Heat pump electrical connection for aerotermia systems in Seville, Spain

What the electrician does in an aerothermal installation

Aerotermia is a heat pump (air-to-water) that takes energy from the outside air to heat domestic hot water and the heating and, in many units, to cool the home as well. The installation has two parts: the thermal side (machine, tank, pipes and emitters), done by the heating and cooling installer under the RITE (Spain’s regulation for thermal installations in buildings), and the electrical side, which is ours. A badly supplied heat pump causes trouble from day one: breakers tripping, cut-outs for exceeding the contracted power or a backup heater that never actually works.

Our job in the heat pump electrical connection in Seville consists of:

• Studying the power. We add up what the unit draws, its backup heater and what you already have at home to know whether your contracted power can cope.
• Running a dedicated line from the fuse board to the outdoor unit and, if needed, to the tank or indoor unit, with the cable cross-section the manufacturer specifies.
• Fitting its own protections: circuit breaker (MCB) and RCD for the unit, separate from the other circuits, as ITC-BT-19 and ITC-BT-25 of the Spanish Low Voltage Electrotechnical Regulation require.
• Adapting the fuse board when it has no space or few RCDs, and fitting a sub-board next to the machine if the distance makes it advisable.
• Issuing the boletín when the line is new or the power has to be increased, and registering it with the Junta de Andalucía.

Single-phase or three-phase: what your heat pump needs

It is the most common question before buying the unit. Most homes in Seville have a single-phase supply, and many domestic units work perfectly well on it. Three-phase is only needed when the data sheet requires it, which is more frequent with large machines for villas or when a heat pump, an EV charger and a pool come together in the same house.

If your case needs it, we carry out the single to three-phase upgrade: new riser cable, adapted fuse board and boletín for the distributor. Before going that far we check whether it is enough to increase your contracted power or to fit load management that stops the heat pump, the induction hob and the oven running at full power at the same time. If the power keeps cutting out once the heat pump is running, see power limiter tripping.

Heat pumps in new-build homes

The specifications of new developments in Seville, from Metrovacesa, Habitat, Insur or Aedas, increasingly include aerotermia for hot water, and some, such as Habitat Alvareda in Entrenúcleos, combine it with solar panels to reach an A energy rating. In those cases the line comes ready. What new owners ask us for when they get the keys is something else:

• Checking that the contracted power can carry the heat pump, the induction hob and the air conditioning at the same time in the middle of August.
• Adding a smart thermostat to control the temperature from your phone and programme the hot water for the cheapest hours.
• Checking the fuse board and the RCDs before the first year of the developer’s warranty runs out.

If you are about to move into a new home, our new-build section covers what is usually missing in homes handed over in Seville and its area, and the new-build electrical snagging checklist tells you what to test.

Replacing a water heater or boiler with a heat pump

In villas and townhouses in the Aljarafe, Dos Hermanas or La Rinconada, and in flats in Sevilla Este or Los Bermejales, the most common change is replacing an electric water heater (termo) or a boiler with a heat pump. Here the electrics usually need more work: the old water heater hung off a shared circuit and the boiler used hardly any electricity, while the heat pump needs its own line. We check the fuse board, the earthing and the power, and give you the fixed price of the electrical side before you order the unit. For simpler hot water options, see electric water heaters.

Heat pumps with solar panels

A heat pump uses electricity, so it pairs very well with self-consumption solar (autoconsumo): programming the hot water for the sunny hours uses the energy from your panels instead of exporting it to the grid. If you are thinking about both, they are best designed together. See our solar panels page and the rest of our solar and energy efficiency solutions.

Guide prices in Seville

These are guide prices. After seeing the installation we give you the fixed price of the specific job.

How we work

1. Visit and load study: we look at the fuse board, the contracted power, the earthing and the route to the machine.
2. Coordination with the heating installer: we agree where each unit goes and what protection it needs.
3. Installation: line, protections and connection, with the wiring tidy and labelled in the fuse board.
4. Testing and paperwork: we measure insulation and RCD tripping, and issue the boletín where applicable.