Electrical Heating Plymouth
Electrical heating in Plymouth, designed and installed by HPE Airflow SW Ltd. If your property runs on electricity, or you are coming off oil or LPG and electricity is the obvious next step, the question worth asking is not whether to heat with electricity but which kind of electric heating to fit. For almost every property we survey, the answer is a heat pump.
What electrical heating means now
Electric heating used to mean one thing: a device that turns electricity into heat directly. Every unit of electricity bought produced one unit of heat, and no more. That is the ceiling on any direct electric appliance, and it is why electric heating earned its reputation for being expensive to run.
A heat pump changes the arithmetic completely, because it does not make heat. It moves it. It takes warmth that is already in the outside air or the ground and lifts it to a useful temperature, using electricity to run the process rather than to become the heat itself. That is why a heat pump delivers substantially more heat energy than the electricity it consumes, and why no appliance that burns a fuel can match it.
So when people ask us about electric heating, they are usually asking one of two things. Either they are already heating with electricity and want it to cost less, or they have no gas main and are working out what to install. Both questions have the same answer, and it is worth understanding why before spending anything.
Air source or ground source
Both are electric heating. They differ in where they take the warmth from, and that decides which suits a property.
Air source takes heat from the outside air. The unit sits outside the building, it needs no land, and it is the right answer for the large majority of homes around Plymouth. Installation is quicker and the cost is lower.
Ground source takes heat from the ground, through pipework laid in trenches or dropped down boreholes. It needs land and groundworks, so it suits rural property with space. It costs more to install, and it runs more efficiently because ground temperature is steadier through winter than air temperature.
We fit both, so we have no reason to steer you towards either. The survey decides it.
Properties with no gas main
A great many properties around Plymouth have never had mains gas and never will. Out towards Tavistock, Launceston, Bodmin and the moor, mains gas simply is not an option, and the choice sits between oil, LPG and electricity.
This is where a heat pump makes its strongest case, and it is why most of our installation work is off the gas grid. You are not comparing a heat pump against cheap mains gas. You are comparing it against oil deliveries, LPG bottles or direct electric heating, and against all three it wins on running cost as well as on carbon.
It also removes the things that come with fuel: the tank, the deliveries, the price swings and the annual burner service.
Electric underfloor heating
There is one form of direct electric heating we do fit, and it is worth being clear about where it belongs.
Electric underfloor heating uses a thin mat or cable under the floor finish. It is quick to fit, needs almost no floor build-up height, and is ideal for taking the chill off a bathroom or a small kitchen floor. For that job it is the right choice and we install it regularly.
What it is not is a way to heat a whole property. Run continuously across a house it is expensive, for exactly the reason set out above. Used as it is meant to be used, as comfort underfoot in one or two rooms alongside a properly designed main heating system, it works very well.
Controls, and why they decide the bill
Electric heating of any kind lives or dies on its controls, and heat pumps more than most.
A heat pump is at its most efficient running low and slow, holding a steady temperature rather than firing hard in short bursts. Controls set up the way a gas boiler is set up, with sharp timed blasts morning and evening, will make a heat pump work harder than it needs to and cost more than it should. It is the single most common reason a system disappoints its owner.
We set the controls up for the system we have installed and the way the household actually lives, and we explain them before we leave. If you already have a heat pump that is costing more than you expected, the controls are the first place we look. See thermostats and heating controls.
The environmental case
There is a straightforward reason electric heating is where domestic heating is heading, and it is not fashion.
An appliance that burns oil, LPG or gas emits carbon on the day it runs and will do so for every year of its life. Its emissions do not improve. An electrically driven heat pump gets cleaner every year the electricity grid does, without anyone touching the equipment. The heat pump installed today will be producing lower carbon heat in ten years than it does now.
Add the efficiency point and the case is clear: a heat pump delivers several units of heat per unit of electricity, so it starts well ahead on carbon and pulls further ahead over time. Most of our customers claim the government grant towards the cost. See the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
What we install
Air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps, sized from a room by room heat loss calculation rather than a rule of thumb. Air to water systems feeding radiators and underfloor. Hot water cylinders correctly sized for a heat pump rather than carried over from the old boiler. Underfloor heating, wet and electric. Heating controls and zoning.
The electrical side is done by us as well. We are an NICEIC Approved Contractor, reference D602867, so the supply, the wiring and the certification happen on the same visit by the same firm rather than waiting on a subcontractor. See electrical installations.
Is a heat pump electric heating?
Yes. A heat pump runs on electricity, so it is electric heating. The difference from a direct electric appliance is that it moves heat rather than generating it, which is why it produces considerably more heat than the electricity it uses.
Is electric heating expensive to run?
Direct electric heating is, because one unit of electricity gives you one unit of heat and no more. A heat pump is a different proposition for exactly that reason, and it is why we fit heat pumps rather than direct electric systems for whole properties.
I have no gas main. What should I install?
This is the strongest case for a heat pump. Off the gas grid you are comparing against oil, LPG or direct electric, and a heat pump beats all three on running cost and on carbon. Most of our installation work is off the gas grid.
Do you fit electric radiators or storage heaters?
No. For whole-property heating we fit heat pumps, because direct electric heating cannot compete on running cost. The exception is electric underfloor heating, which we do install where it belongs: a bathroom or a small kitchen rather than a whole house.
Air source or ground source?
Air source suits most homes, needs no land and costs less to install. Ground source needs space for trenches or boreholes and runs more efficiently through winter. We fit both, so the survey decides rather than our preference.
Is there a grant?
Nearly every heat pump customer we install for claims the government grant, and we handle the application. See the Boiler Upgrade Scheme page for what is involved.
Book a free survey
Call 07789 373208 or send an enquiry. We will look at the property, work out the heat loss and tell you which form of electric heating actually suits it, including the cases where it does not. We cover Plymouth and the surrounding towns, including Plympton, Plymstock, Ivybridge, Tavistock, Okehampton, Kingsbridge, Looe, Launceston, Bodmin and St Austell.