Parliament has quietly shelved its heat pump rollout over noise and power concerns – despite Labour insisting the rest of Britain must adopt them! The Telegraph has the story.
There are three air source heat pumps in the House of Commons buildings, but no new installations have been made since 2022, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act.
And a report – seen by the the Telegraph – into the feasibility of installing a new heat pump into the modern office block, Portcullis House, raised significant concerns over their acoustics and power supply.
It has plunged Labour into a fresh hypocrisy row as opposition MPs said it was proof heat pumps “don’t work” – despite the Government’s push to install them into residential homes.
Richard Tice, Reform MP, said: “Parliament has installed three heat pumps, and every one of them has faced complaints for consuming too much electricity and generating excessive noise.
“Despite this, Labour pushes ahead with forcing the rest of us to adopt them, while refusing to use heat pumps themselves.”
One parliamentary staffer said that Portcullis House was “always freezing”, and that their colleagues often complained about their working conditions. …
Complaints from homeowners about heat pumps have focused on the noise of up to 60 decibels that they make, as well as the space they take up. …
The Government aims to get 600,000 heat pumps per year installed by 2028, and has introduced a controversial “boiler tax” which sees installers fined for missing targets.
Heat pumps currently cost approximately £10,000 without subsidy, compared to £3,000 for a gas boiler.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The boss of a company selling heat pump technology has admitted in the Telegraph that heat pumps will never be cheaper than gas boilers.
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Beware claims from owners that heat pumps are quiet, the nearly new car I bought recently was very quiet, hard to tell if the engine was running or not, a year later it rattles and clunks.
Spot on. It’s so easy for the Globalists and manufacturers to fund online commenters claiming their heat pumps are quiet, which is a bold-faced lie! They’re horribly noisy, expensive and don’t keep your house warm.
I am a former heat pump owner – in France where I lived until a couple of years ago. It was very large with two fans – it was effective and only economical because French electricity rates were low, and the alternative were oil or LPG, both high priced.
However. They are NOT quiet particularly on a cold night, the fans and compressor are noisy and they produce vibration and drone.
My neighbour had a relatively small heat pump for swimming pool heating, and it certainly made a noise I could hear over 100yds away with a thick hedge in between.
If whole streets of houses have heat pumps, the aggregate noise will be intrusive and unacceptable.
With multiple sound sources and frequencies in the near neighbourhood there will be interference which will produce ‘beat’ frequencies which will be particularly intense in unexpected locations. If one of those locations is just outside (or worse, inside) your home you’ll have endless fun trying to track down the sources and get it stopped.
Following JD Vance’s recent speech at the Munich Security Conference and the radical changes taking place in America under Trump’s DOGE activities, I’m hoping that a lot of this nonsence will unravel as people look across the water to a vibrant, prosperous and free America and realise just how bad things are here in the UK.
The corruption and waste being exposed in The States will surely open more and more peoples’ eyes over here to see that the same lies and looting have occured here also. Fingers crossed.
JD Vance’s words certainly struck home with many onlookers, maybe not as much with the audience (“la, la ,la, I can’t hear you”).
I suspect that more than the words the mindset demonstrated, the new world view, will have greater impact in the long run.
That these people gave Zelensky a standing ovation tells you a lot about them.
A tourist visa will allow me to live and spend my money in the USA and I am tempted to do that.
Dven before the Trump changes it was a better place to be. There were fewer antagonistic recent immigrants and those who had been there for generations, of all races, seemed content with each other.
Only the Democrat activists were troublesome
I suspect that a look across the Atlantic will not work, the zealots will just see their own virtue, and the lack thereof in the USA, nothing else matters to zealots.
The USA economy has always outpaced the EEC/EU in low unemployment, low inflation, lightly regulated labour and market, increasing GDP per capita, technological advance and innovation.
The Euro-zealots have ignored this and berated it for its poor welfare system, “terrible” healthcare and sweatshop labour conditions.
Americans have overall been wealthier at all levels than Europeans.
Forty years ago my MD told me “ never beg against the US”. He never saw the self damage from wokery but it has always been true.
No, the grass is always greener.
Americans working all year for their one week annual holiday, then after they’ve worked there for 20 years, they get two weeks annual holiday, have no idea that most of Europe get at least four or five weeks annual holiday, and much better job security and employment conditions, thanks to the unions, which are often banned in American companies.
Just work from home then.
Do as I say, not as I do. Longstanding parliamentary principle since time immemorial.
Reached new heights five long years ago, during the Iatrogenic Pandemic – era of Partygate, Beergate and Cummingsgate. Rose-tinted spectacles for all speakers at all podiums.
Pandemic, Panic, Pandemonium.
Exactly – why do they get taxpayer subsidised bars and restaurants and are going to get an above inflation pay rise, although with the fine work Rachel from Accounts is doing, inflation will soon catch up.
The installation costs are just the start assuming that doesn’t include all new radiators and plumbing with masses of additional insultation to cover for how useless they are in buildings not built for them. And then there is the addition of an immersion heater water tank. And then how much more expensive electricity is than gas and under MiliTwat is rising with ever new energy price cap.
I think Guy Fawkes heat pump idea should be tried next.
How much longer will Rachel be in Accounts?
When someone gets round to doing the bank recs (do they do that in the public sector?) she will be toast.
It appears that Lloyds have kept the receipts……and the draft investigation, which she was fully aware of. She is being disingenuous, and Lloyds can prove it. Now. The banks owe Farage a favour or ten……….
That is a nice bit of cheerful news!
You refer to “the opposition” criticising this but HM Loyal Opposition (who are paid extra from tax pacers funds) cannon complain; they willed it.
It’s troubling that the government have relaxed planning conditions that will allow these contraptions to emit more noise and be installed within one metre of a neighboring property. How very considerate, expect more neighbour disputes over this.
I wonder if being subjected to the noise from these could be challenged as an infringement of ‘uman rights or will push up mental ‘elf issues.
Any heat pump discussion needs to identify what type of heat pump is referred to. An AIR source pump that can cool and heat the room always cools well but is less heat efficient with cold exterior temperatures. Ground source heat pumps need either a matrix of pipes buried in the land, the deeper the better, or a borehole drilled to put pipes deep in the ground. The ground source pump is more consistent heating and is best used with underfloor heating at constant temperature but EXPENSIVE. Air source heat pumps need not be expensive and are certainly not £10K unless ‘going large’ but electric charges will mount!