1. Will central heating boilers be banned from 2026 and will a sustainable variant become mandatory?
About 95% of almost all houses in the Netherlands are still heated with gas. From 2026, hybrid heat pumps will be the standard for heating homes. Central heating boilers are not prohibited, in fact, you need them if you opt for a hybrid pump.
According to the company, a hybrid heat pump is suitable for many homes and you just have to hurry to make it more sustainable. If your home is not suitable, you do not need to choose a heat pump.
For example, your home may be too poorly insulated to be heated by a hybrid heat pump. An installer must determine this. It is also possible that your home or neighborhood is connected to another alternative, such as the heat network.
About three in ten Dutch homes are not well suited for a hybrid heat pump because there is not enough space for it. In addition to the lack of space inside, sometimes the lack of the possibility to place parts of the heating system outside also plays a role. This applies, for example, to large apartment complexes.
2. What exactly is a hybrid heat pump?
A (hybrid) heat pump uses energy from the outside air. An outdoor fan, a type of air conditioner, takes heat from the outside air and converts it into usable energy. The water in your radiators is then electrically heated.
If it is too cold outside or if the house takes too long to heat up, the boiler will kick on. The boiler also provides hot water in the bathroom and kitchen. A hybrid heat pump consumes about 60% less gas than a conventional central heating boiler.
3. Who pays the fees?
According to Milieu Centraal, a hybrid heat pump costs between 5,000 and 7,000 euros, but you can get a subsidy for it. Since the beginning of this year, you can recover an average of 30% of these costs.
A central heating boiler costs less than half that of a hybrid heat pump. However, with the high gas prices, the payback period is shorter.
Low- and middle-income homeowners can get no-interest loans through the National Heat Fund.
4. Does this sustainable heating installation have drawbacks?
You must be the proud owner of a well-insulated house to benefit from the heat pump. The better the insulation, the better the pump will work. As a result, less heat is lost and the pump is generally not dependent on the central heating boiler.
In addition, a hybrid heat pump takes up little space: both an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are required. Such an outdoor unit also makes noise, so there are requirements for that. There are also special sound ceilings if the neighbors complain.
In contrast to an electric heat pump, you do not need to install other radiators or use underfloor heating with a hybrid heat pump.
5. I don’t have a house to buy, but I rent, what’s the difference?
In this case, the landlord is responsible and as a tenant you will notice nothing more than installing a hybrid heat pump next to your central heating boiler.
A spokesperson for the umbrella organization of the corporation, Aedes, cannot say how many homes of the corporation now have a regular central heating boiler. According to Aedes, housing associations are already working on sustainability, but alternatives such as installing a heat network are time-consuming. “So this is a great way to start using less gas.”
Companies have pledged to give priority to homes with the lowest energy labels. According to Statistics Netherlands, companies together owned about 2.3 million homes last year.
6. Are there long waiting times for heat pumps?
There are really long waiting times now. Even a year is not uncommon. The personnel shortage in the plumbing sector will also double to 40,000 people in the coming years, according to the contractors’ association Techniek Nederland, but the sector claims it can still handle the work.
“If it was impossible, we would not have gone,” chairman Doekle Terpstra told RTL Z. “The cabinet has challenged us to do so. As an industry, we have to contribute to the energy transition and that is what we are aiming for. We will do everything we can to make that happen.”
Source: RTL
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