Heating for old buildings (previously only wood single stoves)

Hello everyone, I am completely new here and have a question for all the heating experts in the forum. We have bought a beautiful old house (built in 1947) with approximately 180 sqm of living space. So far, we heat the two floors with four separate wood stoves of different types and ages. Now we are tired of carrying wood (about 12 cubic meters per winter) and have also had enough of the fine dust from the (beautiful but leaky) cast iron stove from 1912. We are looking for an ecological and economically sensible solution (so no oil or gas). There is more than enough space for the boiler/fuel in the basement. However, there are no heating pipes/radiators etc. in the house. Hot water currently via a tankless water heater (electricity). We thought about a heat pump + wall heating possibly combined with solar on the roof of the garden building... Alternatively pellet stove or wood chip heating (in the basement). Additionally, a wood stove in the living room for cozy winter evenings. We are not quite sure about the advantages or disadvantages of each. Best regards, Anton

For a heat pump, the house should be able to cope with reasonably low flow temperatures. That means 1. reasonably modern insulation: current windows, roof, no major leaks. A ventilation system, e.g. decentralized, additionally reduces the demand. 2. Create as much heating surface as possible: ceiling, wall, floor and/or low-temperature radiators. Have the heating load of the rooms calculated individually to plan the heating surfaces. Every measure helps to reduce the consumption of the heat pump. This is overall laborious but feasible. If you keep 1-2 stoves, the heat pump can possibly be supported in the core winter. For such a project, you should read up on the planning yourself. There are forums for that where you will be better off. For example, there is someone who successfully and relatively efficiently heats an uninsulated old building with a heat pump; he has created a lot of wall surface by his own work. With the pellet stove, you can use higher flow temperatures, meaning you may possibly have to do less to the house in terms of insulation and heating surfaces. Gas would be the easiest and – without own work – probably the cheapest option. Solar thermal is not sensible – at most for subsidies together with gas, but you don’t want that. Photovoltaic systems are generally economically viable on their own, but I would consider (and implement) them independently of the heating system.

Thank you for the great answer! I think, even after numerous conversations with neighbors, etc., that the heat pump fails because the house is simply not sealed (old windows that we definitely want to keep inside, etc.). Possibly then a pellet stove in the basement and maybe solar separately (independent of the current heating solution). Oil + gas are out for us, also because of the CO2 tax. But that is another topic. We simply have wood in abundance, cheap + regional.

solar extra

Photovoltaics.

I would try not to use the wood heating system for hot water preparation. For hot water, you can consider a domestic hot water heat pump. It mainly operates with your own electricity if you install a photovoltaic system. Whether a domestic hot water heat pump makes sense compared to an already existing instantaneous water heater is something you should calculate and decide for yourself.

Take a look at pellet stoves. Maybe that is a compromise where you can avoid laying heating pipes and radiators. However, it should be said that I am not familiar with wood heating systems.

As long as you don’t replace the windows etc., I would probably stick with the old heating system. I believe otherwise you are just heating out the window, and the investment is simply too high for that. You can also retrofit authentic windows, they don’t have to be modern-looking. Beautiful wood windows styled to look old, corresponding to the year of construction, would also contribute significantly to heat retention. The same applies to insulation if you don’t have any.