ve come from a smaller property with gas boiler, and we have had to move from the cheapest dual fuel provider in existence to a dedicated heat pump tariff with Octopus. We love it but wish it was cheaper!

The reason we are considering it is because the house we are moving to needs a new boiler and is on oil, which is obviously massively expensive at the moment. So instead of replacing the very old oil boiler we thought about looking at a heat pump. Hence, the question. New radiators etc is not an issue if they are required, we would be happy to do that.

Something to think about at least. 🤔

We cannot have gas, as mains gas is not available where we are going, so we either switch to LPG gas, stay with the oil or look at a heat pump. Its so difficult to actually know what to do.

The extra information you provide changes the situation.

If it were heat pump vs. mains gas I would keep the mains gas everytime.

Heat pump vs. oil is a different matter.

Oil will probably not be massively expensive all the time. So you need to be careful about choosing to swap just based on current prices of oil. Yes the oil price gets peoples attention at the moment, but in the future it may be a lot lower (of course it could also be a lot higher, as could electricity). Of course with oil you have the extra issue of tank maintenance.

New radiators will add considerable amounts to the cost if the pipework all has to be replaced as well.

I think you really need to look into the costs of replacements and what is required. If you have an old leaky house then you may find you have to spend a lot on insulation as well as the pump.

The thing you don't want to do is spend £stupid on a pump, only to get a system which doesn't keep the house that warm and doesn't save you that much money (may even cost you more).

I would probably wait until I was in the house a couple of years and worked out how much energy it took to heat it before I made my decision.

Of course If the boiler is on its last legs though you may not have that option.

Unfortunately the boiler is on its last legs and will need replacing fairly soon, although we are lucky we are not moving in Winter so may have chance to live with it for a bit and see what's what and do our research properly before making a decision on what we do.

However, the oil tank is brand new so we are not sure whether just to stick it out with the oil. Although DH thinks if we switched to ASHP we could probably sell the oil tank as its new.

The house we are moving to was built in 2004 and is pretty well insulated so its not a particularly old house.

Lots to think about and consider.

Thanks for your input.

Drawbacks to oil. Stinks! Some insurers won't cover you - LV for one. You have to order a minimum of 500l of oil at a time (to do with accuracy of delivery). Did you see the price of oil when the Iran conflict started? If you get caught then...Oh there is also a tendency for the oil to be nicked when it is pricey. Next door had some of theirs stolen on two occasions.
When we had the quote from Octopus they (and other installers no doubt) quote for the upgrade of radiators and the DHW (hot tank). Octopus seemed particularly good but their prices have risen, however their service deals were very good.
Previous boiler was a combi but we now prefer a hot tank. Also the type of heating to get the best efficiency from a ashp means constant and low temperature water to the radiators, which results in a constant warmth to the house - love it!

Worth also considering there are bio oils and bio LPG already well into development /production. Very expensive currently as this government would rather spend gazillions on depleting farm land with wind and solar farms so they don't benefit from the same subsidies. They should become more cost effective in the future though

We have a heat pump in a 10+ year old well-insulated house (with bricks and a small garden)

Its brilliant. House is warm. Costs are down.

They’re not right for all types of house, which is why you get a survey before installation. But we’ve found it to be a great system. (Installed by Octopus, who have also been great).

Our heat pump is the best thing we have ever done.
It has (along with solar panels) massively decreased our electricity bills, it’s silent and clean and it keeps the house warm all winter with very little intervention.

Our house was built in the 70s and although we had to have extra insulation in the roof, nothing else was needed.

We now have an EPC rating of A and we have gone from monthly electricity bills of £700-£900 to £95.

If you can’t get gas it’s an absolute no brainer.

We also have one and we love it. 1950s house which we renovated and to which we added lots of insulation and solar panels. We installed the heat pump for environmental reasons when our boiler needed replacing. Can’t honestly say it’s much cheaper to run but it’s also not more expensive, and the house is consistently warm (because it issues low level heat constantly) where we used to have cold spots and be fiddling with the thermostat when we had gas central heating.

We considered it, but replaced our oil-fired boiler (no mains gas option) when the plumber's calculations showed that one ASHP would not be powerful enough.

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences.

We have definitely decided that we are going to explore this when we move in. it doesn't hurt to get some quotes and see what's what. I think we do have to give it some real consideration.

When we got ours fitted a couple of years ago it included all the new radiators we needed (for every room), which made it very cost effective to get one as we effectively got a whole new heating system for the cost of the ASHP (and for which we had a decent government subsidy). The heating system and boiler were ancient and needed replacing in any event so it made sense to get the heat pump. This was with Octopus. Our bills are slightly higher than they were with gas, unfortunately. I would love to get solar panels as that would bring the costs down dramatically.

We had one fitted last November, 3 story house with underfloor heating throughout. It took a month or so to get the settings just right but it’s fine now. The unit is at the top of the house on the side so you can’t hear or see it when sitting in the back garden, and neither can our neighbours.

The heating engineer that came round when we were replacing our boiler said he had one in his house and it was excellent. However the downside is your house has to be set up for it and the cost (£3K for boiler, £10K+ for heat pump).

Yes we just upgraded our home to have heat pumps and daikon reverse air units. So much better than a gas boiler and radiators. The reason I say heat pumps plural is because we did one system for main house and one for the guest wing. Means guests can have heat on when we do not need heat. It means if one breaks down, we have part of the house that still has heat or air con.

Had one in my last place (ex still living there) got it in 2020 to replace an oil boiler. It works great, but

Cottage is small in terms of low ceilings so room volumes are smaller, and the heat pump capacity was slightly overestimated and larger than some might have gone for (we were advised to always round up because it is when they are straining that they become inefficient)
Cottage had 3ft thick stone walls, semi detached and very well insulated.
Neither of us liked having the thermostat above 18C
We had bigger radiators installed throughout (underfloor heating wasn't an option).
It was outside the ground floor bedroom window and i never found it a problem
It was next to a slate path and the condensation it pushed out would freeze in could weather causing a big patch of black ice.

We have a Vaillant with UFH across 3 floors and MVHR (no rads because they're ugly). It's extremely cheap to run and very quiet. We're very happy with our choice.