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Generating your own heat doesn’t require acres of outdoor space and a limitless budge

Put simply, heat pumps transfer latent heat from water, ground or the air to your home’s heating system. In the first two cases heat is absorbed via pipes in the ground or in nearby areas of water, such as a lake, and transferred to your home via heat exchangers. Air-source heat pumps require no elaborate system of pipes in the garden: the whole thing can be kept in a box on an outside wall, or part outside, part inside.

Get your home super insulated, then see if there’s any cash left. Just don’t get excited about grants!

Useful Contacts

Nu Heat: www.nu-heat.co.uk
Energy Saving Trust: www.est.org.uk
Low Carbon Buildings Programme: www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk
National Energy Foundation:www.nef.org.uk
The Heat Pump Association: www.heatpumps.org.uk
The Heat Pump Centre: www.heatpumpcentre.org
Heat Pump Network: www.heatpumpnet.org.uk


Words: Dominic Murphy Images: Sean Myers
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Pros & Cons

PROS

  • Once they are up and running, it’s heat for free.
  • Well, sort of. You have to pay the electricity to run the pumps, which can be quite high, depending on how much heat is needed.
  • Once installed, they are very low maintenance.

CONS

  • Prepare to spend at least £10,000 for an air- source system, more for ground or water.
  • A ground-source system requires digging up a lot of the garden or sinking a borehole.
  • Heat pumps are at their most efficient in well-insulated new homes.

Pros & Cons

PROS

  • Once they are up and running, it’s heat for free.
  • Well, sort of. You have to pay the electricity to run the pumps, which can be quite high, depending on how much heat is needed.
  • Once installed, they are very low maintenance.

CONS

  • Prepare to spend at least £10,000 for an air- source system, more for ground or water.
  • A ground-source system requires digging up a lot of the garden or sinking a borehole.
  • Heat pumps are at their most efficient in well-insulated new homes.
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