Is heat recovery a cost or investment?
Considering the installation of a heat recovery system, you can consider the ratio of initial costs to real savings, which it will bring in the future. It’s a key issue. In our article we will answer this question. We will focus on how heat recovery affects on monthly bills for home heating. Heat recovery system gains popularity not only because of financial benefits but also for increased comfort of living and caring for the environment. In this article we will take a closer look on how installation of heat recovery in your home can influence your monthly bills and why this solution is increasingly popular.
Key aspects when installing heat recovery
While contemplating on installation of heat recovery, you may face questions about beginning costs, complication of installation and assessing the long-term viability. Even though heat recovery provides effective indoor heating with minimal energy loss, precise understanding of aspects of this solution is very important. In next acapits we will present calculations, which will help you judge if heat recovery is a very solid investment guaranteeing savings or if it doesn’t meet your expectations and is merely a well-sold ”scam”.
Math doesn’t lie
Let’s imagine a house with a surface of 150m2, which uses 2000m3 of gas for heating yearly. With a gas price of PLN 3.30 per m3 (figures current as of April 2024), annual heating costs amount to PLN 6600. Installing a heat recovery system can reduce these costs by between 30% and 50%, resulting in annual savings of between PLN 1980 and PLN 3300. What’s more, adding up these savings over a period of five years results in an amount that is expected to contribute significantly to the cost of installing a heat recovery system. And what happens afterwards? Every subsequent year is pure profit that stays in your pocket. It is worth bearing in mind that these calculations are indicative and actual savings may vary depending on a number of factors, such as the standard of the building’s thermal insolation, the temperature maintained, the efficiency of the gas boiler and current gas prices.
Where else could we save money?
Heat recovery is a great way to save energy, but there are additional steps, which you can take to increase energy efficiency at home even more. Here are some, which will help maximize benefits from heat recovery systems:
– Improve building isolation: Good quality isolation of walls, roof and floors significantly reduces heat loss, which directly affects the reduction of energy needs. The most popular solution when insulating walls and roof is mineral wool or pur foam. The choice mostly depends on the thickness of your wallet. Floors, on the other hand, are often insulated with polystyrene or XPS (extruded polystyrene).
– Insert airtight windows and doors: Installation of windows and doors of high thermal insulation and acoustic is not only thermal comfort and quiet atmosphere at home, but also reduces the need for frequent heating and cooling of rooms. When making your choice, be guided by the value of the heat transfer coefficient. Good doors and windows have 1.0W/(m2K).
– Perform regular inspections and maintenance: Heat recovery systems are worth checking up on once a year for them to work efficiently. Filters should be cleaned every 3-6 months depending on conditions of use and manufacturer’s recommendations.
– Integrate: Combining heat recovery with other technologies, such as heat pumps, solar thermal systems or intelligent building management, can further increase electrical savings.
– Choose the right heat recovery system: Choosing a system tailored to the size of the building and specific needs can make a significant difference to its efficiency. It is worth consulting an expert (Ariel) who can help you choose the best solution.
Use of the above in combination with a heat recovery system is not only going to ensure lower bills for energy, but also, contribute to increasing comfort of living and environmental protection.
Regulations and savings
When installing a heat recovery system, it is not just about the technology itself, but also about how it is designed and installed in accordance with current regulations. These actions are crucial to maximize the savings potential of heat recovery. Compliance with regulations, such as requirements for energy efficiency in the Regulation of the Minister for Infrastructure, ensures that the system will operate as efficiently as possible, which directly translates into reduced heating costs. For example, these regulations require that these installations are equipped in devices to recover heat from exhaust air with a temperature efficiency of at least 67%, which is at home. By complying with current regulations, you not only ensure that your system is installed correctly and is efficient, but you also protect yourself against future energy price increases. In addition, right planning and integration of heat recovery with other energy saving systems can bring additional savings and increase the value of property.
Thus, although the initial cost can seem like a challenge, numerous advantages coming from heat recovery – both financial and environmental – quickly convince of its cost-effectiveness. Whether you are in the process of building a new home or upgrading an old one, heat recovery is definitely worth considering as a long-term investment in a better quality of life and lower energy bills.
Even though our lovely Polish law can be full of paradoxes, regulations of heat recovery are an example of regulations, which actually work to your benefit. They introduce standards, which force solid installation of heat recovery, which not only ensures legality but also brings real finance benefits. Thanks to these regulations, installation of heat recovery becomes an investment, which pays for itself not only through decrease of bills for heating, but also by increasing the value of property and improving the quality of life. These are some of the regulations worth following.
Summary
Investment in heat recovery systems is not only a way to decrease bills for heating, but also a step to increasing the comfort of living and environmental protection. By choosing heat recovery, you use the newest technologies to reduce use of energy as much as possible, while ensuring a continuous supply of fresh air to the interior.
