It’s hard to imagine a genuinely cold snap right now, when multiple heatwaves stacked back-to-back have us feeling a little chilly when the temperature dares to drop below 25°C.
Just under 40% of Brits are working from home at least some of the time now and, in a couple of months, they will be reminded of the dilemma that is “keeping a home office warm” when everyone else is out for the day – AKA, when turning on the central heating feels like a waste. This was meant to solve the commute problem, not create a new one where you’re wearing a coat indoors, living cup-of-tea-to-cup-of-tea, and stuffing your two jumpers with a hot water bottle.
So, What Actually Is a Heat Pump?
A heat pump doesn’t burn anything, and it isn’t “making” heat the way a gas boiler or a bar heater does. Just as a fridge doesn’t generate cold (instead, it grabs the heat sitting inside the box and dumps it out the back, which is why that back panel always feels warm), a heat pump does the same trick in reverse. It pulls heat out of the air outside, even on a grey February morning when that feels impossible, and pumps it into your garden room.
A gas boiler burns fuel to make heat, and it can never get back more energy than the gas itself contains, so even a good modern condensing boiler tops out around 90-94% efficient. You’re always losing a bit.
A heat pump isn’t creating heat from scratch, it’s shifting heat that’s already sitting outside for free, so for roughly every pound of electricity you feed it, you get back three or four pounds’ worth of warmth in the room.
Getting One Fitted Without a Planning Headache
Every heat pump needs a small box sitting outside, roughly the size of a large suitcase, which is where the actual heat-grabbing happens. This is the part that puts people off before they’ve even asked for a quote, usually because of an old rule that said it had to sit at least a metre from the boundary or the wall next door. That rule’s been scrapped in England, so the box can now sit close to a fence line provided it remains under the noise limit. There are also size limitations, but these rarely matter for domestic installations. You will want to consult with an expert in domestic heat pump installations, such as GSM renewable energy specialists, to make sure you’re not getting too much (or too little) for the size of your home.
A heat pump likes to run gently and steadily rather than blast the room and switch off, which suits a space that holds onto its heat reasonably well. In practical terms, this creates a much more comfortable space for you to work in during the day, without the constant guilt, hiss,and steep cost of running the central heating.