Case studies

“We weren’t eco warriors. Our oil boiler had come to the end of its life and to replace it we would have had to move the tank to the middle of our driveway. There’s no gas here so we had to bite the bullet and look at other options. We had a couple of quotes for an electric boiler but this came with an astronomical cost of electricity. We use a lot of electricity in this house – I have two children and the tumble dryer is always going. 

The installers had to change the water tank and put pipes under the floorboards straight out to the heat pump. They replaced most of the radiators and did the job in about three days.

The house has never been so warm – it is kept at a constant temperature of 19 degrees in the day. I work from home so I can’t just turn it off in the winter. The technology was a big jump for us. I have an app which helps me control it.

The technology is amazing – we’ve got down to -6 degrees this winter and it was still warm in the house. The cost is the main factor, but it will get better value when they change the gas and electric unit pricing system. I would say to go for it.”

“I’ve had the heat pump for around five years. I got it to replace storage heaters – they were too expensive and not very good at heating the house. Funding was available from the Scottish Government so a heat pump made a lot of sense.

The actual heat pump has been amazing – night and day compared to the storage heaters. It is a really pleasant, warm house to be in. The storage heaters were so expensive and so poor at heating I got used to living in a cold house, now I've gotten used to living in a warm house. It’s a lot, lot better than it was before and a lot cheaper – even with electricity bills as they are now. It’s been -18 degrees outside and the heat pump still keeps the house warm.

It’s really easy to use too. I have a thermostat which I can adjust, usually it's 15 degrees at night and 19 degrees during the day. 

I’d definitely recommend getting a heat pump. It depends what you are moving from and there are electricity bills to think about but I think it is brilliant, low maintenance and easy. But shop around and check what government offers and incentives are available for free loans.”

“On the day we moved in it was -9 degrees and we had the doors open all day while we were moving in. We shut everything up at 6pm but the house had got cold. I didn’t understand how the tech worked so I didn’t touch anything. It took about two days for the house to get up to temperature and my initial thoughts were ‘this isn’t going to work’. But googling I found that the house is basically a large heat sink – when you get the building to the right temperature it maintains it.

It’s a different way of working to a boiler. I like to imagine it like a car – a gas boiler will race up to the temperature and coast down, burning a lot of energy, a heat pump gradually builds up to a constant speed and then maintains it. So if your home is insulated you can maintain that heat then it’s fine. In the winter we were able to achieve a constant 22/23 degrees in the large rooms. 

It is pretty quiet – we never really hear it. You only notice if we are next to it in the garden and it comes on.”

“As I was having a massive conversion it seemed like the right time to change the oil boiler to an air source heat pump. We threw in all the things – solar panels and underfloor heating too. It was mainly around being environmentally friendly. 

It was fairly easy to find out about heat pumps. I found a relatively local company to install it and they have serviced it every year since. 

It was a lot of expense at the time, around £10k. It is more expensive to run than a gas boiler as electricity is three times the amount of gas, but I like the concept.

The pump is in the garden tucked around the corner and the noise is not an issue. You’d really have to listen to hear it.

We’ve had to repressurise the cylinder but in seven years there’s been no extra maintenance – it’s just ticked along nicely.

We’re pleased with the system but when it got to -9 degrees this winter the system did struggle. There are days it can’t get the house as warm as a gas boiler could but I think we are entering a mental shift now. You don’t need your home at 22 degrees – just put more clothes on.”