A few weeks I was in Finland, looking at how they approach renewable heating in what is arguably the world’s toughest heating market. First off, Finland is stunning – I highly recommend visiting, but take a proper coat and gloves. And one thing became very clear to me: heating in the UK is easy by comparison.
Let me set the scene. In Finland, heating systems must be designed to deliver their maximum output at -26C in the south (Helsinki) and -32C in the north, where Santa lives. It can get even colder than that, but these are the official design conditions — a far cry from anything we ever see in warm, damp Britain.
The systems themselves would be familiar to most heating engineers across Europe, but there are some striking differences:
1. Reliability is life-or-death.
If the heating fails, everything freezes… fast. Lives literally depend on systems working. At -40C, the customer isn’t just annoyed; they’re desperate.
2. It’s cold all year round.
Temperatures range from +30C in summer to -40C in winter. Heating is used pretty much 365 days a year. Installers work outside in these conditions too, bending pipes with frozen fingers. They need coats, gloves, serious resolve and a torch, since it gets dark by 2:30pm in December.
3. No mains gas.
Most of the country has no gas grid. That leaves heat pumps, electric heating, and oil. And guess what? Everyone uses heat pumps.
4. Electricity isn’t cheap.
It’s around £0.20 per kWh. There’s no solar generation due to the long winters, but plenty of wind power.
5. No glycol.
Instead of antifreeze, they lag the pipes – and if they’re leaving a property, they drain everything, even the toilets. If you don’t drain it, it’ll freeze.
6. Simple heat pump swaps.
Replacing an oil boiler with a heat pump is a same-day job. They just swap the unit and the tank. No messing with rads or pipework. Quick, clean, efficient.
7. Anti-freeze valves are a double-edged sword.
They’re great for customer peace of mind, but in -10C conditions during installation, they’re a pain – they stay open, and you need to warm them up to fill the system.
8. Radiators are single panel with TRVs.
No massive triple-panel radiators here. Weather compensation is set to +55C when it’s -26C outside, and it works just fine.
9. Mounting matters.
Outdoor units are mounted 400mm off the ground to stay above the snow line, and the drain pans are heated to stop condensate freezing into solid blocks.
10. Backup heaters are standard.
Every unit comes with an electric backup. It helps out when it’s extremely cold and provides a failsafe in case of faults.
11. Insulation is on another level.
New homes are built to a high spec with triple glazing and masses of insulation. Even older buildings have 150mm of rockwool in timber walls and draft-free windows. A 50-year-old, 120m² house in Finland typically has a heat loss of just 8kW at -26C — half the heat loss of a similar house in the UK.
These people take heating seriously. They don’t tolerate poor systems. They install heat pumps quickly, properly and to a high standard. And guess what? They work.
In the toughest heating market in the world, heat pumps are the weapon of choice.