ᐅ Full Renovation Heat Pump: Viessmann vs. Samsung vs. Others?

Hello everyone,

We have purchased a house near Düsseldorf, which we are completely renovating and extending with an addition.
A brief overview of the basic conditions:

• Size of the existing house is about 120sqm (1300 sq ft), the addition about 70sqm (750 sq ft), so approximately 190sqm (2045 sq ft) in total
• Old heating and hot water were oil-based with conventional radiators in the rooms; the old heating system has already been removed
• Underfloor heating will be newly installed; additionally, there will be air conditioning on the upper floor (so the heating system does not need to provide cooling)
• Calculated heating load for the entire building is about 8 kW
• Photovoltaic system will also be installed on the roof, with a maximum output of about 11 kW
• The house will be heavily insulated, but due to the construction type and other factors, it will never achieve the insulation quality of an energy-efficient (passive) house

Originally, we had an offer for a ground source heat pump from Weishaupt (total price about 47,000 EUR), which we had already commissioned in August last year. However, Weishaupt never set a drilling date, and then unexpectedly proposed a date in May 2024 — which is far too late for us. They moved this up to the end of January 2024, but that is still too late and would result in additional electric heating costs of about 3,000 EUR. Other drilling companies cannot be found... so the ground source heat pump option is off the table for us.

As a replacement for the ground source heat pump, the heating installer is now offering air source heat pumps. He provided us with two quotes: one from Viessmann (Vitocal 200-S) including a buffer tank for about 30,000 EUR, and one from Samsung (Mono Block HT-QT) also including a buffer tank, for approximately the same price. I no longer want to go with Weishaupt, and the installer doesn’t offer Vaillant (no idea why).

Now to my main question:

Are these two heat pumps basically recommended, or are there clearly better manufacturers to consider? I often read about Lambda/Zewotherm, but I am not sure if the installer would offer those. I am not necessarily looking for the cheapest model, but ideally one with the best price-performance ratio.

Many thanks in advance to the collective intelligence! 🙂

Choose the one with the best chance of timely delivery.
You mentioned that January 2024 would be too late. Are you planning to move in October?
That leaves only 8 months, and delivery times for heat pumps are currently long. Perhaps a ground-source heat pump and drilling would have been the better option.

SoL schrieb:

Choose the one with the best chance of on-time delivery.
You mentioned that January 2024 would be too late. Are you planning to move in October?
That would only leave about 8 months, and lead times for heat pumps are currently long. Perhaps geothermal heat pumps and drilling would have been a better option.

Thank you – we plan to move in December 2023, but according to the architect, heating needs to start as early as October because the house will be completely cooled down. So your estimate of about 8 months is exactly right.

According to the heating technician, the Samsung unit is currently in stock, while the Viessmann has an 8-week lead time. So both options would be possible...

Really? We are getting the same (Viessmann) and online you can currently find delivery times of 8 to 12 months. You should have them confirm the 8 weeks again, that sounds very optimistic to me.

We ordered a Vaillant system in October, with delivery possibly in April. A larger model for the construction project is scheduled for September, almost a year later. This may not concern you, but I can’t imagine that delivery times at Viessmann are much better.

ESchuster schrieb:

As a replacement for the ground source heat pump, the heating engineer is now offering air source heat pumps. He gave us two quotes: one from Viessmann (Vitocal 200-S) including a buffer tank for around 30,000 EUR and one from Samsung (Mono Block HT-QT) also including a buffer tank for about 30,000 EUR. I no longer want to use Weishaupt, and the heating engineer does not offer Vaillant (no idea why).

In general, it is better to choose genuine heat pump manufacturers (e.g., Nibe, IDM, Lambda). Traditional boiler manufacturers are still somewhat behind in technology, especially regarding controls. Many suppliers buy complete units and then just add their own controls and casing. This could be a boiler manufacturer using a Chinese heat pump or, for example, KNV using a high-quality Nibe heat pump as a base.
Samsung and Panasonic come from the air conditioning sector. They sometimes offer affordable and reliable units (e.g., Panasonic Geisha). Whether these have a shorter lifespan because their air conditioning components are usually designed for less durability remains to be seen.

And if underfloor heating is installed everywhere, then skip the buffer tank. It only adds cost and reduces efficiency.