|References

Masonry stove and photovoltaic heat instead of heat pump

The newly built single-family home of the Burghardt family in Neuschleichach impresses with its eco-friendly construction and innovative heating technology. How efficient is photovoltaic heat compared to a heat pump?

The Burghardt family’s house in Lower Franconia sets new standards in ecological construction and sustainable energy supply. The single-family home, built in 2023, relies almost entirely on natural building materials across its 275 m² of living space, including a basement apartment, and features innovative heating technology with photovoltaic heat.

On the ground floor of the house, a masonry stove with absorber technology provides cozy warmth. Its massive construction allows it to store heat for up to 12 hours and release it as pleasant radiant heat. During the first cold season, about 8 cubic meters of hardwood were used to heat the rooms.

Linear control of heat from photovoltaic energy

A large photovoltaic system with a capacity of 25 kWp, distributed on the south and north sides of the roof, ensures the environmentally friendly use of solar energy. The generated surplus electricity is efficiently utilized by an intelligent photovoltaic power manager, the AC•THOR 9s from my-PV. This device linearly controls the heat supply of the buffer storage via three heating rods, which in turn feeds the underfloor and wall heating.

Nils Burghardt, the owner of the single-family home, is thrilled with the system integration: “In search of an easy-to-use device that communicates with SMA products, I came across my-PV. The system's openness allows for a smooth use of the SMA Sunny Home Manager 2.0 as a surplus detector.”

The combination of photovoltaic and wood as the main energy sources leads to an impressive heating balance: Even in the cold season, more than 95% of the heat for hot water and heating is provided by photovoltaic heat and wood; the use of grid electricity was only minimally necessary. This allowed the family to forgo an expensive heat pump, saving on both ongoing costs and maintenance efforts.

Nils Burghardt concludes: “I am truly pleasantly surprised at how well the system works. The regulation speed of the AC•THOR 9s, especially on cloudy days, is extremely fast. The installation and setup of the system went very quickly and without any problems!”

Good to know

Curious about what this eco-friendly and efficient home looks like and the yield data available in the my-PV Cloud? A detailed description of the project, including technical details, can be found here.

Click here for the reference description

How exactly was the project implemented? Read the detailed project description for more information.

More information about the project

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