Heat Pump Installation Dunsford: Sized for Cob Cottages and a Ridgeway Winter
Dunsford’s cob cottages sit exposed on the ridgeway above the Teign, where an oil boiler always runs harder than it should. Heat pump installation Dunsford means a room-by-room heat loss survey, the grant deducted upfront, and a system built to keep you warm through winter.
James and the team provided a first rate end to end service, our old oil boiler failed on Good Friday and within 3/4 weeks we were up and running with a new energy efficient air source heating system. Totally recommend Eco Pro Renewables Ltd to anyone who asks
James Stalker, owner
NAPIT MCS assessor
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What your Dunsford installation includes
A heat pump that struggles through a Dunsford winter is nearly always one specified in a hurry. Every Dunsford installation we quote covers:
- The heat loss survey and design. Wall construction, glazing and floor build-up, recorded room by room.
- The heat pump and a matched cylinder. A heat pump chosen for your cottage outside, a heat-pump-specific cylinder inside, sized to real hot water use.
- Radiator changes where the numbers call for them. Solid cob walls can mean two or three upgraded emitters; a newer cavity-walled property, often none at all.
- Pipework and electrics. Running a line through a cob wall takes care, so the route and the outdoor unit’s base get agreed with you at survey stage.
- Commissioning. The heat pump is powered up and tuned to your cottage’s routine on site, not left running on factory defaults.
- The grant application. Filed by us and netted off before an invoice is raised.
- Handover and aftercare, a walk-through of the controls, then the same number to ring for the first service.
Underfloor heating sits inside the same scope too, happy at the low flow temperatures these systems use.
Heat pump installation Dunsford: a ridgeway village built for its own winter
Dunsford sits high on the ridgeway above the Teign, at the edge of Dartmoor’s granite mass near Exeter, exposed enough that we check the design temperature property by property rather than assume it.
- The older cottages here are mostly roughcast cob on a stone plinth, and a conservation area listing gets flagged at the free home assessment.
Eco Pro is the MCS-certified specialist on Exeter Road in Exmouth, and James Stalker, the owner, has worked on heat pumps since 2010 with past 100 installations behind him.
Sizing comes from a room-by-room heat loss survey, not a guess pinned to the ridge a cottage sits on.
- Cob stores and releases heat on its own rhythm, nothing like a cavity wall down in the valley.
Why Dunsford homeowners choose us
Choosing between quotes in Dunsford means weighing the cheapest number against an installer who still answers the phone two winters later. A conservation area listing on a cob cottage gets flagged at the first visit here, and it stays the same installer’s problem right through to commissioning.
The owner runs your job.
- James is with you from your first visit, through the commissioning and handover, then aftercare.
- Questions from Dunsford go to James, who knows the design because he drew it. The rest is on our about page.
★★★★★
“James Stalker is the most reliable man I know.”
Stephen M. · Google review · five stars
James inspects other installers’ work too, as NAPIT’s freelance MCS assessor, judging the same standard he builds to.
- Eco Pro holds MCS certification and RECC and APHC membership, so your Dunsford installation runs under the scheme he audits.
Sizing comes from measurement, not a postcode.
- A cob wall on the ridgeway and a newer cavity wall down in the valley get logged separately before either gets a kilowatt figure.
Older and period properties welcome.
- Cob and thatch hold heat on their own rhythm, and a Dunsford cottage gets designed for what it is, not turned away over listed status.
The grant deducted upfront.
- We lodge the application ourselves, and aftercare runs past the parish boundary too, out to Crediton.
What homeowners say on Google
Grants and costs for Dunsford homes
We apply and deduct it from your quote. You never pay the grant and reclaim it.
Check if your home qualifiesEligibility depends on your property and circumstances, so not every Dunsford home qualifies; we confirm yours at the free home assessment.
On running costs we’re straight: savings against cheap oil are usually modest.
- What changes is the routine, no deliveries, no tank to watch.
- More on getting off oil in a Devon property.
Grant figures correct as of August 2026. Eligibility criteria apply and are confirmed at your free home assessment.
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The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays towards an air-to-water heat pump.
- Eligible homes not on oil or LPG, mains gas included, qualify for £7,500.
- Off the gas grid, which covers much of Dunsford parish, that means £9,000 on oil or LPG, see our off-grid oil and LPG grant, applications by 31 March 2027.
- 0% VAT on qualifying installations to 31 March 2027.
The kit we fit in Dunsford, and why
For the typical off-grid home the measured heat loss gives the size of unit, and the room figures show which radiators can stay as they are.
We choose the cylinder for your home, as we do the heat pump, and it usually arrives pre-plumbed with its valves and stats fitted.
We fit weather-compensating controls where they add value, and set them up at commissioning.
Nothing ties us to one manufacturer, so we choose the outdoor unit for each Dunsford property, often an Ideal, which is UK-made and quick for spares, and fit it alongside a cylinder that arrives already plumbed and wired.
In a cottage where the airing cupboard predates heat pumps, that finished cylinder saves the best part of a day. Four to ten kilowatts covers most Dunsford homes; where one needs something else, the heat loss survey shows it.
Heat pump installation Dunsford, from free visit to handover
Four steps, and the first one is free.
Free home visit
We come out, look at your property, answer your questions, and tell you honestly whether a heat pump is right for your home.
Book my free home assessmentYour heat loss survey and design
A full room-by-room heat loss survey and a designed system, with a fixed written scope and price. The survey is £250 plus VAT, and that fee is wiped from the final bill when you go ahead with the install.
Installation and commissioning
A clean MCS install, usually about a week start to finish, one or two jobs at a time, with the system properly commissioned and dialled in.
Handover and aftercare
We show you how it runs, and we are here afterwards, with servicing when it is due.
“Their design was really detailed, explained clearly and the heat pump works perfectly. Would definitely recommend and already booked in for a few of our other properties.”
DJ G. · Google review · five stars
Your guarantees
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IWA workmanship warranty and deposit insurance.
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Every heat pump’s warranty is registered at commissioning: Ideal units carry seven years of parts and labour, while other makes keep their own maker’s warranty.
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MCS certified, RECC and APHC member, NAPIT assessor, Ideal Heating partner.
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The grant paperwork handled for you, start to finish.
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Ongoing servicing when you need it, including years down the line. Heat pump servicing →
More recent projects
Exmouth
A 1930s six-bedroom home with 34 windows
The owners doubted a heat pump could heat an older, larger property. A detailed design running at a low 47 degrees, with seven radiators upgraded and the rest kept, proved it could, comfortably.
West Hill · Ottery St Mary
The job three installers said could not be done
The owners wanted their hot water cylinder relocated to the garage. Three previous companies refused. We redesigned the pipework and did it, on a 311m² home with uninsulated floors.
Newton Abbot
A period home others had written off
We redesigned and re-piped the entire heating system for low-temperature running, and added radiators to rooms that never had them. “Too old” is usually a design problem, not a dead end.
We install across East Devon and into Teignbridge, including Dunsford, Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Ottery St Mary, Woodbury, Lympstone, Newton Poppleford, West Hill and Honiton. Further up the B3212, Moretonhampstead stands at 700 feet, with the parish climbing 400 feet higher again. Follow the B3193 into the Teign Valley and you reach Christow, where we design heat pumps to replace oil and LPG in Christow.
Street, Somerset: three installers, three different answers. We designed it correctly.
Before calling us, this homeowner had already had two national installers and another company out, and been handed completely conflicting advice, one proposing an oversized 16kW system, another saying the property was not suitable for a heat pump at all. Our room-by-room heat loss survey showed the home was suitable, but nowhere near the 16kW that had been quoted. We sized it correctly, upgraded only the radiators that genuinely needed it, and fitted an Ideal Logic Air matched to the actual heat loss rather than the quote sheet.
What Dunsford callers ask before they book
An air source heat pump installation Dunsford quote comes down to the size of the property and how it makes hot water, so we open with a free home assessment, not a price list.
Book my free home assessmentYes, when it is sized properly. Dunsford sits high and exposed on its ridgeway, so the heat loss survey settles what that exposure means for your address, and the design answers your actual winter, not an average one.
Book my free home assessmentThe Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Much of Dunsford parish sits off the gas grid on oil or LPG and can qualify for £9,000, applications by 31 March 2027. Other eligible homes, including mains gas, can qualify for £7,500 instead.
Book my free home assessmentUsually, yes. Cob and thatch store and give back heat on their own rhythm, so the survey carries more weight in Dunsford, not less. Where a property is listed or inside the conservation area, we flag it at the free home assessment.
Book my free home assessmentAbout a week for a typical Dunsford job, sometimes a little longer on an awkward cottage. We usually start on a Monday and commission the system by Thursday or Friday, with one team on site throughout.
Book my free home assessmentSometimes. A heat pump runs at a gentler flow temperature than an oil boiler, so a handful of radiators in a Dunsford cottage may need to grow. Your heat loss survey names them.
Book my free home assessmentBook your free home assessment in Dunsford
James walks your Dunsford property, tells you plainly what he finds, and stays your point of contact to handover.
★★★★★
“We had an excellent 10/10 experience with James and would highly recommend him. … Communication was outstanding throughout, he responded quickly and always provided clear explanations whenever we had questions.”
Georgie S. · Google review · five stars
Want to talk it over first? Ring 01395 202030, answered by the owner, not a call centre. Our contact page lists other ways to reach us.
