Heat pumps ‘no good for older properties’

HEAT pumps will not work for Britain’s Victorian houses, one of the largest makers of the devices has warned.

Vonjy Rajakoba, managing director of Bosch UK, said that the pumps did not make sense for older homes that lacked the necessary space and insulation.

He said: “At low temperature, you need well insulated homes, you also need space for heat pumps for the external unit and also the tank, so you need to have the sort of home which is adequate around the heat pumps.

“We think that in the UK, with the fleet of Victorian houses or period houses and so on, hydrogen, or in the interim hydrogen-ready boilers, are the solution.”

Mr Rajakoba’s comments will stoke doubts about the Government’s “net zero” strategy, given Britain’s ageing housing stock. Almost two fifths of private homes were built before 1945, yet mass adoption of heat pumps is a key plank of Britain’s plan to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050.

The Government wants to see 600,000 heat pumps installed each year by 2028 – up from about 35,000 a year today.

It also wants new boilers to be capable of burning hydrogen from 2026. However, a Lords committee claimed last month that this was “not a serious option” as the gas was too expensive.

Mr Rajakoba said: “Like any new industry we do not have the economy of scale. The hydrogen of today is expensive. But that gap is reducing.”

Like Mr Rajakoba, gas industry chiefs are backing hydrogen as a long-term solution to heating homes.

A heat pump typically costs between £7,000 and £13,000 to buy and install.