PVT heat pump panel application for exisiting build

You are used to your home being comfortably warm, and you want to keep it that way. Before you switch from a gas boiler to another heating system, you want to make sure that the alternative offers at least the same amount of comfort.

Trias Energetica

If a house is well insulated, obviously it will be easier to heat. The first step is therefore to ensure that your house is well insulated via the quadruple approach (wall, floor and roof insulation, plus double glazing). An energy consultant can help you with this. Certain municipalities have appointed someone for the task as well.

All electric or hybrid?

If your house is not optimally insulated or cannot be properly insulated, a hybrid installation is a great alternative. We call an installation hybrid if the gas boiler stays in place. The heat pump is installed next to the gas boiler and becomes the main heating system. If, for example, it starts to freeze and the heat pump cannot provide sufficient heat, the gas boiler will assist. This way you keep optimum comfort and still save gas.

No regrets: from hybrid to all electric

If in doubt, you can choose to keep the gas boiler installed for the time being. This may be because you don’t want to insulate the house until later. Or you have doubts about the comfort after switching to a heat pump. It is important that you choose an installation that can be expanded if called for. We call that a ‘no regret’ investment. Triple Solar can always be expanded to all-electric (fossil free) and is therefore a no-regret solution.

Housing associations often already have good insights in ​​the degree of insulation of the home and the energy consumption of its residents.

With fossil free heating corporations do not have much choice. It is either an air/water heat pump or Triple Solar PVT panels. Geothermal heat is rarely used in renovations, because it causes quite a lot of damage to gardens and pavings.

Triple Solar has a number of advantages over an air/water heat pump:

• Triple Solar uses a water/water heat pump. This is more economical in energy consumption.
• The water/water heat pump is always placed inside, often in the attic, in the utility room, or in case of a renovation in a specially equipped technical room.
• The water/water heat pump does not have an outdoor unit. Thus no space on the roof is required, and there is no noise pollution for the resident and/or neighbours.
• No annual maintenance is required, as is for the outdoor unit of the air/water heat pump.
• Instead of ordinary PV panels, we install PVT heat pump panels. This can be done on the same roof surface and is aesthetically pleasing.

TCO

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is important for the housing corporation. The investment and maintenance costs for the corporation, and the energy costs for residents must by no means not increase.

For the resident it is advantageous that only electricity will be charged, The gas prices are increasing annually (in the past 3 years already with 26%), whereas the electricity costs have remained almost the same.

For the corporation, the investment in the high quality and sustainable Triple Solar installation is often somewhat higher than in an air/water heat pump (with a comparable amount of PV panels), but the TCO is lower.

Below, the list with the differences:

• No outdoor unit that often needs to be replaced after 8 to 10 years
• No annual maintenance, for which an appointment must be scheduled with the resident
• No noise pollution from the outdoor unit, which can lead to complaints and follow-up services (noise can get worse with age)
• Lower energy costs for the user also result in fewer complaints and aftercare

To know whether a home is really suitable for a heat pump, the insulation value must be calculated first. There are a number of options. You can go directly to an experienced installer, ask for an EPA consultant (he/she calculates the energy performance of your home), or you can do it yourself.

You can complete the inventory of the most important data on the Triple Solar project application form.

It is wise to start with improving the insulation. Saving is more efficient than installing a larger heat pump. The more energy you use, the more expensive the installation. In fact, you should strive to reduce the energy consumption of an average semi-detached house to such an extent that you can use the standard Triple Solar installation. This equates to a 6 kW heat pump with 8 PVT heat pump panels.

You don’t have to completely redesign your house. The quadruple insulation approach is usually sufficient (wall insulation, roof insulation, floor insulation, plus double glazing).

If you don’t trust your own judgment, ask the council for a specialist consultant. Certain municipalities have appointed one, for which you can receive a subsidy. After this step you can decide about the installation of the heat pump and the Triple Solar PVT heat pump panels.

Find an installer

There are several places to find a good installer with experience in heat pump installations. For addresses send an email to: [email protected]

If the installer you trust has no experience with Triple Solar® yet, he/she can get help from us. A technical adviser will explain the system and help evaluate your home together with the installer. Triple Solar® also helps the installer to calculate the cost of installation.