Why a heat pump often works in an older house
A house from the seventies and a heat pump sounds like a bad match. It works more often than people think, as long as you calculate first and choose second.
What a heat pump needs
A heat pump heats your home with water that is cooler than what a gas boiler sends round. That is the whole point: the lower the water temperature, the less electricity it uses for the same warmth. So the question is never "is my house new enough?" but "can my house stay warm with cooler water?"
The answer depends on two things: how much heat the building loses, and how much heat the radiators can give at that lower temperature. Both can be measured. Neither has to be guessed.
The roof first, then the pump
In most older houses the roof is where the heat goes. Insulating it is usually the cheapest step and it changes everything that comes after: the pump you need gets smaller, and so does the bill to run it.
We often tell people to wait with the heat pump until the roof is done. It is not the answer they expect from an installer, but a pump sized for a leaky roof is a pump that is too big for the next twenty years.
Lower temperatures, even with radiators
You do not always need underfloor heating. Many existing radiators can keep a room warm with cooler water, sometimes with one or two larger ones in the rooms that lose the most. Our calculation goes room by room, so you see exactly which radiator falls short.
Where to start
Start with a home check. We walk through the house, note what is there and calculate the heat loss per room. You get one plan with the order of the steps, and only then a quote for the pump.