Heat your home efficiently

A heat pump contains a coolant that boils at a low temperature and turns into gas. The pump then compresses the gas, which raises its temperature. The heat produced by doing this is then transferred to your heating system. This causes the pressure to drop, the gas turns back into a liquid and the cycle starts again.

Heat pumps are energy-efficient systems used for heating and cooling buildings. They draw heat from the outside air or the ground to heat your home in winter and they reverse this process to provide cooling in summer.

A heat pump can significantly reduce your electricity bill, especially when it replaces a conventional heating system. Heat pumps are also environmentally friendly as they use renewable heat sources.
The benefits of having a heat pump:

• Very high level of energy efficiency
• Lower energy bills
• Reduced CO₂ emissions
• Provides both heating and cooling
  
  

A heat-pump boiler combines a heat pump with a conventional boiler system. The system uses ambient air to heat water, emits much less CO₂ and therefore offers a sustainable alternative to conventional boilers. A heat-pump boiler is also safer because the system doesn’t rely on combustion, which reduces the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The benefits of having a heat-pump boiler:

• Highly efficient
• Environmentally friendly
• Safe
• Easy to maintain

A gas condensing boiler is more efficient than other fossil-fuel heating systems and also relatively cheap to replace.

It’s only worth replacing your oil-fired boiler with a gas condensing boiler if your home is already connected to the natural gas grid. If your home has to be connected first, it will take far longer for your savings to cover the additional costs.

If you replace your old gas- or oil-fired boiler with a new gas condensing boiler, you can reduce your energy consumption by up to 30%. This is because a condensing boiler is far more efficient, which means you pay less for heating.

It’s difficult to calculate how much energy you’ll produce because of various factors, but in general, your investment is expected to pay for itself in seven years.

You can try to calculate the exact length of this payback period by first checking the price of the gas condensing boiler, heat pump boiler or heat pump you want to install and then applying this formula: (cost of the purchase and installation minus any grants) / average savings = payback period.

Be sure to check out the grants available from the Flemish Government if you’re going to install an energy-efficient heating system.

‘Impact us today’ is one of KBC Brussels’s partners. They have a network of contractors you can rely on to carry out sustainable renovations. That means ‘Impact us today’ doesn’t actually carry out the works, rather they put you in touch with a reliable contractor.

You’re under no obligation to do so. Once you’ve submitted your request in KBC Brussels Mobile, ‘Impact us today’ will contact you within five business days to arrange an appointment. The contractor will then visit you to assess the situation and prepare a no-obligation quote.

After energy-efficient renovation work has been carried out, it might be a good idea to apply for a new EPC. This may be necessary, for example, if you want to apply for an EPC-label grant or if you want to sell your home.

Tip: you can apply for your EPC with just a few taps in KBC Brussels Mobile. If you require other certificates or proof of inspections, you can also use KBC Brussels Mobile to make arrangements for obtaining an asbestos certificate, electrical inspection report or a heating oil tank inspection report, all in one go. This service is provided by our partner ‘De Immowinkel’.

Heating your home efficiently will save money on your energy bills, but it’s still a significant outlay to begin with.  You can apply for an energy loan at KBC Brussels to finance your project. Find out more.  

If you have any questions about your quote and the works, contact the contractor directly or get in touch with our partner ‘Impact us today’.

The contractor’s contact details can be found in the ‘Renovation quote’ service. You can see the details for ‘Impact us today’ by tapping the three dots at the top right of this service.

If you’re experiencing technical problems with the service itself, call our helpdesk on 016 43 25 30 or fill in the form and ask your question.