ARE HEAT PUMPS WORTH IT?

Discover if the installation and running costs make this renewable technology a financially viable option for your home

- DAVID HILTON

Heat pumps have recently become mainstream heat sources in many properties with homeowners looking to install or upgrade to more eco-friendly options. Put simply, heat pumps work by moving heat from one place to another. They have a refrigeration circuit that absorbs heat from the environment and then enhances it before transferring it as useful heat to the home's central heating system.

The different types of heat pump are named after the area that it gets its heat from. For instance, an air source heat pump gets its heat from the air around the heat pump outdoor unit, while a ground source heat pump gets its heat from the ground outside the home. A water source heat pump is effectively the same as a ground source heat pump, but there is no large ground loop. Instead, the water source heat pump draws water from the ground (or a river or lake) and then absorbs heat from the water before returning the water to the ground.

Choosing the most suitable option for your home and taking into account the installation costs are all key when working out if a heat pump will be a worthwhile investment.

INSTALLATION CONSIDERATIONS

The total installation cost of an air source heat pump depends very much on the size of the heat pump and the amount of additional work that is required to install it and the cylinder, as well as upgrade the central heating system to be optimised for heat pumps. The cost of installation is often between £9,000 and £12,000 and could be around double that for a ground source heat pump.