Government grants for heat pumps will help the wealthy, not the planet

SIR – You report (October 19) that those who can afford to replace their gas boiler with a heat pump will receive a £5,000 subsidy from the Government at a time when millions are facing fuel poverty.

This gift to the well-off is nothing more than grandstanding in advance of Cop26. And, to rub salt into the wound, it will have no effect on the climate.

Neil Bailey

Stockport, Cheshire

SIR – As a heating engineer I came across a number of air-source heat pumps and, without exception, their owners were dissatisfied. As Maja Dijkstra (Letters, October 18) says, they can be noisy, costly to run (particularly in cold weather) and often ineffective.

As an alternative to gas boilers they are not the simple solution the Government appears to think they are. Tim Reavell

Carmarthen

SIR – Many densely built housing estates have sprung up around towns and villages in recent years. The houses tend to have between two and five bedrooms, and small enclosed gardens. Has the Government given any thought to the noise pollution that will result if they are all fitted with heat pumps?

Gone will be the pleasure of sitting in the sun, or using the garden as an outdoor living room.

Mike Hames

Cradley, Herefordshire

SIR – Elizabeth Jones (Letters, October 19) recommends ground-source heat pumps. But given that they require two 160ft trenches, I struggle to see how they can work anywhere but in the countryside.

Pamela Wheeler Shrewsbury

SIR – Living in a rural community with no gas supply, I installed an air-source heat pump 12 years ago and saw an immediate saving of £3,000 annually on heating oil, plus the benefits of

Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive payments.

It is not noisy, and the water produced – caused by the condenser – I collect to use on the garden. At the same time I fitted solar panels to reduce our electricity bills and they are currently earning 37 per cent interest on the initial investment.

Roger Pinner

Eltisley, Cambridgeshire

SIR – Gas boilers are installed indoors, whereas a large part of a heat pump (the heat exchanger) is installed outside.

This will provide a nice little earner for the thieves who currently steal catalytic converters from vehicles. While the installation of the heat exchanger might take a day or two, the theft would take minutes, leaving exposed electric wires and freeflowing water pipes. I have heard nothing about how this problem will be prevented.

John Snook Sheffield, South Yorkshire