ECO4 Air Source Heat Pump Grants may cover the full cost of the supply and installation and, if approved by your Local Authority, you do not need to receive benefits. ECO4 air source heat pump grants are available to home owners and private tenants in England, Wales and Scotland.
Boiler Upgrade Grants to replace old gas boilers provide £7,500 towards the cost of supply and installation of an air source heat pump. They are available to home owners in England and Wales.
ECO4 provides air source heat pump grants to home owners and private tenants who either receive one of the qualifying benefits (see below) or who satisfy their Local Authority’s rules under the LA Flex Scheme. The scheme is scheduled to run until March 2026 and £1 billion has been made available.
Air Source Heat Pump Grants - ECO4 Qualifying Criteria
2. Your home must have either no heating at all or one of the following heating systems:
The relevant heating system used to assess your eligibility for First Time Central Heating Grants is that which appears as the ‘Main Heating’ system on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your home. You can see your EPC (if one has been prepared) HERE if you live in England or Wales and HERE if you live in Scotland.
3. You must receive at least one of the Qualifying Benefits, or qualify under LA Flex Rules
To qualify for ECO4 Air Source Heat Pump Grants, either you or someone living permanently with you, must receive at least one of the following State Benefits, Tax Credits or Other Allowances unless you qualify under LA Flex Rules:
LA Flex Rules allow local councils to recommend that a householder qualifies for a grant even if they don’t receive one of the qualifying benefits.
Air Source Heat Pump Grants – The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants to help install:
The scheme started on 1st April 2022 is expected to run until April 2025 but is only available to home owners in England and Wales. Also, for 5 years from 1st April 2022, air source heat pumps are zero rated for VAT.
Air Source Heat Pump Grants - Boiler Upgrade Scheme Eligibility
You may be eligible for air source heat pump grants from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme if you:
The property will need to:
You can see the EPC for your home HERE if you live in England or Wales
How will the Boiler Upgrade Scheme work?
* MCS stands for Microgeneration Certification Scheme
As an organisation, they create and maintain standards relating to low-carbon products, installers and installations. MCS accreditation is a sign of excellence in a renewable installer.
It demonstrates that a company or its employees are competent to install a range of small-scale renewable and low-carbon technologies, including solar PV, solar thermal, biomass boilers, air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and battery storage.
An air source heat pump is a low-carbon heating system which takes air from the outside of your home and with the work of an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser, provides heat for your radiators and hot water. They are extremely efficient and can even work when the outside temperature is well below zero.
Air source heat pumps look like the external part of an air conditioner and work like a refrigerator in reverse.
Inside an air source heat pump there are several important components which extract heat from the air and use to to heat your home.
A fan sucks air from outside into the air source heat pump.
An evaporator transfers heat from this air to a liquid in a sealed network of pipes, which similar to that in your refrigerator. The heat causes the refrigerant liquid to evaporate and turn into a gas.
This gas is directed into a compressor, which compresses it, causing the temperature of the gas to increase substantially.
The heated gas is transferred to a condenser where it is cooled and condenses back to a liquid. The act of cooling this hot gas releases the heat which is used to heat water which travels through your central heating radiators and to provide hot water at your taps.
Now that the hot refrigerant gas has converted to a cool refrigerant liquid, an expansion valve releases it to start the process all over again. In essence the whole process is continuous.
Air source heat pump grants are available from ECO4 and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Click on the image to enlarge it
Air source heat pumps are extremely efficient and although they require electrical energy to work, they produce up at least 3x more heat energy. This makes them up to 300% energy efficient compared to a A rated gas boiler which is at best around 95% efficient.
In addition, if the electricity they use comes from renewable energy such as a wind farm or solar panels, they have zero carbon emissions both from power source and output.
The amount of heat produced for every unit of electricity used is known as the Coefficient of Performance (CoP). So, if a heat pump has a CoP of 3.0, then it will give out three units of heat energy for every unit of electrical energy consumed.
This diagram shows the energy flow of a 14 kW heat pump. The pump uses 3kW of electrical energy to operate and has an heat output of 14kW, the difference of 11kW comes from the air outside. To calculate the CoP, divide the energy output by the energy input, which in this case is around 4.7.
Air source heat pump grants are available from ECO4 and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Click on the image to enlarge it
