The family home has oil heat. A big tank in the cellar feeds two ovens, one on each floor. There are no radiators in any room. Just the ovens. We suspect that regulations will eventually mean the system has to be changed. A friend said it could cost upwards of 100K CHF to change systems. Really? Can we not just replace the two oil ovens with pellet ovens or something? It’s not a big house and one oven on each floor is sufficient.
And for those of you who have dealt with old houses, at what point did you decide tear it town or sell vs. attempt to keep up/renovate/rent?
I would call in an expert to assess your situation and possible solutions incl. cost estimates. You are in Bern, right? BkW offers this, but charges a service fee as far as I know. Check https://energieberatungstadtbern.ch - they might do this free of charge.
To the second point, get an indication from an agent, add the capex of the renovation and see what you can buy for that.
What about your hot water? How is that heated? Our geothermal heat pump (heating and hot water) cost around 80k and we got about a 10% subsidy from the canton. That was about 8 years ago.
Canton, yes. Not city. Thanks for the suggestion! I wasn’t aware there’s such a thing as an Energieberatung (Google tells me that means Energy consulting). There’s a regional one in the area of the house that offers free phone consultations or will come to the home for a fee. We’ve not consulted an estate agent yet, but I guess we could see what kind of fee they would charge to have a nose around and make suggestions too.
Thanks. What does that include, though? What gets the heat from the pump through the rooms in the house? I suspect that’s where the cost would go crazy for us. Probably a cost for removing the old tank, too.
Electric geyser.
Can you define “not so expensive” a bit more clearly? The brochures on the website don’t seem to have prices.
That was for equipment and full installation. Getting the heat around is simple as you just need to attach radiators to each room and connect them with pipes to the heat pump. Much more expensive if you want to tear up the floor and install under-floor heating.
You can get the heat around the house either with air (air vent systems are common in North America) which may be cheaper than water pipes for radiators or underfloor heating. If all you have are two ovens at the moment then ceiling fans should improve circulation of the air.
The actual “Atlantic Suisse Brauchwasser-Wärmepumps Explorer 270L Cozytouch” is quoted as CHF 3’693.31. However, there a lot of extra costs bits and bobs and fitting etc. which bring the price up to about double that…
I doubt a heat pump will be able to heat 3W’s existing ovens. Our geo-thermal system can get the water up to 55-60c, at the best of times.
So a heat pump will need a delivery system to get the heat to where it is needed. On the other hand I can see a wood pellet system generating a similar temperature as the existing system in a similar way.
I asked an AI (Perplexity) to learn
Yes, wood pellet hot water systems do exist. They are commonly known as wood pellet boilers or pellet heating systems and are designed to provide central heating and hot water by burning wood pellets, a renewable and carbon-neutral fuel made from wood residues like sawdust and shavings.
Key features of wood pellet hot water systems:
• They operate fully automatically, with ignition, fuel feeding, ash removal, and heat exchanger cleaning all automated for convenience and efficiency.
• Suitable for hydronic (hot water) heating systems including radiators, underfloor heating, and wall heating, supplying both space heating and domestic hot water.
• They are environmentally friendly, producing low emissions and using sustainable fuel, often made from waste timber products.
• Pellet storage is required, typically in a dedicated room or silo, with automatic fuel conveyance to the boiler.
• These systems can replace traditional oil or gas boilers with minimal conversion work and offer cost savings on fuel.
Examples include brands like KWB, Easypell, Brunner, and Schmid, which provide pellet boilers with power ranges suitable for domestic, commercial, and industrial applications.
In summary, wood pellet hot water systems are reliable, efficient, and sustainable heating solutions widely used for central heating and hot water needs.
Something no-one suggested.Heat pumps for water heating have nothing to do with ovens..
Wood heating is a huge mistake too many Swiss cantons are making in promoting it. Wood burning is highly polluting and worse for CO2 production than gas and even oil.
No, wood pellets count as renewables . The problem for wood pellets is the scale. If only a few people use them in the mountains it is a pretty good method environmentally. If large numbers of people use them then there is going to be a supply problem as the forests do not regenerate fast enough for them to be considered a renewable source any more. The pollution from wood burning is another separate factor.
There are a number of ongoing scandal involving wood pellets: not only is their burning a health and environmental hazard, the pellets are mainly imported from specially fast-growing tree “farms” in USA and Canada and shipped to Europe.
There is certified sustainable biomass available. There are also filters that deal with the particulates. So it can be a responsible solution if run by responsible people.
Buying Sustainable Wood Pellets in Switzerland
Yes, you can buy sustainable wood pellets in Switzerland. Several Swiss producers, such as Tschopp Holzindustrie AG and Blumer-Lehmann, manufacture pellets from natural waste wood (sawdust, wood chips, and shavings) sourced from Swiss sawmills. No additional trees are felled for their production, and the process is highly efficient.
Look for certifications such as DINplus, Enplus, and the Swiss Wood Mark of Origin, which guarantee high quality and sustainable sourcing. The “Schweizer Naturholz Pellets” label, managed by the Swiss natural wood pellets association (VSNP), also certifies sustainably produced pellets made from Swiss materials.
You can order these pellets through leading fuel merchants or directly online for home delivery.
