Heat Pumps Are For The Rich…Maintenance Costs, Amortization Times Higher Than Gas Furnaces

In the good old days, governments were there to improve our lives and to make energy cheaper. But those days are gone in Europe, and especially in Germany. Now governments are finding ways to make living and energy as expensive as possible.

Germany’s Blackout News here looks at the maintenance costs for heat pumps compared to gas furnaces.

Heat pumps will add further financial burdens on consumers. 

The German government is pushing heat pumps as an alternative to gas heating in attempt to make the country energy-independent of Russia and to become carbon neutral.

Like gas furnaces, heat pumps also require regular maintenance, usually annually. The system has to be checked for leaks and the refrigerant monitored.

According to manufacturer, Bosch, the costs for the mandatory annual maintenance of a heat pump are about 300 euros in Germany.

Blackout News then compares this to a gas furnace: “The cost of maintaining a gas heating system in a single-family house averages about 130 euros,” and so they they are generally much lower than the maintenance of a heat pump.

“The high purchase and maintenance costs of a heat pump represent a significant financial burden,” reports Blackout News, And: “It is extremely doubtful that a heat pump will pay for itself in operating costs compared to a modern gas heating system, as the service life of a gas heating system is 25 to 30 years, which is significantly longer than that of a heat pump.”

As Germany moves to electrify transportation and shut down nuclear power, thus causing electricity shortages, the price of electricity needed to power heat pumps will certainly rise as well, thus making them an expensive way to heat a home.

There’s also the talk of requiring mandatory smart meters to be installed along with heat pump systems, which would make it possible for power companies to switch off heat pumps. Control of when and how much to heat would thus be out of the homeowner’s control.




10 responses to “Heat Pumps Are For The Rich…Maintenance Costs, Amortization Times Higher Than Gas Furnaces”

  1. John F. Hultquist

    Any building in a winter-cold climate needs a non-electric source of heat.
    I use a modern wood stove with catalytic converter.
    Friends use “indoor” propane heaters:
    https://homeinspectioninsider.com/mr-buddy-heaters-safe-use-indoors/

    The friends existed for 10 days. Their house has an open floor plan and enough “leakage” of air from outside that the in-home combustion was not a problem.

    Of course, with GlobalWarming™ there will be no need to heat homes in Germany.

  2. Tom Anderson

    Every house a refrigerator – what a dippy idea. It only underscores the fantasy that fuels our incompetence and panic over a trace gas shown overwhelmingly to be harmless. What happened, pray tell, to common sense?

  3. Graeme No.3

    The question is “do heat pumps actually work”?

    My sister moved, with her family, into a (temporary) house while trying to get plans for a new house approved by the local Council. It had a heat pump attached to the hot water tank (a short lived ‘suggestion’ from the green obsessed but unfortunately long lived State government). It was noisy and useless, so much so that she replaced it within 2 months. And this was in the Adelaide Hills where frost is known in winter but temperatures are far higher than in Germany – the coldest I’ve known is minus 7℃ and only twice in one month over the past 19 years. Usually minus 3℃ is the occasional coldest night.
    I have noticed an increase in wood fires over the years, and a rise in price in the same time (about 70%).

    1. John F. Hultquist

      “… a heat pump attached to the hot water tank …”

      I have never been able to understand why this would be tried.
      I have a water tank with an electric-resistor element inside the tank.
      I have a heat-pump (AC & Heat). The two appliances are not related.
      If there is physics or engineering to suggest they should be,
      I have not found it.

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  6. Luigi

    Germans have voted those parties.Bow they shall pay and shut up.

  7. drumphish

    I have never seen such a cold Spring as this one in 2023.

    Temperatures have been in the 70’s this time of year for April. The daytime high temps so far have not exceeded 40 degrees F for months now.

    The ground is snow-covered and the melt is slow, a year of weather that is one for the books.

    Doesn’t matter if you are burning wood or hydrocarbons, you have to stay warm or you will freeze to death.

  8. dm

    2 Fujitsu ductless mini-splits v satisfactorily heat our home in mid-Maine (winter lows down to -25F / -32C).

    They have been serviced just twice in 7 years. Electric motors in the compressors were replaced under warranty. One of the indoor units was cleaned once. The cleaning fee was significant.

    The cost of electricity needed to run them each winter is $500-1000 less than the cost of the fuel oil a furnace or boiler would burn. A fuel oil burner is the best alternative given our rural home site. How much we save depends upon fuel oil’s price relative to electricity. We saved A LOT this year because fuel oil was $4+ per gallon.

    Installation + equipment costs were about 50% of a furnace or boiler.

    When the time comes, my wife & I will replace the ductless mini-splits with the latest & greatest version;-)

  9. Ray

    Where I live in East Coast Canada with no access to natural gas and the only source, oil , electric heating the costs of heat pumps was paid in four years compared to oil heat with a 65% savings each year . Oil furnace hot water boiler still provides hot water at 4.50 per day and remains as back up hooked to generator for heat n hot water. Worked great for 9 days after hurricane. Also back up wood stove. Heat pumps worked in -20c and work wonderful during humid summer days on de humidification and no need to put on air conditioning. Ray

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