East-west orientation of the roof surfaces, gas or air heat pump

Sorry that the air heat pump is working so well for me, I seem to have found a great heating engineer for it, unlike the others ;) The neighbors have the exact same house (the company I worked for built 3 identical houses side by side on separate plots, whereby I am the only one with an air heat pump because I wanted it for personal use; I basically bought it from my then employer, the other two have gas/solar (for hot water) for cost reasons and because they rent them out, and we have significantly lower energy costs per year. For the system, we only spent 2000 euros more than for the gas/solar system (all included, i.e. connection costs, cable laying, earthworks, etc.). Therefore, I can say that it probably runs much more cost-effectively.

@ €uro: Since when does photovoltaic produce electricity in hazy (but warm) weather? Or under an overcast sky? Or at night? The solar heat can draw heat not only from the sun but also from the warm surroundings like the air, and this is clearly seen with the gas/solar setups next door, where the gas burner doesn’t have to start when it’s warm and there is no sun visible. Just because photovoltaic systems are currently being discarded because there is no good compensation anymore doesn’t mean they are worthwhile overall. If there were a good affordable way to store electricity (there is, but not affordable) it would be okay.
Moreover, personally I don’t want to have an electromagnetic field (yes, I have already had it in my apartment where I lived as a tenant and I have my reasons for that) over my head in the bedroom. As for fire protection itself, I am not enthusiastic at all about modules (regardless of what) on the roof; for firefighters, it becomes impossible to reach a fire from the outside, which can cost lives if it has to be extinguished from two sides (i.e., inside and outside), and I don’t want to have to crawl onto the roof and unscrew the modules while the place is burning under my butt, not to mention that photovoltaic produces electricity whether I tinker around there or not and I doubt a professional would go up on the roof with me at that time.

As far as electricity/gas prices are concerned, I am sure—and for you with Björn as well—there are political reasons for that, which I can gladly explain if needed. But these are things you only know if you understand how the strings are pulled behind the scenes ;) I don’t want to say more about it (who knows who might be reading along :-P). All I can say is that a household can definitely live without gas; nobody is dependent on it. But without electricity, nothing works (not even the circulation pump for a water-based fireplace).

Air heat pumps are and were and probably will remain a difficult topic because they require good forward-looking usage behavior and good planning, but for us, it couldn’t have worked out better...

Sorry that the air heat pump runs so well for me, I guess I must have found a great heating engineer for it unlike the others ;) The neighbors have the exact same house (the company I worked for built 3 identical houses side by side on separate plots, with me being the only one with an air heat pump because I wanted it for personal use, I basically bought it from my then employer, the other two have gas/solar (for hot water) for cost reasons and since they rent them out, and we have significantly lower energy costs per year, the system only cost 2,000 euros more than the gas/solar system (all included, so connection costs, laying pipes, earthworks, etc). Therefore, I can say that it probably runs much more worthwhile. @ €uro: Since when does photovoltaics produce electricity in hazy (but warm) weather? Or under cloudy skies? Or at night? Solar thermal can draw heat not only from the sun but also from the warm surroundings like the air, and this is clearly visible with the gas/solar setups next door, where the gas burner does not have to start if it is warm and no sun is visible. Just because photovoltaic systems are currently being thrown around behind the scenes because there is no longer good compensation does not mean they are worthwhile overall. If there were a good affordable way to store electricity (there is, but not affordable) that would be okay. Besides, personally, I no longer want to have an electromagnetic field (yes, I already had one in my apartment that I rented back then and I have my reasons for that) over my head in the bedroom. Regarding fire protection, I am not impressed by modules (no matter what) on the roof anyway, for the firefighters it is no longer possible to access a fire from the outside, which can cost lives if it has to be extinguished from two sides (i.e., from inside and outside), and I do not want to crawl onto the roof and unscrew the modules while the house is burning beneath me, not to mention that photovoltaic produces electricity whether I screw around with it or not and I doubt that a professional would go on the roof while that is happening. Regarding electricity/gas prices, I am sure and for you as well, Björn, that there are political reasons for this, which I can explain to you if needed. But these are things you only know if you are familiar with how the strings are pulled behind the scenes ;) I don’t want to say more about that (who knows who else is reading :-P). I can only say that it is very much possible to live in a household without gas, nobody depends on that. But nothing runs without electricity (not even the circulation pump for a water-guided fireplace). Air heat pumps are and have been and probably will remain a difficult topic because it requires good foresight use behavior and good planning, but it couldn’t have gone better for us...

Hello Mörtelkännchen, since when does a photovoltaic system produce an electromagnetic field at night or do you sleep during the day? I have the same east/west orientation and will install an air heat pump, photovoltaics, and a water-guided wood stove. Heating is done via underfloor heating with a buffer tank. If affordable storage is added now, I will largely say goodbye to the energy supplier. And for fire protection smoke detectors will be installed, if the house then burns down you can leave it. Everything else is handled by the building fire insurance anyway, or do you not have one?

....@ €uro: Since when does a photovoltaic system produce electricity in hazy (but warm) weather? Or under cloudy skies? Or at night? Solar thermal can draw heat not only from the sun but also from the warm environment such as the air ...

How much is that in relation to the state of charge of a comfortable storage (hot water) ;-) Nothing! Have you ever dealt with exact, real energy balances? Probably not! ;-)
HU: Which entrepreneur would come up with the idea to invest in a system that produces a lot when there is no demand and barely anything when it actually matters or is really needed? He would be bankrupt in no time!
Certainly, private builders are not entrepreneurs, which is why the sales of solar thermal systems work so well, because the builders naively chase after any subsidies! ;-)

...and this is clearly visible in the gas/solar stories next door, that the gas burner does not have to start when it is warm and no sun is visible.

Absolutely right, why should a gas burner operate when it is warm? ;-) No heat generation is needed here, completely independent of which heat generator was chosen.

...Just because photovoltaic systems are currently being thrown around hInterhypr because there is no good remuneration anymore does not mean that they are worthwhile overall.

One should shift from momentary views to annual balances, then it becomes clear!

..., But without electricity nothing runs (not even the circulation pump for a water-heated fireplace)

Correct, that is why I also argue pro photovoltaic and contra solar thermal system in the single-family house sector!

v.g.

When it comes to electricity/gas prices, I am sure, and for you with Björn, as I said, there are also political reasons, which I can gladly explain to you if needed. But these are things one only knows if one understands how the strings are pulled behind the scenes ;) I don't want to say more about it (who knows who is reading along :-P)

Share your mastery knowledge with us ;)

I can only say that you can very well live without gas in a household; nobody is dependent on it. But nothing works without electricity (not even the circulation pump for a water-based fireplace)

I would initially agree with that. In the short term, there would certainly be problems with electricity if the 13% of electricity generation that still comes from natural gas suddenly disappeared. But in the medium and long term, this can certainly be replaced.
However, I have not doubted that.

I doubt that an air heat pump still has a really big advantage "TODAY" in terms of cost calculation. In recent years, it was undisputedly cheaper than gas in many cases, but unfortunately, electricity prices have risen significantly faster than gas prices in recent years. And thanks to the Renewable Energy Sources Act surcharge and further upgrades by homeowners in the field of photovoltaics, I fear there will be another substantial price round at the end of the year.

hello,

I doubt that an air heat pump still has a really big advantage in cost calculation "TODAY". In recent years, it was undisputedly cheaper than gas in many cases, but unfortunately, electricity prices have risen significantly faster than gas prices in the last few years. And thanks to the Renewable Energy Sources Act surcharge and the further upgrading of homeowners in the area of photovoltaics, I fear that there will be another substantial price increase by the end of the year.

In my opinion, your fears are not entirely unfounded. However, this depends less on the increase in photovoltaics (reduction of subsidies) and more on new gas funding options and a future increase in, for example, biogas plants ;)

Rhenish regards