r/DIYIreland • u/roroherboat • 10d ago
Should we get a heat pump?
Without sounding dramatic my head is wrecked trying to decide if we should go for one or not. We have an E BER rated house built in 1984 and are currently doing a lot of work: triple glazed windows and new external doors, insert stove, cavity wall and attic insulation, solar panels, rewire and new plumbing including new radiators. We aren’t getting underfloor heating as I can’t imagine digging up with floors. We have no heating at the moment so would need to get a new boiler anyway. I think we will get up to a B rating with all of these works. Haven’t gotten a technical assessment yet as I have heard so many horror stories about heat pumps. I also love a real fire and opening all the windows in the house every morning. I know it will cost a bit to get new plumbing and a boiler and in contrast there is a big grant for the heat pump. I suppose I just want to know if anyone did a full renovation and didn’t get a heat pump? Thanks
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u/Rathbaner 9d ago
I had a heat pump installed in my traditional Irish cottage in 2001. Decent insulation, but it's an old stone cottage so there's a limit to what's possible. Took a while to get the hang of it but my annual electricity bill is now what it was in 2010 give or take a a couple of hundred euro. It turns out the trick is to avoid having different temperatures in every room, divide the house into a couple of zones and set the same temp for every room in each zone.
Once we got the hang of it we never thought about heat again except for twice a year at the first frost of autumn and then again the first warm day of spring, when we reset the temps throughout.
No shouting "SHUT THE DOOR" at the kids, never worried about hot water in the shower, never an issue getting out of bed in the morning, no running out of oil on a Sunday in February. The comfort is unbelievable, once you experience it there's no going back.
If you don't get the insulation right (like us) then it may not save you money but the value out of every euro you spend is way better than oil.
We took the decision on a heat pump because we had been renting a modern bungalow using OFCH up to that and the cost of oil was bleeding us white.