Craig’s semi-detached house in the Scottish Borders had a direct electric heating system. Craig found this system inconvenient because his work schedule is irregular, and therefore he  needed to change the settings often to align the heating times with his variable work shifts.

In addition, his immersion hot water tank frequently ran out and took a long time to reach the desired temperature.

The housing association that Craig rents his house from recommended to him the Electrification of Heat (EoH) demonstration project, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). EoH is seeking to better understand the technical and practical feasibility of a large-scale rollout of heat pumps into existing British homes.

The Challenge

The recruitment and installation phase of the EoH project ran from July 2020 through to October 2021, and despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, 742 heat pumps were installed into a broad spectrum of housing types and socio-economic groups, that reflects a representative sample of households across Great Britain.

The range of different heat pumps installed, included:

• Low-temperature and high-temperature air source heat pumps
• Ground source heat pumps
• Hybrid heat pumps incorporated with a gas boiler
• Some additional technologies, such as heat batteries were incorporated.

Householders were asked to reflect on their first hand experiences of taking part in the programme, including disruption during the installation work, thoughts on the noise and aesthetics of the technology and the outcomes for warmth and comfort.

The Solution

Before the heat pump could be installed, energy efficiency upgrades were made to the property, including installing double glazed windows and a new front door to help reduce heat losses from the home.

The installation of the heat pump was completed in one and a half days, after the energy efficiency upgrades had been completed – including a new central heating system.

The Outcome

Craig’s house is now much warmer and he always has enough hot water and better water pressure.

The heat pump should also be around 60% cheaper to run than than his old electric heating system,
depending on which electricity tariff he is on.

The biggest benefit though for Craig is that he no longer has to programme his heating using a timer, since the heat pump has a thermostat that automatically turns the heating on and off based on his desired  temperature.