Common situation
A home on storage heaters: how to heat, cool and run hot water
One of the strongest cases for air-to-air: whole-home heating and cooling from the same equipment, keeping the immersion cylinder for hot water.
Best fit for this home
Fixed AC throughout, with a separate hot-water cylinder
Air-to-air heat pumps heat and cool every room; hot water comes from a cylinder of its own
Strong fit. No close second, and nothing important left unknown.
This is the best fit because you're after better comfort throughout the home, your home is heated by electricity today and you're open to replacing everything.
- Keep
- your immersion cylinder
- Add
- 5 indoor wall units · one outdoor unit
- Remove
- your storage heaters
- Heating
- Room-by-room heating from the same units that cool, controlled per room
- Cooling
- Every room
- Hot water
- From your cylinder — kept if you have one, otherwise added
- Radiators
- You don't have any
- Indoors
- A unit in each room, plus the hot-water cylinder
- Outdoors
- one outdoor position, subject to survey — one or two condensers, depending on how the rooms group together
- Work
- Moderate to significant: pipework to every room, no wet system needed
Cost
££
A mid-range project: more equipment, more labour, more making good.
The air-conditioning part — 5 indoor units, 1 outdoor — estimates at £4,800–£10,500 installed.
Cost tiers are Airva's own assessment of these routes relative to each other, not a quotation. We don't publish a whole-home price range — an installer survey sets the price.
Why this won: On balance, this does more of what you asked for than Ducted AC + cylinder.
- Improves comfort across the home, not one room
- Far cheaper to run than electric panel or storage heating
- A complete, coherent replacement
- Scales to cooling across the home
Every answer below is filled in. Change one and the plan updates.
The answers behind this plan
- Comfort throughout
- Storage heaters
- Immersion cylinder
- Open to replacing everything
- Cooling: every room
- Terraced
- 3 bed, 2 floors
- Some work fine
- Wall units fine
- Outside: garden or patio
- Outdoor looks: relaxed
- Permanent changes OK
- Mid-range project
The alternatives, and how they differ
Good alternative
Concealed ducted heating and cooling, with a separate cylinder
- ↔ Heats through concealed ducts instead
- ↔ More building work
- ↔ Costs more
Heating: ducted air handles the heating, zoned across the home. Cooling: every room. Hot water: from your cylinder — kept if you have one, otherwise added.
Read about this →Good alternative
Fixed AC throughout, with hot water from the same system
- ↔ Takes hot water from the same system
Heating: room-by-room heating from the units that cool. Cooling: every room. Hot water: from the same system, where a compatible package is available for your home.
Read about this →What would change this plan?
- If you wanted to keep your heating exactly as it is → Keep your existing heating and add fixed AC
- If nothing but a grille could show → Concealed ducted heating and cooling, with a separate cylinder
Could a grant apply?
Requires installer confirmation. This plan replaces your main heating, so a grant may be in play. Three quick questions decide the position.
- Which nation the property is in
- Whether you own it
- Whether it is a new build
What an installer must confirm
- Whether the electrical supply and consumer unit can carry the new load
- That the installer is MCS-certified, if you want to pursue a grant
- A whole-home survey: heat loss room by room, pipe runs and equipment positions
- Whether the loft or ceiling void is usable for equipment and ducts
- Whether a compatible hot-water package is available for the system and your demand
This plan replaces your main heating, so government support may be in play. It is claimed by an MCS-certified installer, never by you directly.
Why not the others
- Heat pump + radiators, Heat pump + radiators + AC, Heat pump + fan coils — there are no radiators or underfloor pipes to feed, and installing them isn't on the table.
Generated by Airva's planner engine, version 2.0, from the answers above. An initial guide, not a technical system design or formal quotation. Cost tiers are Airva's own assessment of these routes relative to each other, not a quotation. We don't publish a whole-home price range — an installer survey sets the price.
Questions
A home on storage heaters: what is the best system?
Fixed AC throughout, with a separate hot-water cylinder. This is the best fit because you're after better comfort throughout the home, your home is heated by electricity today and you're open to replacing everything. It keeps your immersion cylinder. It adds 5 indoor wall units, one outdoor unit.
What would it cost?
A mid-range project: more equipment, more labour, more making good. The air-conditioning part of the plan estimates at £4,800–£10,500 installed. Cost tiers are Airva's own assessment of these routes relative to each other, not a quotation. We don't publish a whole-home price range — an installer survey sets the price.
What would change the recommendation?
If you wanted to keep your heating exactly as it is, it would be keep your existing heating and add fixed ac. If nothing but a grille could show, it would be concealed ducted heating and cooling, with a separate cylinder.
Would a grant apply?
Requires installer confirmation. This plan replaces your main heating, so a grant may be in play. Three quick questions decide the position. Still to confirm: Which nation the property is in; Whether you own it; Whether it is a new build.