Questions people ask before they ring
Everything below is the honest version, including the parts that might put you off. If your question isn't here, it's quicker to ask it on the phone than to search for it.
- Will it look awful on the wall?
- The indoor unit is a slim white box, usually high on the wall where you stop noticing it after a week. Outside there is one small box, and we place it where you have to go looking for it. The photo at the top of this page has one on it.
- Does it heat as well as cool?
- Yes, and it is the thing most people do not know. These are heat pumps: in summer they move heat out of the room, and in winter they run in reverse and move it in. Same box, same remote, one button. Because it moves warmth rather than burning anything to make it, it gives out more heat than the electricity it uses.
- Can it replace my central heating?
- In the rooms it serves, largely yes — plenty of people end up leaving the radiators off in those rooms through the winter. Two honest caveats. It heats the rooms that have a unit in them, not the hallway that does not. And it will not heat your water, so a boiler or an immersion still has the taps and the shower. Anybody telling you it replaces everything is skipping that second part.
- How much mess is it?
- One core hole through the wall, roughly the size of a ten pence piece, plus a pipe run. Dust sheets down, holes made good, hoovered before we go.
- Why not just tell me the price on the website?
- Because the honest answer depends on the room, the wall and the pipe run, and a number on a website is either wrong or padded to cover the worst case. We would rather ring you and tell you the real one.
- How long does an install take?
- Most single-room installs are done in a day, start to finish, machine tested and running before we leave. More than one room takes longer; we’ll tell you how much on the call.
- Do I need planning permission?
- Almost always no, for an ordinary house. Flats, listed buildings and conservation areas can be different, so we check your address before the quote rather than after the deposit.
- Will it work in a flat?
- Yes, plenty of ours are. The main thing to sort first is whether the outdoor unit needs a management company or freeholder to sign it off, and that’s something we help you work out before the quote.
- What will it cost to run?
- That depends on the size of the room, how well it holds heat or cold, your tariff and how much you use it, especially if you run it as heating through winter as well as cooling in summer. We cannot give a figure without knowing your home. What we can say is that it is a heat pump doing the work, so it earns its keep across the whole year.
- Is it noisy?
- Modern outdoor units are quiet, closer to a fridge humming than the rattling boxes people remember. We also think about where it sits, and keep it away from a bedroom window if there’s a better spot.
- What does the guarantee cover?
- Every install carries a year’s workmanship guarantee as standard. There is a maintenance plan that extends that cover up to five years, arranged when we fit your unit; ask on the day.
- Can you do more than one room?
- Yes, and it’s worth mentioning even if you only need one room right now. Doing a second room while the van and the tools are already on site costs far less per room than us coming back separately, so flag it on the call even as a maybe.
Still got a question?
We’ll ring you back within two hours.Mon to Sat, 10am to 6pm. Outside those hours, first thing the next working day.