Quote Originally Posted by Llani Boy View Post
I have spoken to three installers, and the guy from Worcester Bosch who has been servicing our aged oil boiler, and none of them would touch or recommend installation of air source heat pumps unless it was for a new build that was fully insulated.
That's rubbish. A heat pump-powered central heating requires as much insulation as a gas or oil-powered one

Quote Originally Posted by Travs View Post
You can't simply retro-fit air-source into an existing installation. They operate at lower temperatures, and therefore you would need to upgrade all your radiators to get the same heat output.
That's true but the technology is available, and there are big grants for domestic installations that make it a comparable cost to a new gas boiler (I'm not familiar with oil boiler prices).

Quote Originally Posted by Llani Boy View Post
Even then they say that unless combined with solar panels the electricity required to run them is prohibitive.
More rubbish. An air source heat pump has a COP of 3, and increasing with new technology, whilst a gas boiler has one of 0.93. An oil boiler's COP will depend on what fuel it is burning, but I've read a value of 0.84. This means electricity has to be 3.2 x more expensive than gas to cost more, and 3.57 x greater than the cost of heating oil, to cost more overall.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67511954

And then there's the future. It is almost certain that green taxes will be added to domestic fossil fuels in increasing amounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. And then who would want to buy a house with a gas or oil boiler in 10 years time?

Quote Originally Posted by Llani Boy View Post
One of the installers is fitting an oil boiler to a customer who is removing recently fitted air source heat pumps as they are not up to the job.
Must have been specified or installed badly. They're huge in Scandinavia, and have more than 40 heat pumps per 100 households and increasing.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-po...90%20to%202021.