An air source heat pump captures heat from the outside air and moves it into your home to use for heating and hot water. So here's how it works...

1) Out side air is drawn over a network of tubes filled with refrigerant gas. This gas circulates at around -15C to extract heat energy from the air outside.

2) The gas passes through a compressor which increases the pressure and temperature causing it to change from a cold gas to a hot liquid.

3) The compressed hot liquid passes into a heat exchanger that heats water for both your heating circuit (radiators or underfloor heating) and your taps. The refrigerant then turns back into a cold gas via the expansion valve and starts the cycle all over again.

Air source heat pumps work at a lower internal temperature than a gas or oil-fired boiler, so your radiators will not feel as warm - this is because they are now more efficient and don't need to be as hot. It will provide gentle heating over longer periods rather than quick boosts of heat on demand.Heat pumps use around 4x less energy compared to the most efficient boilers but generate the same amount of heat.  That efficiency means you’ll instantly slash your heat carbon footprint by around 70%. Plus, they run on electricity, which gets greener every year. The life span of a heat pump can last 20 years, almost twice as long as a gas boiler.