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Making the switch to an Air Source Heat Pump

The first few months

Andrew Howe
13 min readNov 11, 2024

This month saw the end of the use of gas in my house. I never used it for cooking, but when I bought it back in 2001, this house used a mains gas boiler for central heating, hot water and it also had two “living flame” gas fires. The air source heat pump (ASHP) went in this September and the last remaining gas fire was swapped for an electric equivalent a week ago. In this article, I will take you through my decision to change, the transition and my experiences of running the system so far.

Why Change?

There were quite a few different factors that went into the decision — some practical, some more ideological. I have been taking steps to reduce my carbon emissions. I have owned an EV since 2019. I have also installed a home battery system last year.

The GivEnergy All In One battery system is a large white fronted rectangular box mounted against a breeze block internal wall. There is a large red isolator switch and a garden fork for scale which is a little shorter than battery unit.
My GivEnergy Home Battery System

I didn’t grow up in a gas household. It wasn’t a green choice by my parents, we just lived in a location in North Wales that was too rural for it to be an option. The houses in my village tended to use oil or propane gas which are ecologically even worse. As a result of this, I have never felt entirely comfortable around gas devices.

My house was still being powered by its original gas boiler and had a traditional system with a hot water tank and a cold water tank in the roof. At…

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