Why some heat pump stories are awful (and others are brilliant!)

For the full list of articles demystifying heat pumps click here

Confusing and worrying information in the media

You may well have come across wildly different heat pump stories.

At one extreme are horror stories of eye‑watering energy bills and/or cold homes. Even stories of people ripping out heat pumps and going back to boilers.

At the other extreme are people with warm homes with amazingly low running costs.

Both experiences are real.

This all naturally feeds fear and distrust of heat pumps. 

The good news is that the reasons for these differences are well understood.

For a heat pump system to work well, three things matter:

DESIGN – Correct sizing and system design

SETUP – How the system is configured

KNOWLEDGE – How the householder uses it

Get all three things right and heat pumps work brilliantly. This survey of UK households with heat pumps concluded that the majority of heat pump owners were either equally satisfied or more satisfied with their heat pump than their previous fossil fuel central heating.

There is broad agreement among heat pump experts that:

• Most systems are designed reasonably well.

• Poor performance is usually caused by setup and householder knowledge gaps

Even heat pump systems that aren't particularly designed can often be transformed by being setup better.

I speak from experience. My own heat pump installation wasn't designed particularly well, but I'm making it work really well despite this.

A little householder knowledge can be incredibly useful. These articles and the guides later will give you that knowledge.

How the negativity is fuelled

The stories you may read about or hear are:

• Always dominated by the bad news stories. They get more attention (and earn whoever is behind those stories more advertising income!). Bad news sells newspapers.
  

• Frequently influenced or stoked by people or organisations who would lose out if fossil fuel use reduces. This includes potentially anyone affected by a reduction in the demand for fitting boilers.
  

• Amplified and often distorted mischievously by some political factions, climate deniers, or parties opposed to clean energy or net zero.

To summarise

Even heat pumps that seem like horror stories can be turned into heat pumps that work brilliantly.

With the right knowledge there is nothing to fear. A householder can learn to use their heat pump in a new way, often resulting in a substantial difference to both energy costs and comfort. 

Next: Article 5: Heat pumps are usually used in the worst way

---

Do subscribe for updates if you like what you've read here.

While I have made every effort to ensure that the information contained on this website is correct, I cannot take responsibility for errors or omissions.

I run this website as a hobby, because I care about this stuff and want to help other households. If you have valued what you've seen, please tell other people about it or make a donation to my local Hospice charity here in Cheshire, however small.

All content on the site should be treated as information and not advice. You should take professional advice where appropriate to different site articles.

If you have any other suggestions for additions or changes to site content do please let me know.

Thanks.

Mark Thompson

Get Energy Savvy - simple practical home energy efficiency information