Compared with new gas or oil-fired boilers, air source heat pumps tend to be more expensive (sometimes overly so). Their price can vary between £6,000 and £18,000 depending on the type of pump and size of your property. It's not unreasonable to expect a cost of around £10,000, on average, for a new heat pump in the UK; this is without any new radiators or heating fans.
It's essential to consider whether you might need new radiators and/or additional insulation to ensure the home is adequately heated since the output temperature of heat pumps is not as high as traditional gas/oil heating systems. Ensuring your radiators maximise the output and your home retains it is crucial.
For example, you should really be using aluminium radiators with air source systems to get the best out of it, due to the conductivity of the metal. More on this in a future article, but you can click here to see our aluminium range
Naturally, as the demand for heat pumps increases, the costs will come down, as it did with gas boiler installations. Until then, the Government-backed grant of up to £5,000 could help many more afford it.
The Government has allocated £450 million across the next 3 years to subsidise air source heat pump installations in the UK. This is set to start in April 2022, so if you want to take advantage of the scheme, you should plan your installation now, if you haven't already.
It was also possible to offset the cost by enrolling in the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, which was designed to reward people financially for using renewable energy sources to heat their homes. Members of the scheme were set to be paid tariffs every quarter for seven years, with the amount paid depending on the amount of renewable/clean heat they are estimated to produce.
Air source heat pumps are seen as a source of renewable heat energy and qualified for this scheme, providing the scheme's rules were followed carefully. However, new applications were only open up until the end of March 2022.
