14
votes
Sweden's Aira, which offers subscription service at no upfront cost, has sights set on UK's growing heat pump market
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- Title
- Swedish 'Spotify of heat pumps' hopes to reach more UK homes
- Authors
- Jillian Ambrose
- Published
- Dec 27 2023
- Word count
- 768 words
OK, so not really a perpetual SaaS-like subscription, but in effect, a 10-year loan for the device with presumably some extra service charges for maintenance, if I understand it right.
Seems fine. Was concerned this was one of these "you will own nothing and you will be happy" type deals.
I found the language in the article to be applied weirdly, like the company thinks potential customers (or investors perhaps) will be more open to their business proposition by using terms more often used for saas?
Maybe it's true, but regardless of the description this sounds quite like the concept of HVAC equipment rental, which is very common in my area of canada (especially hot water heaters), even though i often see the financial advice to just buy out or pay-to-cancel the rental contract as soon as financially possible.
The differences I maybe see between these scenarios that could make this service feel more useful/less predatory is that heat pumps are much pricier up front vs. hot water heaters, and that heat pumps can offer cost-savings over other house heating systems.
Sounds like roughly the same deal as solar, so i wonder if it has the same problem.
Depending on your plans and the location of the house, a common issue is that installing solar winds up being too expensive for it to pay itself off in a reasonable time frame. But, if you find a house that has solar that's already partially paid or paid off, it's of course worth it.
I'm curious what the math on the heat pumps is. I'm sure it's much better just by virtue of it probably being less expensive and fragile technology, but it's probably the most important part of the equation.
As an American HVAC tech, I don't really understand what new revelation this is.
Most people can no longer afford the upfront costs of HVAC equipment. Financing is super common, and ten years is pretty standard.
And I'm sorry, but 10 years is half the life expectancy? I'm not sure what refrigerants are used in Europe, but at least here in the US where 410-A is common, I tell people 10 years, or the length of the warranty. One of those coils gets a leak and it's out of warranty? I usually call it toast. Between the cost of leak searching, adding refrigerant, and the cost of a standalone coil installation, you're frequently better off just doing the entire AC system for a couple thousand more. Otherwise you have half a new AC, and the other half is likely gonna go pretty soon after. And 99% of the time, doing one side halves the warranty. It's not worth it.
This whole thing reads like rebranding financing to tech bro investors.