Which is more sensible: heat pump or insulation?

I actually went through the whole "mustard" here and am in favor of the OP going back into the cave. :D If you know nothing but cold walls and floors, of course you think insulation is nonsense. (It only costs money and the heat is never "put back in"). Living comfort is the keyword (magic word). PS: I wouldn't want to live in my '63 parents' house anymore, even though I lived well and even survived the first 25 years in it.

Greetings from the skeptic

When I read this, I feel dizzy and have the impression that somehow everything is falling apart right now. With such a negative mixture, I always think of Paul Watzlawick's "Instructions for Unhappiness." Of course, there are fraudsters, talkers, poor performance, rip-offs, etc., and applying critical thinking is absolutely appropriate, especially in construction. But general distrust of everything usually doesn't help, nowhere in life. By the way, I regularly use Stiftung Warentest as a benchmark for myself, and have done so for many years. However, I believe that they do not want to be cited so generally, and that this certainly does not capture the essence of their statement; I am used to extremely nuanced considerations from them.

Greetings from the skeptic

I hope you are doing well in the life situation in Germany that you apparently perceive as unfriendly to hostile. It also reminded me of the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi, who wrote:
"Nothing lives that would be worthy
of your emotions, and the earth deserves no sigh.
Pain and boredom are our existence and the world is dung – nothing else.
Calm yourself"

Thanks for the hint, I’m not very familiar with Italian poets and philologists, but as a constant learner I still took a look--- and I know how it was meant. ;)
You only need to calm down if you are upset!
Basically, a statement outside the topic is pointless, but I still notice that here people stubbornly keep clinging to their own opinion without recognizing the contradictions.
For example—those who can read are better off: I wrote that my "sensor" is mounted on the north side. The sun shone all day from the south side and, due to the large window front (4m wide, 2.40 high) as well as other windows, it heated up nicely. The sensor—north, shade, cold—therefore caused the control to run too high, so I had 25° in the evening. I’ve had this problem repeatedly, which is why I (since the crappy 25cm Ytong blocks apparently do have some insulating effect) make the manual correction. The control system is simply not the newest, but if you want to switch to something new, you don’t start by replacing individual parts. (And since I spend a lot of time in my "warm" basement anyway, reaching for the electronics is not a big effort.)
For the price comparisons, I based them on the standard offers and not on the posted special offers, which sometimes are 50% below the usual prices. You can argue about Chinese products, but I seem to have been lucky so far. And those who think that no foreign "junk" is installed in their "German" products should open them up and take a look.
I didn’t want to discuss the physical basics here, but it’s always interesting to read when someone is accused of having zero knowledge and then it’s added that one might heat the basement electrically with infrared or fan heaters if necessary. :rolleyes: (great solution)
Maybe I am lucky, but for me it has worked wonderfully for a long time, and the fact that the basement is "well-tempered" due to the poor insulation of the basement ceiling makes me happy every day. (By the way, the basement has 36cm Ytong, probably for static reasons due to earth pressure.)
In the overall balance (living area/oil costs), I find that even if I pay 200,- per year more for oil than electricity for the heat pump, I have only wasted 2,000,- in 10 years. (may the oil price not explode) I put that in relation to the conversion costs, although I only calculated an air heat pump. Everyone who is informed knows what it actually costs in the end. Since geothermal use is optional, I have also obtained offers and found out that the recommended drilling (50m) should cost an additional 8,000,- for example.
Okay, I have to pay now, the amortization is a while off.
For me, it is a matter of transition; if someone builds new, they have no other choice, and often this stuff is financed anyway.
But you don’t have to stubbornly sugarcoat your own situation, but remain critical.
Regarding the “social/political criticism” attributed to me, I can only note that I wish all builders never to become unemployed. When I compare today’s prices, which are partly driven up by absurd regulations, with earlier prices, I wonder why many accept this so casually. Even if you can’t change anything right now, criticism must be allowed.
There are still people who do not rely on amortizations in the distant future but pay cash and sleep peacefully.
The opening question was quite different, actually, and showed that despite skepticism I am indeed interested in modernizing my name (Fred Flintstone :), the caveman).
That’s it for now..........
When I have precise details, I will gladly post them in a new thread, which will then offer more for those willing to read than the glorification of the brave new world with the super technology, which also has to be paid for.
Until then, greetings to all electric car drivers, who will notice in winter how the mileage decreases when the heater runs longer.
Not related to the topic, but still had to come out.
Sorry ;)

Well, opinion aside. You have already recognized the gist, insulating the façade of your house does not pay off, from an insulation perspective, within a lifetime. But if you want to redo the façade anyway, or actually want to switch to a heat pump, you have to insulate anyway. At 2000l oil/year, I personally wouldn’t do anything as long as the heating works and you are satisfied with the temperature in the house. If you are eventually forced to switch or the boiler breaks down, you have to reassess the situation. Insulating everything to the max and heating everything with electricity is not the best solution for many old buildings in the foreseeable future.

From a purely financial perspective, it is worthwhile to wait for the upcoming funding programs. The coalition agreement contains a lot regarding the renovation of the building stock.