How to Achieve an Increase of up to 23.5% in Annual Savings for Existing Heat Pump Installations!

Heat pump installations can vary in terms of efficiency and quality to say the least ??.

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In many of my posts I mentioned the need for certain installers to get more experience and training. Skillsets and experience levels vary wildly. Simply put, some installations are better than others.

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Several studies highlight the underperformance of heat pumps installed compared to their nominal efficiencies. So, it’s not just me ??!

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But it’s not always the installer’s fault. ?Some very quick fixes such as setting proper parameters and educating owners on proper usage can yield amazing results!

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Let’s take a quick look at the study and the usual culprits behind poor heat pump performance.

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Planning and Design Flaws: Examples include wrong system capacity, incorrect sizing of ductwork, and oversizing in poorly insulated buildings.

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Remediation for these often requires significant labor and is not always economical. That’s why we ought to measure twice, cut once ?? ?? ?. If you can’t size or design a system properly, try to work with someone that can!

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Quality Problems with Components: Issues like valves not closing properly and faulty temperature sensors can lead to performance issues. This can be prevented with manufacturer quality control on both produced units and procured components. Go with a reputable brand that has a strong track record in reliability (I hear TermoPlus makes great heat pumps ??).

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Installation Faults: Examples include refrigerant overcharge, improperly mounted sensors, and poorly insulated pipes.

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Non-Optimal Parameter Configurations: Problems arise from incorrect settings related to heating curve, operation cycle, charge pump, backup heaters, and hot water tanks. Legacy heating distribution systems can also impact performance. This is relatively easy to fix.

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Lack of User Knowledge: Homeowners just want simple controls for comfort and their lack of understanding can contribute to poor system performance. Proper training can help users operate the heat pump efficiently and reduce unnecessary costs. This is another easy fix.

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While resolving important installation issues can help improve the heat pump’s performance in the case of problematic installations, less emphasis has been given to optimizing parameters and educating homeowners as to how to use the system efficiently.

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And this is VERY interesting, especially since these can be done quickly on a regular service call.

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Two studies referenced in the paper suggest that higher system efficiencies are associated with greater user understanding of their heat pump system (Caird et al., 2012; Qiao et al., 2020).

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The study, however, found that it is not cost effective to knock on the door of any heat pump owner as only certain users will actually benefit from these improvements.

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Let’s take a closer look at the study itself.

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The study was conducted in Switzerland involved 297 households over a period of 4 years. (To provide some background context, in Switzerland 18.5% of residential buildings were equipped with heat pumps in 2022 which is a higher adoption rate compared to many EU countries).

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Of these, 41 were “treated” with heat pump inspections and user training and 256 were not interfered with at all (they were left as a control group).

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After being “treated” the 41 households ON AVERAGE achieved annual savings of 642 kWh (5.3%).

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This figure is misleading though, as it is an average.

Some 39% of these 41 households even INCREASED THEIR CONSUMPTION. (It is not made clear whether there was a behavioural reason behind this increase, a technical one, a kink in the data or whether it was just random. I suspect the last reason because this was a very small sample).

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What would happen though if we could only knock on the door of those with the greatest room for improvement?

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That’s what the researchers did. They used smart meter data and criteria to pre-determine which of these 41 households could be good candidates for efficiency improvement.

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Using median consumption as an indicator, meant that users could achieve savings of 1,805 kWh (15.2%) per year and household. If they also knew the heat pump source, the result could even reach a 2,158 kWh (23.5%) saving.

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Not too shabby for a tune-up and a chat right? ??

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What does this mean for installers and owners?

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Unless your clients share their usage data with you or use an Open Source Energy Monitor to share their data on heatpumpmonitor.org you won’t have the data their utility has.

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You won’t be able to predetermine which customers need a quick usage demo and update in their parameters, so you will have to settle for an across-the-board improvement of about 5% using these alone.

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The best way forward is to ensure that regular maintenance is scheduled and that on each of these visits the parameters are checked, and the users are given a reminder on proper usage.

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What does this mean for owners and manufacturers?

If the customer is willing to provide access to their usage data to the heat pump manufacturer (that’s us in this case!), then we can monitor efficiency and usage remotely. If something doesn’t look right, we can update the client and get the installer involved.

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?What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you find parameters and improper usage to be common issues?