How much does it cost to install water-borne heating?

Waterborne heating has traditionally been a heating system for apartment buildings and villas in cities where there was access to district heating. But in line with rising energy prices and greater environmental awareness, even villa owners with burning heat sources and direct electricity have realized the advantages of water-borne heating elements.

With today's electricity prices, a waterborne heating system is a good investment that pays for itself quickly and increases the value of your house. But what does it actually mean to install waterborne heating and how much can it cost? We thought we would go into that in more detail in this article.

Advantages of waterborne heating

In these times of high electricity prices and an uncertain environment, many homeowners are beginning to investigate their options to reduce their heating costs. Water-based heating is one of the most energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and price-stable options when it comes to heating your house. In addition, water-borne heat usually provides a more even heat distribution in the house, compared to, for example, electric and oil elements.

Water has an outstanding ability to retain heat for a long time and by having a waterborne heating system installed, you can get a better handle on your costs for both heating and hot water consumption. With water-borne elements, you also get the opportunity to regulate the temperature in different parts of the house by adjusting the hot water flow.

Another advantage of water-borne heat is that you get better air quality indoors, compared to direct-acting electricity, which partly produces drier air but can also generate dust particles.

Installation of waterborne heating

Installation of waterborne elements is a large project that requires knowledge of both electrical and water systems as well as experience in construction work. It is therefore nothing that you, as a layman, can do yourself. At Ulma, we advise you to hire a certified installer when it comes to installing waterborne heating systems. If only for your insurance to apply if something were to go wrong with the water lines.

But just to give you an idea of how the actual installation usually goes, we have made a list of the usual steps here.

1. Planning. Before starting the installation, it is important to plan and decide where the elements will be placed and how the water pipe system will be designed. How to get optimal heating with the minimum possible
2. Preparations. A lot of preparation work is often required before installation can begin. For example, space must be created for the elements and if there are no water pipes, these must be run through the entire house.
3. Install water lines. Water lines must be installed from the heat source to each individual element. If you want underfloor heating, loops must also be installed.
4. Assemble the elements. The elements must be mounted on the walls of the rooms where you want them.
5. Connect to water lines. Once the elements and loops are in place, they must be connected to the central water supply system.
6. Test the system. The system must be tested to ensure that it is working properly. Do you have a pellet boiler with an electric cartridge? In that case, you should also check that it is started when the burning of pellets stops.
7. Check for leaks. Installing water pipes and elements throughout the house is a project associated with great risks. Before installing the cables, you should therefore carefully check that all cables and connections are tight.

How much does it cost to install a waterborne heating system?

It is difficult to give an exact price for the installation of waterborne heating in a house, as it depends on many factors, such as the size of your house, how extensive installation is required, the type of waterborne heating system you choose, and where the house is located . For an average villa, you can expect to pay between 75,000 and 150,000 kroner for a standard installation. In the price, we have not included costs for materials.

However, it is important to remember that this is only a rough estimate and the price can vary greatly depending on where in the country you live. For a more accurate price estimate, we recommend requesting quotes from a few different certified installers.

See the installation as an investment

As a homeowner, it's easy to stare blindly at current expenses and forget about future profits. Installing water-borne heating in the house is expensive, but considering the price trend for electricity in recent years, a change of heating system is often necessary in order not to be completely ruined by a future wolf winter.

Replacing direct electricity and oil boilers is always a good investment, regardless of whether you plan to stay in the house for the rest of your life or sell. For those of you who intend to stay, your new water-borne heating system will have paid for itself in about 10 years. If, on the other hand, you have intended to sell the house, you can count on the house to have increased in value by the equivalent amount you spent on your new heating system (if not more).

Which heat source is best for waterborne elements?

If you already have a heating system with water-borne elements, floor loops and cables in the house, which is currently heated by oil, wood or direct electricity, you have a lot to gain by switching to a more modern heat source.

District heating, geothermal heating and pellet boilers are three popular and cost-effective heat sources that can drastically lower your heating costs and your environmental impact. In our post about the cheapest heating system, you can read more about different heat sources and their characteristics.

Does your house already have a water-borne heating system connected to an oil boiler, wood boiler or direct electricity? In that case, you can easily install a pellet boiler and pellet burner instead. By replacing one burning heat source with another, factors such as negative pressure, air circulation and moisture removal can be maintained.

Pellets are the heat source that performs best when electricity costs the most. That is, in winter when it is cold and the sun shines with its absence. A pellet boiler with a 20 kW burner usually gives you enough hot water to heat a normal-sized villa and at the same time cover a normal hot water consumption. If you use a lot of hot water, you may need to connect an accumulator tank to your pellet plant. The accumulator tank makes use of the energy from the hot water and helps to even out uneven energy consumption. Furthermore, it gives you continuous access to hot water – even when your pellet boiler is not running. By combining the accumulator tank with solar cells, you can reduce your consumption of pellets by up to 20%.

For more information about pellets, please visit our FAQ page.

See our package offers on pellet plants.