Heat pumps
Heat pump or new boiler — what should I actually do in 2026?
3 min read · Reviewed for accuracy before publishing
Honestly: for a well-insulated home with generous radiators (or underfloor), an air-source heat pump is a serious option — and government grants exist for qualifying installs, claimed through MCS-certified installers. For a typical draughty UK home with microbore pipework and standard radiators, a modern boiler is still often the pragmatic swap today — with the house prepared (insulation, radiator upgrades) so a heat pump is the natural next step. And there's a middle path most people miss: air-to-air heat pumps (air conditioning that heats) can take over room-by-room heating now at low cost.
Where a heat pump wins now
Good insulation, room for a cylinder, radiators sized for lower flow temperatures (or a willingness to upgrade them), and a household that suits steady background heat. Do it properly — surveyed heat-loss calculations, not guesswork — and running costs compare well with gas.
Where a boiler still wins
Poorly insulated homes, tight budgets, or 'my boiler died on Tuesday' timelines. A wrong-sized heat pump in an unprepared house is expensive to run and sours people on the technology — we won't sell you that.
The air-to-air middle path
Air conditioning units are air-to-air heat pumps: they can heat the rooms you live in most at heat-pump efficiency, while the boiler carries the rest. It's cheap to install and it works in the house you have today — and if you've seen grant adverts for it, read the scheme rules first: they're stricter than the ads suggest, and we'll tell you straight what applies.
“The right first step for most homes is not boiler-or-heat-pump — it is getting the house ready so the heat pump works when you make the jump.”
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Datum's engineers install and service boilers, air conditioning, heat pumps and plumbing across South Hertfordshire and North London. Guides are written from real jobs, not brochures.