The term “heat pump” has become familiar in the UK’s renewable heating industry, especially with the recent surge in interest around air source heat pumps. Yet, for many homeowners, the term can be puzzling. Heat pumps are promoted as one of the most efficient ways to heat homes, but the name “heat pump” itself may not actually convey what they do – or how they work, leading to unnecessary confusion.
Why Are They Called “Heat Pumps”?
The term derives from the process of moving heat rather than generating it. Unlike traditional boilers, which burn fuel to create warmth, heat pumps work by transferring heat from one place to another.
The word “pump” here might make sense to engineers, but from a homeowner’s perspective, it can be misleading. Many might assume it’s similar to a mechanical pump used to push liquids or gases, which doesn’t fully capture the principle of heat extraction and transfer. This disconnect between the technical term and the everyday understanding of the word raises an interesting question: should the name change to something more intuitive for consumers?
Does the Term “Heat Pump” Create Confusion?
For homeowners unfamiliar with the technology, the term “heat pump” might not intuitively explain what the system does. In fact, some homeowners may think it’s related to traditional pumps or systems that circulate water or air through radiators. This misunderstanding could partly contribute to the reluctance of some homeowners to adopt heat pumps; if they’re unclear on how the system works or even what it does, they might be less inclined to trust it over a conventional boiler.
Unlike a “boiler,” which clearly conveys that it heats (or “boils”) something, the term “heat pump” lacks a similar straightforward implication. It doesn’t tell you if the system will warm up your home, if it’s energy-efficient or even if it uses renewable energy. This ambiguity might leave many homeowners wondering: Why switch to a heat pump? Is it different from a boiler, and if so, how?
Could a Name Change Make a Difference?
The idea of renaming the heat pump isn’t new. Industries often rebrand products to make them more appealing or easier to understand. Consider the shift from “LED lamps” to “LED light bulbs.” While both terms are accurate, the latter is more consumer-friendly and gives a clearer sense of what the product actually does. Similarly, renaming heat pumps could help homeowners understand their benefits more clearly and help them compare them directly to other heating systems like boilers.
What Do Homeowners Think?
Of course, rebranding would only be effective if it truly resonates with homeowners. After all, they’re the ones who ultimately decide whether or not to install a heat pump. It’s possible that the term “heat pump” has already gained enough familiarity to make a new name disruptive rather than helpful. However, if a clearer name helps people better understand the technology and its benefits, it could also speed up adoption rates.
We’d love to hear from homeowners on this. Does the term “heat pump” make sense to you, or would a different name make things clearer? If you have any ideas for names that better capture the purpose and function of these systems, share them with us by leaving a comment.
Let’s see if we can find a term that’s intuitive, descriptive and maybe even inspiring – a name that can challenge the established “boiler” and position heat pumps as the clear choice for a sustainable future.
Nearest without too much disruption: ‘Heating Pump’.
But will give it some more thought. Toodles.
Seriously? This device “pumps heat" into a dwelling or space what is there not to like? LED bulb, why add bulb it is a Light Emitting Diode surely (don’t call me Shirley) not that difficult. I don’t believe a boiler boils actually, well I hope not maybe it should be called a water warming device with a pump that makes your house warm. Oh no that could be confused with Heat pump! OK I’ll get me coat!!
Cue the ‘ignore climate change and it might go away’ lobby running articles telling their readers that heat pumps have been cynically rebranded by the left wing wokerati in order to fool us into thinking that they are a good idea.
Heat pump(s) is fine – most people know what they are these days.
Homeowners? What about tenants? Housing Association etc…?
I think the ‘owners’ bit needs to go.
You know my views on social class and climate change policy! Just consider me the forum commie. ✊🏻🫢😂
I think the term has entered into the English vocabulary now and it doesn’t need to be descriptive – rather like a hoover.
@IanMK13 That just leaves a total vacuum in my mind…
When I consider all the ‘modern expressions’ that have been foisted upon us (example. ‘I was like…,’ frinstance), I really feel that the public in general should accept ‘Heat Pump’ – it is accurate, short and self explanatory. Toodles.
@Toodles Like Cycles per sec becoming Hz, Centigrade to Celsius. Finisterre to Fitzroy Perfectly descriptive terms IMHO.
@Jancold No, I had in mind ‘modern idioms’ mainly; yes, I am showing my age! Ancient Toodles.
Agree….
For goodness sake we have had heat pump tumble dryers since the 90’s – everyone knows what they are. They sell them in Currys and AO.
Meanwhile, you can buy heat pumps in every shed builders merchants these days including Wickes – they are mainstream.
Like many here I read the OP and immediately jumped to the conclusion any renaming was unnecessary. Nonetheless, not wanting to be too quick to judge I have taken the time since to have a bit of a think.
Does “heat pump" say what it does? Yes, I’ve decided it does. It moves heat rather than generate it, so the name is a fair reflection of its job. It’s also a name that uses two very readily understandable words so wouldn’t put people off due to excessive jargon, methinks.
Does the name allow people to understand how it works? Perhaps not. In some ways it’s too simplistic a name for that purpose. Nonetheless, people don’t necessarily want names for that purpose; how many people refer to their car’s tachometer as a rev counter? Not accurate but common currency nonetheless.
Do people need or want to know how a heat pump works in order to be inclined to buy one? Hmm. Much more difficult question to answer. If someone doesn’t understand the principles of a heat pump, they’re unlikely to understand how their fridge works either but I’ll lay odds they own at least one of the latter. The problem is that they might not know how a fridge works but they have complete confidence that it does work and there, I think, hangs the rub. Heat pumps have been denigrated by several different groups for several different reasons and so home owners do not have the same confidence, and I don’t think a name change will fix that.
Alternative terms? I did try to think up at least one serious alternative but every time I thought about how they work I found a streak of whimsy creeping in. They take heat from outside and deposit it in the home so should one be called a Garden Cooler? They work like a fridge in reverse so should one be called a “Defrigerator"? If they take from the outside to give to the inside, perhaps we go the whole hog and call one “Robin Heat".
@Majordennisbloodnok Perhaps in a way, we are likely to be the wrong people to ask this question – we know what heat pumps are and what they do. We would probably accept a name such as ‘discumbobulator’ as we know that the device appears to Joe Public as a strange device that could keep us warm in our homes.
I still feel there is nothing wrong with ‘Heat Pump’ but, if the general public who maybe don’t subscribe to the likes of RHH are at a loss as to what a heat pump is or does, perhaps the government should allot a few £M to a Public Relations organisation to consult the man and woman on the 49 bus and ask and then educate them!😉 Regards, Toodles.
My neighbour (a Daily Mail reader) has just had a new boiler fitted replacing a 30 year old Potterton. She knows I have the Ecodan and am happy with it but almost visibly shuddered when I suggested she should get one.
I then pointed out that she already owned three heat pumps – her fridge, freezer and split air conditioner, installed about 15 years ago – and was met with a blank stare.
On the renaming topic, I agree probably better to stick with what we have. But if push came to shove, I think “Heat collector" is worth consideration as an alternative.
@downfield Warming McWarmFace? 😉 Toodles.
@Toodles – very good! How about Heaty McHeatFace?
More mundanely, having thought about it, and yes I know it is not very creative, I do think ‘heat pump’ is the best term. It’s short, two one syllable words, and it does succinctly describe what it does (the it does what it says on the tin test). A pump is device that moves something, usually (but not always, eg a proton pump) a liquid or a gas, from A to B (and a heat pump does do that, as the means to move what it really moves), and by adding ‘heat’ it tells us that it’s primary purpose is to pump (move) heat from A , outside, to B, inside. If it (the name) ain’t broke, then don’t fix it!
…which is why boilers eventually need to be banned. I don’t doubt that similarly minded people will/have complained about recent floods. They need to learn that you cant have everything (that’s more or less a function of the laws of thermodynamics). Sadly, when politicians speak that truth, they get criticised down and eventually voted out.
I made a resolution a while ago that, when someone tells me how bad some decision made by a politician is (at any level and of any political persuasion), I simply ask them, ‘OK, so if you don’t like what x is doing, what would you do?’ Some times they just give an answer which is physically impossible, but more often than not it forces them to think. Whether it has any long term effect I don’t know, but the fact is that criticism is cheap, solutions are rather more difficult!
I’m not suggesting this is a better name, but isn’t it more of a Temperature pump than a Heat pump, in that it raises temperature?
So it collects heat and pumps up the temperature?
Maybe not. The point about pumps of all kinds is that they act against the natural flow of what they pump, and that is exactly what a heat pump does.
Water naturally flows downhill, due to the laws of gravity. If you want water to go uphill you use a water pump.
Energy (heat) naturally moves from a warm body to a cold body, due to the laws of thermodynamics. If you want energy to move from a cold body (the outside air) to a warm body (the inside air) you use a heat pump.
Temperature cannot be pumped as its just a measure of the amount of thermal energy in a body not something that can flow. Its the energy that is pumped!
@JamesPa Yes of course you are correct.
I was just thinking about the layman’s concept of what a heat pump is doing, and at a superficial level it seems as though it is converting/ (transforming?) a low temperature to a high temperature.
Fair enough, but the idea of a pump and the idea of energy/heat are both familiar to laymen, so I can’t see we need to do anything (by way of explanation) other than tell people that it is pumping energy (or heat), which is exactly what it is doing. People are also familiar with the fact that hot things get cold when placed near cold things! You cant really ‘convert’ temperatures any more than you can ‘convert’ the height of water in a bucket. You can raise it by putting more water in, or lower it by pouring water out, but you cant convert it.
In my book ‘every day is a school day’, and if we dumb down/misrepresent things that people are perfectly capable of understanding (which most are I would suggest) then we are on a slippery slope to facts becoming ‘flexible’ or ‘matters of opinion’.
I fully support (and actually quite enjoy the challenge of) keeping explanations of everyday devices as simple as possible (whilst remaining reasonably accurate), but I personally find it difficult to see how one could improve on either the simplicity or accuracy of ‘heat pump’.
@downfield Temperature Elevator? Toodles.
There is, or at least there used to be until all the text books got rewritten, something called abstract conceptual thought. It’s basically an ability to think in the abstract, and by no means everyone has this ability. Take for example a red biscuit tin, and ask someone without abstract conceptual thought whether it is (a) blue or (b) not blue. They won’t get the question, and will what do you mean, it’s red. GPs using clever fancy analogies to explain illness are likely to come up against similar baffled responses from their patients who lack abstract conceptual thought.
All of which is to say we should call a spade a spade, and a thing that pumps heat (energy, but as it is in the form of heat, let’s stick with heat) a heat pump. @JamesPa has hit the hail on the head, pumps are things that move things against their natural flow, and you don’t need abstract conceptual thought to understand that, I think it is fair to say all understand that a bicycle pump puts air in a place where it won’t naturally go. Likewise heat, or warmth, is a universal experience that all can understand. Given these things what is the simplest, clearest name for some thing that moves heat against the natural flow? A heat pump of course…
But – there is a problem! What a heat pump does is extract invisible heat heat from the colder outside air, and somehow gets it into the warmer house. I think that is where the problem lies, because you need to understand the abstract conceptual thought that the outside colder air still has enough heat in it, heat that that can be extracted and then pumped into the house. So maybe heat extractor? No, because for most people a household extractor gets rid of something they don’t want – eg extractor fans – which is the opposite of what a heat pump does (though of course we do use extract in other circumstances to get something from out there and pull it in to where we want and can use it, as in extracting (dare I even mention this) fossil fuels from out there, so we can burn them in our homes and cars.
What about heat compressor? It takes the lower grade heat from outside and compresses it into something useful that we can then use to heat our homes on the inside. And a heat pump even has a compressor in it! But it is an ugly word with a lot of syllables, and lacks the concept of movement. A compressor compresses, it doesn’t move.
Which leaves me with heat pump. It is a bit too clever by half (because it glosses over the how do you get useful heat from colder outside air question), but for the time being I think it remains if not the best term, then at least the least bad.
Couldn’t agree more, the only caveat I would add is that getting the balance right between accurate but getting too complex and understandable but getting too dumbed down is not a simple matter!
@cathodeRay Energy relocator is also accurate but, it doesn’t really cut the mustard does it?! Toodles.
Last time I looked the air in my bicycle pump wasn’t visible either!
Perhaps we should call it a reverse refrigerator, a rotaregifer (pronounced rotary_giffer or rotar_eggiffer)
But its presence is visible, as an inflated tyre! And it can be felt (vert visceral), as you operate the pump.
Another thought: how about heat teleporter? More syllables, but it draws in a bit from the glamour and excitement of space travel, and in a way the heat from outside is teleported, from the outside in. The tele- prefix is extremely common – tele-vision, tele-phone, tele-graph.
Edited to correct typo
Maybe combine our two ideas, and come up with Energy Teleporter? That sounds like the sort of thing any right thinking person would want for their home!
@cathodeRay Installed by Dr. Who perhaps? 😉 Toodles.
All of the above I agree with – but @Mars I imagine started this thread to see if the name we have could be hindering the adoption of the technology. (I may be wrong).
In any case, if heat pump is our best shot, why is a refrigerator so called?
According to Google ‘The word refrigerator comes from the latin refrigare, derived from frigus (meaning cold)’
It has been said that Latin is the last refuge of the linguistic scoundrel, but putting that aside, how about a recaleferator? If they got away with getting refrigerator into common usage, then doing the same for recaleferator should be a doddle! I’m not sure what the short form will be though.
just cale (cally) I would think. I dont dislike it!
I just checked German, French and Spanish, all are a direct translation of heat pump – or of course it may be the other way round, Carnot was French after all.
@JamesPa He? And who’s Army?
How about calling them refaragerators to bring all the Daily Mail readers back on side?
@Marzipan71 How about ‘Coldtohotbox”?