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CB Heating Sales HQ, three advisors speaking to customers interested in air source heat pumps

Introducing our trusted air source heat pump installer, CB Heating

By EDF | Posted May 12, 2023

We're thrilled to team up with a company that shares our values and commitment to reducing carbon emissions. With more than two decades of experience, CB Heating have become a trusted name in the industry. They're committed to providing the highest quality heat pump installations, ensuring that each customer gets a reliable, efficient and tailored heating system.

In this blog we'll interview Clayton Browne, the Founder and Managing Director of CB Heating. With his extensive knowledge and expertise, Clayton will share his insights on air source heat pumps and their significance in the transition towards a greener future.

 

Founder and managing director of CB Heating, Clayton Browne

 

Tell us a little bit about CB Heating and how you began working in the heat pump industry

"I started CB Heating when I was 18 years old after completing an apprenticeship. I was taught old fashioned values, things like taking your time to do a job right first time, taking pride in your work and being organised and focused. It's these core values that I engrained in my training from the very beginning. I asked myself how can I make my business different? What can I do to make my business stand out from the rest? The answer was renewables.

A lot of my competitors were only focusing on boilers and that’s why solar, thermal and heat pumps became my passion. I made it my mission to learn everything I could about these systems and be the very best I could.

I installed my first Daikin heat pump in 2001. From that day I've installed thousands of heat pumps and have built an amazing team of 140 specialists around me to make CB Heating what it is today. All that hard work led to having the support and investment from EDF, which was one of the proudest moments of my life."

 

How much has the heat pump industry changed since you founded CB Heating?

"This is a great question because heat pumps are an established tech so they haven’t really changed. However there have been developments in sound reduction and new refrigerants making them more desirable for customers.

I would say that the heat pump boom we're experiencing now is long overdue and still not the boom it should be because the UK has been reliant on gas for decades so is behind the rest of Europe in the deployment of heat pump installations. The speed of change will only increase as we help EDF help the UK hit its target of installing 600,000 heat pumps by 2028.

We still have to further adopt and evolve our attitudes towards this technology. The old myths and misconceptions regarding heat pumps (such as "A heat pump is expensive to run") are still believed by many. The right message needs to be promoted nationally with the right information provided to customers to enable trust and the evolution of the UKs heating industry."

Find out more about heat pumps

 

Why should people invest in an air source heat pump, and do you have one yourself?

"Because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do for our environment and because you would be future-proofing your home by decarbonising your heating system.

I lived in a 1970s 4 bed detached home without any insulation upgrades at the time and replaced my gas boiler with a heat pump. The heat pump worked amazingly especially since I managed to not upgrade any radiators. My heat pump worked well in the "Beast of the East" at -11°C and still heated my home to 22°C. Did my electricity bills increase? Yes of course they did as I was using more electricity however I no longer had a gas bill or a standing charge for my gas! Overall I was slightly better off by fitting a heat pump.

I've since added solar panels and battery storage and found this is a great combination with a heat pump as I can now run my heat pump and entire home with an off peak tariff most of the time. Furthermore, in the Summer when I'm generating large volumes of electricity from the solar, I'm being paid for it!

So in short, the bigger picture for home decarbonisation in my view is self-sustainability, by removing my reliance on gas and powering my home with electricity when it's at its cheapest. So investing in a heat pump is part of a bigger picture, how far you take it is up to you.

Over a 12 month period, I'm still paying for electricity from the grid at off peak times in the Winter but I'm also selling it back to the grid in the Summer to offset the Winter costs. This means my energy costs over a 12 month period to heat and power my home are drastically reduced to the point where I pay almost nothing to have a home that’s always above 21°C and has all the power I need for a busy family home."

 

How easy is it to install an air source heat pump?

"If the design and installation are done correctly by a great installer like us, a heat pump is easy to install in most circumstances in normal UK homes. All of our designs are bespoke and therefore we can accommodate a variety of different home types."

 

CB Heating air source heat pump showroom

 

What makes CB Heating different from other installers? 

"Experience and trust. These two things are the fundamental difference between us and other competitors. Of course, that is not to say that there aren't many other very good experienced installers out there. However, there are many newcomers to the market that haven't got the experience we have. Our experience and expertise give our customers comfort that we know what we're doing. We're established and we have the backing of EDF so if something goes wrong they know where we are.

We also have our Heat Pump Installer Network (HPIN), the largest heat pump training facility in the UK with the capacity to train 4000 engineers a year. It provides support and training to local heating companies wanting to install more heat pumps in a safe environment. This network provides customers with local tradespeople, promotes and supports local work with the confidence of buying from a national energy supplier partnered with a heat pump company that’s been installing heat pumps for decades."

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