Air Source Heat Pump Installed for the Braddicks in Invergordon

The Braddick family have a lovely two storey home near Invergordon, where teachers Mr & Mrs Braddick live with their son and their two dogs. When we went along to speak to them in October, they were just about to welcome a second child to their family.

Before speaking to Black Isle Renewables, the Braddick’s home was fitted with storage heaters. However, these were difficult to control; getting a consistent temperature was challenging and concerns about costs & efficiency meant that they chose only to heat certain rooms. They very rarely used their conservatory because it was always cold: keeping it warm simply would have been too expensive. Keeping one main room warm, they would need to brace themselves for the cold when they moved to another. In addition, they were always worried about their young son’s bedroom being cold, and were constantly in and out checking the thermometer.

Realising a new heating system was required, they were encouraged by the financial assistance available to homeowners. Looking on the Energy Savings Trust’s website, they saw that to qualify for the loan they would need to use an approved installer, and using the map function were able to browse for installers in their area – which is how they came to find Black Isle Renewables. And having read a few reviews of our work, they gave us a call.

“Throughout the whole process it was easy to speak to them on the phone, they’re available all the time and you don’t have to wait in a queue or anything like that. They’ve just been very easy and very nice to speak to.”

The Braddicks knew that they wanted an Air Source Heat Pump, but other than that were quite happy to leave the technical details to our team, who laid out the options for them.

“Colin knew what he was talking about!”

The install started on a Monday and was finished by lunchtime on the Friday. The only main construction issue was a hole which needed to be put in their son’s bedroom wall, but this was tidied up and filled in before the evening so that nothing dangerous or unsafe was left overnight. They were without hot water for just two days during the process and by Friday lunchtime our team had tidied up and the new system was all ready to go.

After the install had finished the Braddicks experienced a small issue with the temperature of the shower, and our team were happy to talk them through the process of making a small adjustment to the settings. The family haven’t experienced any other issues – but they’re confident knowing that we could help if they did.

Since getting their Mitsubishi Air Source Heat Pump installed, the Braddicks say that they’ve been able to just forget about the system – it runs in the background and they don’t really need to think about it at all. They don’t need to brace themselves when going into another room and because the system adjusts automatically to the outside temperature, they sometimes don’t realise how cold it is outside:

“The only disadvantage is that sometimes I step outside and realise that I’ll have to go back in and get a jacket!”

Perhaps most gratifying for us to hear is that the heat pump has given their home a new lease of life. They’re able to fully utilise all rooms in the house, including the conservatory and they no longer have concerns about keeping their son’s room cosy.

“Now it feels like the whole house is your own, because it’s all at full temperature.”

It’s also good to know that the process of claiming Renewable Heat Incentive has been really easy and that along with the reductions in cost made since moving away from storage heaters, the family is really saving money.

“Everything worked out the way we were promised in the beginning.”

We’re really glad that we were able to provide a system that makes a difference to the family’s lives.