- Does anyone have experience of buying heat pump (and radiators/under floor) from an EU country (Belgium) and then importing it into Switzerland, getting permission from the commune to install and having an installation company do the actual installation? If yes, could you please share your experience and process?
- Are there companies (in Geneva/Vaud) that can effectively get the permission and installation done (and perhaps even do the importation part)? If yes and if you know any reliable companies, please share their names.
- And is it acceptable by the commune to install a heat pump from another country? Although the heat pump is as reliable as the ones we find in the local market, given my experience with it when I use to live in Belgium.
who's going to fix it when it goes wrong and your house is freezing cold?
i've seen quite a few german heatpumps sold by local swiss installers. a friend even had them price match what he could get it for from germany. but you're not going to get the manufacturer's agents around in case of problems or future upgrades in the same way as hovel / viessmann. I suspect the comune and canton will also struggle to get all the details they need for the approval which can be quite complicated.
i did import a swimming pool heat pump (taiwanese via netherlands) because it was far superior to anything available here (surprisingly!) and cheaper (non surprising) but i installed it myself and if it ever goes wrong, i guess i'll be out of pocket for the whole machine realistically.
consider that the price is dominated by labour and bureaucratic costs anyway. of the 80k+ I paid for my heatpump install only 40k was the actual equipment from Hoval.
Our heating /cooling system was imported and installed by the German builder. There is a service contract in place and the service is carried out by a local firm. The only downside is we need to order the filters from the builder but we do this in bulk.
Importing a heating system on one's own is not something I would ever consider.
it's a big pump and there are a loads of ancillary bits, but indeed, i would have saved 10k using a slightly less powerful german made set up. but it wasn't like for like.
DL21 forgot to add that he's heating 1'000m2 villa with a pool
For me is about the same - 50% was a pump, other 50% is all other costs and done by Swiss workforce with 42k for entire project - 17KW , warm water and electrical works. I used split solution and 10m distance between boxes.
it depends of what the type of pump you are considering
a) monoblock
b) split
for Split pump - you must install it with Swiss-Qualified HVAC expert due to the cooling agent (R410 / R32 or other) and ... for a given pump it be just partner of the producer that can do it . Than you need someone to bring it into production .. as it's subjected to cantonal approvals - it must be also reflected in documents etc.
I did fair a bit research and my pump was cheaper in DE - until I requested offers from like 20-providers - 4 were 30% lower than the rest , selected two - made adjustments of what I'd want to change (I changed pump from Stiebel Eltron to Hoval) for same price/performance and all worked like a charm.
At the end heatpump price was the same price as one in DE.
You get 2-years guarantee onsite , which you won't have with imported item - good luck shipping it for repairs
What is the difference between monoblock and split in terms of advantages of one over the other esp. in terms of performance but also other factors.
Second, how did you go about selecting your heat pump - as in why Hoval over Stiebel Eltron?
I believe to receive quote from 20 providers, they could do it without visiting the house? The problem for me is that I do not have possession of the house until end Apr, so visits will be limited. However, the couple of companies I contacted insist that they would like to visit the house before they can send a credible quotation.
My advice is to pick a smaller number of offers - your 20 offers are never going to be fully comparable, you are going to have to deal with 20 companies to whittle it down to one, and that is a lot of effort.
Can't you find a recommendation of a few providers that you would trust?
Also buying and installing from Switzerland means you can make deductions from your tax bill here. Buying from abroad, this is likely to be a more complex affaire.
You can import one from the EU ideally as it'll come with the certified data that you'll need for the permit application. But local plumbers might not be familiar with the Belgian model you want so you could being paying them to read the installation menus and if at first sight it sounds simple with an inflow, an outflow and some wiring it's more complicated with flow rates, manifolds, different thermostats for different zones etc.
So you need to know what to order first, the calorific output, the surface area of the radiators and much more: you need to know what you are doing...
...this includes visiting the house. There's a lot to work out, trying to price the job without a detailed visit is near impossible. Presumably the first task will be removing the existing system and the plumber will need to see what is involved here and so on.
Like hoover1 says, why not invite a parade of plumbers to come round and quote for the job? You'll have spring, summer and autumn to set things up and get a feel for the house, eg if one side is very warm when the sun pours in you might want specific thermostats/manifolds there, and you might like to have additions such as solar energy as there could be savings doing the work at the same time.
Should be no problem as long as it complies to general regulations (noise etc.) Switzerland is trying to follow EU regulations. I have imported large AirCon system for my DataCenter and it was installed by local company.
The process was: Chose system, buy, import, call local company, they come, look and make me an offer (complex install, lots of core drilling and looong cooling lines). If your local plumber refuses to execute installation work on a system you provide then I'd stay away from such plumber.
Heat pumps are essentially glorified AirCon units and the things that can "go wrong" are quite limited. Everything what is outside of the unit itself (hot water storage tank, piping etc.) is not really specific to particular manufacturer, if a plumber can do one system then he will be able to do others.
My local AirCon guy also maintained the system until he retired and maintenance was very simple: Replace filters, check fans, check pressure and humidity in cooling lines / repair leaks if needed. That's all.
If you are going Geothermal you may have challenges having the bore(s) done. Ours go down 120m. Not technically difficult but finding the equipment could be more difficult.
When we had ours installed Romande Energy gave us a f5000 discount on the drilling as our next door neighbour had his drilled immediately after ours (ie they only had to move the drill 150m).
Can you please share more details. What is the name of the "German builder" for the heater? With which company did you have service contract? And how much did you end up paying for the heat pump, distribution system and installation cost? (just to compare with the Suisse prices).