Daikin Heat Pumps in the UK

Daikin sells four separate air-to-water ranges in the UK: the Altherma 3 R split, the Altherma 3 M monobloc, the Altherma 3 H HT high temperature split and the newer Altherma 4 on R290, and the 9kW Altherma 3 monobloc costs £6,785.28 including VAT at Oceanair, checked on 7 October 2026. The number that matters most on a Daikin quote is not the price, though. It is the sound power level, because Daikin's own brochure describes 62 dBA as "a low sound level of just 62 dBA" and run through the standard that English permitted development actually uses, 62 dBA needs roughly 10 metres of clear space between the unit and your neighbour's nearest window. The Altherma 4 needs about two. Every figure below comes from Daikin's own published documents or from gov.uk, read on 7 October 2026.

There are four Daikin ranges, and a quote naming one unit has not named the system

Daikin's UK air-to-water line-up splits by refrigerant and by whether the hydraulics sit outdoors or indoors. The names look similar and the kit is not interchangeable.

• Altherma 3 M (monobloc, R32). Everything in the outdoor unit. Sold in 4, 6 and 8 class as EDLA04-08EV3 (heating only) and EBLA04-08EV3 (reversible, so it can cool), and in 9, 11, 14 and 16 class as the High Capacity Monobloc. Daikin's low capacity brochure lists the outdoor unit as 770 x 1250 x 362 mm and 88 kg.
• Altherma 3 R (split, R32). An outdoor unit plus an indoor unit, either wall mounted (Altherma 3 R W) or floor standing with a built-in cylinder (Altherma 3 R F, 180 L or 230 L). Daikin gives the wall unit's outdoor box as 840 x 440 x 390 mm, hot water to 60°C and operation down to -25°C.
• Altherma 3 H HT (high temperature split, R32). The EPRA outdoor units, sold up to 16kW class, aimed at homes keeping existing radiators.
• Altherma 4 (R290). The current generation, sold as the Altherma 4 H W and the all-in-one Altherma 4 H F. Daikin's UK page gives flow temperatures "up to 75°C" and operation down to -28°C, and its European technical table gives the refrigerant as R-290 with a charge of 0.830 kg and a GWP of 3.0.

One detail does real work here. For a split system, MCS certifies the combination, not the outdoor unit. Daikin's entries on the MCS product directory are written as paired model numbers, for example "ERGA06DVA – EHVH08SU18D6V", which is a 6kW outdoor unit with an 08 class indoor unit. A quote that says "Daikin Altherma 3 R, 6kW" has told you half of what the Boiler Upgrade Scheme needs to see, so ask for both model codes and check that exact pair on the directory yourself.

What Daikin kit costs at UK merchants today

These are equipment prices including VAT, read off UK trade merchant listings on 7 October 2026. They are not installed prices, and the gap between the two is most of the job.

Read the split prices as a pair. A 6kW outdoor unit at £2,078.22 plus an 08 class indoor unit at £2,535.36 is £4,613.58 of kit before a cylinder, controls, pipework, a heat loss survey or a day's labour, which is why the monobloc looks dearer at a glance and often is not. For what the finished job costs, our guide to heat pump costs in the UK works through the Energy Saving Trust's typical figure of around £12,000 for a complete air source heat pump installation before any grant.

There is a VAT trap in that table worth 20%. The zero rate on energy-saving materials runs to 31 March 2027, and HMRC's VAT Notice 708/6 is blunt about what follows: "From 1 April 2027 onwards these will revert to the reduced rate of VAT of 5%." Section 2.15 of the same notice covers air source heat pumps, with the condition that "only air source heat pumps that are permanently fixed and are not portable or moveable qualifies as energy-saving materials". But the relief attaches to installation by the supplier: "if you supply energy-saving materials without installing them your supply will be standard-rated". So the merchant prices above carry 20% VAT because you are buying a box, while the same unit fitted by an installer as part of a supply-and-fit job carries 0% until 31 March 2027. Our page on VAT on energy-saving materials covers the same deadline across solar, batteries and heat pumps.

Daikin's sound power figures, and the 62 dBA problem

The figure that decides whether your heat pump needs a planning application is the sound power level in Daikin's technical tables, and for most of the Altherma 3 monobloc range it is 62 dBA. Daikin publishes it plainly. The Low Capacity Monobloc brochure's technical table gives sound power level in heating as 58, 60 and 62 dBA for the EDLA04, EDLA06 and EDLA08, and 61, 62 and 62 dBA for the reversible EBLA04, EBLA06 and EBLA08. The High Capacity Monobloc brochure gives 62 dBA for every one of the 9 to 16 class variants.

England's permitted development right for a domestic air source heat pump stopped pointing at MCS 007 on 29 May 2025, when article 6 of SI 2025/560 rewrote the definition of the MCS Planning Standards in Part 14 of the 2015 Order to cite MCS 020 a) Issue 1.1 instead. That standard sets the limit at 37 dB LAeq,5mins, and step 8 of its own calculation asks whether the result is "equal to or lower than 37.0 dB(A)" at the assessment position, which is 1 metre outside the centre of any door or window to a habitable room of a neighbouring property. Be careful with the 42 dB(A) figure still printed on many council pages: that belonged to the superseded standard, which added an assumed 40 dB background level.

Put Daikin's own sound power figures through the standard's formula, with the unit on the ground against one wall and nothing blocking the line of sight to the neighbour's window, and the clear distance you need comes out like this.

Ten metres is wider than most British semi-detached plots, and that is the real constraint on a Daikin Altherma 3 monobloc in a terrace or a tight semi. It is not fatal. A solid masonry wall or an 18 mm solid fence that fully blocks the line of sight allows a 10 dB reduction in the calculation, which brings a 62 dBA unit back to roughly 3 metres, while vegetation and a gappy fence are worth 0 dB. More than three reflective surfaces around the unit fails outright, so a narrow lightwell is out. The standard also forbids using the sound power level in low noise mode, so a quiet-mode figure cannot rescue a siting that fails on the nominal one.

Daikin publishes four different noise numbers, and only one of them counts

Every Daikin noise figure you are likely to be shown is a sound pressure level, not the sound power level the planning calculation uses. On 7 October 2026 Daikin's own UK pages carried all of these at once for air-to-water units: "Sound pressure (outdoor unit) 44 dBA - 50 dBA" on both the Altherma 3 M and Altherma 3 R W product pages, "as low as 28 dBA" on the Altherma 4 landing page, "sound level of 50-54 dBA" on the EPSK06-10AV3 product page, and in the European technical table for the Altherma 4 EPSKS a sound power level of 48.2 dBA beside a sound pressure level of 29.1 dBA.

None of those are wrong. Sound pressure is what you hear standing at a stated distance, and the Low Capacity Monobloc brochure's own table pairs its 58 to 62 dBA sound power figures with sound pressure figures of 44 to 50 dBA for the same six units. The point is that a brochure headline of 44 dBA and a planning input of 62 dBA describe the same machine, and if you compare one brand's sound pressure with another brand's sound power you will reach the wrong answer. This is the same trap the Vaillant aroTHERM plus sets, where "as low as 44 dB(A)" marketing copy sits above a 54 to 60 dBA sound power table. Ask for the EN 12102 sound power level at nominal output, in writing, for the exact model code.

The 2027 R32 deadline is an EU rule, and Great Britain has not copied it

If you are told an R32 Daikin is about to be banned, that is European law, not British law. Daikin's own UK knowledge centre publishes the EU F-gas dates: from 1 January 2027 "only products containing a refrigerant with a GWP < 150 may be placed on the market" for self-contained systems up to 12kW and for all split systems up to 12kW, with 1 January 2029 for larger splits. That is why the Altherma 4 exists on R290.

Great Britain's own rules are shorter. On gov.uk's list of F-gas bans in new products, last updated 27 August 2026, the entire air conditioning and heat pump table contains one entry that could touch a domestic heat pump: all F gases above GWP 750 in "'Single split' systems that contain less than 3kg of refrigerant", from 2025. Then read its own exceptions column. It names "Air to water single split system air-conditioning systems" and "Larger air-conditioning or heat pump systems, such as chillers or larger split systems". So the one GB ban that exists carves out the very thing a domestic Daikin is. There is no 2027 date in that table, and no entry for monobloc or self-contained systems at all. The rule is a market rule in any case: "You must not place products or equipment containing banned F gases on the market in Great Britain" binds manufacturers and sellers, not a homeowner who already owns the unit.

Northern Ireland is different, and this is one of those UK facts that genuinely differs by nation. DAERA states that the new EU F-gas law "came into operation on 11th March 2024, and applies directly in Northern Ireland", so the EU thresholds and dates are the live ones there.

The practical reading for a buyer in England, Wales or Scotland: choosing R290 over R32 is a decision about refrigerant availability and cost over a 20-year life, about resale, and about the 48.2 dBA sound power figure that makes siting far easier. It is not a decision about whether your heat pump will be legal. Anyone presenting it as a legal deadline in Great Britain is reading the wrong statute book.

The Daikin warranty is two years, five years or seven, and your installer decides which

Daikin's published position is that "all our residential customers receive a two-year guarantee on their products as standard". The longer numbers on installer websites are extensions with conditions attached, and all of them are Daikin's own wording, read on 7 October 2026:

• Two years as standard on residential products.
• Five years on an air-to-water heat pump, free of charge, but only once your installer has registered the unit on Daikin's Stand By Me platform.
• Seven years as a paid purchase of an additional two years, and only where the system was installed by a "Daikin Sustainable Home Expert" rather than a Sustainable Home Installer.

Two conditions sit on top. Activation has a clock: "You have 2 years from when your unit is commissioned to log into Stand By Me and activate your extended warranty." And the cover depends on servicing: "A warranty is only valid if annual maintenance is carried out." So the honest question to an installer quoting "7 year Daikin warranty" is not whether the warranty exists. It is whether they hold Sustainable Home Expert status, whether the extra two years is in the price or extra, who registers the unit, and what the annual service will cost for the next seven years. The same pattern applies across the brands. Vaillant's seven years similarly needs a Platinum or Renewable Partner installer and a Vaillant cylinder.

What the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays towards a Daikin

In England and Wales the grant is £7,500 towards an air source heat pump, and gov.uk adds that "until March 2027, you can get an additional £1,500 towards an air source heat pump or ground source heat pump" if the property is heated by oil or LPG with no mains gas connection. Ofgem describes the same money as £9,000 off the cost in eligible off-gas grid properties, available until 31 March 2027. Gov.uk's other figures are £7,500 for a ground source heat pump, £5,000 for a biomass boiler and £2,500 for an air-to-air heat pump.

Two mechanics matter for a Daikin specifically. The scheme is installer-led: "the installer will apply on your behalf on the Ofgem website", and "the value of the grant will be taken off the amount you pay for installation. This will be shown on your quotation and invoice." And it runs through MCS, which for a split system means the certified outdoor and indoor combination, not the Daikin badge. Scotland uses the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan instead of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and Northern Ireland currently has no equivalent heat pump grant. We do not state a closing date for the scheme, because the live consumer pages at gov.uk and Ofgem do not print one.

What to ask before you sign a Daikin quote

1. Both model codes. Outdoor and indoor, for a split. Then look up that pair on the MCS product directory.
2. The EN 12102 sound power level at nominal output for that model, and the MCS 020 a) calculation showing the distance to the nearest neighbouring habitable window, with any barrier allowance shown separately.
3. Which refrigerant. R32 for Altherma 3, R290 for Altherma 4, and what each means for parts and servicing over 20 years in your part of the UK.
4. The warranty tier in writing, with the installer's Daikin accreditation level, who registers it on Stand By Me, and the annual service price.
5. The grant as a separate line on the quotation, since Ofgem requires it there, plus confirmation that the labour and kit are zero-rated for VAT as a supply-and-fit job.

None of this is an argument against Daikin. The kit does what its tables say it does. The problem is that four ranges, two refrigerants, four different noise numbers and three warranty lengths all share one badge, and the quote on your kitchen table has almost certainly flattened them into a single line.

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