Heat pumps can be up to four times more efficient than a gas boiler but I knew that, as long as electricity prices in the UK remain high, it still might not come in cheaper than a gas boiler to run. In the long term though, as more renewable energy sources are connected to the grid, electricity prices should come down so installing a heat pump now felt like a good way to future-proof our home. And if in future we combined it with solar PV and maybe even batteries we’d have our own free energy supply for part of the year.

The main practical considerations then, were to check there was space outside for the main heat pump unit and inside for the water cylinder which we hadn’t needed before. It made sense for us to put the cylinder in the space in our utility where the combi-boiler used to be, and there was a convenient concreted area out back of the utility that was ideal for the pump itself.

Until recently there was a legal requirement for heat pumps to be at least a metre from a neighbour’s boundary to mitigate potential noise issues; this might have been a problem with some earlier pumps, but our heat pump is quieter than the gas boiler.

The other common thing to consider is whether your radiators are big enough to meet your space-heating needs. Heat pumps work differently from conventional boilers, providing a steady supply of heat to keep living spaces at a comfortable temperature rather than sudden bursts of energy that heat up a cold house quickly to higher temperatures. It’s a much more efficient way of heating a home but it means you might need bigger radiators to deliver that steady heat, as we did.

So far, we’re really pleased with everything. The system was very easy to set up and control. Of course, there’s no need for space heating in July so it will be a while before we can see if the pump will keep us as warm as we’re used to over the winter, and how running costs compare with the gas boiler.

Managing the system to provide steady, constant heat rather than having a regular on/off heating schedule will be something else to get used to.

Meanwhile I’m weighing up the benefits of different electricity tariffs. Some suppliers offer deals specifically for heat pump users that have several periods during the day of cheap electricity with higher peak rates.

The benefits of this will depend on your lifestyle. For example, Octopus’s ‘Cosy Octopus’ tariff currently offers three periods during the day of cheap electricity which would be ideal for heating the water cylinder.

But peak rate is 41.88p per kWh – a big difference – and it runs from 4pm to 7pm, just when my boys get home, power-up devices and all want dinner.

So shifting our patterns of demand right now is difficult – but we’ll keep an eye on our use over the next few months to figure out whether we could make a heat pump tariff cost-effective.

I knew the replacement radiators would be a bit bigger than our old ones, but the one in our dining room turned out to be vertical, 1.6m high and not the most aesthetically pleasing. At some stage we’ll want to replace it so it would have been good to have had the option to specify (for a bit more money) exactly what we wanted here.

The slight differences in dimensions and locations of some of the other new radiators have also revealed undecorated areas which I’ll have to see to!

Another thing I hadn’t fully considered was the need for new electrical components. These wouldn’t fit alongside our current electrical services so we now have a visually intrusive black box in the kitchen which we’ll need to get boxed in.

The water cylinder has taken up a bit more room than I had expected, mainly because a small volumiser was added to make the system more efficient, something I didn’t spot in the system design.

And finally

Despite the niggles, we’re pleased to have taken this step now. It’s good to know we have a more efficient and cleaner heating system that’s ready to make the most of the UK’s increasingly renewable energy capacity.