Home Office Heating That Doesn't Heat the Whole House

If you work from home, you've probably noticed the problem. The central heating is set up for mornings and evenings, not for one person sitting still at a desk from nine till five. So either the whole house gets heated all day to keep one room comfortable, or the office gets a plug-in heater that eats electricity and still leaves your feet cold.

A small Haier heat pump in the office fixes both. It heats only the room you're in, gets it warm within minutes of switching on, and costs a fraction of a plug-in heater to run.

What a working day actually costs

At the Ofgem price cap of 26.32p per kWh (October–December 2026), here's how an eight-hour working day compares for a typical home office:

The heat pump figures assume it runs flat out all day, which it doesn't. Once the room is warm, an inverter unit throttles back to hold the temperature, so a real day usually costs less than the table shows. And the heat pump gives out more heat than the 2kW heater at under half the cost.

Why not just extend the central heating?

Sometimes that's the right answer. But central heating is built around the whole house. Running the boiler all day heats the hallway, the empty bedrooms and the kitchen to keep one room at 20°C. A dedicated office unit lets you turn the main heating down during the day and heat only the room that's occupied. It also has its own thermostat and timer, so it can warm the office before you sit down at 8.45.

Sizing a home office

Most home offices are box rooms or small bedrooms, and a 2.5kW unit is usually plenty. A larger room, an office above a garage, or one with two outside walls and a big window often needs 3.5kW. We size on room volume, glazing and how exposed the room is, not guesswork. The instant quote does the first pass from your room dimensions.

Noise on video calls

Once the room is up to temperature, the indoor unit runs at a low fan speed that's quieter than most desktop PCs, and it won't be picked up on a call. The outdoor unit is outside, so its noise stays there. We'll suggest a position for the indoor unit that doesn't blow straight at your desk or your head.

A garden office instead?

If your office is a separate building at the bottom of the garden, that's a different job with its own considerations: power supply, the outdoor unit mounted on the building itself, and insulation. See garden room heating.

And in summer

Home offices, especially small ones with a PC, a monitor and the afternoon sun, get uncomfortably hot in July. The same unit switches to cooling. Our home office air conditioning page covers the summer side.

Haier systems, certified installers

We install Haier exclusively. Keeping to one brand means our engineers know the range inside out, we hold the right spares, and costs stay down. Haier systems come with a 6-year warranty as standard when installed by a certified engineer. Our engineers are F-Gas certified, the business is REFCOM registered, and electrical work is carried out to Part P standard. We're based in Buckingham, MK18, and cover Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and the surrounding area.

Heat pump installers near you

Milton Keynes Buckingham Bletchley Newport Pagnell Aylesbury Bicester Northampton Oxford

See the full list of areas we cover, or check recent installations for real examples of our work.

More heating guides

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Common questions

What is the cheapest way to heat a home office?

For regular daily use, a small air to air heat pump is usually the cheapest way to heat a single room electrically. It delivers several units of heat per unit of electricity, compared with one for a plug-in heater. At the October to December 2026 price cap, a 2.5kW unit costs about 18.2p an hour at full output, against about 52.6p for a 2kW plug-in heater.

What size heat pump do I need for a home office?

Most box-room offices need a 2.5kW unit. Larger rooms, rooms with two outside walls or a lot of glazing, and offices above garages often need 3.5kW. We confirm sizing at the free survey.

Will a heat pump be noisy on video calls?

No. Once the room is warm the indoor unit runs at a low fan speed that is quieter than most desktop computers. The outdoor unit sits outside.

Can I set it to warm the office before I start work?

Yes. Haier units have built-in timers and Wi-Fi app control, so you can have the office warm before you sit down and turn it off when you finish.

Does home office heating qualify for 0% VAT?

Qualifying residential installations currently benefit from 0% VAT until 31 March 2027. We confirm the VAT treatment on your written quote.