Advice
Straight answers, before anyone talks about money
Everything here is written by people who do the work. Where the honest answer is “it depends on your house”, we say that instead of inventing a number to fill the page.
Start here · 6 min read
What a new boiler costs
It's the most-searched question in this trade and the one most companies answer worst. Here's what moves the number, so you can read any quote you're given, ours included, and know whether it's fair.Read it
6 min read
What air conditioning costs to run
Nearly everyone we speak to overestimates this, usually by three or four times. The picture in people's heads is an American window unit roaring away all summer. A modern split system in a Yorkshire bedroom is a very different animal.
5 min read
Combi, system or conventional?
Three types, one decision, and a lot of confident advice pulling in both directions. The right answer comes down to how many people want hot water at once, and what your incoming mains is like.
4 min read
What size boiler do you need?
Boiler output is quoted in kilowatts and the instinct is that more must be safer. It isn't. An oversized boiler cycles on and off, wears itself out, and costs more to run.
5 min read
Repair it, or replace it?
Nobody wants to be sold a new boiler by the person who came out to fix the old one. Here's how to judge it for yourself.
4 min read
Does air conditioning heat a room?
Yes. And for a lot of UK households that turns out to be the more useful half of the year. A reverse-cycle split system is, technically, an air-to-air heat pump.
4 min read
Do you need planning permission?
For most houses in England, no. Putting an outdoor unit up generally falls under permitted development. That permission comes with conditions though, and there are properties where it doesn't apply at all.
4 min read
Are gas boilers being banned?
Short answer, if you've got a gas boiler in an existing home: no. Nobody is going to make you rip it out, and you won't be stuck if it fails next winter.
5 min read
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme
A government grant towards a heat pump, paid to your installer and taken off your price. Here's who it's for, what it's worth, and the conditions people trip over.
5 min read
The air-to-air heat pump grant
Air-to-air heat pumps went into the Boiler Upgrade Scheme at £2,500 when the amended regulations came into force in April 2026. If that phrase means nothing to you, it may still be the most relevant grant on the list, because an air-to-air heat pump is, in most homes, the same kit as a home air conditioning system.