Heat pumps vs Gas boiler ?

jonneymendoza · 17 May 2022 at 14:01

Hi.

i have been looking at Heat pumps recently and it seems to be way more energy/gas efficient than a traditional Gas boiler.

Has anyone recently installed one to heat up there home?

As some may know i am looking to buy a property and one of the first things i am thinking of "upgrading" is adding a heat pump.

Thought?

What are the pros and cons? Is Heat pups the future for UK house heating?

jonneymendoza · 17 May 2022 at 14:16

ci_newman said:
One of the biggest problems with heat pumps is their installation costs. A typical heat pump install can be in excess of £20k, a simple gas boiler swap can be £3-£4k. You'd need a LOT of efficiency savings to offset a £16k cost difference. My typical gas usage is £1000/year at the moment so even if the running costs of the HP were £0, it would take 16 years before the heat pump would be cheaper to install and run.

wow that is huge cost indeed. I did not know that it would cost that much to upgrade.

jonneymendoza · 19 May 2022 at 10:49

robj20 said:
The ban is on new build you'll be able to buy gas boilers for a long time yet.

Ban on combi boiler gas?

So does new builds al use heat pumps now?

Anyways i saw a property yesterday for the 2nd time and took my engineering friend with me.

Basically to even update its current heating and wiring(owner has lived there for 40 years and ain’t done much regarding these areas) thats around 20k for updating to bog standard combi boiler for the heating part,

Now imagine a heat pump!!

Before i do that i need to insulate the place properly with cavity walls and check that the windows are sealed tightly. And i would need to change teh radiators regardless if its a heat pump system or not as they are very old and need throwing out

jonneymendoza · 19 May 2022 at 13:27

SpellowHouse said:
Yes, use the electricity to power an electric boiler. You can directly replace a gas boiler with an electric one. Almost no moving parts.

how much sunlight is needed to power such a thing and also surface area for the solar panels?

jonneymendoza · 20 May 2022 at 11:39

Reuben klang said:
Along with battery storage.

All adds up right but good luck using solar panels in god old british weather lol

jonneymendoza · 21 Aug 2022 at 18:37

I'm now seriously considering getting a heat pump now that energy and gas prices are about to increase by up to 80 percent in October! I mean what the hell!

jonneymendoza · 25 Aug 2022 at 14:41

SpellowHouse said:
But don't forget that heat pumps require electricity to run and the temperature of water they produce still requires some heating which uses more mains electricity. Then add to that their cost and maintenance. And heat pumps also work less well in the winter, just like solar panels.

I am not saying that they aren't a good idea, just that there is good and bad with them.

Then why not stick with combi boilers?.

Cheaper to run it seems