Factors Reducing Our Heating System Efficiency

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  • Meta Description: Learn about the factors that negatively impact our heating system’s efficiency – and how we still achieve impressive results.
  • Title Tag: Factors Reducing Our Heating System Efficiency

Even with our optimized system, there are a few factors that reduce its overall efficiency. We want to be completely transparent about these, so you have a realistic understanding of real-world conditions. It’s also important to note that even with these limitations, our system still performs exceptionally well!

Here are the main culprits:

The Remote Boiler Room

(Gamma.app prompt: A photo showing a slightly longer-than-ideal distance between a house and a detached boiler room, with insulated pipes running between them.)

As mentioned earlier, our boiler room is located in a separate building, about 14 meters from the heated house. The pipes connecting them are insulated and buried about 1 meter deep.

  • Why it’s a problem: These long pipes contain a significant volume of water. When the system isn’t actively circulating, that water cools down. This means we lose some heat to the surrounding ground. The boiler room itself also heats two adjacent rooms in the other house, which isn’t the house we’re measuring for these expenses.
  • Impact: This is a constant, though relatively small, source of heat loss.

The Temporary Door

(Gamma.app prompt: A photo showing a temporary, non-insulated door on a boiler room.)

We currently have a temporary door on the boiler room that isn’t properly sealed or insulated.

  • Why it’s a problem: This allows for significant heat loss, especially during cold weather.
  • Impact: This is a temporary issue that we plan to fix, but it does impact our current efficiency.

Heat Pump Operating Mode

(Gamma.app prompt: A close-up photo of the heat pump control panel, highlighting the current operating mode settings.)

Our heat pump could actually be running even more efficiently. We’re currently running it in a mode that simulates heating two houses (as we plan to expand the system in the future).

  • Why it’s a problem: We’re intentionally operating at a lower COP (Coefficient of Performance) than the heat pump is capable of.
  • Impact: This increases our energy consumption, but it allows us to test the system’s capacity for future expansion. Last winter it showed COP about 0.5 higher.

Windows with Two Glasses

(Gamma.app prompt: A close-up photo of a double-glazed window with some condensation visible on the inner pane.)

Our windows have two panes of glass, with a single air gap.

  • Why it’s a problem: Double-glazed windows are less efficient than triple-glazed windows. We see visible condensation on the inner panes, which indicates heat loss. We use ventilation hatches to reduce the condensation, but that also increases heat loss.
  • Impact: This is a constant source of heat loss.

Windows without Covers

(Gamma.app prompt: A photo of a window without any shutters or external covers.)

We haven’t installed window covers (like shutters or blinds) yet.

  • Why it’s problem: Covers reduce infrared heat losses, and provide additional layer of insulation.
  • Impact: This increases both heat loss and solar heat gain.

Another Negative Factor (Detailed in the Guide)

We made a mistake early on, before we had fully designed the system, and purchased some equipment that wasn’t ideal. You can learn more about this in our Guide.

The Takeaway: Still Extremely Efficient!

Even with all these negative factors, our heating system is still remarkably efficient and our heating and hot water expenses are extremely low! This highlights the power of the OptiHeatX approach. Imagine how much better the results would be without these limitations!