Which air source heat pump brand lasts longest?

Mitsubishi, Vaillant and Daikin all design for a 20-year working life with proper maintenance, and field data from MCS-registered installs broadly supports that. The compressor is the part that fails first, and how you've sized and commissioned the system matters more than the brand. A badly designed Vaillant will fail before a well-designed Samsung.

Do I need to replace my radiators when I fit a heat pump?

Not always. R290 models like the Vaillant aroTHERM Plus can run at flow temperatures up to 75°C, which means many existing radiators stay put. Older R32 systems run better at 45 to 55°C and often need 30% to 50% of radiators upsized. Your installer's heat loss calculation will tell you exactly which ones.

How loud is an air source heat pump?

Around 35 to 45 dB at 1 metre for modern units, which is roughly the sound of a quiet library. Most planning permission complaints come from poor placement near boundaries, not from the unit itself being loud.

Can I get the £7,500 BUS grant on any heat pump?

Only on MCS-certified installations using MCS-approved heat pumps fitted by an MCS-registered installer. The grant covers air source, ground source, water source and biomass boilers, but not air-to-air systems (those get £2,500 separately) or any DIY install.

Is a heat pump worth it if I have a working gas boiler?

Honestly, this one depends on your situation. If your boiler is under 8 years old, well-maintained and your home is poorly insulated, the financial case is weak. If your boiler is near end-of-life, your insulation is decent and you can access the £7,500 BUS grant, the case is strong. Add a heat pump tariff and the running costs typically beat gas. The carbon case is always strong.

Best Air Source Heat Pumps 2026: Top Picks Reviewed

Best Air Source Heat Pumps 2026: Top Picks Reviewed | Eco Home Check

What Makes an Air Source Heat Pump Worth Buying in 2026?

A good air source heat pump quietly delivers a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) above 4. See our guide on how air source heat pumps work for more detail.0 in a properly sized system. That means 4 kWh of heat for every 1 kWh of electricity, which is the number that actually moves your bills.

Everything else is secondary.

Brand matters less than people think. What matters is sizing, refrigerant type, how loud it is at 1 metre, and whether your installer knows what they're doing with the flow temperatures. We've seen identical Mitsubishi units perform brilliantly in one house and badly in another two streets away. Same kit, different design.

The 2026 market has shifted in one important way: R290 (propane) refrigerant is now the standard for new models. It runs at higher flow temperatures (up to 75°C) without losing efficiency, which means more existing radiators stay put when you switch. That's a quiet revolution if you've got an older property and were dreading the radiator upgrade bill. See our guide on whether heat pumps are worth it for more detail.

Here's the honest bit. Most "best heat pump" lists online rank by brand popularity or commission rate. See our guide on ground source alternatives for more detail. We're ranking by what we'd actually fit in our own homes, based on installer feedback, MCS performance data and the quotes we see coming through our eligibility checker.

Best Air Source Heat Pumps Compared: Our Top Picks

The Mitsubishi Ecodan R32, Vaillant aroTHERM Plus and Daikin Altherma 3 R32 lead the 2026 UK market for typical homes, with Samsung EHS and NIBE S2125 as strong alternatives. See our guide on leading heat pump brands for more detail.

Here's how they stack up:

Model	Refrigerant	SCOP (at 35°C flow)	Noise at 1m	Output range	Typical installed cost
Mitsubishi Ecodan R32	R32	4.3	45 dB	5–14 kW	£10,000–£13,500
Vaillant aroTHERM Plus	R290	5.0	35 dB	3–12 kW	£11,500–£14,500
Daikin Altherma 3 R32	R32	4.6	38 dB	4–16 kW	£9,500–£13,000
Samsung EHS Mono R290	R290	5.1	35 dB	5–16 kW	£9,000–£12,500
NIBE S2125	R290	4.9	36 dB	8–16 kW	£12,000–£15,500

Now the actual picks.

Vaillant aroTHERM Plus. This is what we'd fit in most semi-detached and detached homes built between 1930 and 2000. The R290 refrigerant means it can push flow temperatures up to 75°C if you need to keep old radiators, and the SCOP of 5.0 is genuinely excellent. It's quiet enough that planning permission rarely becomes an issue (35 dB at 1 metre is whisper territory). Vaillant's installer network is strong across England and Wales, which matters when something goes wrong in year three.

The downside? It's not the cheapest. You're paying roughly £1,500 more than the equivalent Samsung unit for the brand, the warranty and the dealer network. For most people, that's worth it.

Mitsubishi Ecodan R32. The safe pick. Mitsubishi has been doing this longer than anyone in the UK and the Ecodan is the most commonly installed heat pump in the country, which means almost every MCS installer knows it inside out. That familiarity is worth real money when you need a service call. The 2026 R32 range performs well in standard heat-loss properties, though it doesn't quite match Vaillant's flow temperature flexibility on poorly insulated homes.

If your installer pushes hard for Ecodan, it's usually because they install hundreds of them and the support pipeline is bombproof. That's not a bad reason.

Daikin Altherma 3 R32. Best value at the cheaper end of the premium tier. Daikin's tech is solid, the SCOP is competitive and we see it priced around £1,000 to £2,000 below Vaillant on like-for-like quotes. The integrated controls are excellent if you want everything running through one app. Slight catch: the network of trained installers is smaller than Mitsubishi's, so check that whoever quotes you has Daikin experience specifically.

Samsung and NIBE deserve quick mentions. Samsung's EHS Mono R290 is the price-disrupter, often £1,000 cheaper than equivalent models, and the performance numbers are excellent on paper. We're cautious only because the UK installer base is still building and service response times can be slower in some regions. NIBE is the choice for larger properties (5+ bedrooms) and rural homes where you want serious output and don't mind paying for it.

The one we'd avoid recommending in 2026: any cheap badge-engineered unit sold direct-to-consumer for under £4,000 with installation by a non-MCS contractor. You'll lose the BUS grant and any chance of decent performance.

Which Heat Pump Size and Output Do You Actually Need?

The right size depends on your home's heat loss, not its square footage. A proper MCS installer will calculate this room-by-room before quoting.

Rough rule of thumb: a well-insulated 3-bed semi typically needs 6 to 8 kW. A larger detached home with average insulation needs 9 to 12 kW. A poorly insulated Victorian terrace might need 10 kW or more despite being physically smaller, because heat loss is what the pump is fighting.

Get the sizing wrong and everything else falls apart. Oversize the pump and it short-cycles, wears out faster, and costs more to run. Undersize it and you'll never feel warm in February. Honestly, this one matters more than the brand on the box.

Ask your installer for a written heat loss calculation following MCS 3005-D. If they quote you off square metres alone, get another quote. We mean it.

One thing worth knowing. The different types of heat pump (air-to-water, air-to-air, ground source, hybrid) suit different homes. This article covers air-to-water specifically, which is what most UK households end up with. If you've got no wet central heating system and you're only heating one or two rooms, an air-to-air heat pump might be a better fit and now qualifies for £2,500 from BUS.

How Much Does an Air Source Heat Pump Cost to Install?

Expect £8,000 to £14,000 fully installed in 2026 for a typical UK home, before any grants come off.

The spread is wide because the install matters more than the unit itself. Roughly:

Heat pump unit and hot water cylinder: £4,000 to £6,500
Installation labour and commissioning: £2,500 to £4,000
New radiators or radiator upgrades (if needed): £500 to £2,500
Buffer tank, controls, electrical work: £1,000 to £2,000

A modest 3-bed semi with reasonable existing radiators and decent insulation typically lands around £10,500. A larger property needing radiator changes and a new cylinder runs closer to £13,000. We've covered the full heat pump cost breakdown separately if you want every line item.

Running costs are the other half of the equation. A heat pump running at SCOP 4.0 costs roughly the same to run as a modern gas boiler at current electricity and gas prices, if you're on a standard tariff. Switch to a heat pump tariff like Octopus Cosy or OVO Heat Pump Plus and you'll typically pay 30% to 40% less than gas. That's where the savings actually live.

Don't believe anyone who promises you'll halve your bills overnight. Some people do. Others see modest savings. It depends on your insulation, your old system's efficiency, and the tariff you switch to.

Can You Get a Grant to Help Cover the Cost?

Yes. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme gives you £7,500 off an air source heat pump installation in England and Wales, and ECO4 can fund the full cost if you receive qualifying benefits.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the headline grant. It runs until 31 March 2030, and the £7,500 comes off your installer's quote at the point of sale, not as a rebate you claim later. Your MCS installer applies on your behalf. You need a property in England or Wales, a valid EPC without outstanding insulation recommendations (loft and cavity wall must be sorted first if applicable), and you can't be replacing an existing low-carbon heating system. Full details on the BUS grant page.

ECO4 is different. It's funded by energy suppliers, targets households on means-tested benefits, and can cover the entire installation rather than just part of it. The catch is you need to qualify on income grounds and your home generally needs to be rated EPC D, E, F or G. The ECO4 guide covers eligibility in detail, but the quickest way to check is the eligibility checker, it runs your details against both schemes in about two minutes.

There's also the Warm Homes: Local Grant, administered by individual councils. Cornwall, Manchester and parts of Yorkshire have been generous. Many other councils haven't engaged with it at all. Worth checking your specific area.

One thing worth flagging. GBIS (the Great British Insulation Scheme) closed in March 2026. We still see articles online recommending it. Ignore them.

What to Ask Your Installer Before You Commit

Ask for the heat loss calculation, the SCOP figure for your specific system design, the noise rating in your proposed location, and exactly which radiators they're keeping versus replacing.

Not just "do you do heat pumps?" The questions that separate good installers from bad ones:

Can you show me the MCS 3005-D heat loss calculation for my property? (If they shrug, walk away.)
What's the design SCOP for this specific system, not the manufacturer's lab figure?
What flow temperature is the system designed around? (Lower is better. 35 to 45°C is excellent. Anything above 55°C means efficiency drops.)
Which radiators stay, which get upgraded, and why?
Where exactly will the outdoor unit sit, and what's the noise reading at the nearest neighbour boundary?
What's the cylinder size and recovery time?
Do you handle the BUS application, and when does the £7,500 come off the quote?
What's the warranty on parts, labour, and the unit itself? (Five years labour and seven years on the unit is a reasonable benchmark.)

Get three quotes. Always three. The spread on heat pump quotes for identical properties is genuinely shocking, we've seen £8,500 and £15,200 for the same house from two MCS installers, both with good reviews.

The cheapest quote isn't usually the best. The most expensive isn't either. The right one is the installer who shows their working, answers questions plainly, and doesn't try to upsell you a buffer tank you don't need.

If you want to start narrowing things down, run your postcode through the eligibility checker. It'll tell you which grants you qualify for and connect you with vetted MCS installers in your area. Two minutes, no obligation.