A whole year’s experience with a heat pump boiler in the home: how did it perform?
Our valued colleague Joris has now had a heat pump boiler producing all the sanitary hot water for his home for one whole year. We have measured the electricity consumption of this device and also know the gas consumption in the house before and after installation: what conclusions can we draw from this?Zonnefabriek has been offering more than just solar panels for some time now: we want to help make every home and business in the Netherlands as energy-efficient and sustainable as possible. One of the ways to do this is by replacing gas-fired hot water supply with clean electric heat pumps. We’re doing this for our customers, but also at our own homes.
In July 2024 we already wrote about the experiences of our sales manager Joris in the first six months since the installation of his heat pump boiler, and now six months later we can draw up the balance of an entire year. The first important conclusion: there have been no complaints in terms of comfort level. According to Joris, there is always more than enough hot water available in the house. The heat pump boiler, which is placed in the attic, has been performing completely without malfunctions so far and produces little to no noise during operation.
What are the benefits?
The most important question is: has it yielded any benefits, both financially and environmentally? Joris’s family’s gas consumption has dropped considerably from 2023 to 2024; from 884 m3 annually to 409 m3. That is a remarkable drop. From January 2024 onwards, only the space heating of the (well-insulated) house was provided by gas, while cooking and hot water were provided by electricity.
The power consumption has therefore also increased considerably: from 2519 kWh (kilowatt-hours) in 2023 to no less than 3861 kWh in 2024. If they hadn’t had solar panels, that would have resulted in an annual saving of around €200 (see box) if we consider the average gas and electricity prices of 2024. That is already quite a lot, of course, but those €200 per year don’t quite justify an investment in a heat pump boiler, which can easily cost a few thousand euros. However, we need to look a little further. Firstly, the gas price has been rising for some time (see graph).
While the gas price was on average €1.18 per cubic meter of gas last year, this year it will probably be around €1.35. And for the years after that, it could well be that the price will only increase (think: tariff war, global instability, etc.)
The price of electricity has also increased slightly, but a lot less than the gas price. Part of our electricity comes from gas-fired turbines, but a much larger share (now more than half) comes from renewable sources. That’s why the price of electricity no longer increases in proportion to that of gas.
Smart installation leads to much more savings
But if you have solar panels, then it is a completely different story! Because of the way Zonnefabriek installs heat pump boilers, we make sure they mainly use the solar power from your panels and use a lot less grid power. We’ve been able to monitor that for Joris’s family’s installation: in 2024, 62% of the power that the heat pump boiler consumed came directly from the solar panels on the roof. In a year that wasn't even very sunny!
A ‘non-smart’ heat pump boiler does not consider the presence of solar panels and only switches on when the temperature in the boiler tank drops below the lower limit threshold. The device will therefore consume a lot of power at night and in the morning, when the solar panels are doing little to nothing. A heat pump boiler installed by Zonnefabriek, on the other hand, does take the sun into account and produces extra hot water when there is a surplus of solar power available.
The electricity costs of the heat pump boiler at Joris's home were a lot lower thanks to our smart way of installing (see box). If we take this and the higher gas price into account, the energy savings aren’t just €200, but as much as €500 per year! Now we're talking!
Benefits for you and for the environment
Besides the financial profit, the environmental profit is of course also a good reason to purchase a heat pump boiler. Less gas = less global warming. And as a country we are increasingly dependent on other countries for gas supplies, whereas the sun gives us free energy at home.
All up that makes several good reasons to get a heat pump boiler: it saves money and you’re doing the environment and the country a good service if you buy one. Joris certainly doesn’t regret his purchase: follow his good example and contact us for a consultation!