Carly lives in a 3-bedroom semi-detached former local authority house, built in the 1960s, in the Vale of Glamorgan
Carly and her family moved into their house in 2021. Located in a rural part of Wales, it was heated by solid fuel (wood) and there was no connection to mains gas. They installed an air source heat pump in autumn 2024.
“It was really difficult to heat our house - it was always cold - my son’s bedroom especially, meaning we had to supplement it with electric heaters. It was hard with kids to light fires to heat the water. Plus I had concerns about the pollution in terms of carbon emissions but also particle pollution in the house.
“We explored options including an electric boiler with lots of solar panels but it seemed like we would be paying a lot more for electricity that way. We asked for lots of advice and had plumbers come to the house and we decided an air source heat pump would be the right choice for us.
“We started off with a water heating panel, installed by Green Heat Wales. This gave us hot water. We were nervous about moving to a heat pump as our house is old, and the insulation isn't great. But we were sold when Green Heat Wales told us with a heat pump we could get the house to 21 degrees, even if it was minus 2 degrees outside. The Government grant (£7,500) helped - although we did need to spend extra to cover all the costs.
“The installation was booked in for 5 days but took just 3 and a half days in the end. They popped back to work out a few niggles but overall it was a good installation process - they had to pull up carpets but put everything back as it was.
“We had a smaller water tank on solid fuel so we needed that replaced with a bigger one. In these former local authority-owned houses you have a cold store room so we put all the kit and the new tank in there as it was dead space anyway.
“The heat pump has been amazing. It was incredible to come in and find the house already warm - not having to pop the kids down and then go outside to get wood to burn! It has been genuinely life changing for me - we work from home and it was always freezing, but you couldn't justify burning wood in the middle of the day - now we are always warm and my boy's bedroom is warm without the need for electric heaters.
“No tech skills are needed to use a heat pump - it is just a touch screen you use to adjust the temperature, like a normal thermostat.”
"My advice for anyone on solid fuel in a rural location?
Do it! We were nervous but it was a heat pump or move out. And it does feel like a big risk but it has paid off massively for us.”