Prices and rates correct as of September 2026. The energy price cap changes quarterly, so check current rates before budgeting.
Guides
Heating and heat pumps
How to heat your home with the air conditioning you already have, or the air-to-air heat pump you are thinking of buying, for a fraction of the cost of electric heaters.
Start here
Can your air conditioning heat your home?
Yes. Every modern wall-mounted split is a reverse-cycle air-to-air heat pump: the same outdoor unit that dumps heat outside in July pulls heat in from the outside air in January, and it keeps doing so at minus 15°C or lower. Cooling-only units are rare now. If yours has a heating mode, you already own the most efficient electric heater there is. Our air-to-air heat pumps guide explains what they are, who they suit, and who they do not.
The saving comes from efficiency. A fan heater, panel heater, or storage heater turns one unit of electricity into one unit of heat. An air-to-air unit with a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of 4 to 5 turns it into four or five. At Ofgem's price cap for July to September 2026 (26.11p/kWh, direct debit, Great Britain average) that is 26p per kilowatt-hour of heat from a resistive heater against about 6.5p at SCOP 4, or 5.2p at SCOP 5. A living room that costs £4.70 a day to heat with a fan heater costs around £1.17 with a heat pump. The cost guide has installed prices and full worked examples, and heating with air conditioning shows you how to run it well.
There is a £2,500 grant too, in England and Wales, under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, but as of September 2026 the MCS certification it depends on is still being completed and very few households have actually received it. Read the grant guide before you let anyone price a system around it.
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Heating and heat pump guides
Costs, the grant, storage heaters, cold weather, tariffs, noise, and the best units for heating, researched for UK homes.
Heating and heat pumps
Best air-to-air heat pumps UK 2026: the wall-mounted units that heat well, ranked
Eight wall-mounted air-to-air heat pumps ranked on heating, not cooling: SCOP, heating output at 2.5kW and 3.5kW, how cold they keep going, quiet-mode noise, price, and which ones are actually on the MCS list for the £2,500 grant.
11 Sep 2026
Heating and heat pumps
Are air-to-air heat pumps noisy? Real decibel figures, the 37 dB(A) rule, and how to keep the neighbours happy
Real indoor and outdoor decibel figures for UK wall splits, what sound power and sound pressure actually mean, how the MCS 020 a) 37 dB(A) test works, and how to stop an outdoor unit annoying anyone at night.
9 Sep 2026
Heating and heat pumps
Heat pump tariffs: which ones work for air-to-air heat pumps and air conditioning
Every UK heat pump tariff compared for the reverse-cycle split you run in the evenings: eligibility, cheap windows, peak rates, the MCS certificate catch, and the sums that show when you would lose money.
26 Aug 2026
Heating and heat pumps
Do air-to-air heat pumps work in cold weather? What happens to your air conditioning in a UK winter
Yes, they do. Every mainstream wall split sold in the UK heats to at least minus 15°C, and the UK January average is about 4°C. Here is what really changes when it gets cold, from falling COP to defrost cycles and iced-up outdoor units.
24 Aug 2026
Heating and heat pumps
Air-to-air vs air-to-water heat pumps: which is right for your home?
Two very different products share one name. Here is what each heats, what each costs to fit and run, which grant applies, and which suits your home.
19 Aug 2026
Heating and heat pumps
Replacing storage heaters with an air-to-air heat pump: costs, savings, and the £2,500 grant
Old storage heaters are the most expensive heating most people will ever own. Here is what each replacement really costs to run in a 1-bed and 2-bed flat, what a heat pump install involves in a flat, and where the grant stands.
17 Aug 2026
Heating and heat pumps
How much does an air-to-air heat pump cost? UK prices, running costs and the grant
Real UK supplied-and-fitted prices for air-to-air heat pumps by scope, unit-only prices for the ranges we review, running costs against fan heaters, storage heaters and gas, and what the £2,500 grant and 0% VAT do to the sums.
12 Aug 2026
Heating and heat pumps
The £2,500 air-to-air heat pump grant: who qualifies and what is actually happening
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme now offers £2,500 towards an air-to-air heat pump in England and Wales. Here is who qualifies, how the application works, what the money covers, and why almost nobody has received it yet.
10 Aug 2026Frequently asked questions
Does air conditioning heat as well as it cools? +
Usually better. A wall split's heating output is normally higher than its cooling output (a 2.5kW cooling unit typically delivers 3.2kW to 3.6kW of heat), and modern units carry A+++ heating labels at the sizes most rooms need. The heat arrives fast and is easy to control, but it stays in the room with the indoor unit and it does not heat your hot water.
How much does it cost to heat a room with air conditioning? +
At the July to September 2026 cap of 26.11p/kWh, a unit at SCOP 4 delivers heat for about 6.5p per kilowatt-hour. A typical living room needing 3kW of heat for six hours a day uses around 18kWh of heat, so roughly £1.17 a day, against about £4.70 for the same heat from a fan or panel heater. Over an illustrative 2,000kWh heating season for one room that is about £131 against £522. October's cap rate of 26.32p changes these by pennies.
Is there a grant for an air-to-air heat pump? +
Yes on paper: £2,500 under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales since 28 April 2026, for MCS-certified installers fitting MCS-certified products that replace an existing fossil fuel or electric heating system and heat the whole property. In practice, as of September 2026, only Daikin multi-split combinations are listed as products and installer certification is still being rolled out, so almost nobody has received it yet. The separate air-to-water grant is £7,500.
Does an air-to-air heat pump work when it is freezing? +
Yes. Current units from the main brands are rated to keep heating at minus 15°C outside, and several to minus 20°C. Output and efficiency fall as it gets colder, and the outdoor unit pauses for a few minutes now and then to defrost in cold, damp weather, but you will still get far more heat per unit of electricity than any panel or storage heater. See do air-to-air heat pumps work in cold weather? for model-by-model figures.
Keep exploring
More guides
If the question is what a system costs to buy or run, the costs hub covers installation prices, running costs, and whether air conditioning is worth it. For getting the most from a unit you already own, from winter settings to servicing, go to running and maintenance. Everything else, from choosing a system to planning permission, is in the full guides index.
Ready to heat with a heat pump?
Compare quotes from local F-Gas registered installers, or see which wall-mounted units heat best before you ask.