Air conditioning vs
air source heat pump
Air conditioning or an air source heat pump? Both are heat pumps. Here is which one your house needs, and what each costs.
- Free survey and a fixed written price
- We will tell you when the cheaper option is the right one
- No obligation and nothing to sign
Prefer to talk? 020 3393 1331
Accredited, and fitting the brands you know
Air conditioning we have fitted
Our own jobs, photographed on site. Real rooms, real outdoor positions, nothing from a catalogue.
Air conditioning
Outdoor unit on wall brackets
Above brick, isolator and cabling run tidy
Air conditioning
Condenser going up on straps
Lifted into a wall position, no scaffold
Air conditioning
Wall unit, commissioned
Set to 24 degrees and handed over
Air conditioning
Black wall unit in a sitting room
Chosen to sit with the room, not against it
Air conditioning
Ceiling cassette
Recessed flush into the ceiling
Air conditioning
Samsung Wind-Free
Cooling without a draught on the room
Air conditioning
Rooftop commissioning
Pressure tested and charged on gauges
Air conditioning
Outdoor unit at ground level
On paving beside the house, easy to service
Air conditioning
Black wall unit, running
Quiet enough for a bedroom
Air conditioning
One-way ceiling cassette
Only the grille shows
Air conditioning
Outdoor unit on paving
Against render, clear of the boundary
Air conditioning
Condenser high on a wall
On brackets where the ground was not an option
An air conditioner is an air-to-air heat pump: it heats and cools rooms directly and costs 2,400 to 3,200 pounds a room. An air source heat pump usually means air-to-water: it heats radiators and hot water and does not cool. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays 7,500 pounds for the air-to-water system. It also lists 2,500 pounds for the air-to-air one, which is not yet being paid out.
Which is right depends on whether you want cooling at all, and on whether you are replacing a boiler or adding to one.
Your estimate
£2,400to£3,200
Supplied, fitted, commissioned and certificated. Includes VAT.
Send this on WhatsAppPrice the fitted option
A fitted split system, priced. It is the option this page is comparing against, and this is what it actually costs.
Last step: what number should we call with your fixed price?
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
From first call to cool rooms in three steps
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Free survey
We measure the rooms, find the outdoor position and check permission for your address.
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A fixed written price
Units, pipework and electrics itemised. The number does not move unless the job does.
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Fitted in a day
One room a day, tested in every mode, and shown to you before we leave.
Read the full guide: 5 sections, about 3 minutes
Side by side
| Air conditioning (air to air) | Heat pump (air to water) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it heats | The air in the rooms it serves | Radiators, underfloor, and hot water |
| Does it cool? | Yes, that is the other half of it | No |
| Hot water | No | Yes |
| Replaces the boiler? | No | Yes, that is the point of it |
| Government grant | £2,500 listed, not yet being paid | £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme |
| VAT in a home | 0% on installation | 0% on installation |
| Cost | £2,400 to £3,200 per room | From the heat loss survey |
| Disruption | One day a room. No pipework changes | Radiators, cylinder, pipework |
| Best for | Cooling, plus cheap top-up heat room by room | Getting off gas entirely |
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
Why the naming causes real problems
An air conditioner and an air-to-water heat pump are the same machine in principle: a refrigerant circuit that moves heat from a cold place to a warm one, running in either direction. Calling one of them an air conditioner and the other a heat pump is a marketing convention, not a technical distinction.
The practical harm is that people who wanted cooling get quoted for an air-to-water system that cannot cool, and people who wanted to get off gas get quoted for air conditioning that cannot heat their hot water. Both quotes are for real equipment and neither does what was asked.
So the useful first question is never which technology. It is: do you want cooling, do you want to replace the boiler, or both.
The grant, and what each system is actually worth
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays 7,500 pounds towards an air source heat pump that replaces an existing heating system with one that takes over the heating and the hot water. That is the figure most people mean when they say the heat pump grant.
Since 2026 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme also lists 2,500 pounds towards an air-to-air heat pump, which is what an air conditioner is, but you cannot get it yet. It is not the same as the 7,500 pound grant for an air-to-water heat pump and the conditions are narrower: it depends on what is being replaced, on the property having a valid EPC, and on an MCS certified installation. We will check whether your property qualifies and tell you either way, and we will not put a grant in a quotation until it is confirmed. As of October 2026 the grant is not yet being paid out for air-to-air installations. When it opens we make the application for you, as we do for the 7,500 pound grant. The current rules are on GOV.UK.
Both carry 0 percent VAT when they are installed in a home. The grant is the difference, and it is the reason a heat pump quote and an air conditioning quote are not comparable on headline price.
The heat pump side of this is work we do as well. There is a full explanation on the heat pump page.
The systems that do both, which is what most people actually want
Several manufacturers now run air-to-air and air-to-water off one outdoor unit, so a single machine outside can cool the bedrooms in July, heat them in October, and run the radiators and the hot water all winter.
That removes the choice this page is about, and it removes a second outdoor unit and a second set of consents. It costs more than air conditioning alone and less than buying both systems separately.
It is not right for every property, because it needs the heat loss to suit and enough outdoor capacity, but where it fits it is usually the best answer available. There is more on the heat pump page.
Other things people weigh up
Split vs portable air conditioning
A portable unit costs 300 pounds and a fitted split costs 2,400.
CompareSingle split vs multi-split
If you want more than one room cooled, this is the decision that shapes the whole installation: several small outdoor units, or one bigger one serving all of them.
CompareWhat happens on a survey
An hour, nothing to sign, and a written fixed price afterwards. The fastest way to settle any of this properly.
Free surveyQuestions people ask
Can an air source heat pump cool the house?
An air-to-water heat pump, which is what people normally mean, does not cool in a typical UK installation. It heats water for radiators and hot water.
An air-to-air heat pump, which is what an air conditioner is, both heats and cools. If cooling matters to you, that is the one you want, and it is worth saying so early because the two get quoted interchangeably.
Is air conditioning eligible for a grant?
Not for the 7,500 pound one. That is for an air-to-water heat pump taking over the heating and the hot water.
But it is no longer true that air conditioning gets nothing. Since 2026 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme also lists 2,500 pounds towards an air-to-air heat pump, which is what an air conditioner is, but you cannot get it yet. It is not the same as the 7,500 pound grant for an air-to-water heat pump and the conditions are narrower: it depends on what is being replaced, on the property having a valid EPC, and on an MCS certified installation. We will check whether your property qualifies and tell you either way, and we will not put a grant in a quotation until it is confirmed. As of October 2026 the grant is not yet being paid out for air-to-air installations. When it opens we make the application for you, as we do for the 7,500 pound grant. The current rules are on GOV.UK.
The whole question is set out on the air conditioning grant page.
Is air conditioning cheap to heat with?
Yes, and it is the most underused thing about it. A modern unit in heating mode delivers roughly three to four units of heat for every unit of electricity, which makes it far cheaper than any electric heater and competitive with gas for heating one room.
For a loft conversion, a conservatory or a home office the central heating serves badly, heating that one room with the air conditioner is usually cheaper than raising the temperature of the whole house.
Can I have both?
Yes, and increasingly from one outdoor unit. Systems that run air-to-air and air-to-water together will cool the bedrooms in summer and run the radiators and hot water in winter, from a single machine outside.
It suits some properties and not others, and the heat loss survey decides. See the heat pump page.
Not sure which way to go?
Tell us the rooms and what you are trying to achieve. We will say which of these we would fit in your property and why, before anybody quotes anything.
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