Heat Pumps. They are all over the news recently, and with good reason! There are certain targets that need to be met to help reduce the effects of climate change, with goals to be net zero in the UK by 2050. You may want to do your bit by installing a heat pump in your existing property, but how do you know if your house is suitable? Read on to find out more…
Check Your EPC
When considering a heat pump it is always worth checking to see if there is an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your property, which you can do on the national EPC Register. An EPC will measure the energy performance of your property, by taking into account property information such as insulation, glazing, heating system, and lighting, and is graded on a scale of A - G. The EPC will also advise what measures can be taken to improve the efficiency of your home, which in turn can help you save money on your energy bills! So, what do you need to consider when looking to install a heat pump in your home?
Insulation - Walls, Loft, Floor
The insulation levels of a property can have a massive effect on the heat loss of your home. Improving the existing insulation can make your home more energy efficient, and in doing so can reduce the overall heat loss, making your home less ‘leaky’. You can insulate your home in a number of ways, such as filling in cavity walls, your loft and sometimes your floor. Some can be relatively straight forward to do and not cost too much either.
If you do have unfilled cavity walls and/or an uninsulated loft then you must have these building elements insulated in order to be eligible to receive the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) grant payments when you install your heat pump.
Glazing - Windows & Doors
When sizing a heat pump, the whole house property information is taken into account. If your windows and doors are old single or double glazed then it may be worth considering improving these to new double or triple glazed prior to installing a heat pump. An expert at Alto Energy will tell you if what you have is suitable or if we believe upgrades are required. New glazing won’t just help improve your buildings energy efficiency but can also help reduce external noise such as road traffic.
The reason we take all of this into account is if further improvements are made it can sometimes drastically bring down the heat loss of the property, thereby reducing the size of the heat pump you may require, and therefore reducing the overall cost to install one.
Emitters - Radiators / Underfloor Heating
If your house has uninsulated walls (and single glazed windows – but the walls are the most decisive factor) then not only will it mean you need a very big heat pump, but will also mean you will need significant upgrades to your heat emitters to obtain MCS certification and be eligible for grant payments.
By emitters we mean radiators or underfloor heating. The less well insulated the property is, the bigger your radiators will need to be and/or the more underfloor pipe you will need in the floor.
This is because heat pumps operate at lower flow temperatures than boilers so the size of the heat emitters is more of a factor than it needs to be when you have a boiler generating a much higher flow temperature.
If the walls are uninsulated then it can often mean you would need larger radiators than it is practical to fit on your walls, or more underfloor pipe than it is practical to fit into the floor.
So insulating solid walls (either internally or externally) and/or filling cavities is often a necessity to mitigate the size of radiators you will require (as well as the size/output of the Heat Pump itself).
Heat Pump Ready
Your house may well be suitable for a heat pump. Or if it isn’t, you might be planning to improve the energy efficiency of your home through some of the measures listed above.
what next?
If you haven’t already done so, contact Alto Energy to see how a heat pump can benefit you. Our experts will size up a heat pump suitable for your property’s heating needs. and where not suitable, tell you exactly what can be done to make the property ‘heat pump ready’.