As much as there are a lot more people talking about heat pumps as a low-carbon alternative to gas boilers. Few have them in their homes.
To cut down on emissions from homes and reach zero by 2050, the millions of homes that use gas to heat their homes will need to switch to a low-carbon heating method.
If you want to conserve the environment, you might consider changing to a heat pump.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths around heat pumps that it might be hard to tell whether heat pumps are a great addition to your home. To help you out, here are common myths you should know as given by heating service repair professionals.
Heat pumps don’t work in cold places
In Sweden and Norway, where winters are much colder, heat pumps are already widely used and are a popular choice for home heating systems.
In Ostersund, Sweden, the coldest month of the year has an average temperature of -4°C to -9°C.
Tests have shown that heat pumps can still work well at temperatures as low as -16°C. This means that this technology is suitable for places with colder climates.
Before you can get a heat pump, your home needs to be well insulated.
It’s true that a heat pump will work better if your home is well-insulated, but this isn’t a must-have if you want to use one.
Heat pumps can work well in large, airy buildings like stately homes from the 1700s, churches, and cathedrals, as long as they have the right system and are set up correctly.
So, to dispel the myth, you don’t need a perfectly insulated house to install heat pumps. This means that even if you have an old house, you can still go ahead and install the heat pump.
Gas boilers are cheaper to run than heat pumps.
This one is more challenging to answer. Generally, an air source heat pump would have slightly higher running costs than a gas boiler in a typical home.
However, this depends on how efficient the gas boiler you’re replacing is, how efficient your new heat pump is, and how much electricity and gas costs now and in the future.
To keep your heating costs low with a heat pump, work with your installer to design a radiator system that lets you run the radiators cooler and set your controls well.
Heat pumps make a lot of noise.
Heat pumps make noise when running, usually around 40 decibels. In comparison, the noise level in a typical library is also about 40 decibels.
When installing heat pumps, ensure that the installers measure how loud your heat pump is compared to your neighbors’ homes.
Planning laws say that your heat pump can’t make more than 42 decibels of noise at the middle point between your property and your neighbor’s. To avoid problems, ensure that you play by these rules.
Your heat pump might make more noise when it’s cold because the system has to work harder. However, you wouldn’t expect this to happen on any other day, like when the temperature drops below 0°C.
You have to install a heat pump next to the house for it to work
For your heat pump to work best, it should be set up as close to your home as possible. This is because connecting it to your home’s heating system will take less work.
But the system doesn’t have to be put up against one of the perimeter walls for it to work. In fact, you can put a heat pump up to 20 meters away from your house, and it will still work well.
It’s important to remember that the further away the system is, the more digging and pipework it will take to connect it to your home. This means that it will cost more to install it too far from the house.
As mentioned, it doesn’t mean it won’t work when installing it far from the house.
A heat pump of any kind is better than none.
When compared to a gas boiler, installing a heat pump is always better if you want to reduce your home’s carbon footprint.
To get the most out of your set-up, have heat pump repair Huntington professionals assess your home and install a system that fits your needs.