Heat pump installation in Lympstone: designed around your plot, not a template
On Lympstone’s compact village plots, the make-or-break decision is where the outdoor unit and cylinder go, so that is where our design starts. We are the MCS-certified heat pump specialist based two miles away in Exmouth: every system designed room by room, unit placement proven by the sound calculation, and aftercare minutes up the estuary.
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.
James Stalker, owner
NAPIT MCS assessor
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What your Lympstone installation includes
The majority of heat pump problems are design problems. Get the design right and the technology just works. That is why the design carries the effort, and why it is the real substance of what you pay for. Every installation includes:
- A thorough room-by-room heat loss survey of the house, never a number pulled from floor area or postcode.
- A system worked out from that survey, sized for the coldest day of the year and stopped there, because oversizing only burns money.
- A clear radiator plan. We identify exactly which, if any, have to be upsized before they will run well cooler.
- Supply and install of the heat pump, a fresh cylinder suited to heat pump operation, and every bit of pipework and control gear.
- Commissioning and optimisation to finish, so the system is dialled in and efficient the day we hand it over.
- Smart, weather-compensating controls when they justify themselves, so the pump answers to outside conditions and the demand indoors.
- A handover done at your pace, so the system makes sense, and aftercare on hand afterwards.
Underfloor heating we install as well; if you have some already, better again, because it is made for exactly this sort of low-temperature setup.
Air source heat pump installation in Lympstone starts with one question: where does it go?
Lympstone grew up around its harbour, not around heating kit.
- Down where Wotton Brook meets the Exe beneath Peters Tower, cottages stand shoulder to shoulder between the red breccia cliffs, many with a courtyard instead of a garden and a neighbour’s window a few metres from the back wall.
- Up the hill from the Avocet Line, the detached homes built from the 1960s onwards have more space to work with. Either way, the first thing people in the village ask us is rarely about the heat pump itself. It is where the outdoor unit and the hot water cylinder will actually go.
We are based in Exmouth, two miles down the estuary, so Lympstone is about as local as our work gets.
- James Stalker, the owner, does every home assessment and system design himself.
- He has been a heat pump engineer since 2010, has more than 100 heat pump installations behind him, and works as a freelance NAPIT MCS assessor, auditing other installers’ heat pump work across the region. If a house does not suit a heat pump, he says so at the free assessment and explains what would need to change first. That honesty costs us a few jobs. It is also why the ones we take on work.
Placement is a design decision before anything else.
- Our air source heat pump installation work starts with it: the MCS sound calculation that proves the unit meets noise limits at your neighbour’s nearest window, the airflow clearance the unit needs to run efficiently, and whether a compact pre-plumbed cylinder will fit where your old cylinder or boiler stood.
- On a tight village plot, those three decisions matter more than any manufacturer’s brochure.
And every heat pump we fit is air-to-water: it heats your radiators and your hot water cylinder the same way your boiler does now. It is not air conditioning.
Why Lympstone homeowners choose us
Choosing a heat pump installer in Lympstone comes down to one question: do you trust the person doing the design? Here is what we put behind that trust.
The owner does your job.
- You speak to James on the phone, and he assesses your home and draws up the design.
- Commissioning and handover are his, and so is the aftercare, which puts nobody between the harbour and a straight answer from your system’s designer. His background and accreditations are on our about page.
★★★★★
“James Stalker is the most reliable man I know.”
Stephen M. · Google review · five stars
The installer who audits other installers.
- As a NAPIT MCS assessor, James checks other companies’ heat pump work for a living.
- Your Lympstone system is designed by someone who knows exactly what a failed audit looks like, and why it happened.
Room-by-room heat loss design.
- We calculate what every room in your house loses on a cold day, then size the system to match, usually somewhere in the 4 to 10 kW range.
- Oversized heat pumps short-cycle and waste money. Ours are sized to the calculated number.
Older homes welcome.
- If you have been told a cottage near the harbour “isn’t suitable”, ask us to check.
- Solid walls and original windows change the design. They rarely rule it out.
Grant handled and deducted upfront.
- We are MCS accredited, so we apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme on your behalf and take it straight off the invoice. You never pay the grant amount and wait to claim it back.
- And with installation done in about a week and our base two miles away, aftercare means the person who designed your system coming back, not a ticket number. We cover Exton, one stop up the Avocet Line, as well.
What homeowners say on Google
Grants and costs for Lympstone homes
As an MCS-accredited installer we make the application and deduct the grant from your invoice upfront, so you never pay it and reclaim it.
Check if your home qualifiesOn running costs, you will get it straight rather than a fantasy figure.
Against oil on a standard electricity tariff, the saving is usually modest.
- What changes is everything around the bill: no more watching the tank, no delivery lorries squeezing down village lanes, no risk of running dry in January, and no exposure to oil price swings.
- On a dedicated heat pump tariff, the running costs improve further. We model your actual house at the survey rather than waving a national average at you.
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 takes a serious amount off the price.
- Owner-occupiers in England and Wales replacing a fossil fuel system can currently get £7,500 towards an air source heat pump. Eligibility rules apply and not every home qualifies, so we check yours at the free assessment before anything is promised.
- Off-gas-grid homes heated by oil or LPG can qualify for £9,000 instead, and that higher rate is open now on applications made up to 31 March 2027.
- Since April 2026 a valid EPC is no longer strictly required to apply, which helps some of Lympstone’s older properties.
- Heat pump installations also carry 0% VAT until 31 March 2027.
The kit we fit, and why
The survey leads, and the design follows it.
For the average off-grid home that gives a heat pump sized to the real heat loss, with no guesswork on output.
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.
Because we are not tied to a manufacturer, the heat pump and cylinder are picked for the house in front of us, measured against heat loss, the airing cupboard and hot water demand.
We put in a lot of Ideal units, yet the freedom to choose sets a local specialist apart from big names committed to one or two makes.
Units of 4 to 10 kW suit most homes around here, and the pre-plumbed cylinder on most jobs has its filter, diverter valve, cylinder stat and overheat stat already on. That means a quicker, cleaner install with less to fail afterwards. We have fitted it repeatedly, and it does not surprise us.
Our process, 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.
“After comparing several quotes and gathering details I decided to go with Eco Pro after speaking with James and couldn’t be happier. Their design was really detailed, explained clearly and the heat pump works perfectly.”
DJ G. · Google review · five stars
Your guarantees
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IWA workmanship warranty and deposit insurance.
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Commissioning day is when we register the manufacturer’s cover on any heat pump we install. For an Ideal that means seven years’ parts and labour; other brands carry their own warranty on their own terms.
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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, including Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth, Ottery St Mary, Woodbury, Lympstone, Newton Poppleford, West Hill and Honiton. On the opposite bank of the estuary, heat pump installation in Kenton works the same way. Solid walls and older heating layouts are the work behind heat pumps for Woodbury Salterton homes, a few miles inland and uphill from the estuary.
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.
Common questions
More places than most people expect. In Lympstone we look at side returns, courtyard corners and discreet positions against a rear wall, then run the MCS sound calculation to prove the spot works for your neighbours as well as for the system. Airflow clearance and pipe runs decide the shortlist; the calculation decides the winner. Parts of the old village may also carry conservation-area considerations, which we check before fixing a position. If nothing passes, we tell you that too.
Book my free home assessmentNo, but placement has to be done properly. Every Lympstone installation includes the MCS sound assessment, a calculation that demonstrates the unit meets noise limits at the nearest neighbouring window. In cottages near the harbour that assessment is not a formality, it is the design. We can also arrange for you to hear a local installation running before you commit to anything.
Book my free home assessmentUsually, yes. Older properties around Lympstone harbour tend to have solid walls and higher heat loss, so the design leans on the room-by-room survey: some radiators may need upsizing, and the flow temperature is set lower for steady, even warmth. James has spent years on older Devon housing stock and audits other installers’ work on exactly these homes. “Not suitable” often just means “not suitable for a templated quote”.
Book my free home assessmentIt depends on the size of the system, the cylinder and how many radiators need changing, which is why every Lympstone enquiry starts with a free home assessment and a same-visit estimate. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme takes £7,500 off for eligible homes, or £9,000 for eligible off-grid oil and LPG properties on applications made up to 31 March 2027, and there is no VAT on installation until that same date. The £250 + VAT heat loss survey is waived when you go ahead.
Book my free home assessmentAbout a week at a typical Lympstone property. We typically start on a Monday and commission on the Thursday or Friday, and being based in Exmouth means the drive to Lympstone takes minutes, not hours. We run one or two installations at a time, so your job is never queued behind a dozen others.
Book my free home assessmentIf you own and live in the home, it is in England or Wales, and it is heated by oil or LPG off the gas grid, your application can qualify for £9,000 rather than £7,500 right now, at any point up to 31 March 2027. Lympstone homes on mains gas can still qualify for the £7,500 rate. Eligibility is confirmed case by case, and we handle the application, so nothing is claimed on your behalf until we know your home qualifies.
Book my free home assessmentYes. The home visit is free with no obligation. The detailed heat loss survey is £250 plus VAT, and that amount is taken off the final bill if you go ahead with the install. The charge only lands if you decide not to take the work forward.
Book my free home assessmentBook your free home assessment in Lympstone
Tell us a little about your Lympstone home, James will call you back to arrange a visit, and you deal with the owner from first visit 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
Prefer to talk it through first? Call 01395 202030 and you will get James, the owner, not a call centre.
