Melting heating prices with alternative systems

State-of-the-art heating systems, available on the market, will be presented in the biggest construction-related exhibition in the Baltic States "Resta 2014", which is to take place in Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre LITEXPO on 24 – 27 April. We have asked participants of the exhibition to comment on efficacy and economical parameters of different heating systems.

Approximately 60 per cent of Lithuanian detached-house owners use solid fuel boilers for heating purposes, 25 per cent use gas boilers, and about six per cent of house-owners use renewable energy, heat pumps. It is thought that such choice is determined by the cheaper solid fuel boiler-room installation investment and the lowest heating costs. It was estimated that installation of a simple – radiator – solid fuel heating system in a 100 m2 house would cost about 10 000 Lt.  Whereas the firewood would cost about 2 000 Lt per heating season, depending on the resistance of the house and the kind and quality of the firewood selected.
However, when choosing such kind of heating other expenses are often neglected, for instance: maintenance of such heating system takes a lot of time, firewood is difficult to stock in small backyards.

Pellet heating system – an alternative to firewood heating. Such way of heating is more relevant to those who seek more comfort and do not wish to work as ‘stokers’, as should such system be chosen, the combustion will have to be tended to only once a week. However, the comfort comes at somewhat higher costs. Installation of a boiler-room with a high-quality boiler, outdoor temperature measurement system, etc., would cost twice as much as the solid fuel heating system – 20 000 Lt. Furthermore, one would have to cover the expenses of heating system routing.

"The price of firewood is similar to that of pellets, however, people rarely take into the account the price of firewood preparation, storage, labour costs of stoking. It is much easier to stock up on pellets, and the price is rather competitive, after you consider the actual price of firewood preparation. ", - said "Ekodegiklis" project manager Roman Sokolenko.

However, innovative heating systems are started to be appreciated alongside the standard solid fuel heating, admired by Lithuanians. The infraheating system is gaining popularity, its installation costs for 100 m2 house are about 10 000 Lt.
"This system is convenient and efficient, as its installation does not require any difficult engineering solutions, it is installed in a matter of a few days, which makes it cheap for the customer. The exploitation costs are also low as infraheaters heat surfaces, which accumulate heat even when the heaters are turned off, system does not require cleaning or regular maintenance. ", - noticed head of  Vilnius branch of company "Rubisolis" Deividas Juška.

The heating expenses using such system depend on insulation and size of the building. It is estimated that heating of a standard A energy efficiency class premises, maintaining the temperature at 21 degrees should cost approximately 2 Litas per m2, B class – 3 Litas, C class – 5-6 Litas.
The heating systems employing geothermal heat pumps is also rapidly gaining popularity. The price of installation of geothermal heating system for a medium-sized house would be around 30 000 Lt. Of course, the price, to a large extent, depends on the quality of the geothermal heat pump, which can range anywhere from six up to forty thousand Litas, leave alone the outdoors collector and all the other necessary materials and installation costs.

"If we consider the geothermal heat pump – its performance is not affected by outdoors temperature. Air/water heat pumps are directly affected by outdoors temperature: the lower outdoors temperature - the lower air/water heat pump performance ratio. In a temperature of -25ºC, such equipment will remain operational only with the help of electronic heating element. However, considering average winter temperatures, and having summarized the overall expenses of the heating season – the air/water system is only 30 – 30 per cent more expensive than geothermal heating, whereas the installation price is often as much as twice lower than installing a geothermal heat pump", - said the project manager of  company "Vilpra" Simonas Sabeckas.

According to estimations of the company, average heating expenses for a standard 150 m2 house of a new construction with geothermal heating system would range from 200 to 250 Litas. Heating expenses using air/water heat pump 300 – 350 Litas.

Anyone planning construction, renovation, renovation of engineering or heating systems, purchase of a new home, settling and greening the landscape will discover useful information in the biggest constructions-related exhibition in The Baltic States "Resta 2014", which is to take place in Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre LITEXPO on 24–27 April. The focus of this year’s exhibition – water: uses and management of water in houses and cities, new water technologies and innovations. 
Over 500 participants from several countries are going to present their novelties in the exhibition this year; the exhibition is going to occupy all the exposition area of LITEXPO – more than 30 000 m2.

For more information contact:
LITEXPO press centre
Tel. 8 620 81798
Email: r.keliuotyte@litexpolt
www.litexpo.lt