The hybrid heat pump is becoming mandatory, but are all homes suitable?

1-9-2023 — 

The hybrid heat pump is a device that is connected to a gas boiler. This heats water electrically and in most cases can ensure that your house remains warm without using gas. The gas boiler only kicks in when it gets really cold - usually below 4 degrees Celsius. Gas is also used to heat the shower water.

That is the big difference with the fully electric heat pump. It no longer has a gas boiler as a back-up and provides all the heat in the radiators and in the shower.

 

In principle, any house can be heated with a hybrid heat pump, says Puk van Meegeren of Milieu Centraal. The gas boiler is still present as a back-up, so if the heat pump can no longer keep up, you switch back to 'normal' heating with gas.

"If the insulation is very bad, the gas boiler will often have to step in and the hybrid heat pump will be of less use," says Van Meegeren. With good insulation, the opposite applies: then you need the gas less often and you mainly heat electrically

The big advantage of the hybrid heat pump is that you can install it first and then insulate it (further). Like the central heating boiler, it will last for an estimated fifteen years, time that you can use to insulate your home even better.

"Sometimes you can combine improving the insulation with renovations that you are already doing," says Van Meegeren. For example, if you have the frames painted and scaffolding is placed against your house, you can have HR++ glass installed immediately. "Then you ultimately pay less than if you would do that separately."

 

You need space for a (hybrid) heat pump. The pump has two parts: one box inside and one outside. There is not always room for this, especially in apartment buildings, says energy researcher Casper Tigchelaar of TNO. For example, because the central heating boiler is in a small cupboard, or because the outdoor unit can only be placed on the balcony. "That could be a reason that a home is not suitable."

Even if you live in a (small) apartment and use little gas, the hybrid heat pump is not always a logical option. "With a gas consumption of 500 cubic meters per year, you do not earn back the device that quickly," says Tigchelaar.