New Form Plumbing Ltd installs air source heat pumps across Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding villages. As MCS certified installers we handle the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme application and take it off your quote, so you never fund it yourself and wait for it back.

Tunbridge Wells is a harder town than most to do badly and an excellent one to do properly. A great deal of the housing is Victorian and Georgian, much of it in conservation areas or listed, with solid walls and high ceilings. Those houses can run beautifully on a heat pump, but only if somebody does the heat loss calculation honestly and sizes the emitters for it.

Why Tunbridge Wells homes suit a heat pump

Period property is the opportunity here, not the obstacle. A large Victorian house with a tired gas or oil boiler is usually paying a great deal to heat rooms that lose heat quickly. Get the design right, upgrade the radiators that genuinely need it, and the same house runs at a lower flow temperature for less money. What it will not tolerate is a heat pump simply swapped in where the boiler was, which is why we survey every room before quoting.

What we cover near Tunbridge Wells

We cover Royal Tunbridge Wells and Southborough, Rusthall, Speldhurst, Langton Green, Bidborough, Pembury, Frant, Groombridge and Cranbrook, and across the border into Tonbridge. We are based in Dartford and travel down regularly.

Common questions from Tunbridge Wells homeowners

Will a heat pump work in a solid wall Victorian house?

Yes, and we install them in exactly those houses. The rule is that the emitters have to match the lower flow temperature, so some radiators get larger and the pipework is checked for capacity. What we will not do is tell you it works without measuring. If your house genuinely needs insulation first, we will say so, because it affects running costs. It no longer affects the grant: the EPC insulation condition was removed from the scheme.

Our property is listed or in a conservation area. What are the rules?

Much of central Tunbridge Wells, the Pantiles area and parts of Southborough and Rusthall are conservation areas, and there are a great many listed buildings. A unit on a front elevation facing a highway will normally need permission, and listed buildings need consent for work affecting their character. We position units discreetly at the side or rear wherever possible and tell you at survey what your address allows.

How noisy is it? Our houses are close together.

Quieter than most people expect, and the siting matters far more than the specification. We keep units away from bedroom windows and neighbouring boundaries, mount them on anti vibration feet, and design the system so it runs long and slow rather than cycling on and off. Noise is also part of the permitted development rules, which we check as part of the design.

Do we need a hot water cylinder?

Yes. A heat pump cannot produce instant hot water the way a combi does, so it needs a cylinder with a large coil. In a period house that often means finding space in an airing cupboard, loft or cellar. We look at this at survey, because it is the question that most often decides where everything else goes.

Can you take the old oil tank away?

Yes. We are OFTEC registered as well as MCS certified, so we can decommission, drain and remove an oil boiler and tank and make good, as part of the same job.

Book a free survey in Tunbridge Wells

We survey the property, calculate the heat loss room by room, and give you a written fixed price with the £7,500 grant already taken off. Call us or request a quote and we will book a visit.

Read more about our air source heat pump installation service, or see the hot water cylinders and underfloor heating that often go with it.