Comparing Ground Source Heat Pump System with Full Storage Heating System used in Detached House in Helsinki

The heating system of a detached house was changed from a full storage electric heating system to a ground source heat pump system. The location of the building is in Southern Finland. The building itself has remained the same with both heating systems. Some electrical household appliances have quite possibly been renewed during the measuring period from 1996 to 2014. The housing practises and the weather conditions have varied to some extent from year to year during the measuring period. Still, the electric energy used for heating is dominating the measuring results in both cases. The electric power and the related quantities of the full storage heating system have been measured during the years 1996–1998. In April 2013 the heating system was renovated. After the change the measurements were repeated and additionally some power quality measurements were performed. The measured results show a clear reduction of active power and electric energy consumption. In the new heating system the active power is 44% and the yearly electricity consumption is 35% compared to the earlier system. It has to be noted that only one year’s experience of the new system is available. During the first year of the operation the control of the indoor temperature was not ideal. The weather conditions of the heat pump system refer to only one year and there was only one cold week in January 2014. Power quality measurements did not show any problems in the operation of the ground source heat pump system.