Prabhat Vaze writes: The “Visit a Heat Pump” scheme has been matching those interested in this green technology with householders that have installed a heat pump in their homes. There is a website to locate and book a slot, www.visitaheatpump.com, and your hosts show you around their system and discuss their experiences.
As I own an ageing boiler that may need replacing, I decided to find out from the website whether there was a convenient host. After booking on a straightforward booking system, on a surprisingly, warm April morning, I found myself witnessing a real, live heat pump.
The property was outside London. It differed from my home in being a large, semi-detached house. But it was similar in being a period property with only limited options to insulate.
There were a pair of pumps, installed discreetly behind the house. Initially, the warm day meant the pumps were off, but the hosts kindly raised the thermostat temperature, bringing the fan of the pump to life, quietly humming as it performed its duties.
You can definitely go to these visits with your questions ready, and I came to the house curious about how noisy a pump was. To me, it was quiet: a gentle hum by no means drowning out other sounds and inaudible from a short distance away and from inside the house. We were told it would be somewhat louder on the coldest days but there were long periods when no heating was needed in the summer especially.
The hosts were very happy with the pump and there had been minimal changes to their central heating (a few radiators were replaced) and few alterations to their house. They emphasised how they had taken some steps to reduce draughts in the house. But we could see that the listed period home had many single-glazed old windows and there was no internal or external insulation added to walls. There was the need for space both for the units that controlled the new heating system (not very large) and the hot water cylinder.
The other headline for me was that a heat pump changes the way we heat a home. Instead of periodic blasts of heat provided by most gas boilers on timers, or switching on full heat when you get to a chilly home, the pump is more efficient as it changes heating levels up or down slowly. The home owners set their preferred temperature across the day in an app and the heat pump does the rest.
This visit was both informative and enjoyable. Why not try one for yourself?