Military shuns heat pumps and replaces with cheaper electric boilers

The military is removing heat pumps from soldier’s homes and replacing them with cutting-edge electric boilers which cost less to run.

The campaign, named “Project Nixie”, has been searching for alternatives to heat pumps since 2020.

Just a “very small proportion” of military homes have been fitted with heat pumps as the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) domestic building stock is not suitable.

The project was launched to find to find a cheaper alternative to heat pumps, according to an MoD spokesperson.

It has been reported that four homes at the Duke of Gloucester Barracks in South Cerney, Glos are being fitted with Cylo boilers as part of a test pilot due to start early in 2024.

Cylo is a fridge-sized, emission-free electric boiler that is cheaper to run and more effective than a heat pump.

The eco-boiler uses a pressurised water tank as a thermal battery which uses off-peak and cheap electricity to create a “heat reservoir”.

Currently, the cost stands at £20,000 per unit but producers believe this will decrease.

The product is not available commercially at the moment but can be sold to big landlords, such as government departments and councils.

According to documents, the MoD paid around £5,000 to install each of the four trial devices.

Experts suggest that combining a Cylo electric boiler with solar panels – which is being tested during the Duke of Gloucester trial – would see a 18 per cent lower annual running costs than a heat pump.

Cylo’s makers Remit Zero claim that the device can last for 40 years.

Andy Slaney, the CEO of RemitZero, said that unlike heat pumps, Cylo boilers are quiet and easy to install.

“There are some realities with heat pumps that are, I think, a bit of an inconvenient truth,” he told the Telegraph.

“They are reasonably complex pieces of kit; they have a finite life; they require quite extensive maintenance; they require electricity when heat is required; their efficiency drops off when it’s cold.

“You tend to need larger radiators and larger diameter pipe work and you need a more thermally qualified building so you can cope with a lower flow temperature.”