One United Kingdom homeowner was baffled when they hired what they thought was a heat pump installer to assess their home for this upgrade, only to receive some extremely counterintuitive advice.
"The guy who came round as a Vaillant installer to do heat loss calcs had a quick look, and said that he would recommend to simply replace the gas boiler," the original poster said on Reddit. "This is because we would need a large heat pump (9-10kW), and without a battery it would be hellishly expensive to run during the day."
If the original poster wanted to save money on their home electric bill, they were on the right track. Not only had they installed solar panels to generate their own electricity, but they were also upgrading their heating and cooling, which accounts for more than half of home energy costs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
If you're looking to upgrade your HVAC system, TCD's HVAC Explorer is a helpful guide to finding efficient HVACs and saving you up to 50% on your heating and cooling bills.
According to the original poster, they had all the ingredients for success with a home heating upgrade. "We have cavity wall insulation and new double glazing," they said.
In addition to working well with a well-insulated home like this one, heat pumps are energy-efficient, they lower high utility bills, they're better for the environment, and you can often get a rebate to reduce the cost of installation even more.
Commenters had some theories as to why the contractor the original poster chose might recommend against a heat pump.
"That's a gas boiler installer who has done a heat pump course, not a heat pump installer," said one user. "9-10kW heat loss would be the same if you use a gas boiler or a heat pump, what matters is how cheaply that can be delivered over the year. And a heat pump (a Vaillant Arotherm Plus 10kW) just needs to be designed to a flow temperature of 55c at around -3c outside or better (lower) to be at parity with gas."
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"It's faulty logic to say that a home with high heat requirements will have worse economics switching to a heat pump than a home with lower heat loss," explained another commenter. "The price ratio is about 4:1 on a standard tariff and the efficiency ratio is about 4:1, so running costs are about equal. That doesn't change if you have a bigger or smaller house."
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Do you feel like your HVAC system works as well as it should? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Definitely 😎 With all these savings, you may end up spending less on the system over its lifetime than you would if you bought a system outright, even with no upfront investment. If you want to bump up the savings, you can even combine your heating and cooling upgrades with solar panel installation. Start with TCD's Solar Explorer to connect with even more partners that can help you with solar and save up to $10,000 in the process.
The free Palmetto Home app is a straightforward tool to stretch your home upgrade budget with up to $5,000 in rewards for simple, everyday actions. Download it to get started.
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