Air source heat pumps
Air source heat pumps
you can have this month
Every air conditioning unit we fit is an air source heat pump. It takes heat out of the outside air and puts it in your room, at around four and a half units of warmth per unit of electricity, and it runs backwards in summer to cool. No grant application, no cylinder, no six month wait.
- 4.5units of heat per unit of power
- 0% VATuntil March 2027
- 1 dayto fit a single room
Air source heat pumps in short
An air to air heat pump is an air conditioning unit run in reverse: it moves heat from outside into a room rather than making heat by burning fuel. It heats and cools from the same box, costs roughly a quarter of what an air to water system costs to install, and does not qualify for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme because that scheme only covers air to water and ground source systems.
- What it is
- An air to air heat pump, the same hardware as air conditioning
- Seasonal efficiency
- SCOP around 4.5, so 4.5kWh of heat per 1kWh of electricity
- Installed cost
- From £1,850 for one room, zero rated for VAT until 31 March 2027
- Grant eligible
- No. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers air to water and ground source only
- Hot water
- No. It heats air, not water, so the cylinder or combi stays
- Cooling
- Yes, the same unit reverses in summer, which air to water cannot do
Air to air against air to water
Two technologies with the same name and different jobs
The heat pumps in the news are air to water. The ones we fit are air to air. Both pull heat out of the outside air using the same refrigeration cycle. What they do with it afterwards is where they part company.
| Air to air (what we fit) | Air to water | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivers heat through | A fan coil in the room | Radiators or underfloor pipes |
| Typical installed cost | £1,850 to £8,200 | £8,000 to £16,000 |
| VAT | 0% until 31 March 2027 | 0% until 31 March 2027 |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | Not eligible | Up to £7,500 through an MCS installer |
| Hot water | No | Yes, with a cylinder |
| Cooling in summer | Yes | No |
| Seasonal efficiency | SCOP around 4.5 | SCOP around 3.0 to 3.5 |
| Time to install | One to three days | Three days to two weeks |
| Disruption | One core hole per room | Often new radiators and pipework |
| Best for | Rooms you use, cheap heat, summer comfort | Replacing a boiler entirely |
If your goal is to take the gas boiler out, air to water is the honest answer and we will tell you so. If your goal is a house that is comfortable in February and July without a five figure bill, air to air does that today.
Is your home suited?
Where it works well, and where it does not
Works well
- Rooms you actually spend time in, rather than the whole house at once, which is how most home systems are designed
- Homes where the boiler currently heats nine rooms to warm two
- Loft conversions and extensions the existing heating never reached
- Home offices, where the running hours are long and the room is small
- Conservatories and garden rooms, which need cooling as much as heating
- Flats on electric only heating, where the saving against panel heaters is enormous
Think twice
- If you need hot water from it, because it cannot provide any
- If nobody will service it annually, because the warranty lapses without it
- If you want the gas meter gone, which needs air to water
- If every room needs heating, because the unit count gets expensive
- If the building is uninsulated and draughty, where the heat leaves faster than any system replaces it
- If the outdoor unit has nowhere to go that meets the noise limit
- If you are chasing the £7,500 grant, which air to air cannot claim
Common questions
Heat pumps, answered straight
What is the difference between an air to air and an air to water heat pump?
An air to air heat pump moves heat from outside into the air of a room through a fan coil, which is what an air conditioning unit does in heating mode. An air to water heat pump moves that heat into water instead, which then feeds radiators, underfloor heating and a hot water cylinder.
Air to air is cheaper, quicker to fit, works in a single room, and cools in summer. Air to water heats the whole house and gives you hot water, costs several times more, and cannot cool at all. They suit different problems.
Can I get the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant?
Not for air to air. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers air to water heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and biomass boilers, and the installation has to be carried out by an MCS certified installer. Air conditioning in heating mode is outside the scheme.
Source: gov.uk, Boiler Upgrade Scheme, checked September 2026.
What air to air does get is zero rated VAT until 31 March 2027, which takes 20% off the installed price and needs no application, no paperwork and no waiting list.
Will a heat pump work in a British winter?
Yes, but with less output as it gets colder. Manufacturers rate units down to around minus 15°C and they keep producing heat there, just more slowly and less efficiently than at 7°C.
In practice, below about 5°C outside you notice longer warm up times. For an air to air system heating one or two rooms, keeping your existing heating for the handful of genuinely cold weeks a year is the sensible approach rather than the failure it is sometimes painted as.
Does it replace my gas boiler?
Only if every room has an indoor unit and you have another source of hot water. For most houses an air to air system is a supplement: it heats the rooms you actually use, cheaply, for most of the year, and the boiler covers the rest and the taps. If you want to remove the boiler entirely, that is an air to water conversation and a much bigger job.
How efficient is it really?
A current wall unit has a SCOP of around 4.5, which means four and a half units of heat for every unit of electricity, averaged across a heating season rather than on a mild day. A gas boiler running at 88% gives you 0.88 units of heat per unit of gas. Because electricity costs roughly four times what gas does per kWh, the two land close on a like for like basis, and the heat pump wins clearly once you count not heating the rooms you are not in.
Do heat pumps need planning permission?
Usually not. Since 29 May 2025 permitted development in England covers outdoor units up to 1.5 cubic metres, two units on a detached house and one elsewhere, with no minimum distance from the boundary, provided the MCS 020 noise standard of 42 dB(A) at the neighbour's window is met and the system is not used solely for cooling. Flats, conservation areas and listed buildings are more restricted.
Source: Planning Portal, air source heat pumps, checked September 2026.
Free survey
Tell us about the space and we will do the rest
Fill this in and an engineer will call you back the same working day. No sales visit, no pressure, and a written quote within 48 hours of the survey.
- Survey and quote at no cost
- Fixed price, valid for 60 days
- Nothing to pay until the job is finished
- Two year guarantee on our workmanship
Prefer to talk it through
07932 607335