Phil's heat pump in an 1897 home
Phil's house in Abingdon was built in 1897 and sits in a conservation area. When he swapped his gas boiler for a heat pump in November 2024, his worry was the one most owners of older houses share: would it keep up?
1897
the year Phil's house was built, warm through two winters on a heat pump
3°C
cooler indoors on 30-degree days, with the heat pump running in reverse
About
Your Energy Your Way designs solar and heat pump installations around each home, for homeowners and businesses across Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West London. They partner with Ample so the compliance and paperwork sit with us, and the installation stays with them.
Technologies
Heat Pumps, Solar, Batteries
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Would it cope with an older house?
The house is a four-bedroom Victorian semi with cast iron radiators, heated by gas until the switch.
Bigger radiators went in as part of the switch, and day to day Phil hasn’t noticed a difference.
"Well, we had all the changes made, bigger radiators to adjust for it. I haven't really noticed anything.... It was one of the concerns initially that it wouldn't be up to spec, but we haven't found any problem whatsoever. It keeps nice and warm in the cold, cold weather."
Phil
,
Abingdon
Your Energy Your Way fitted a 12 kW Samsung heat pump with a 250-litre hot water cylinder and smart controls. The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant came off the cost.
Warm, with hot water to spare
Two winters later, the house holds its temperature without any fiddling.
“There’s been absolutely no control problems at all keeping the temperature in an older property… Absolutely no concerns with keeping the 20 to 22 degrees in the house.”
The biggest change has been hot water. With the gas boiler, the family used to run out.
“The hot water… way, way better than with the gas boiler before, where we used to run out.”
Lower bills, with the car on the same meter
Phil’s energy bills are lower now than they were with gas, and that includes charging his electric car.
"My energy bills are lower than they were with the gas boiler. And that's basically charging the car as well as doing the heating as well. So pretty happy with that."
Phil
,
Abingdon
Cooler in a heatwave
In hot weather, Phil runs the heat pump in reverse to cool the house.
“So it’s like a poor man’s AC basically. But it does noticeably hold the temperature of the house down in the very hot weather.”
His Samsung heat pump can run in cooling mode as well as heating, and Phil uses it to keep the house about 3°C cooler on 30-degree days.
Read more: Can heat pumps cool a house?
What would a heat pump cost for your home?
