Up to £74 a year is being lost through wasted heat in homes using heat pumps, according to Wattswatt’s latest report
On the back of an announcement from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) about inadequate heat pump insulation, Wattswatt has taken the issue further, announcing a £20m annual loss across affected heat pump households.
Based on the government’s target of installing 400,000 heat pumps per year until 2030 to boost sustainability and the economy, this could result in a loss of £82m per year.
Heat pump households can check if they are affected
Wattswatt are encouraging households with external heat pumps to inspect their pipework, looking for:
- Exposed or uninsulated pipework
- Gaps or areas of thin insulation
- Damaged lagging
- Poorly sealed joins
- Pipework left exposed to weather conditions
They further encourage any affected households to contact the installer to request an upgrade to their insulation, and to invoke the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Wattswatt also provides a free guide to conducting a visual check of outdoor heat pump pipes here.
“We simply cannot afford the additional energy losses”
Lisa Malyon, co-founder and CEO of WattsWatt, said: “It’s quite straight-forward – if your external pipes aren’t insulated properly, the water cools as it travels through these outdoor pipes, affecting the temperature inside the house. To get the house back up to temperature, the heat pump has to work harder, which uses more energy.
“We first became aware of the issue when households complained their heat pump had stopped working – saying it was nowhere near as good as it had been when it was first installed. It turns out, their external pipework had been insulated with basic grey insulation designed for inside – and it was soaked through.
“This avoidable issue risks undermining confidence in heat pumps unnecessarily. When households experience higher bills or lower comfort, the heat pump itself is often blamed, but in many cases it is not the technology – it is the installation detail.
“There’s a critical information gap for installers. The Microgeneration Certification Scheme’s MIS 3005-I installation standard doesn’t specify what type of insulation should be used outdoors. Instead, MCS refers installers to the heap pump manufacturers’ instructions, however these do not tend to specify what insulation is required either.”
Chris Ridge of the Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA) said: “Our latest white paper has established thermal insulation of pipework as a low-hanging fruit for decarbonisation. In the battle to win public trust for heat pump technologies we simply cannot afford the additional energy losses caused by incorrectly specified and installed thermal insulation on external pipe runs.
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