How complicated are heat pumps in practical operation?

A system that not every heating engineer can manage or that I, as a layman, have to professionalize myself in cannot be mine;

Sorry, but what you write is all way too black and white. Just because you don't drive your car with manufacturer specifications, you still drive it. Please, please don't be discouraged by the fact that some try to squeeze 5% savings out of their heat pump. If you don't feel like doing that, it's okay and still a thousand times better for the environment than heating with fossil fuels!

I now understand the following: A heat pump is user-friendly and one can rely on it being installed and built in such a way that one can heat economically. I was not concerned with optimization, but rather whether one can practically achieve good efficiency. That seems to be the case. The other threads made me doubt this, so I wanted to start a thread that gives people confidence in their decision. I myself do not have a heat pump for heating and therefore could not contribute much from personal experience.

The question remains whether and how sensible this type of heating is for someone who just wants to be comfortably warm.

I’m supposed to contradict the heating guy on multiple levels and demand a different installation from him than he recommends... ufff... The heating guy doesn’t want to lay the pipes so tightly, orders the pump too big, wants a buffer tank, etc... I have read about plenty of possible errors here and as a layman I’m supposed to tell him that it’s all nonsense. :eek:

I’m not interested in the meaning of a heating curve or a differential or any of the other thousand technical things of this heating system; I’m interested in warm/cold and in a way that is comfortable for me.

Dear , all your prejudices just landed here and stuck ;) Just a few comments:

A heat pump does nothing other than gas, district heating or anything else: generates warm water that is pumped through underfloor heating. There is absolutely no difference in the ‘heating experience’. However, if you generally don’t like underfloor heating (and I seem to remember that this is the case with you), that is of course something else – but it has nothing to do with heat pumps.

You don’t have to argue with your heating guy, nor are you responsible for his further training. You just have to choose the right one! But that’s the same in other trades as well. It is true, however, that the heating industry still has room for improvement in heat pump experience. Again: not a fault of the heat pump, but a fault of lazy heating guys.

Heating curve, differential and other techie-nerd stuff don’t have to concern you: you press the button and it gets warm. And with a heat pump even optionally cold in summer! And thinking a bit further, even largely self-sufficient with power from the roof.

I now understand the following: A heat pump is suitable for laypeople, and one can rely on having it installed and built in such a way that one can heat economically. My concern was not optimization, but whether one can realistically achieve good efficiency. That seems to be the case. The other threads made me doubt this, which is why I wanted to start a thread that gives people confidence in their decision. I myself do not have a heat pump for heating and therefore could not contribute much from personal experience.

The cases where things go terribly wrong, or where the nerds obsess down to the fourth decimal place, are disproportionately present on the internet. Naturally, not as much is written about the other 295,000 installations that run smoothly. To be correct, one must point out that (at least my) statements apply to new buildings with underfloor heating. Older buildings, possibly with traditional radiators, are certainly more complex.

I now understand the following: A heat pump is user-friendly and you can rely on it being installed and set up in a way that allows for efficient heating.

Yep - my own example at my house right now. Exterior wall insulation is still missing, so the heating actually doesn’t quite match the house. Installed a 5kW Jeisha, no ERR, turned everything on the heating circuit valve fully open so that a good volume flows through the pipes (currently averaging 900 liters per minute). Heating curve roughly set. Spread 4 degrees. Flow temperature at an outside temperature of 2-3 degrees still at 29 degrees - indoor temperature nice and warm at just under 22 degrees. The heating currently needs about 250 kWh per day during the day / 2-3 at night, extrapolated over a month including hot water. 120 sqm. That is currently 63€ at 25 cents per kWh. For a 60s building not yet insulated on the outside, a very good performance. And that with no adjustments whatsoever - just turn on the heating and go for it. Of course, next year with exterior wall insulation I will get completely different values and then also set the heating as planned. But this example is meant to show that you can just connect the heat pump and let it run without being inefficient. My tenant upstairs, who still has to heat with oil this winter, will have about three times the heating costs. Just for comparison.

Dear , all your prejudices have landed and stuck here at once ;) Just a few comments:

I had actually read it like this here and repeatedly from a variety of users, so I don’t know whether these are really prejudices that have stuck with me. Regardless, I have already made a decision afterwards that suits us, especially since we didn’t want underfloor heating anyway.

You shouldn’t argue with your heating technician, nor are you responsible for his further training. You just have to choose the right one!

Yes, exactly that point. However, since I am building with at least a so-called general contractor and the quality of the services so far can only be described as rudimentary, I am still glad about my decision. The heating technician is good schedule-wise, but there is no solid information upon inquiry — silence, because one has to move fast.
Currently, I am dealing with the installed controlled residential ventilation; for example, the initial start-up was done by myself after a prior phone call... just follow the menu and it will be fine.o_O Luckily, I can read enough about it from Zehnder or I call their factory directly.
Since I’m here in the stubborn East, feeling among 80% vaccine opponents, I miss the craftsman who masters his product and is happy to explain it to me; in that respect, I am always open. I usually decide based on people, less on purely technical details or calculated values, which so far has not worked out so well for me in construction here.
So... the choice of the general contractor was mostly a flop and this cascaded through the trades or still does.

Again here: no error of the heat pump, but errors of lazy heating technicians.

I see it exactly the same way, but this staff then stands at my door or, mostly, I only have them on the phone. In short, in my former home, I would have known some very reliable craftsmen in my opinion, and I would have followed their advice.
I do not dispute the quality of the heat pump technology at all, but the apparently widespread rather mediocre execution quality and the sparse knowledge about its operation.
However, I understand what you want to tell me, and I do not see myself as part of an opinion camp pro or contra; I just decided differently, and even if some concerns were unnecessary, they nevertheless existed for the reasons given and so it turned out differently.

Sorry, but what you write is all way too black and white.

I never had a heat pump; I merely repeat what has been repeatedly written here AND what I feel about it. Why do I feel black-and-white?? You can read the endless heat pump discussions here, and yet I made my own decision without letting it bother me. I do not condemn any technology, neither heat pumps, nor gas, nor pellets... I think there is a justification for everything. People may accuse me of many things, black-and-white rarely, because I could happily live with any kind of heating as long as it works. You must have misunderstood something there...

Please, please don’t be discouraged by some trying to squeeze 5% savings out of their heat pump.

That was not my concern and it did not discourage me — or do you think I make my decision alone from reading forum reports? Then I would have a different house.
But it is by no means the case that all this is without problems; one can also always read something about users who I would not label as “nerds.”
Every (heating) technology also has its problems or disadvantages, that’s rather logical. One person prefers this, another that... I do not see any black-and-white there.