A heating engineer has installed a Grant Aerona 290 air source heat pump at their three-bedroom home in Corby, Northamptonshire, replacing the gas central heating system previously in place. G1 Installer, Ricky Prescott, explains what the installation involved and shares his feedback on the Grant heat pump, cylinder and smart controller now keeping his property warm.
The Project
Property: 1930 end terrace home
Heat source: air source heat pump
Products installed: 6.5kW Aerona 290 Air Source Heat Pump, 180L Quick Recovery Single Coil Cylinder, Aerona Smart Controller
Having worked with heat pumps since 2017, Ricky Prescott decided to install an air source heat pump in his own home which is a three-bedroom end of terrace property originally built in 1930. Ricky replaced his gas boiler with a new R290 heat pump from Grant UK, installing the Aerona Smart Controller and QR hot water cylinder to complete the renewable heating system. After finishing the installation in early Summer 2025, Ricky spoke to Grant UK at InstallerSHOW 2025 to share his experience of installing the Aerona 290 unit.
Gas boiler replacement
Ricky’s home was previously heated by a 28kW combi gas boiler with a 10kW electric shower. With solid 9” brick walls, the property has a floor area of 85m² comprising of three bedrooms, one bathroom as well living areas and a single-story extension to the rear of the home with a single zone underfloor heating screeded system.
“We had been thinking about changing our old gas boiler,” explains Ricky. “As my work has involved air source heat pumps for many years now, I felt the time was right to make the move to renewable energy and install a heat pump in our home. The air source heat pump technology available in today’s market is sophisticated and ultra efficient, and I was excited to get my tools out again to fit this type of heating system at our property.”
Heat loss calculation and sizing the system
To ascertain the size of heat pump needed to replace his gas boiler, Ricky used a third-party tool to carry out the heat loss calculation for his property. The property’s average heat load was calculated at 76W/m² and the heat loss was determined to be 6.44kW. Using a design outdoor air temperature of -2.4ºC, indoor room temperatures of between 18°C and 21 °C, and a flow temperature (for space heating) of 45ºC, a Grant Aerona 290 6.5kW air-to-water heat pump was specified to fulfil the heating and hot water demand for the property.
Why install the Aerona 290 heat pump?
The third-party heat loss calculation tool used by Ricky identified the Grant Aerona 290 6.5kW heat pump model as the right match to meet the 6.44kW heat loss of the property. “The report recommended the Grant Aerona 290 and I have friends who have fitted the product too, so that gave me additional confidence that I knew I could call on them for additional installation support, if required,” says Ricky.
As Grant’s fifth generation of air source heat pump, the Aerona 290 range incorporates many features including:
- Uses the more environmentally friendly R290 refrigerant with an incredibly low Global Warming Potential
- R290 refrigerant is an incredibly efficient heat pump refrigerant with the Aerona 290 models achieving SCOPs of up to 5.08 (at 35ºC water flow temperature)
- Uses the Aerona Smart Heat Pump Controller to facilitate straightforward set-up, simple scheduling, heating curve configuration and remote monitoring and management (with Aerona WiFi Hub and ecoNet app)
- Sound-reducing features, such as acoustic cotton sound insulation within the casing, resulting in ultra-quiet sound levels and all the range being Quiet Mark accredited
- Installer-friendly design with core heat pump components easily accessible for installation and maintenance
Please visit Grant UK’s Home Heating Blog to read more about what heat pump installers need to know about R290 refrigerant.
Heat emitter sizing
With the Grant R290 air source heat pump selected for Ricky’s home, the next step was to ascertain which of the existing radiators could be used with the new heat pump system and whether any additional heat emitters would be required. Of the seven existing radiators, three were retained, four needed to be swapped out for suitable radiator replacements which were better suited to the lower temperature system, and one additional radiator was specified for installation on the landing.
Heat pump cylinder
As the heat pump system was replacing a combi gas boiler, there was no hot water cylinder to replace. Therefore, with the heat pump requiring a cylinder for the domestic hot water, space had to be found for a new cylinder to be installed. To fulfil the household’s DHW demand, a 180litre Grant QR Single Coil Cylinder was selected and while this cylinder model is compact in design, being 1305mm in height and 550mm in diameter, siting the cylinder did present some questions for Ricky during installation.
“It was a challenge to house the cylinder,” Ricky explains. “The cylinder has been fitted in the loft space and to do so, we did have to take out a stud wall and build a suitable support base. Our water usage is incredibly low so hence we were able to opt for a smaller capacity cylinder with this Grant model fitting within the centre of our loft.”
Smart control of a R290 heat pump
Controlling the Aerona 290 heat pump is the Grant Aerona Smart Controller. Although this was Ricky’s first time installing this controller, he found it simple to fit and operate. “The controller is very easy to use,” continues Ricky. “The user interface of a heat pump controller is a significant part of a heat pump installation so having good controls is important. The Aerona Smart Controller’s display is clear and it’s useful being able to easily see what is on within the heat pump system and what is not. I will also be using the remote monitoring feature through the ecoNet app later in the year, when the outside temperatures start to cool down, to ensure the system is operating as efficiently as it can.”
What are the benefits of the Grant smart heat pump controller?
The Aerona Smart Controller is an intuitive heat pump controller for both the Aerona 290 and Aerona³ heat pump models. Some of its core features and benefits include:
- The controller can be controlled remotely using the Aerona Smart WiFi hub and supporting ecoNet web-based portal and app
- Installers can also remotely access error codes, heat pump settings, system settings and performance data
- Installers can independently adjust the heating curves for each zone
- Uses load compensation with weather compensation to create dynamic load compensation
- User-friendly navigation and on-screen diagrams to assist with heat pump set-up and commissioning
“Rob Dyer, one of Grant UK’s Technical Sales Support Engineers, came and helped me with the system set-up once we were ready to commission,” comments Ricky. “With both the heat pump and controller being new products for me, it was useful to have this onsite technical support to just ensure I had everything set up as required. The installation was completed at the beginning of the summer when we had very warm weather but I am looking forward to monitoring its performance and finding ways to ensure it’s working at its optimum efficiency.”
Resources for heat pump installers
For further information about R290 heat pumps from Grant UK as well accessing free heat pump training and learning more about R290 refrigerant, please follow the links below.
- Read more about the Aerona 290 heat pump range including accessing technical specifications
- View upcoming R290 heat pump training courses being delivered by Grant UK’s Training Academy
- Learn about the G1 Installer Scheme and how to join
- Listen to Ricky Prescott feature in the Grant UK Net Zero Heating Show Podcast.