ᐅ Gas or Heat Pump? Experiences and Feedback

Since no one can predict how electricity and gas prices will develop, a bit of luck is also involved. It doesn’t help if heating system type A typically lasts around 15 years on average, but you’re unlucky and it suffers an irreparable failure after just 5 years, while your neighbor’s works perfectly for 25 years.

You can do all kinds of calculations: “if..., then you save €1000 but pay €200 more per year in case of...” Compared to the typical single-family house new build project volume, often €400,000 to €500,000 or more, €100 more or less in operating costs is really just peanuts in the end.

My conclusion: it’s also partly a matter of personal belief and gut feeling. And... climate change... you know the story: the average annual temperature keeps rising, so we’re heating less and less every year on average.

@seth0487
Similar to our setup
We needed a bit more width, but the base unit has the same dimensions

You can hear some noise when the door is open and the system is running, especially at full load in winter when hot water is needed. Otherwise, no noise.

There is no natural gas here. So, we opted for a heat pump. We chose geothermal because it is more cost-effective in operation, the heat source is completely maintenance-free, and thanks to subsidies, it is only slightly more expensive than an air-to-water heat pump. The unit inside the house is about the size of a refrigerator, including the hot water storage.

I would only consider an air-to-water heat pump if it can be installed indoors. Outdoor units are just really unattractive. Noise isn’t much of an issue with modern systems anyway.

A stove is more of a hobby or luxury. If you turn on the stove because your feet are cold, you need a completely different solution. Underfloor heating can’t help with that at all, as it’s not meant for warming feet to the point of overheating (which, by the way, is extremely unhealthy—think edema, especially for women).

Costs of geothermal heat vs. air-to-water heat pumps have been discussed often enough in this forum ... a ground borehole is much more expensive than purchasing an air-to-water heat pump ... for us, it made a difference of 10,000 (the currency is implied) ... and excavation is not possible everywhere, plus it only makes sense if you’re willing to help with the labor yourself

Snowy36 schrieb:

The costs of geothermal systems versus air-to-water heat pumps have been discussed often enough in this forum... a ground drilling is much more expensive than purchasing an air-to-water heat pump... for us, it made a difference of 10,000 (ten thousand). Also, excavating isn’t possible everywhere and is only worthwhile if you’re willing to help out yourself.

For us, the drilling costs about 9,000–12,000 (nine to twelve thousand).

Snowy36 schrieb:

The costs of geothermal energy versus air-to-water heat pumps have been discussed often enough in this forum... drilling for geothermal energy is much more expensive than purchasing an air-to-water heat pump... in our case it was about 10,000€ (approximately $11,000). Moreover, ground excavation is not possible everywhere and only worth it if you’re able to contribute labor yourself.

Apparently not often enough.
It largely depends on local conditions. Fewer drilling meters mean lower costs.
In my experience, it’s best to avoid turnkey contracts for geothermal energy if you want it to be economical. That means you should always contract the drilling and the heat pump separately. This is simply because heating installers rarely do the drilling themselves, so when they make their offer, they bear the risk of miscalculating the drilling costs. Therefore, they add a large contingency to the price.

An air-to-water heat pump usually costs about 1,000€ (approximately $1,100) more than a brine-to-water heat pump. For the brine-to-water system, the drilling costs are additional, for example, 7,500€ (approximately $8,300) in our case. On the other hand, there is a subsidy of 5,000€ (approximately $5,500) from the government program BAFA and, for example, in North Rhine-Westphalia, an additional 5€ (approximately $5.50) per meter of drill depth, e.g. 500€ (approximately $550).
The effective extra cost is about 1,000€ (approximately $1,100). The drilling lasts indefinitely, meaning that when it’s time to replace the heat pump, the brine-to-water heat pump is already ahead in terms of cost. Not to mention the lower energy consumption, better appearance, noise, and so on.