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WILLIAM WILSON
WITH a venerable history dating back to 1900, the bathroom and heating company William Wilson has seen any number of changes in fashion when it comes to home heating and bathrooms.
The firm’s heating design manager, Colin MacGregor, warns that heat pump-based solutions are not for everyone.
“We promote renewables and low carbon solutions for heating, but it has to be for the right situation and the right property.
“In every home design, you have to start with insulation. If a home is poorly insulated and you go right ahead and install a heat pump, you will end up with a hugely expensive system that struggles to heat the home.
“I myself live in a stone cottage and it would cost me tens of thousands of pounds to bring the insulation up to the required standard,” he says.
MacGregor also points out that the Scottish Government’s target of having 600,000 heat pumps installed in Scottish homes by 2028 is completely unachievable.
“We have a huge shortfall of certified heat pump installers.
“To date, we have about a tenth of that number installed, so we have a huge amount of catching up to do, by way of new installations, to get close to that figure,” he says.
The firm is MCS certified for heating installation designs, rather than doing the actual installation.
As MacGregor explains, getting the heat flow through the house is just one part of the problem.
“When you switch from a combi-boiler, which, by definition, provides both heating and hot water, suddenly you need to install a hot water cylinder for your bath, sink and shower. Finding space for a hot water cylinder can be a deal breaker in a small cottage or house. You can end up having to give up part of a bedroom to find space for a cupboard to put the boiler in. This is also true of some of the smaller, modern homes.”
William Wilson is in the business of providing solutions that people want and with the current focus on climate change, heat pumps definitely have a role to play. People want to at least consider installing one.
However, he notes that grid connectivity is an issue in many places in Scotland.
“If we had a sudden, general, widespread takeup by the public of heat pump solutions, with people switching en masse from combi boilers, not only with there not be sufficient numbers of designers and installers, grid connectivity would be a challenge. In many places it would make the switch over impossible as things now stand,” he comments.
Another factor that people have to think about, despite the government urging them to install low-carbon solutions, is that we are currently in a transitional phase, and the path forward is uncertain.
“What happens if, in four or five years, the hydrogen economy suddenly kicks off and we have piped hydrogen gas? That would probably be vastly cheaper than a heat pump solution for many people, as well as being a more carbon neutral or carbon-free solution.”
MacGregor says that right now his thriving business is still selling more new combi-boilers than heat pumps, but there are also some signs that the trend is certainly changing towards heat pumps.
Marketing Manager Dave Reid added: “William Wilson are one of the largest stockists of Air Source Heat Pumps in Scotland. We have been supplying renewable energy products to the heating industry in Scotland since 2005. Over the past five years William Wilson have sold over 12,000 heat pumps in Scotland.
“We hold over £1M in stock of renewable products such as Mitsubishi Ecodan, Vaillant aroTHERM and Grant Aerona. We can also supply other types of heat pumps such as Samsung and Panasonic. We have an MCS compliant heating design service available, with seven fully trained in-house heating designers.
“William Wilson trade from 22 Scottish locations, so we’ll very likely have a branch near you for convenience. William Wilson have been supplying the Scottish Government with heat pumps for over five years. We are also supplying many local authorities, housing associations and house builders.”
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