Beginners guide to heat pumps?

[Stubbs]

Does anyone have any recommendations for my Dad? They've just baught a house to retire to with no central heating, and no gas.

What are the options they have regarding heating & hot water?

I think he'd like a little independant advice rather than me just saying it'll be cheaper than installing oil :-) What are the best sources of info for a newbie to the subject? Prefereably showing a comparison of costs between the options because I think at the end of the day, that will be what swings it either way.

[JohnnyP]

I have found this energy cost comparison table quite informative: http://www.nottenergy.com/energy-costs-comparison3/

[toscal]

Have a look at this thread I started a few days ago about the ECOdan heat pumps these do both hot water and heating. Also the ecodan doesn't need special radiators and can be used with normal rads or in a standard wet underfloor heating system.
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbull...=8911#post8911

You could always take a look at geothermal heat pumps. I have a client who has this set up in his house and its used both for heating and cooling. Heating is done via a wet underfloor heating system and cooling uses what looks like a normal internal units from a split aircon system.