To me, heat pumps feel more about keeping engineers busy and transferring the boiler industry to another model that has the same economic value and impact (while being only marginally better for the environment), rather than finding the most economic and most environmentally friendly method for heating and hot water.
While I agree that boilers are not a good solution at all, I believe there are many better methods already available for both heating and hot water (electric flow heaters, solar panels, infrared heaters, energy saving bulbs, modern insulation technologies, even something as simple as thicker carpets make a massive difference …) that are less costly and don’t need regular maintenace the way heat pumps do (they need regular check-ups and the gas, same as used in fridges and freezers, occasionally needs changing, so the boiler companies can charge people thousands for the pumps, another couple of hundreds for disposing of the boilers and then sell the same maintenance contracts and insurances that are currently offered for boilers).
Well, yes, you’re right – I am unprepared because I haven’t got tens of thousands to chuck on another solution which simply will not perform as well as a gas boiler, especially in an old house where the concept of contiunous, moderate, heat just isn’t feasible.
> Meeting climate targets would require a ban on the installation and use of any new gas boilers by the mid-2030s at the latest, the report said.
No joke, much as I think this is right and the right thing to do, as it stands currently if such a deadline gets created I’ll be getting a new boiler with a long warranty just before.
A lot of the noise around them was to make Boris look good in the run up to COP26. The government will faff around for 5 years and hopefully realize communal heat pumps are the only way to make this work. Or they’ll do what they did with Smart Meters and let the energy companies sort it out and end up with a disaster
they really need to make sure new builds and large redevelopments are built with the modern options like heat pumps etc with effective insulation.
There’s little to no point moving existing homes from gas to another source if the insulation part isn’t dealt with first. In fact the insulation improvements would reduce gas usage by itself a lot.
They’re not in the dark, they just have no alternative you useless fucking suits.
Saying heat pumps is fine but nobody seems to want to talk about how people are to afford them, how they are to afford the massive upgrades necessary to their property and how we really, really need dirt cheap electricity. Given the UKGov show no sign of making electricity dirt cheap these MPs will need to explain how we move every single house in the UK away from gas/oil/lpg heating.
These discussions do give me a wry chuckle, especially when I look at the VAT I’m paying on the insulation I am currently installing in an effort to be more energy efficient. I suppose I should be grateful though, if I was paying someone else to do the work I would also be paying VAT on that, so every cloud and all that.
MP’s can say what they like, I’m convinced they will continue to fudge and edge round the issue till its blindingly obvious its too late, then sigh “oh well, we did our best”.
> Mr Jones said the government should also replace the failed Green Homes Grant – the scheme providing financial support for people to insulate their homes.
Yeah no shit. It was the most convoluted and useless scheme ever. Need new windows to keep the heat in? Not if it’s any day other than the third Friday in February and you fully recant the macarena on your first try into the hotline.
It was designed to fail so they could get the optics of being “green” without paying the bill.
Well I just converted from oil to gas few months ago. I think I’m good for another 20 years or so.
Although now with new thermostat that manages boiler’s flow temperature I can see how heat pumps can work. So apparently heat pumps run at very low flow temperatures of like 40C. My heating right now runs pretty much all the time during the day at 35C and this maintains perfectly stable indoor temperature of 20C.
Saying that, it stills need an hour or two in the morning of running at 60-70C to bring the house up from 16C to 20C, which is something heat pump can’t do as far as I’m aware.
Politicians still unaware that:
* There is no workable alternative to gas boilers
* No one is actually doing anything about climate change so nothing will happen in 2030 except moving the target to 2040.
5 grand isn’t much towards the cost of a heat pump. Cheapest are about 10 grand, IIRC.
10 comments
To me, heat pumps feel more about keeping engineers busy and transferring the boiler industry to another model that has the same economic value and impact (while being only marginally better for the environment), rather than finding the most economic and most environmentally friendly method for heating and hot water.
While I agree that boilers are not a good solution at all, I believe there are many better methods already available for both heating and hot water (electric flow heaters, solar panels, infrared heaters, energy saving bulbs, modern insulation technologies, even something as simple as thicker carpets make a massive difference …) that are less costly and don’t need regular maintenace the way heat pumps do (they need regular check-ups and the gas, same as used in fridges and freezers, occasionally needs changing, so the boiler companies can charge people thousands for the pumps, another couple of hundreds for disposing of the boilers and then sell the same maintenance contracts and insurances that are currently offered for boilers).
Well, yes, you’re right – I am unprepared because I haven’t got tens of thousands to chuck on another solution which simply will not perform as well as a gas boiler, especially in an old house where the concept of contiunous, moderate, heat just isn’t feasible.
> Meeting climate targets would require a ban on the installation and use of any new gas boilers by the mid-2030s at the latest, the report said.
No joke, much as I think this is right and the right thing to do, as it stands currently if such a deadline gets created I’ll be getting a new boiler with a long warranty just before.
A lot of the noise around them was to make Boris look good in the run up to COP26. The government will faff around for 5 years and hopefully realize communal heat pumps are the only way to make this work. Or they’ll do what they did with Smart Meters and let the energy companies sort it out and end up with a disaster
they really need to make sure new builds and large redevelopments are built with the modern options like heat pumps etc with effective insulation.
There’s little to no point moving existing homes from gas to another source if the insulation part isn’t dealt with first. In fact the insulation improvements would reduce gas usage by itself a lot.
They’re not in the dark, they just have no alternative you useless fucking suits.
Saying heat pumps is fine but nobody seems to want to talk about how people are to afford them, how they are to afford the massive upgrades necessary to their property and how we really, really need dirt cheap electricity. Given the UKGov show no sign of making electricity dirt cheap these MPs will need to explain how we move every single house in the UK away from gas/oil/lpg heating.
These discussions do give me a wry chuckle, especially when I look at the VAT I’m paying on the insulation I am currently installing in an effort to be more energy efficient. I suppose I should be grateful though, if I was paying someone else to do the work I would also be paying VAT on that, so every cloud and all that.
MP’s can say what they like, I’m convinced they will continue to fudge and edge round the issue till its blindingly obvious its too late, then sigh “oh well, we did our best”.
> Mr Jones said the government should also replace the failed Green Homes Grant – the scheme providing financial support for people to insulate their homes.
Yeah no shit. It was the most convoluted and useless scheme ever. Need new windows to keep the heat in? Not if it’s any day other than the third Friday in February and you fully recant the macarena on your first try into the hotline.
It was designed to fail so they could get the optics of being “green” without paying the bill.
Well I just converted from oil to gas few months ago. I think I’m good for another 20 years or so.
Although now with new thermostat that manages boiler’s flow temperature I can see how heat pumps can work. So apparently heat pumps run at very low flow temperatures of like 40C. My heating right now runs pretty much all the time during the day at 35C and this maintains perfectly stable indoor temperature of 20C.
Saying that, it stills need an hour or two in the morning of running at 60-70C to bring the house up from 16C to 20C, which is something heat pump can’t do as far as I’m aware.
Politicians still unaware that:
* There is no workable alternative to gas boilers
* No one is actually doing anything about climate change so nothing will happen in 2030 except moving the target to 2040.
5 grand isn’t much towards the cost of a heat pump. Cheapest are about 10 grand, IIRC.
ED: Then there’s upgrading insulation.