A GROUND-BREAKING study of 83 heat pump installations across the UK has revealed a wide variation in performance but concluded that well-designed and well-installed heat pump systems can perform well in the UK.
The report by the Energy Saving Trust confirms that a well installed heat pump can lead to carbon savings when compared to electric or gas heating systems.

However, the survey, which includes both air-source and ground-source systems, found widely varying performances, 'slightly higher'performance for ground-source units, but with varying COPs from as low as 1.2 to as high as 3.3.

The report says that this variation may suggest that there are influences caused by factors that were not, or could not be, measured. An investigation of each site will be undertaken to help explain the large variation in performance, even in apparently similar installations.

The report finds that performance is sensitive to installation and commissioning practices as well as customers having difficulties understanding the operating instructions.