To help facilitate the change in our heating systems, the UK Government has announced a gas and oil boiler ban in new build homes from 2025. This will have no effect on existing properties with gas or oil-fired heating boilers,

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) was introduced in April 2014 in an effort to incentivise householders and businesses to embrace low-carbon heating systems. Under the scheme, owners of renewable heating systems such as air source heat pumps or biomass boilers are paid a set amount per kWh of heat energy generated. Payments are made quarterly over seven years and applications to the domestic RHI, which is open to UK homeowners will close at the end of March 2022. The non-domestic RHI scheme closed to new applications from April 2021. Grants cannot be applied for retrospectively for existing systems.

The government has already announced the Clean Heat Grant – now known as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme – that aims to help existing residential properties to change to low carbon heating systems. The scheme, which will come into effect from April 2022, will replace the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) when it ends in March 2022, by offering a grant of £5,000 to ease the undoubtable high initial outlay required when installing a more eco-friendly heating system.

It would appear that the most popular choice for low emission heating system of many households is the Air Source Heat Pump, but what exactly is an Air Source Heat Pump and how does it work?

Heat pumps are used to provide heating and hot water for your home and would replace your typical gas boiler. They take the heat from outside and use this to heat water for use in your home. An Air Source Heat Pump takes its heat from the outside air, while a Ground Source Heat Pump, takes its heat from the ground and requires pipes to be dug into the garden surrounding the property. This makes it much more expensive to install.

An Exhaust Air Heat Pump work by drawing pre-heated, humid air from other areas of your home, passing it through a heat pump, which extracts the energy, and exhausts the cold stale air out of your home through a vent. Exhaust Air Heat Pumps do not qualify for Government grants.

An Air Source Heat Pump operates like an air conditioning unit, but in reverse. It takes heat from the outside air to heat a refrigerant, and then transfers that heat from the refrigerant to a hot water tank in your home

Air-to-air heat pumps, take heat from the outside air and feed it into your home through fans which means you need a warm air circulation system to move the warm air around your home. These systems cannot produce hot water and are not eligible for the government's financial packages. 

Air-to-water heat pumps, take heat from the outside air, boost it to a higher temperature using a compressor and feed it into your water based central heating system. They are eligible for the government's Renewable Heat Incentive payments or Clean Heat Grant as of 2022. The relative ease of installation and availability of Government grants make Air Source Heat Pumps the most popular choice as replacements for traditional gas and electric boilers, despite the fact that Ground Source Heat Pumps are probably slightly more efficient due to the ground temperature being more stable than the ambient air temperature.

A gas boiler will heat water to about 75C, whereas a heat pump delivers water at around 35C – 45C, which is still hot enough to heat your home. For this reason, heat pumps work best with underfloor heating, where they are delivering lower heat to a larger area. Radiators can still be used, although they would need to be larger in either area or number than those used for a gas heating system. As with all heating systems, to get the maximum benefit from an Air Source Heat Pump, the property where it is being deployed should be fully insulated, particularly in the loft area.

An air-to-water heat pump typically costs between £9,000 and £11,000, according to the Energy Saving Trust, although these costs will obviously vary depending on the size of the heat pump, the complexity of the system.

The benefits of an Air Source Heat Pump are:

• It will save you money on your energy bills
• Government grants – either Renewable Heat Incentive or Clean Heat Grant will help to offset the installation costs, very much reducing the payback time.
• It is a much more Eco-friendly as it uses less electricity to run the system, CO2 output will be about 70% lower than those with direct electric panel or storage heaters. Added to that, by switching to a 100% renewable electricity tariff, the carbon emissions of your heat pump can be effectively zero.
• They are relatively low maintenance – some installers suggest a service every 3-5 years
• From a planning perspective, an Air Source Heat Pump should come under Permitted Developments unless installed in a listed building or in a conservation area, so check the rules with your local planning authority.

The disadvantages are:

• Lower heat output – around 35C – 45C as opposed to 75C
• Takes longer to heat an area, so may need to be on for longer to heat up an area to the desired temperature.
• Better suited to underfloor heating than radiators.

As with all construction or installation related projects, always ensure that you check the credentials of the contractor you are about to use. Make sure they have the relevant experience, qualifications and insurances and check if they are members of a trade organisation or are on a Competent Persons Regis