Solar Panels or Solar Energy

[jeba 4,347]

12 hours ago, LeonG said:

 

My water heater needs replacement and the plumber said he can install a heat pump so it must produce hot water. 

As I understood heat pumps can produce hot water, but the efficiency decreases the hotter the water temperature is set.

[yesterday 1,979]

17 hours ago, LeonG said:

 

My water heater needs replacement and the plumber said he can install a heat pump so it must produce hot water. 

 

Dunno

 

As said I watched a few videos like this 

 

This is Why Heat Pumps May NOT Be The Future - YouTube

 

It sounds like a bad idea, but I hope if you go ahead with it that it all works out well.

 

Maybe you already got under floor heating so you do not have to spend extra, and sure Heat pumps do produce hot water, but I thought not as hot as GAS warmed water. Maybe you got a very well insulated place and its enough

 

 

[LeonG 14,797]

1 hour ago, yesterday said:

 

Dunno

 

As said I watched a few videos like this 

 

This is Why Heat Pumps May NOT Be The Future - YouTube

 

It sounds like a bad idea, but I hope if you go ahead with it that it all works out well.

 

Maybe you already got under floor heating so you do not have to spend extra, and sure Heat pumps do produce hot water, but I thought not as hot as GAS warmed water. Maybe you got a very well insulated place and its enough

 

In my case it would just be for hot water for my own needs. Heating is already Fernwärme but new rules state that I can not hook up a water tank directly to the hot water from the provider because they don't want to guarantee that it's safe to consume. Hence I'm left with 4 options, 1. Get a hot water tank with a dual system so the hot water is used to heat up cold water. This is ridiculously expensive. 2. Get a flow through heater. Unfortunately not possible due to the wiring at my house. 3. Get an electric boiler. High power consumption. 4. Get a heat pump as this last plumber suggested. Unfortunately he seems to be really busy and it will take a year and a day for him to have time for this. 

[scook17 247]

On 02/07/2022, 15:14:20, LeonG said:

 

In my case it would just be for hot water for my own needs. Heating is already Fernwärme but new rules state that I can not hook up a water tank directly to the hot water from the provider because they don't want to guarantee that it's safe to consume. Hence I'm left with 4 options, 1. Get a hot water tank with a dual system so the hot water is used to heat up cold water. This is ridiculously expensive. 2. Get a flow through heater. Unfortunately not possible due to the wiring at my house. 3. Get an electric boiler. High power consumption. 4. Get a heat pump as this last plumber suggested. Unfortunately he seems to be really busy and it will take a year and a day for him to have time for this. 

 

The water from your heating tank never mixed with the hot water heating it. It runs through a copper coil in the centre of the tank. So if the water in the copper coils come from heating with a boiler, from solar thermal, or from Fernwarme, it makes zero difference. I would, however, wonder how they bill people for Fernwarme? One apartment I had, had some units which stuck to the radiators that somehow measured heat consumed.

 

Most cylinders have two heating options, a cooper coil and an electrical element. You just run the Fernwarme water through the copper element and your hot water will be whatever temperature the Fernwarme provides to the apartment. If you want it hotter, you turn on the electric element (expensive) and make it warmer.

 

Are these 'new rules' listed somewhere?

[LeonG 14,797]

1 hour ago, scook17 said:

The water from your heating tank never mixed with the hot water heating it. It runs through a copper coil in the centre of the tank. So if the water in the copper coils come from heating with a boiler, from solar thermal, or from Fernwarme, it makes zero difference. I would, however, wonder how they bill people for Fernwarme? One apartment I had, had some units which stuck to the radiators that somehow measured heat consumed.

 

Most cylinders have two heating options, a cooper coil and an electrical element. You just run the Fernwarme water through the copper element and you hot water will be whatever temperature the Fernwarme provides to the apartment. If you want it hotter, you turn on the electric element (expensive) and make it warmer.

 

Are these 'new rules' listed somewhere?

 

The hot water tank I had when I bought the place that was from the 60's, as well as the new one I had installed 7 yrs. ago, were hooked up directly to the fernwärme hot water as far as I know.  The reason for the tank is just to mix the water and keep it at slightly lower temps to avoid you getting burned too badly in your shower should the cold water cut out. In Iceland they don't do this by the way.  Geothermal water is piped directly to your shower and if you burn, too bad for you.

 

When the new hot water tank started to leak, I called the plumbers who installed it and they told me about the new rules and how the new dual system tank would cost an arm and a leg.  Of course I didn't take their word for it.  I called the fernwärme department at my energy provider and asked and they verified that any system that allowed their hot water to get into the drinking water would no longer be allowed.  They said that a flow through heater (takes in cold water and heats it with electricity) and an electric boiler (takes in X liters of cold water and heats it with electricity and keeps it warm) would be allowed as well as the dual system tank.

 

The fernwärme is measured by a counter on the incoming hot water pipe.  This is different to the counters on the radiators in apartment buildings which do not actually measure specific units of energy but rather are used to compare one apartment power use to the total of the building.  For example, if all the counters in the building were 10,000 units and yours was 1,000 you pay 10% of the part of the bill that is based on useage.

 

[Dembo 496]

9 minutes ago, LeonG said:

I called the plumbers who installed it and they told me about the new rules and how the new dual system tank would cost an arm and a leg. 

Those tanks with a secondary coil are pretty common - in the UK that's the norm as everyone has gas boilers. I'm amazed that would be more expensive than the other options, either to buy or to connect up. 

[LeonG 14,797]

2 hours ago, Dembo said:

Those tanks with a secondary coil are pretty common - in the UK that's the norm as everyone has gas boilers. I'm amazed that would be more expensive than the other options, either to buy or to connect up. 

 

The tank from 7 years ago cost 800€, including installation was about 2500. The new tank the plumber proposed is at 4k, including installation over 8k. They offered to install a flow through for 2k but my wiring can't support it.  An electrical boiler should be similar in price. Heatpump should be around 3500. Still waiting for that guy to give me a quote.