Always sustainable hot water at Drenthe campsite

'I didn't expect the heat pump to be so quiet'

Moving with the times, that was the wish of Marco Bosma and his wife Marloes. Together they own De Deelderij campsite in Schoonloo, Drenthe. From the start of this camping season in April, the campsite will be "off the gas. The water in the new sanitary building is heated by means of a heat pump from the Ecodan line. "We've already had decent peak times in terms of visitors, but the new system works just fine," Bosma says with satisfaction. 

The 22-site campground was well maintained when they took it over five years ago. The plumbing, which consisted of three sanitary buildings, each with its own geyser, was also adequate. Still, the couple had a sustainability desire to use less gas. "Because of the price of gas, but also because we want to be a sustainable company and project that," Bosma says. With a grant from the province, they had an energy scan performed and received independent advice. That advice did not fit, as did other advice they requested. Bosma: "They kept saying that a solution was possible, but that it was not made for it. So we had to wait and see if the solution would succeed."

Calculating peak hours

Through Bosma's father, contact was made with Gert Veurink, account manager of Alklima/Mit-subishi Electric. This resulted in a total solution that fits well with the Deelderij. Together with Bosma they calculated what they needed and whether that was sufficient to handle the peak hours at the four new showers. Bosma: "We calculated that people have a dressing time and an undressing time, and divided over these two time margins it turned out that we had enough with a 500 liter barrel. We really had confidence in this solution."

Residential Solution

The selected heat pump from the Ecodan line is a residential solution with the highest tap water output. This Ecodan 500-liter boiler is the largest in the heat pump series and can deliver good power even at low temperatures. Says Veurink, "That was an important requirement because the campground opens as early as April and the outside temperature can still be quite low then." Floor heating has also been installed in the sanitary building, which runs on the same heat pump.

The installation was handled by Van Dorp Installations of Heerenveen. According to Bosma, that went "very satisfactorily" and everything went very smoothly. It was a little tense whether the heat pump would be delivered before the start of this camping season. But thanks to the efforts of Jelmer Batteram, branch manager of Van Dorp Installations, and Gert Veurink, the system was delivered just in time. Bosma: "The day before we opened, Alklima came by to get everything up and running. The moment everything was adjusted, it worked immediately!"

Solar Panels

The new heat pump efficiently supplies hot tap water and heating to the sanitary building. Part of the energy required comes from the solar panels. Partly because of this, the chosen application is ideal, since the use is mainly during the camping season. Bosma is already noticing the benefits of this system. "The system performs very well. We have had decent peak moments in terms of visitors. The campground was fully occupied, sometimes even with more than the 22 spots. But there was constant hot water and the guests were incredibly satisfied."

Silent pump

In addition, Bosma says gas consumption has dropped tremendously, by at least 150 cubic meters per month. "And in terms of electricity, we have not increased, because we now generate most of it ourselves. This system probably pays for itself very quickly." In the past three months, there has been one outage. "I contacted Gert and he came by himself to see what was going on. And that was fixed immediately as well." What strikes Bosma is that the pump is so quiet. "I didn't expect that. You can't actually hear the pump anywhere on the campsite and I think that's a big advantage." Laughs, "And the fact that you save so much now, I think that's also nice to see."

Sustainability award province of Drenthe

Sustainability changes are also appreciated in the province of Drenthe. "We were able to receive the Green Thumb in June. This appreciation is awarded to companies that the province sees as leaders in sustainability."