Environmental concerns and the move towards Heat Pumps

2 friends of ours have had Heat Pumps installed by the council, they own their own homes but are low income, as part of the job they installed extra radiators and insulation, so far it seems to be working well.

If its not going to be optional how do they. (Milliband, etc.) expect people to pay the outrageous price?

Homestead62

I will not be having a Heat Pump, they are no use in Scotland as it gets so cold here and the size of them and the noise! I have good relationships with my neighbours and want to keep it that way. Why are they being forced upon us, when our own Houses of Parliament refused them? Due to the noise I may add. Someone is getting very rich and my guess is Elon Musk because if the Heat Pump is made by Tesla, it's his company.

Nobody is forcing them on us. I know lots of people in rural Highlands an islans ( no mains gas, oil an electricity very expensive) who have HP's an love them. inclu ing my son. His heats a large rural house via the underfloor heating. No noise.
The interior gubbins do take a lot of space but he has lots, so its gubbins are not even in the main house. He got a huge grant to install it, also ha solar panels on roof, very low bills.

If I have any criticism of his system its that the house is often hotter than I like

It's not true the gas is going to run out. There are still substantial reserves underground, T he problem is Millibandcwants us all to install expensive heat pumps and associated kit but Reeves won't pay for it,

Around 200 trillion cubic metres worldwide in fact.

I saw a Which article recently in which their expert decided not to install a heat pump although she approves of them in principle. She cited reasons: old terraced house, lack of room for big water cylinder, increased radiator sizes difficult to fit in, proximity outdoors of noise from pump to neighbours, and general disruption.

I agree and add exra cost of insulation for my solid walls and the high overall cost compared with a new gas boiler ( even after the grant).

Milliband should think again.

Don’t forget the potential for being charged for your heat pump in the future.
Remember “buy an EV you can drive it for free” . . . Until they discovered the loss in revenue.

Homestead62

I will not be having a Heat Pump, they are no use in Scotland as it gets so cold here and the size of them and the noise! I have good relationships with my neighbours and want to keep it that way. Why are they being forced upon us, when our own Houses of Parliament refused them? Due to the noise I may add. Someone is getting very rich and my guess is Elon Musk because if the Heat Pump is made by Tesla, it's his company.

You're misinformed about their efficiency in cold climates. I know many people with successful heatpumps in the Highlands of Scotland and none find them noisy. My son's is completely inaudible inside the house. Standing beside it (outside) one hears only a very low hum, barely noticeable, like standing beside the big fridge freezer in his kitchen. It's running the underfloor heating system in a large house ( 5 beds 3 baths).

navien.co.uk/what-the-uk-can-learn-from-norways-heat-pump-success/

"Norway has emerged as the leader in heat pump adoption, with Norway has emerged as the leader in heat pump adoption, with *more than two-thirds of households equipped with a heat pump, more than anywhere else in the world. Sweden and Finland follow closely, demonstrating that widespread adoption is achievable in northern climates., more than anywhere else in the world. Sweden and Finland follow closely, demonstrating that widespread adoption is achievable in northern climates."

woodenspoon

People we know who have heat pumps are either delighted with them or others claim there’s are always going wrong. I guess like everything it depends on the brand.

With ours we were in the first category for the first twelve years, then the second for the last three years of its life.

To be honest, although in our case the energy saving was great, part of that saving is due to the extra insulation that was put in prior to installation of the heating system, and I'm not sure the overall saving was very big once the cost of instalation, annual servicing and repair bills are taken into account.

In our case, we rent and didn't have to pay for any of those 'extras' ourselves, but for those who do, it is questionable whether it is worth doing simply to save money.
As for whether heat pumps are less damaging to the environment than the alternative forms of heating, I have no idea. There are so many factors to take into account, and each type of heating will have its own positives and negatives.

We have just looked into this and decided against it:

It is far more expensive than we thought

The stress of the installation including losing a wardrobe to put the water cylinder in

The lack of savings - very little reduction in fuel costs, and no increase in usability - would still have to wait 2-3 minutes to get hot water to the tap.

Rough calculation we wouldn’t get our money back in 10 years

Heat pumps are probably fine for new houses but Milliband's one size fits all approach won't work with old houses, solid walls, houses with no space for a tank and no outside space for the pump box, flats, etc., and is problematical for listed buildings.

Our friends that have had heat pumps fitted by the council, who also fitted insulation and larger radiators, They were old cottages 1860 vintage, they have seen an improvement and a good saving, but the previous heating was oil. The heatpump is vastly more efficient and the cost was quite low because of the council subsidy.

Not an option for me as I live in a terrace with a tiny garden. I’m switching to electric (hot water cylinder with ceramic core rads) because I have an invisible leak in my gas CH pipes and would have to rip my house apart to find it. As I only have the heating on in a couple of rooms, the extra cost of running it won’t break the bank. I’d like to know what the government proposes for the millions of older properties that can’t switch to a heat pump.

Technically a heat pump is an airconditioner in reverse so small units are not a problem, they are circulating warm instead of cool air as a fan heater would.
Many small flats and apartments that are well insulated are all electric, thats the key, insulation, whatever system you have it will save a lot.

A three storey Victorian 150 year old house in a conservation area is not going to be able to have either. Many such houses exist
I just keep one room heated in the winter and my body is used to it
I couldn’t afford either but even if I could via a scheme I wouldn’t be allowed to