Heat pump survey reveals challenges

A survey has revealed the most pressing issues facing heat pump installers, from customer misconceptions about heat pump technology to challenges with costs and system sizing.

Conducted by Heatly, the survey found that there is still a firmly held view that heat pumps only work in new builds – 72% of respondents stated this was the most common customer barrier. When it came to installation issues, oversizing was the main complaint, with over 50% of recipients reporting this as the biggest problem.

Other barriers to take-up included consumers fearing heat pumps are too expensive to run (nearly 65%) and a pervasive ideology that heat pumps don’t work in cold weather (more than 60%) – despite their widespread adoption in much colder parts of Europe. Noise concerns also featured highly (just under 50%), something that can be countered by recent reports, such as that by NESTA which found modern heat pumps to be no noisier than other household appliances, such as fridges and gas boilers.

Consumer misconceptions can be allayed by facts, case studies and providing more evidence that well-installed heat pumps can work in (almost) any home. The survey showed, however, that some engineers still feel there are sticking points at the system design stage that need addressing.

Apart from oversizing, which can lead to inefficiencies and higher installation costs, 35% of installers felt that heat loss calculations sometimes failed to match real-world performance – over 20% reported that this happened often.

Issues with system design are being addressed by the latest digital tools, which standardise these processes and make them easier and more accurate for installers. Heatly is launching an app that will streamline and speed up heat pump specification.

Paul Spence, technical manager at Heatly, said: “It’s great that the installation figures are on the up, but they still fall well short of where they need to be. Our findings show that consumer misconceptions still blight adoption, while highlighting areas where installers require further support, particularly at the design and specification stage. Consumer education and installer support are the key takeaways here, both crucial to the continued success of the heat pump rollout in the years ahead.”

To read the full survey results, visit heatly.com/blog/heat-pump-installation-survey-2024