Anyone watched the TV documentary tonight about Heat Pumps and electricity supplies in general?

[pirate]

Seriously just wanting to have a discussion on this huge issue.
Clearly, there are not enough competent installers of heat pumps, so we may see some scheme whereby one can get "qualified" in a short time.
I have views on this, and I have views on everything the documentary covered, but my purpose is simply to stimulate debate.
Please let's discuss?

 

[DPG]

I also agree that heat pumps only work well with properly insulated buildings, and they are expensive. My pal was being persuaded to fit one in her cottage, with a grant of £5k. She would have needed her existing radiators upgraded, new, larger bore pipework PLUS a new hot water cylinder with immersion heater to top up the temperature, at a cost to her of about £15k. I suggested that £15k would buy a lot of heating oil, especially as she only uses about £750/year. Doing the maths, she decided that the huge upheaval for the heat pump installation wasn't worth it, because by the time she had used the £15k worth of oil she'd probably be dead! She decided to go a few more holidays instead! Her neighbour has a heat pump, and the fan noise is annoying too. Considering that a large sector of the population live in flats, heat pumps are not really viable for them either. I'm all-electric, or at least my flat is, and I'm quite happy with that.

Interesting point re the noise.

 

[pirate]

The usual problem is that the neighbour doesn't hear his fan, but my pal does. It's not that intrusive but it's just "there", so she is aware of it on quiet days and evenings, which are frequent as she lives in a farm steading conversion in the country. I suggested she stick a lollipop stick in the grille, like we did with our bikes when kids, so he would hear it and switch off...but hey, good neighbours are a blessing!