At the end of 2019, Ipe-Peite Oy’s Lahti premises introduced an Auris Energiaratkaisut hybrid heating system combining an air-to-water heat pump and gas. The heat pump supplies around 70 per cent of the site’s annual heating needs, with the existing gas boiler supplying the rest.
Ipe-Peite’s main aim in changing its heating system was to reduce heating costs. The overall target is a saving of around 20–30 per cent. At the same time, heating emissions fall by around 70 per cent and total purchased energy by around 50 per cent compared with the previous system.
For the customer, Auris Energiaratkaisut’s heating service offers clear advantages in simplicity and certainty. The customer pays only for the heat used, and everything else is the supplier’s responsibility. If, for example, the installed equipment does not perform as intended, Auris Energiaratkaisut bears the financial responsibility, not the customer.
The aim is to reduce heating costs even further
Ipe-Peite makes PVC products including door curtains, protective covers and tarpaulins for lorries and trailers. The company has operated for more than 40 years, and all its products are custom-made in Finland.
Its Lahti premises include a hall of around 1,600 square metres and 8.5 metres in height, plus 200 square metres of office space. There is therefore a large volume to heat, particularly in the hall. Formerly a lorry workshop, the site also has doors large enough for a lorry with a full trailer. Opening them causes temporary peaks in heat demand, especially in winter.
The premises were previously heated by a fairly new conventional gas boiler bought by the former property owner. It worked well, and consumption was already as low as that technology allowed. Having bought Ipe-Peite in 2018, Jyrki Lindblom nevertheless wanted to reduce heating costs further.
A risk-free solution for the customer
Auris Energiaratkaisut Sales Manager Jarkko Kuningas offered Lindblom a hybrid heating system in which an air-to-water heat pump provides around 70 per cent of annual heating needs. The gas boiler was retained for severe cold and peak demand.
“What was good about Auris Energiaratkaisut’s proposal was that we could use the old gas boiler to handle demand peaks, however cold it gets,” says Ipe-Peite owner and Chair of the Board Lindblom. “We did not have to buy two new systems.”
The heat pump was connected directly to the existing heat distribution system, with no visible changes inside the building. Its automation also controls the old gas boiler.
“The heat pump and gas boiler communicate through the automation, so they do not heat unnecessarily at the same time without knowing what the other is doing,” Kuningas explains.
The outstanding advantage of Auris’s solution for the customer is the absence of risk: the customer pays only for the heat used. Everything else, including correct equipment operation, is the supplier’s responsibility.
A pump sized to actual needs
Heat pumps are usually sized according to a site’s technical peak capacity. At Ipe-Peite, however, sizing was based on actual annual heat consumption.
“The site’s old equipment, including the gas boiler and ventilation, is greatly oversized for its current use,” Kuningas explains. “The hall’s ventilation requires around 200 kW, and the gas boiler’s capacity is more than 300 kW.”
Sizing the heat pump according to technical peak capacity would therefore also have made it far too large for actual consumption. The chosen method resulted in a 63 kW unit.
“All connections, automation and settings had to account for the heat pump being substantially smaller than the old system and conventional sizing practices would suggest,” Kuningas says.
Easy to purchase, easy to use
Because Auris Energiaratkaisut supplies heat to its heating customers, they do not need to worry about choosing, sizing, installing or adjusting equipment. This was also true for Ipe-Peite.
“I received the system proposal in August, and the three-week installation began in October. Our production continued without interruption throughout,” Lindblom recalls.
The system was commissioned in November and, according to Lindblom, has worked as planned.
“The temperature in the hall has been ideal. If purchased energy stays low, things are going well,” Lindblom says.
Ipe-Peite signed a five-year heat supply agreement with Auris Energiaratkaisut. After that, it can remain an Auris heat production customer or buy the equipment.
Previous system
- Conventional gas boiler with a forced-draught gas burner
- Capacity approximately 300–350 kW
- Domestic hot water heated by a heat exchanger
- Gas consumption approximately 290 MWh per year
New system
- Air-to-water heat pump, 63 kW capacity
- Existing boiler retained as a backup heat source
- 1,000-litre buffer tank for heating circuits
- Domestic hot water produced in an electric cylinder
- Connected to the existing heating circuits