ᐅ Which Heating System Is Best for a New Build (Prefab House)

Hello dear community,

my wife and I want to take the plunge into the adventure of building a house. We have decided on the prefabricated house option. The house should have between 130 and 150 square meters (1400 and 1600 square feet) of living space. We are at the very beginning; nothing is finalized yet, no building plot, etc. The entire new development area in the town will only be developed next year.

However, we want to benefit from others’ experiences as early as possible, hence this post.

Among many other things to consider, I think the heating system is one of the most important points. Almost all prefab house providers advertise the KfW40 or 40+ standard house with an air-to-air heat pump and controlled ventilation with heat recovery (fresh air heat technology). But I am also considering the KfW55 option with a pellet heating system combined with a hydronic wood-burning stove in the living room and a buffer tank. I still have no idea about the costs.

At the moment, our main question is: Is an air-to-air heat pump sufficient for the Black Forest climate at all? How about efficiency? Do you have experience with controlled ventilation and indoor climate? I think there is a wealth of experience here.

I have already read some posts on similar questions but please don’t be offended if I am looking for individual answers.

Thanks in advance for reading and responding! Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

I would avoid air-to-air heat pumps in colder climates – they might work with KFW40 standards, but the investment should be significantly cheaper in that case.

Get some quotes made – based on those, you can compare and validate costs and benefits.

Thank you for the reply! Yes, I will choose a standard house from various providers and have them offer it to me in both versions.

A difference of €50,000 can of course cover many years of heating.. However, I also expect better indoor air quality with ventilation systems, and in summer it should provide cooling as well. Experience from people who have chosen this would be helpful here.

In our system, the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery cools little or not at all... the only thing is you don’t ventilate with warm air, and at night you have the option to ventilate without heat recovery (which provides moderate cooling) – but you can also just open a window.
You won’t get real cooling without an air conditioning unit.
The indoor climate is always like with good ventilation.

I’m joining in here, as our situation is very similar. New construction, prefabricated (shell) house, and the question of how to heat it. Air-to-air heat pumps are generally the preferred solution everywhere.

However, I’m now also considering a gas condensing boiler in combination with a masonry heater.

Air-to-air heat pumps are very interesting for the provider, as they are relatively inexpensive to install.