@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly
There's a discussion to be had.

https://youtu.be/2jM_oKWptaI

For someone on LPG like me, a heat pump is going to reduce my heating costs even though I can't get perfect efficiency. Mains gas is less expensive so running costs are on a par with a gas boiler.

The guy in the video went heat pump first rather than fabric first so he's reduced emissions. The heating is better than he'd expected and we're all better off as he pumps out less CO2

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly we’re oil but house is over 200 years old and would be tricky to rearrange. What I would like is a (quiet) one room system that looks inside like say a boxed in radiator. They were available once for people in flats as they could be fixed with no works outside, just a balanced flue through the wall. Alexa controlled your could heat just the rooms you needed, warming up say bedroom just before bed.

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly
Heating one room might be feasible in a flat where your neighbours above and below help by contributing warmth.
I don't fancy a cold house with the odd room heated. That's how it was when I was a child.

To quickly heat a room from 12C to 20C takes a lot of energy delivered quickly meaning fossil fuels.

Heat pumps put out a constant supply of warmth replacing heat lost through the fabric of the building. They're running day and night.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly Sorry, I didn’t explain that well. One in each sized for that room like we used to do with storage heaters. You’d lose some efficiency over a central unit I’d expect. Also having had boiler problems it would be useful not to have to be dependent on one machine to keep the house warm.

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly
That's what people seem to do with air to air pumps but they have ugly air conditioning units.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly they are ugly - and used for air con in Summer. Not a problem in a stone house so much

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly here we might do better with ground source using a drill hole. Although results are mixed here the water table is high - we have a well- and the River Severn often floods close by

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly I know the Severn and it's flooding! That could be a good source of heat. Looks as though air source wet central heating technology is being developed and improved more rapidly though.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly but air source loses efficiency at sub zero temperatures - we had -9 here .

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly My walls are solid stone around 65 cm thick. It takes days to warm them if you let them get cold. you don’t run a boiler all night why a heat pump all night?

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly but when they are warm they stay warm. Internal walls mainly solid stone as well so act as heat sumps. I’l love to go heat pump but the cost is out of te question. I do have solar panels for electricity but not as many as I’d like as the house roof not built to take te weight

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly
Yes, the heat pump does it's thing night and day.

Once set up it decides how to heat the house efficiently. It can learn how the house behaves.

Software measures temperatures inside and out, power consumption, efficiency etc. The pump modulates up or down to to trickle warmth in and top up as heat is lost. Old buildings with thick walls and thermal mass will maintain a more even temperature.

A well designed system costs less to run than an oil fuel boiler.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly “system”. You have to replace all aspects of current heating

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly
Maybe not, I've been warm this winter running a flow temperature of 50 or less in the radiators and lighting the wood burners when it's minus outside.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly Lighting the wood burners - that’s not the idea.

@JohnLoader6 @GreenPartyMolly You've got me.
But I've no neighbours and the wood is very local. Could be described as renewable.

@will_shake @GreenPartyMolly Likewise here. We took down 7 non native conifers and have been burning them all Winter. Still got loads to cut and chop. Replaced by twice as many native hardwoods, sadly small at present, but we have two mature Ash and a walnut tree. Hedges full of holly and Hazel. But you highlight the need for something additional to heat pumps in non highly insulated modern properties