Currently have warm air heating in rental property - should I get heat pump instead?

PrincessEssex

Hi, 

I have owned a 5 room (total) rental property for almost 40 years.

It is currently heated by warm air heating, but apparantly it is now becoming very hard to find new parts, and so my gas engineers has quoted approx £8K to replace it with a gas boller and install radiators.

Whilst it would be nice to put in an heat pump, £8K seems a lot less than others have been quoted on this site for installing heat pumps, even with the discount, and i would struggle to raise much more than £8k.

Thoughts?

Thanks

FlorayG

there is a scheme  for LL to get upgraded heating at very little cost look into it.
Also, the cost of your heat pump may be completely different to another's. I'm paying less than £4000 for the whole install with new radiators

FreeBear

£8K sounds around the ballpark for a complete new gas fired heating system. Yes, a heat pump would cost quite a bit more, but you'd qualify for a £7500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, so that would bring the price down.

If you go for a heat pump, you wouldn't have to pay for a Gas Safe certificate again for the heating system. So factor that in to your calculations.

Reed_Richards

Were you thinking of an air-to-air heat pump to replace whatever is giving you the warm air at present?  Or were you considering an air-to-water heat pump and radiators as an alternative to a gas boiler and radiators?  I don't think that the air-to-air heat pump qualifies for the £7.5k grant - but I could be wrong. 

grumpypensioner

PrincessEssex said:

Hi, 

I have owned a 5 room (total) rental property for almost 40 years.

It is currently heated by warm air heating, but apparantly it is now becoming very hard to find new parts, and so my gas engineers has quoted approx £8K to replace it with a gas boller and install radiators.

Whilst it would be nice to put in an heat pump, £8K seems a lot less than others have been quoted on this site for installing heat pumps, even with the discount, and i would struggle to raise much more than £8k.

Thoughts?

Thanks

I purchased a free standing portable Wessex air conditioner from ToolStation for £340 (air to air heat pump), sat it in the corner of my lounge, had it connected with an air duct to the existing 10cm external wall vent previously installed for the gas system with two small outlets to drain condensation (about an extra £60), plugged it in and basked in the warm air it provides. It also dehumidifies and cools on hot days. I leave the internal doors open so it also warms the hall and upstairs, but it would be easy to duplicate with another unit in a different area. Very fast in ramping up, takes less than an hour to heat downstairs to above 22ºC on freezing mornings. Only downside is that the unit is in the room and you can hear the fan but it drops to a low level when the set temperature is reached, so I tend to only use it when required. Fully controlled with a remote, brilliant piece of engineering and very effective, and low cost running and capital. Very happy with it.