They do seem to have a mixed reception .... couple up the road from us installed a heat pump (compulsory on their brand new build) ... after the first winter they had it pulled out and a boiler installed ... hard to know why some swear by them and some ditch them .... is it down to the competence of the installers a bit? .... we used to laugh when the renewables thing really kicked off .... there were people who were installing double glazing and garage doors suddenly re-inventing themselves as 'Renewable Enegy Experts' running about doing questionable installs all over the place. I wonder if heat pumps are suffering the same thing now they're flavour of the month.
K
Around here there was a massive push by both the Local Authority and Government grants for cavity wall insulation upto around 2008, when cavity wall insulation fell off a cliff around here. Because of the coastal location with high precipitation and strong winds, they have now found that in the insulation no matter how well installed get wet and there are serious issues with damp bridging across the cavity to inner walls. There now is a massive industry grown around having the cavity insulation removed.
When looking at prospective properties around here, we check Building Control to see if they had cavity insulation installed, if so, unless its been removed we don't bother even going. Now the next big scandal is roof spray insulation installed in loft, many houses cannot get a mortgage now unless its removed.
So much for forward thinking and thoroughly testing new methods of insulation within a given environment. The Government now has a map of the UK rating areas suitability for cavity wall insulation and exposed coastal areas are now no longer suitable, kind of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted
