Fully installed air source heat pumps can cost anywhere from €0 to €11,500 after grants in Ireland (with the new Heat Pump System Grant of up to €12,500). Read on for a full breakdown of heat pump costs in Ireland:
Heat Pump Hardware Cost
A heat pump unit itself typically costs €3,000 – €11,000. This depends on the brand, features, and power rating. You’ll probably also need a special hot water cylinder to go along with the heat pump, costing €1500 – €2,000. Finally, allowing €1,000 for miscellaneous items (pipes, connectors, etc.) brings the total hardware cost to €5500 – €13,000.
Heat Pump Fully Installed Cost (Ex Grant)
Heat pump installers need to allow around €4,500 – €9,000 for their tradespeople, insurance, vehicles, administration etc. This brings the installed cost of a heat pump to €10,000 – €24,000, Ex Grants.
As you can see, installation costs make up a big chunk of heat pump prices. So well worth getting multiple quotes. That doesn’t mean cutting corners, though. Shop for quality first, and price second.
Ready for a Warmer Home and Lower Bills?
Heat Pump Cost After Grant
From February 2026, there’s a grant of up to €12,500 for installing a heat pump in Ireland. This includes €6,500 for the heat pump itself, €2,000 for central heating upgrades (e.g., new radiators), and €4,000 Renewable Heat Bonus when switching from fossil fuels. So the cost to the homeowner after grants can be as low as €0 – €11,500, depending on your total installation cost.
Extra Costs Related to Installing A Heat Pump
Heat pumps work best in well-insulated houses. In fact, you need to achieve a minimum level of insulation to even qualify for the heat pump grant. There’s a huge range of possible prices for insulation, depending on the specific upgrades. But here are some examples (Ex Grant):
- €800 – €3000 for attic insulation
- €10,000 – €30,000 for external wall insulation
- €7,000 – €35,000 for upgraded windows and doors
Fortunately, you can get a grant towards all the above upgrades. Besides, all of those upgrades are well worth doing in their own right. Even if you’re not planning to get a heat pump.
You might also need more powerful radiators for your heat pump. Radiator upgrades will typically cost €1,500 – €3,500, depending on the size of your home. The good news is that the new Heat Pump System Grant includes up to €2,000 towards central heating upgrades like radiators or underfloor heating.
Heat Pump Running Costs in Ireland
Heat pump running costs can be significantly lower than for oil or gas. This is because heat pumps can be so efficient. Specifically, they can supply 4 units of useful heat using only 1 unit of input electricity.
In general, you expect your heating bill to drop by around 40% when switching from a boiler to a heat pump, under four important conditions:
- The heat pump system is properly designed and installed
- Your house is reasonably well insulated
- You keep your indoor temperature steady, or close to steady
- You get a good-value electricity tariff
Without these conditions, the heat pump probably won’t run efficiently, and you won’t see any savings on your energy bills.
For detailed comparisons, see: heat pump vs oil running cost calculator or heat pump vs gas running cost calculator.
Heat Pump Maintenance Costs in Ireland
Similar to oil and gas boilers, most heat pumps should be serviced annually. Servicing cost is marginally lower for heat pumps (~€70) than oil (€~80) or gas (~€90) boilers.
Another factor that impacts maintenance cost is warranty length. This varies widely from brand to brand. So keep the length of warranty in mind when choosing a heat pump. Moreover, it’s vital that your warranty is back by a strong brand. Because a warranty is useless unless the manufacturer is there to back it.
Just as with servicing costs, heat pumps are comparable to oil and gas boilers when it comes to warranties. Specifically, you can get anything from 2 to 10 years of warranty for an oil or gas boiler, and the same goes for heat pumps.
Ground Source Heat Pump Costs In Ireland
Ground source heat pumps are more expensive to install than air source heat pumps. This is mainly due to the cost of drilling or digging pipes into the ground. There’s also a slightly higher hardware cost. The result is a €4,000 – €10,000 installation premium for ground source compared to air source. Among ground-source heat pumps, horizontal loop systems tend to be a little cheaper than vertical loop systems.
But ground source heat pumps do have their advantages when it comes to running cost. You see, the ground has a more stable temperature than the air. This makes ground source heat pumps even more efficient than an air source heat pumps. Meaning running costs are around 20% lower for ground source heat pumps than air source heat pumps in Ireland.
Heat Pump Quotes
There’s wide variation in heat pump prices between installers. So make sure to look for multiple quotes. This can save you thousands of euro on installation costs.
More important still is to compare companies for quality, so you end up with a high-performing heat pump system. Here are some tips to keep in mind when comparing offerings:
- Spend a few euros to do a credit check on the installer. This could potentially save you thousands if it means you avoid giving a deposit to a company that later goes bankrupt
- Check reviews of their company on sites like Trustpilot, Facebook, and Google Maps
- Search for reviews of the heat pump brand that they propose installing
- Ask to talk to a previous client/reference in your area
- If they push you hard to go for a boiler instead of a heat pump, saying that “heat pumps don’t work well”, the reality is that heat pumps don’t work well when they install them.
- Never deal with pushy salesmen
- Ask a few technical questions. If they can’t answer in a way that makes sense to you, they probably don’t understand the technology themselves. A few examples:
- What does SCOP mean? What will my SCOP be? How did you determine this number?
- What will my flow temperature be?
None of the above tips alone will guarantee that you get a high-quality installation at a reasonable price. But together they will weed out a lot of the bad deals.
