Detached property, hosted by Anthea

The property is a converted farm building, c1860. I bought the house in 2019 and inherited an oil system. As the boiler needed replacing, I was recommended to consider taking advantage of the stream adjacent and switch to a water source heat pump. It  took a while to find a company who knew about water-source systems as they are less known in UK but it was worth the effort! The ground floor had existing underfloor heating and upstairs, we could use the  existing radiators. The hot water tank was replaced for one of the same size but compliant and the oil boiler was replaced with the heat pump. A small support unit was placed in the roof cavity above. The water blade install was very simple - the unit is just placed in the stream and secured in place, with pipe work run underground to the house. Overall install was c3-4 days and we were fully living here when it happened, there was very little inconvenience or mess.

The combination of underfloor heating and the heat pump is ideal - the pump is great for low & slow warmth and keeps the house at a perfect constant temperature. Initially, we used the house just for weekends and turned the heating down when we were away in the week but soon learnt it was far more efficient to treat it like an ocean liner and just leave it as cruising speed as it isn’t good at intense/rapid output. However, it’s very economical to run and has an impressive and efficient output compared to the previous oil system so it’s affordable (in  fact  cheaper) to manage it that way. The pump will intermittently hum - it’s inoffensive and now I’m used to it but if a concern, it wouldn’t be audible if it lived in a basement/outbuilding.