MCS Certified Air Source Heat Pump
Installation in Aberdeenshire
That matters more than it sounds. The Home Energy Scotland grant of up
to £7,500 — £9,000 if you're in a rural area or on an island — is only
available when both the installer and the equipment are MCS certified.
Without it, the application doesn't qualify, however good the work is.
We're certified, we install across Aberdeenshire, and we go through the
grant paperwork with you rather than handing you a form.
The grant, in plain terms
Home Energy Scotland offers up to £7,500 towards an air source heat pump. If your property is in a rural area or on an island, that rises to £9,000. An interest-free loan is available on top of the grant to cover the rest.
Three conditions catch people out:
- The installer must be MCS certified. So must the equipment. We are, andwe only fit certified systems.
- The work can't start before the grant is approved. If someone offers to
begin now and sort the paperwork later, walk away — you'll lose the
funding. - Your home needs to meet a basic standard of insulation. Loft and cavity
insulation usually comes first, and there's separate funding for that. - We'll tell you where you stand before you commit to anything.
Why so many homes here are switching
Much of rural Aberdeenshire is off the gas grid. If you heat with oil or LPG, you've watched the price swing around for years with no say in it, and no way to plan for it.
An air source heat pump takes heat out of the outside air and moves it into your home. It runs on electricity, works well below freezing, and — in a house that suits it — costs less to run than oil.
The honest version: it suits some houses very well and others poorly. The rest of this page is about telling those apart before you spend anything.
Is my house suitable?
Insulation. A heat pump gives gentler, steadier heat than a boiler. A draughty house loses it faster than the pump can replace it. Loft and cavity insulation comes first — and it's also a condition of the grant.
Radiators. Because the water runs cooler, radiators often need to be larger. Some homes need every one changed, some need three, some need none. More on that below.
Outside space. The unit sits outside, roughly the size of a large washing machine, with air moving freely around it.
Hot water. Heat pumps need a cylinder. If you're on a combi boiler with no cylinder, you'll need space for one — usually an airing cupboard. If your house isn't a good candidate, we'll say so. That's a better conversation now than after the work.
Will I need new radiators?
Sometimes. Not always, and rarely all of them.
A heat pump runs at a lower flow temperature than a gas or oil boiler, so each radiator gives out less heat than it used to. Rooms that were comfortably warm may need a bigger radiator. Rooms that were always too
hot often need nothing.
Anyone who gives you the answer before looking at your house is guessing. We work it out room by room and it's in the written quote, so there's no surprise halfway through.
Are they noisy?
Less than most people expect. A modern unit from a few metres away sounds roughly like a fridge — you notice it if you stand beside it and listen for it, not from inside the house. Where it goes matters more than which model you buy. Under a bedroom window is a bad idea. Round the corner from the patio is fine. We'll work that out with you on the visit.
Do they work in a Scottish winter?
Yes. Air source heat pumps work well below freezing — they're standard across Scandinavia, where it gets a good deal colder than Aberdeenshire. Efficiency drops as the temperature falls, so a pump costs more to run in January than in May. That's expected, and any honest estimate of running costs already accounts for it. What it doesn't do is stop working when it gets cold.
Not sure if your house is right for a heat pump?
Book a free home check. I'll come out, look at your insulation,
radiators and hot water, and tell you honestly whether it's worth
doing — and what the grant would cover.
No charge, no obligation, and no pressure if the answer is no.