From First Enquiry to Warm House — The Heat Pump Process in Cambridge
Last reviewed: 2 October 2026
Installation week is only one part of getting a heat pump. This guide covers all eight stages for a Cambridge home, from the first enquiry to the follow-up visit, with typical timings and what you need to do at each stage.
The eight stages at a glance
| Stage | Typical timing | Your involvement |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Enquiry | Day 1 | Describe your home and heating |
| 2. Survey | Weeks 1–2 | Two to three hours at home |
| 3. Design and quote | Weeks 2–3 | Review and compare |
| 4. Planning (if needed) | Adds 8+ weeks | Sign the application |
| 5. Grant voucher | Weeks 3–6 | Reply to Ofgem’s email |
| 6. Installation | 3–5 days on site | Clear access, plan around hot water |
| 7. Commissioning and handover | Final day | Learn the controls |
| 8. Aftercare | First winter | Report cold rooms |
1. Enquiry
You tell the installer about the property: age, type, current heating, rough size, and whether it’s listed or in a conservation area. A good installer will be cautious about quoting without a visit.
2. Survey
The surveyor measures every room, notes wall and window types, checks the loft and floors, and looks at your radiators, pipework, electrics and possible unit positions. In Cambridge they’ll also look closely at:
- draughts through sash windows and suspended floors in Victorian terraces
- outdoor space — many terraces have only a small rear yard
- hard water — Cambridge’s chalk supply is around 286–295 mg/l, and older systems are often heavily scaled
See what a heat loss survey involves.
3. Design and quote
From the survey, the installer calculates the heat loss of each room on a cold design day and picks a heat pump size, the radiator changes, the cylinder and the unit position. Cambridge’s frostier winters — around 52 air-frost days a year at NIAB — make an accurate calculation especially important.
The quote should list everything and show the grant as a deduction. Compare quotes line by line; our hidden costs guide helps.
4. Planning, if needed
Most rear-yard and garden installations are permitted development. If your home is listed, or in one of Cambridge’s 18 conservation areas with the unit facing a road, an application goes to Greater Cambridge Shared Planning. Allow around eight weeks. Do this before the grant application. More on planning.
5. Grant voucher
The installer applies to Ofgem for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant: £7,500, or £9,000 if you’re replacing oil or LPG (applications 21 July 2026 – 31 March 2027). Ofgem emails you to confirm, then issues a voucher. How the application works.
6. Installation
A typical Cambridge job takes three to five days:
- Outdoor unit and base. A slab or wall bracket, placed so defrost meltwater drains away rather than freezing on a path.
- Old boiler out, cylinder in. If you had a combi, a cylinder goes into the old airing cupboard or a new cupboard.
- Pipework. Insulated pipes from the unit into the house, through solid gault-brick walls in older homes.
- Radiators. Usually two to six upgrades, depending on the house.
- System clean. A thorough flush and a magnetic filter, which is important with hard water.
- Electrics. A new circuit, and notification to UK Power Networks, the electricity network operator for the East of England.
Planning tip for landlords: student and professional lets in Cambridge are easiest to work on between tenancies or over the summer.
7. Commissioning and handover
The installer fills and tests the system, sets weather compensation (which adjusts water temperature to the weather), checks it performs as designed, and registers it with MCS. You receive the MCS certificate, warranty details and commissioning records, and a walk-through of the controls. The installer redeems the grant voucher and sends the final invoice.
8. Aftercare
The first frosty spell is the real test. You’ll see the outdoor unit occasionally run a short defrost cycle, sometimes with a little steam. That’s normal. Keep the heating running steadily rather than switching it on and off, and note any rooms that feel cool. A good installer will adjust the heating curve or rebalance radiators at a follow-up visit.
An annual service keeps the system efficient and the warranty valid.
How long overall?
- No planning needed: six to ten weeks from enquiry to working heat pump
- With planning or listed building consent: add two to three months
For prices, see Cambridge heat pump costs.
See what a heat pump would look like in your Cambridge home
The mechanism is the same in every UK home; the design is specific to yours. Our team carries out a free in-home survey including a full room-by-room heat-loss calculation, identifies the system size and configuration that fits your property, and provides a written quote with the £7,500 BUS grant already deducted.
You'll see the actual figure you'd pay — not an estimate — and the projected efficiency for your specific install.