Ideally, one of the newer ones that heats to 70-80c (radiators)...
Just got my delivery of heating oil; and seeing how prices seem to have doubled over the last fear years (I was paying 73rappen a liter less than 5 years ago), it might make sense to look at a heating pump.
That said, there is no way in hell I'm ripping up all the floors to put underfloor heating...
Also don’t forget you may need to improve the insulation of your property to get the most benefit from the switch as well as other work needed.
A heat pump plumber or engineer will be trained to do calculations so they can work out the unit you need and you can see how much energy it consumes when it's running. There are subsidies to make the switch for the installation but you're right to think of the daily costs.
We have 51⁄2 room detached house now 15 years old, but well insulated with underfloor heating and solar panels to distort matters even further.
The heat pump was billed separately until 3 years ago. That made costing easy. Now it's on one meter, but I reckon it costs less than CHF1,000 a year at 2023 prices...
I've done that as a baseline, and now waiting for a couple of proper offers from local companies, but I think the numbers vary too much depending on the property to make sharing much use.
Generally my calculation shows replacing our oil with an air pump will pay for itself in about 12 years, plus I get an extra room from the oil tank and it's environmentally better.
This year, I bought the heizoel at chf 1.05 - so around CHF 2,400 for the heating for the year. If a heatpump reduces the cost to 2000/year, then at chf 400-saving, a heatpump will take 100 years to pay for itself, which makes it pointless.
Add to that that I would get something even less efficient as on radiators... I looked at helion, but they don't seem to compare running prices - only provide a quote on installation costs...
What I really need is a "heatpump cost per kW of energy at 80c radiator temperature..."
EDIT: Just played with the stiebel site, where they state their pumps are good for 15-20 years. So, chf 37,000/20 = 1,850 per year. Current heating costs are 2,400 per year... so unless running costs are sub-550chf, then it will never pay for itself.
What we have since discovered however is that the thermal source was only drilled to approx. 100m (if that), which I believe was accepted at the time. It is also drilled under the middle of the house.
We are now told that this is too shallow and will last another 10 years if we are lucky. A new source will need to be drilled, and all up will be another 50K.
We will probably do it in 2 stages..installed an heatpump/boiler combo in Stage 1 on the existing source, and save up to do a new drill in 5-8 years time.
Our house is 220m2, with a small footprint. We use between 800 and 1000 liters of oil per year - so heating costs in the neighborhood of 1K per year.
The numbers from heat pump companies seem to show that we'd likely end up doubling (or more) our costs just to run the thing. Installation costs would never be recouped.
What am I missing here?
Very roughly our electric bill went from 1000 chf to 3300 chf after getting heat pump. After getting solar our annual electric bill will be < 500 chf. And these are taking into account the crap payments our electric company is paying us for our solar (< 0.1 chf / Kw). Oil with maintenance of old system was costing us 3000 chf a year. So we save in total now 3500-4000 chf a year with both systems. You may consider the above a very poor investment but if you consider now we got rid of the dirty oil drums, have a new room in the cellar, the house is now extremely resellable and the value has increased. Plus generating your own electricity is a really cool thing. I now only look at the solar app on my phone once a day
FYI we have a 180m2 house. Insulation not great as main house built in 60`s and extension in 80`s.
Are you also using oil for hot water? Maybe your estimates for the heat pump running costs also include hot water production?
At some point you will need to replace the oil heater and you won't be allowed to replace it with another oil heater. This will be the time to switch, not when you have a working efficient solution. Also, your house is very efficient if you're only using 800-1000L of oil per year for 220m2.
Our architect said it didn’t need servicing and as long as we vacuumed out and leaves etc a couple of times a year, we should be OK.
The architect was right...
Plus, I prefer a cool house. I find 15 to be a perfectly comfortable winter room temperature, I turn the heat on at the last possible moment in winter and off at the first signs of spring. I probably keep the house cooler, and run the heating for a shorter season, than the Swiss average.
Which is perhaps why I am having trouble finding good information as to the economics of different heating systems. Calculators and quotes assume rather different preferences and behaviors.
We got caught in this some 10+ years ago when emission standards were lowered, forcing us to replace our still in good working order furnace. The new, state of the art, guaranteed to be ecologically friendly, all singing all dancing furnace ended up burning 20% more oil than the old behemoth. A fail both economically and environmentally.
Having been burned once by 'new and improved' tech, I am a tad wary. Last time only cost me 25K - switching to a heat pump will likely run much more than that.
I'm well aware that we'll be forced to change in the not too distant future, I only hope that given how we live there will be actual benefit this time around.
We run at 23.5° almost year-round. I don't turn the heat pump off for heating ever. Good insulation and early morning airing kept the max indoor temp to 24.5° this summer...
Here’s a statistic about heating oil prices in Germany:
https://www.tecson.de/heizoelpreise.html
From what I’ve read, oil is headed for 150/barrel again. So if you’re still on dinosaur juice, it’s better to fill up rather sooner than later.
You should maintain at least 19° - below that and humidity will start to condensate at the walls and lead to mold.
Personally, sitting in front of the computer at 19°, I get a cold head and would need a cap (I tried).
*Except the bathrooms which have no thermostats, they’re warmer.
Anyone replacing an old oil fired boiler or electric radiator heating system should get decent subsidies for replacing the with a heat pump.
Your costs sound on the high side. Get several quotes.