Having entered the Vaillant Heat Pump Challenge earlier this year, homeowner and heating installer Luke Sheppard, and his partner Isabel, were thrilled to find their home – and air source heat pump – was to become the focus of an upcoming video presented by Kevin himself.
The filming saw Kevin interview Luke and Isabel and Luke’s business partner at Optimus Heating, Simon Murray, to learn more about the property, which had a Vaillant aroTHERM plus heat pump successfully installed in January 2023.
A heating engineer by trade
Luke said: “To be honest, I entered the competition at the last minute and wasn’t expecting to win, so to receive the call saying we’d been selected as a winner and that Kevin McCloud would be filming at our home was incredible!
“Like most of the country, we’d seen our energy bills rise, so I was keen to look at what we could do to help reduce them and, being a heating engineer by trade, upgrading our heating system seemed like the best place to start. This was the first heat pump I have installed, and it was really important for me as I wanted to show my customers that I believe in this low carbon technology so strongly I have it in my own home. There’s really no bigger testament than that.”
Installed last winter at the 1960s three-bedroom semi-detached property, the Vaillant aroTHERM plus heat pump at Luke’s home replaced his existing gas boiler that was under three years old. Since its installation, both Luke and Isabel have been impressed with how efficiently the property has been heated, with Kevin commenting that Luke’s home ‘points to the future’.
Great example of a retrofit
One of the judges who selected Luke’s home was Mark Wilkins, technologies and training director at Vaillant. He said: “Luke’s entry was selected as a great example of a retrofit where the installer had switched a boiler out and replaced it with a heat pump, with relatively little adaptation to the property. And the results speak for themselves, with Luke and his family enjoying an easy-to-use system that maintains a comfortable temperature year-round.
“As a more typical property seen throughout the UK, Luke’s home is a shining example of the capabilities of heat pumps, and we’re confident that Vaillant’s Heat Pump Possible campaign will support even more homeowners to better understand how low carbon technologies, such as heat pumps, can work effectively in their homes.”
Earlier this year, Vaillant called on homeowners and heating installers to share their heat pump projects in homes where the technology may, on the surface, not have seemed the most obvious option. With an aim of showcasing the true potential of the low carbon heating solution within different property types, three winning entries were selected to demonstrate that heat pumps are possible across a plethora of UK housing types.