Terrace property, hosted by Dan

Midea air source heat pump in a pre 1920 property

Dan

About me
I'm a chartered civil engineer renovating an Edwardian sandstone terrace house with a keen interest in sustainability and design. I want to promote heat pumps as a viable alternative for boiler upgrades as this is a key element of reducing the UKs carbon emissions to net zero.

Visiting my heat pump
Free parking available on street but not during events at Hampden

Joined the network in 2025

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About this property

Glasgow, G44

3 bedrooms

Air source heat pump

Installed by Boxergy

EPC rating: A

Cost of energy bills per year: TBC

Installing the system

I was the first person to purchase this house since the family who sold it to me purchased it from the builder in 1907! I had my work cut out getting the house heat pump ready, and used all the Home Energy Scotland grant and loans that were available to me to:

Insulate under the subfloor with 150mm insulation (£1200 grant funding, £400 interest-free loan)
Top up the attic insulation to 300mm (£300 grant funding, £100 interest-free loan)
Install all new modern double-glazing windows and rear doors (£7500 interest-free loan + ~£2000)
Various draft proofing around the floors and ceilings myself

The old system boiler was at least 30 years old, and although some of the radiators are massive, some rooms had radiators that were on microbore pipework that didn't heat the rooms properly. I had a quote for around £4000 to upgrade the radiator pipework and install a new combi-boiler, but I was interested in heat pumps as they can have lower running costs (in a properly designed system) and are much better for the environment.

After getting 3 quotes, I chose Boxergy to install a Midea R290 artic 10kW heat pump for ~£15,300 (£7500 grant, £7500 interest-free loan, -£2000 cashback from my mortgage with Halifax, so a total cost to me of £5500 spread over 10 years). I chose Boxergy because:

They were happy to let me take an active role in designing the radiator changes, allowing me to minimise the internal changes required while keeping the design system temperature relatively low (50 degrees)
The Midea R290 heatpump they recommended has good efficiency stats at my design temperature (SCOP = 4.0), is super quiet, looks good, and was much cheaper than a Valliant
There was no requirement for a "plant room" inside my house—the hot water cylinder is in an insulated box in the garden next to the heat pump which they call a "Hero box". This simplified the installation and left me with more space in my house (I have a cupboard back now) — a win-win.
It's a simple install with no pointless buffer cylinders or internal hydraulic units.
The cylinder and the heat pump can be changed independently if required. So if I change my heat pump in 15-20 years and the hot water cylinder is still fine, I'm not forced to change them both
As a result of this, they were £1000 cheaper than Aira and £4000 cheaper than Heat Geek

The install wasn't without its problems, but Boxergy were generally a nice bunch and eventually got the job done for the quoted price. I think they have a great product combination between the Midea heat pump and the Hero box, which makes heat pumps more accessible for more people.

Living with a heat pump

So far so good, it's quiet, cheap to run (only about 25p a day for our hot water, heating yet to be properly required) and has helped my house score an A on its EPC for running costs and carbon emissions (alongside solar panels and insulation improvements), so can't ask for much more!