Domestic hot water heat pumps are the most economical, efficient and practical way of producing hot water for your home. These energy-saving heat pumps can store between 80 and 500 litres in their tanks and consume only a few hundred watts. A 300 litre heat pump will typically consume around 450 Watts. This is a saving of around 85% in comparison with an electric boiler of the same capacity. The installation is very simple and just requires the cold and hot water connections, plugging into a power socket and a small hole for the cold air exhaust. As they extract air from the house they will also keep your home ventilated.
COMPARISONS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SYSTEMS
The 4 types of systems available on the market in Spain are gas boilers, electric boilers, solar systems and heat pumps.
Gas boilers are very inconvenient due to the temperature fluctuations and the need to carry and connect gas bottles that run out, sometimes in the middle of a shower.
Electric boilers don´t have this problem but are very high consumption and very expensive to run, specially with the ever increasing price of electricity in Spain.
Solar systems are very economical to run as the hot water is free as long as the weather is sunny. They use electrical immersion back ups when the weather is cloudy. The main problem with solar hot water systems is that the back up is automatic so the element will often cut in when you use hot water at night thus costing you money. The other drawback of solar systems is that they are unsightly and take up space on a roof or terrace.
The domestic hot water heat pump is very economical to run, often even more so than a solar system and will fit in a floor space of 60cmm x 60cm, like a fridge or a washing machine. Although the initial outlay is higher for a heat pump than a gas or electric boiler, they work out cheaper in the long run.
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