A wonderful passive building construction with Thermia heat pump

Right from the start, the developer was clear that he wanted a leading edge energy system to provide sustainable heating and cooling for the new apartments. Energy efficiency and sustainable construction are key values for the developer and important motivators for buyers choosing this type of housing. That is why the developer brought Atlas, a Thermia reseller, together with the architects during the planning phase. Our team analyzed the developer's objectives and wishes, and then we recommended a solution, which was immediately embraced and incorporated as part of the project.

The new energy system needed to fit into the beautiful and peaceful natural environment, without creating visual impact or noise. In order to avoid placing any disturbing elements on the outside of the buildings, we proposed a geothermal system with no visible external parts.

We drilled eight boreholes with a total depth of 800 m along the property boundary, and connected them to a common machine room in the basement, where the garages are also located, with a Thermia Mega M ground source heat pump with a modulated capacity of 11 - 44 kW.

Before the main construction work began, we drilled the boreholes and installed ground collectors and ground source manifold chambers. During the construction phase of the basement, we connected the manifolds to the machine room, which was the first step in creating a permanent supply of renewable energy from the ground to the building. We chose the Thermia Mega M heat pump (11-44 kW) to heat and cool the building and provide hot water. We used Muovitech's TurboCollector as the ground collector.

One of the most special features of the system is the technology it uses to recover waste heat during cooling. During the summer months, this provides a large amount of free hot water, because, instead of discharging it into the environment, the energy is used to heat domestic hot water. The system also benefits from hot gas technology, which reaches up to 90°C at the compressor outlet. This heat is used to raise the temperature of the domestic hot water to over 70°C.

When construction was complete, the electricians followed simple instructions to make the rest of the control connections. We then switched on functions including the hot water heating, hot water circulation and floor and convector cooling. We set the system up so that it operates automatically, with automatic switching between functions and no downtime. The developer and their team were introduced to the system, shown how to adjust the controller settings and how to deal with any alarms. To date, they haven't needed any support from us since commissioning.