Owners of old buildings are currently facing the major challenge of deciding which heating system will be the right one for them in the future. We have the optimal solution not only for houses with night storage heaters, but also for all houses with classic central heating systems.
Most buildings are equipped with ageing oil or gas central heating systems. Since these forms of energy for heating have no future whatsoever – either because they will no longer be available for political reasons or because they are so highly priced that their use is uneconomical – the question of a sensible alternative arises.
If you ask energy consultants and politicians, they will tell you that there is only one heating system that is the solution for all these old buildings: a heat pump heating system.
Subsidies are currently still available for installing a pellet heating system, which, in addition to very high investment costs, also requires an enormous amount of maintenance and a storage room. In addition, pellet prices have recently risen significantly, and such systems are completely dependent on the fuel, so they are not an ideal solution either. Yet even this type of heating is likely to be banned in the near future, according to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. This is due to the high particulate matter emissions from wood and pellet heating systems.
This means that, in principle, there will only remain the heat pump as the sole heating system propagated by politicians.
However, a heat pump system is rarely suitable for old buildings due to the lack of a highly insulated thermal envelope and the presence of radiators that require a very high flow temperature.
As a result, converting to a heat pump heating system involves renovation of gigantic proportions. In addition, the floors have to be torn out in order to painstakingly install underfloor heating with the required low flow temperature at enormous expense and over months of construction work. This means that the follow-up costs on top of the heat pump itself can quickly amount to well over €100,000. Although the state subsidises all this, these measures are not even necessary for converting to infrared.
Infrared heaters are thus the only alternative to heat pumps, and they can be retrofitted very quickly and easily at a fraction of the investment cost. The higher energy consumption typical of old buildings can be effectively offset by combining infrared heaters with a photovoltaic system, a power storage system with an electricity cloud and efficient hot water preparation if the roof area is large enough.
The investment for such an integrated solution with photovoltaics is still significantly less than converting to a heat pump with the additional measures associated with it, and can be implemented in just a few days. The result is independent energy generation with a maintenance-free infrared heater and pleasant warmth. In addition, the photovoltaic system also supplies the electricity for the household appliances as well as the possibility of solar-optimised charging of an electric car at home, providing maximum independence.
Within a radius of 40 kilometres, you can obtain this integrated solution from HALLER Infrarot from a single source, including installation.
Thanks to the minimal effort required for conversion and the low investment costs, infrared heaters are ideal for heating old buildings. The energy consumption can be compensated by combining PV and a power storage system.
How much electricity is needed for heating with infrared in old buildings depends on several factors, such as the insulation of the house, the size of the living space, the number of outside walls, the operating time and the power of the infrared heater.
Infrared heaters heat bodies and objects that are exposed to their heat waves. This includes the people who are in the room and, above all, the walls or the floor, i.e. the building envelope. The building envelope stores the infrared rays and gradually releases their heat into the room. Most of the heat is stored in the masonry, which then gradually heats the room. This makes infrared heaters very effective.
