There are various different types of heat pump depending on the source of the heat and the use of that heat in your home. While all types of heat pumps are worth the investment, your choice depends on two things:

• Whether you want the heat to be extracted from the soil (which requires digging up your garden for laying pipes underneath), from the ambient air (which requires little space but a fan will constantly emit a low amount of noise), or from a body of water (if you have such available close to your house).
• Whether you want the heat to be used for domestic hot water and conventional heating using radiators or underfloor heating, or you prefer heating the home by ventilating with heated air (similarly to how an air conditioner would cool the room).

When the heat source is the soil, we talk about ground source heat pumps. Similarly, the ones using the ambient air or a body of water are called air source and water source heat pumps, respectively. These umbrella terms can, then, be broken down based on the application.

Read more about the specific heat pump types below:

Ground source or geothermal heat pumps are, in most cases, used for heating water. With the help of additional system elements, it is possible to use heated air ventilation with geothermal systems, but it is far more common to use it for conventional radiators and underfloor heating.

Both air source and water source heat pumps can be used for heating water as well as indoor air in your home. When used for heating water, we refer to air-to-water heat pumps and water-to-water heat pumps. Water source, air-heating systems are called liquid-to-air heat pumps which are a kind of speciality products. Hot air ventilation is usually provided by air-to-air heat pumps. The latter can also be reversed and used for cooling your home — however, it is not eligible for the RHI.