Costs and Savings

Costs for installing a typical system suitable for a detached home range from about £4,000 to £8,000 including installation. Running costs will vary depending on a number of factors - including the size of your home and how well insulated it is.

Savings - will vary depending on many factors, some are outlined below. It is important that the system is controlled appropriately for your needs. Actual savings figures will depend on your exact fuel prices

The heat distribution system: If you have the opportunity, under floor heating can provide greater efficiencies than radiators because the water doesn’t need to be heated to such a high temperature. If under floor heating isn’t possible, then use the largest radiators you can. Your installer should be able to advise on this.

Fuel costs: you will still have to pay fuel bills with a heat pump because they are powered by electricity. The saving you achieve can be affected by the price of the fuel you are replacing and the price of the electricity for the heat pump.

Efficiency of old and new system: the efficiency of the old heating system will affect how much you spent on heating bills previously. If the old heating system was inefficient heating bills could have been high and the difference between the new running costs and the old running costs will be greater, therefore providing a greater saving.

Hot water: if the system is providing hot water as well as space heating: the provision of hot water can lower system efficiencies, therefore making running costs higher.

Temperature setting: if you heat your home to much higher temperatures with a new heat pump system than you did with an old heating system then your home will be warmer, but heating bills could be higher than if you continued with the same heating pattern. It’s a good idea to set thermostats to around 18 to 21 degrees centigrade.

Using the controls: learn how to control the system so you can get the most out of it. Our team will fully explain to you how to control the system so you can use it most effectively.

To reduce your home's CO2 emissions further, consider using solar water heating to provide low carbon hot water in the summer month

In order to get a better idea of how they perform, and the saving they achieve, in real life environments here are some examples of a field study by the Energy Saving trust

Using typical system efficiencies from the field trial the following savings have been modelled when replacing an existing heating system in a 3 bed semi detached home.

Air Source Heat Pumps - Costs and Savings