Frequently asked questions

Heat pumps use a specific liquid within the refrigeration circuit that allows them to boil and condense at much lower temperatures than water. It is the magic of these thermal interactions that allows large amounts of heat to be transferred between the outside air/water/ground into the water that heats your home and hot water cylinder.

They need electricity to run the compressor (engine of the unit) and pumps, however, the longer they run for, relatively speaking, the more efficient they become. The electricity does not heat the water like a traditional emersion heater would. For every 1kw of electricity that the unit uses, heat pumps can create (literally out of thin air) up to 5kw of heat and in some cases even more (aka "SCOP" or "COP" and now "SPF").

This is how they can use less fuel than a traditional gas boiler. They can be 500% efficient.

A gas boiler, even the very best we install (Viessmann) will only ever see c93% efficiency due to the nature of combustion heating, so for every 1kwh of gas used, you will only see 0.93kwh of heat. As great as gas boilers are, and they still have a place (due to certain limitations of heat pumps) and can be designed to be incredibly effective, the physics of combustion will not allow the same efficiency (SCOP or COP) as a heat pump.

A correctly designed and installed heat pump system ideally runs for longer durations with less stops and starts (cycling) which means it's nearly always cheaper to run than a gas boiler and provides a nice steady temperature throughout your property.

Yes, a sweeping statement perhaps. Most properties can work if there is enough space.

Space for the heat pump itself and space for the increased size of radiators/emitters needed to allow the heating system to run at the lower water temperatures they work best at.

Some properties will need new pipework to the heating system, some won't. Every project is unique and requires the experienced heat engineers input from the initial and essential heat loss survey through to the specific heat pump required to best match your property.

We will be with you every step of they way.

No! and yes: a correctly designed and installed system will be cheaper to run AND be better for the environment along with the lower thermal stress to your system (and thus long term cost) than gas boilers.

There are caveats to that of course, as it also depends on how you ran your older system compared to how you will run your new heat pump. An old gas boiler used for only a few hours per day can, in some cases, be cheaper to run than a new heat pump system that offers better comfort as it runs all day.

Sadly however, there are a few horror stories where installers have not been educated enough to fully understand the requirements of a low temperature heating system and assume it is acceptable to just plumb a heat pump into an existing heating system. It rarely ever is.

This leads to heat pumps having to work much harder than optimal and turning on and off more frequently than designed for. All that poor planning and installation leads to an expensive way to heat your home due to the increased electricity usage.

Make sure you get your heat pump installed by an engineer that knows about mass flow rates, heat loss and velocity relationships.

Yes, with the correct emitters and design, we can design and install a system to cool your Surrey house in the summer and heat it in the winter. Heats pumps are a very similar technology to air conditioning units. They really are a versatile and great piece of engineering which will heat and cool your Surrey/Hampshire homestead.

If you are ready to have a chat about freeing yourself from Oil, Gas or LPG or just looking for a way to become more self sufficient, contact Icy Hot Ltd. and we will do all we can to make the process smooth, educational and beneficial for you and your property.