The Cold Chill of the Heat Pump Reality – Watts Up With That?

From THE DAILY SCEPTIC

by Sallust

It may come as a surprise to the most dedicated eco warriors that heat pumps don’t last forever. Those installing them now are in for a nasty shock 15–20 years down the line when their costly noisy power-hungry government-subsidised outdoor heat exchangers come to the end of their lives and need replacing. There won’t be any grants or subsidies around then.

According to the Telegraph some of the early birds are already suffering from buyer’s remorse:

Peter and Anne Watts made headlines when they became one of around four British households to have an air-source heat pump fitted in 2008.

That Mr and Mrs Watts, 88 and 82 respectively, had installed a heat pump a decade before the likes of Boris Johnson seized upon them as the future of home heating was highly unusual.

“We had a reporter up from the local paper asking us about our solar panels and our heat pump,” recalls Mr Watts. “In the days afterwards, we got a call from the BBC – I thought it was a prank call from the neighbours.”

Yet 17 years on, the pump is nearing the end of its lifespan – and the price tag for a replacement is £17,000, around £10,000 more than they paid for their original.
Mr and Mrs Watts are in a highly unique quandary – one that shines a light on the shortcomings of the Government’s heat pump drive.

Households currently benefit from a £7,500 grant to install a new pump, thanks to the generous Boiler Upgrade Scheme run by the energy department. But no such generosity exists for early adopters whose systems are now nearing their end.

It begs the question: how do households – who relied on low prices or government grants to get their heat pump fitted the first time around – afford its replacement?

Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Watts can’t retrofit a gas boiler because a) they’re not on the gas grid and b) because the house was expensively renovated with the installation of a heat pump in mind. Now it seems they haven’t the cash for a new heat pump. That’s an interesting development since it’s often the well-heeled retired who have the resources and time to fit a heat pump in the first place. Unfortunately, if they live long enough their dwindling incomes turn the ageing heat pumps into a time bomb:

The couple, who ran a business selling animal feed and now live off a private pension, cannot afford a new heat pump. They have already stripped back on holidays since electricity prices first rose.

It is a problem that the pair, who live in a four-bedroom detached house in Buckinghamshire, did not foresee when they became one of the first British households to have an air-source heat pump installed.

Back when they installed the pump the whole idea was to future-proof their bills by investing in more efficient and cheaper-to-run equipment. Moreover, there were no grants back then though they did enjoy an advantageous scheme of selling the power they generated from solar panels back to the grid. Mr and Mrs Watts make around £900 per annum that way.

However, the cost of electricity has soared and heat pumps use so much it’s difficult for a domestic solar panel system to do more than make a dent in the running costs:

Almost two decades later, Mr Watts is doubtful the switch saved him much money, because in more recent years, so-called all-electric houses like his have been hamstrung by high electricity rates. “We don’t save a lot relative to oil and gas, but I would still recommend any house with a heat pump also gets solar panels,” he says.

Since they have no choice but to replace their heat pump or wait in trepidation for their existing one to break down, Mr and Mrs Watts are hoping their early loyalty will make it possible to obtain a discounted replacement:

After being approached by the Telegraph, a spokesman for the company said: “We value Mr Watts’ loyalty and appreciate his contribution to promoting heat pumps. If Mr Watts wishes to upgrade his system, Daikin has offered to supply a discounted heat pump.”

A Government spokesman said: “Heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers, enabling families to save around £100 a year by using a smart tariff.”

£100 a year. If Mr and Mrs Watts can get a discounted heat pump for, say, £10,000 (a very optimistic prospect) they should be able to recover the replacement costs in only 100 years when both are over 180. Except by then they’d have had to replace the new heat pump at least five times.

It’s highly unlikely anyone currently buying a heat pump will find their installers lining up to offer them a discounted replacement in the 2040s, having been prompted by the Telegraph to do so.

With VAT imminent on heat pumps, the government has some solutions up its sleeve. One of them is to lock householders into debt to pay for them. The Government spokesman went on:

There is zero VAT on heat pumps until March 2027. Overall installation costs are coming down and will continue to do so for all consumers as the market develops. We are also exploring private finance options, such as loans, to support homeowners with the upfront costs of heat pumps.

It can be safely assumed that the cost of servicing those loans will exceed the nominal savings from a heat pump of £100 a year. Presumably, the loans will run the risk of still being paid off when the heat pump needs replacing, necessitating further loans for a new one.

One day there may be millions of pensioners living in houses with failing or failed heat pumps that they cannot possibly afford either to run or replace or obtain loans to do either.

Worth reading in full.

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