Is heat pump technology improving?

[chrisgeller]

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

Seems that heat pumps are the great hope for getting the population off burning fossil fuels, but there isn't much take-up for some practical reasons.

From what I've read, getting an air source heat pump installed along with changing all your radiators in an existing property can easily cost over £10k (which a government grant can help with). You're then left with what seems to be a fairly large, potentially noisy piece of equipment, that is slower to heat up, can't produce hot water on its own, and will probably still cost more in electricity than a gas alternative. I've heard they're anecdotally more likely to break down.

I've heard that there are new refrigerants being used that can get water much hotter, but then the COP seems to fall. At least this might avoid having to change all the radiators, but obviously ongoing costs may be higher.

It looks like ASHPs make some sense on new-builds where you can insulate the hell out of them from the get-go and put in underfloor heating, but that doesn't really help with the pre-existing 30,000,000 homes or so in the UK.

Are we anywhere near a point where the average punter would consider getting an AHSP installed on purely cost/ease-of-use considerations?

Or is it unlikely the technology can get to the point of this any time soon without vast government support?

[Gone West]

14 hours ago, chrisgeller said:

Are we anywhere near a point where the average punter would consider getting an AHSP installed on purely cost/ease-of-use considerations?

Welcome to the forum. Well I think I'm pretty average but I tend to live out in the sticks where oil is the most common fuel. I wouldn't consider changing from oil to ASHP for heating an old property. If I lived in an old gas powered house I'd be even less likely to change.

[SteamyTea]

The Carnot cycle, you can't get better for a heat engine.

 

You have mentioned a fair few negative things, reinforced by @PeterStarck's comments.

What it is really down to is having a system correctly sized and installed.  A kW is a unit of power, if your house need say 3 kW to raise the temperature by 5°C, then it matters not if that power is supplied by a heat pump, an oil or gas burner, or even an open fire.

What will change in the energy input, this is where heat pumps win.  They use less 'imported' energy as they get the majority of the needed energy locally (the air or ground).

 

As for price to install, people tend to change traditional systems bit by bit, but this just masks some of the costs.  Add up all the costs over a 25 year period and they are probably similar.  And what narks me is that people often talk about 'payback' of a heat pump, but that never gets mentioned when talking about traditional systems.

[joe90]

14 hours ago, chrisgeller said:

large, potentially noisy piece of equipment,

I disagree, mine makes no more noise than a gas boiler on full chat but it’s outside!

 

14 hours ago, chrisgeller said:

can't produce hot water on its own,

I disagree, mine produces my DHW to a temp of 48’ which is too hot to hold your hand under.

 

14 hours ago, chrisgeller said:

I've heard they're anecdotally more likely to break down.

I don’t think so (hope so!,) they are basically “fridge” technology and most peoples fridges go on fir years with no maintenance (maintenance costs/annual service), yes with a pressurised system an annual check is required but just needs looking at so cheap in comparison.

 

as said above easier for a new build like mine but there are ways of upgrading existing properties to passive levels.