ᐅ Is it still worth installing a new oil heating system today?

Kate*** schrieb:

The tank system looks good and will remain in place (it currently contains several thousand liters of heating oil, which we would otherwise need to have pumped out).

Is the oil heating system even broken? If not, I wouldn’t let the possibility of subsidies push you. First, modernize the house, while already planning and implementing the fixed heating surfaces early on (such as underfloor heating).

With a heat meter for the old heating system, you can determine the maximum heating load of the insulated house during winter after the planned measures, to size the new heating system as small but appropriate as possible: higher efficiency, lower initial costs.

Regarding oil and pellets, I would also consider that you are tied to the respective energy sources for decades: regular deliveries, local emissions from combustion, risk of disproportionate price increases or operating costs due to monopolies, regulations, taxes, etc. Many of these issues do not apply to electric heating, and electricity is becoming “greener” every year.

With photovoltaic electricity from your own roof, you can partially protect yourself against price increases. The fact that the photovoltaic system not only breaks even overall but can even generate some profit thanks to current incentives is an additional bonus to take advantage of, regardless of whether you plan to heat with oil, wood, or electricity in the future.

Whether to use oil or not will probably be a matter of personal conviction. I don’t see any advantages of pellets over a heat pump; both will likely be more expensive than oil, although that’s not necessarily true for heat pumps. The downside of heat pumps: proper planning is important.

I also wish you much success with the implementation.

Hello everyone,

so, I hope I don’t forget to address something that was mentioned earlier.

The tiled stove is already installed in the house and will remain. Retrofitting thermal storage pockets for domestic hot water production in the existing tiled stove would be possible, but according to our heating engineer, it would be very expensive and no longer cost-effective for us.

Unfortunately, there is no space for a large photovoltaic system to operate a heat pump, as the house already has a photovoltaic system whose electricity is fully fed into the grid because it is an older system with substantial subsidies. Therefore, the plan is only a small photovoltaic installation on an outbuilding for own electricity consumption and possibly to assist in heating a water buffer tank that will be installed separately from the tiled stove.

Low-temperature radiators can of course be operated with a heat pump; in our case, it’s just that we still have radiators in more or less uninsulated outbuildings that need to provide heat in cold weather, and we do not want to remove and replace all those radiators.

Another point is that in our case, not only the main residence is heated with this system, but also two additional buildings, all of different energy standards. The main house, which has the largest heated area, will receive new windows and new roof insulation (which is already insulated with 11 cm (4 inches) of glass wool; this will be upgraded to 24 cm (9½ inches) of wood fiber insulation), but what we will definitely not do is a full thermal insulation composite system (ETICS or external wall insulation).

The two independent energy consultants we had, who were also paid separately and have no connection to the heating engineer, both concluded after much back and forth that, if anything, only a groundwater heat pump would be suitable. However, this is naturally very expensive to install, and due to the falling groundwater level, it could also become problematic.

At first, we were actually very keen on a heat pump, so it’s not that the idea was off the table; it’s just that in our particular situation—and this was the opinion of several people—it probably doesn’t make sense.

Oh, and the old heating system is not broken, but it still needs to be replaced because we relocated the chimney for the heating system and will connect a new heating system to the new chimney. Also, for reasons of energy efficiency, it will be replaced. Considering the extensive renovation measures, I believe it makes sense.

In the end, we decided on an oil heating system. It’s not a decision for the rest of our lives, and presumably, we will have to reconsider this in (hopefully only) 20 years, especially since oil heating installation will likely be banned in a few years. After much consideration and many discussions and opinions, this currently appears to be the best solution for us.

Thank you for all the suggestions and your kind wishes for the renovation!

So, there are several houses. I am withdrawing my previous assessments.

Kate*** schrieb:

The plan now is only to install a small photovoltaic system on an outbuilding for self-consumption and possibly to assist in heating a water buffer tank, which will be installed separately from the tiled stove.

Depending on the size, it might be more sensible for this system to feed some electricity back into the grid rather than using the power directly for heating. Try searching online; there are forums dedicated solely to photovoltaic systems where you should definitely describe this side project.

So in the end, you are not carrying out any extensive energy-related renovations. Replacing windows and the roof of the main building while doing nothing to the outbuildings is not extensive.
In this case, the heat pump is quite rightly off the table.
Ultimately, you are cutting back on energy renovations. Just keep in mind that this could cause problems for you in 20 years. Renovating an inhabited house extensively is a nightmare.

hampshire schrieb:

Satire or ignorance?

Rationality. Modern oil heating systems have good performance. A heat pump is not a sensible choice in an unrenovated house.

Kate*** schrieb:

The next point is that in our case, not only the residential building is heated with this system, but also two additional buildings,

If you had shared all the information from the start, we could have saved ourselves a lot of suggestions. I am now switching back from a heat pump to oil heating.

Could you please tell us what kind of buildings these are? How are they connected, and how are they used? Maybe having two separate heat generators would be appropriate.