Greater London · Heat pump installation
Air Source Heat Pumps in Nunhead
Air source heat pumps across Nunhead and nearby, from the first look to the final check with the price fixed before work begins.
- Not knowing whether a grant applies
- Working out where a cylinder could go
- Plans to switch to electric heating with a heat pump
Air source heat pumps in Nunhead
Many air source heat pumps can be installed as permitted development in England, without a planning application. Conditions include a maximum outdoor unit size of 1.5 m³, compliance with MCS 020(a), use for more than cooling alone and a site outside the curtilage of a listed building. We look at the planning position for your home during the survey. If the problem is not knowing whether a grant applies and deciding which kind of heat pump suits the home, we can help.
In a London area like Nunhead, many homes are flats or terraces with little outside space, which affects which heat pump suits. Air-to-water needs room for the outdoor unit and normally a cylinder, while air-to-air units take less room.
AirCon Doctor is an F-Gas certified company and NICEIC approved for electrical work, MCS certified for heat pumps and a Checkatrade member. Refrigerant work is done by engineers who hold the F-gas qualifications the law requires.
- Place
- Nunhead (SE15, SE4, SE14)
- Wider area
- Greater London
- Typical price
- Air-to-water £8,000–£16,000 before any grant (0% VAT for homes)
- Approvals
- F-Gas certified company, NICEIC approved, MCS
- Pricing
- A fixed-price quote up front
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 30 October 2026
Safe owner checks
For air conditioning, cleaning the indoor unit’s filters is the main job owners can do, if the manual says so. With the power off, they lift out, can be vacuumed or rinsed and must be fully dry before they go back. On a heat pump, the equivalent is keeping the outdoor unit clear and checking the controls.
There are a few things you can safely do yourself: keeping the outdoor unit clear, checking the mode and set temperature, and the routine cleaning in the manual. Anything inside the units, the electrics and the refrigerant is engineer’s work.
How it works
We book the visit for a day and time that suit you, and we let you know if plans need to move. When we arrive, we check the job against the survey or the pictures you sent. Anything unexpected is raised with you before we go further. From there, the work takes a few days for most air-to-water installations, with air-to-air systems often quicker. For a job in Nunhead, tell us about parking, permits and access to the building when you get in touch.
- We talk through your home, your current heating and what you want from a heat pump.
- We survey the home room by room for heat loss, and check the emitters, hot water and outdoor unit position.
- We send a fixed-price quote that shows the equipment, the grant position and the VAT.
- We fit the outdoor unit and connect it to the heating, hot water and controls.
- We commission the heat pump, complete the MCS paperwork and talk you through the controls.
Getting ready for the visit
- Give us access to the outside wall, roof or yard where the outdoor unit sits
- Name a contact who can meet us at the agreed time
- Have the make and model of any existing unit to hand
Getting a price
Photos are enough for some jobs; others need a visit first. Multi-room systems, commercial buildings and anything with a long or hidden pipe route are normally surveyed first. Either way, you get a fixed price before any work is booked.
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Your questions about air source heat pumps in Nunhead
Does the Boiler Upgrade Scheme cover homes in Nunhead?
Nunhead is covered, as the scheme runs across England and Wales. The grant is £7,500 for an air source (air-to-water) heat pump and £2,500 for an air-to-air system that replaces the existing fossil-fuel heating. The installer applies, and we are MCS certified.
Will a heat pump in Nunhead need planning permission?
There’s no single answer: the building and the outdoor unit position decide it. Central Nunhead sits inside the Nunhead Cemetery Conservation Area. Heat pumps on houses are often permitted development, but listed buildings need consent and conservation areas restrict outdoor units facing a road. Where it’s needed, we check with Lewisham council, which is usually the planning authority for Nunhead.
Is Nunhead in your area?
Yes. We work in Nunhead and across Greater London, within the London and South East area we cover. For a fixed-price quote, give us a ring on 07833 053749 or fill in the contact form.
How much time does a heat pump install need?
As a guide, it takes a few days on site, depending on the cylinder, the radiators and the pipework involved. We plan the work so you are without heating for as little time as possible, and we explain it in advance.
Can I do the refrigerant work myself?
No, not the refrigerant side. Under the F-gas rules, it must be done by qualified engineers from a certified company, and a new electrical circuit is notifiable building work unless a registered competent person does it.
What does F-Gas certified mean?
Companies working on equipment that contains F gas must be certified by an approved body, and each engineer needs the right qualifications too. It means the refrigerant in your system is handled legally.
Do you work for landlords and businesses?
Yes. Homeowners, landlords, agents and businesses all book us across London and the South East. Tell us who should receive the paperwork.
Landlords, agents and facilities managers
Records are where property maintenance often slips. Every visit is written up, with F-Gas records wherever refrigerant work is involved, so you can show what was done and when.
We work for landlords, letting agents and managing agents as well as homeowners and businesses. Let us know who will give us access and who the records should go to and we’ll copy in whoever needs it.
Nearby places to Nunhead
Other services in Nunhead
System by system
VAT on heat pumps
Heat pumps in homes carry 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, and 5% after that, under HMRC Notice 708/6. It does not apply to businesses.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Eligibility depends on the property and the scheme rules and we confirm it before anything is agreed.
Air source heat pumps around Nunhead
Valuation Office Agency council tax records put about 47% of homes in Nunhead and the neighbourhoods around it before 1919, and Census 2021 figures found about 62% of households live in flats. In older homes, the heat loss calculation is especially important, as solid walls and draughts change the size of heat pump needed. In flats, space for an outdoor unit and a cylinder can be limited, and the lease and freeholder come into it, so air-to-air is sometimes the better fit. For a London home, the outdoor unit position and the MCS noise check need careful planning.
Queen's House, roughly 2.4 miles north-east, is a reminder to check your home’s listing status: permitted development doesn’t cover listed buildings. If your home is one of the older properties near Saint Antony with Saint Silas, the survey checks whether it’s listed or in a conservation area before the outdoor unit position is chosen.
Nunhead is about 1 mile south-west of New Cross, in Greater London. Nunhead gets the same approach as every job we take on: diagnosis first, a fixed price and proper paperwork when we have finished. Count every place we list in Greater London and you reach 764, with Nunhead on the list.
Not far from Nunhead, a recent job of ours was on Loampit Vale, Lewisham (SE13), about 2 miles east: installing four Daikin cassette units in the main working area and a wall-mounted unit in the private event space.
Rye Road, Nash Road and Kitto Road and the roads off them are all inside our area. Every address in SE15, SE4 and SE14 is covered, from the main roads to the quietest streets. Places around Nunhead that are also on our list: Telegraph Hill (1 mile north-east), Honor Oak (1 mile south), Peckham (1 mile north-west), New Cross (1 mile north-east) and Brockley (1 mile south-east). We also work in nearby towns such as London (3 miles north-west), City of Westminster (6 miles north-west), Marylebone (6 miles north-west) and Kensington (7 miles west).
Near you in Nunhead
Typical jobs here are in properties near The Ivy House, Peckham Rye and Allenby Tutorial Trust and the streets around them. Nunhead has its own railway station: Nunhead station. Other landmarks nearby include Greenwich Castle (2.4 miles north-east) and Lewisham Shopping Centre (1.7 miles east). Open spaces near Nunhead include Knight's Hill and One Tree Hill.
From one of our customers
“Excellent service from start to finish. Two wall-mounted units installed in our home. Clean, tidy work: they protected all the floors and left no mess. The systems work brilliantly. Would highly recommend.”
Sarah M., East Grinstead