Apex Heat App updates

Air-to-air heat pumps are now calculated as an investment option

For a building without a heat pump, air-to-air heat pumps can be calculated with a chosen model and number of units, alone or with an exhaust air heat pump. They heat beside the existing system, which still makes the hot water and the rest of the space heat, and in the energy subsidy they take the 40% heat pump row. The options are off by default, so saved projects' results do not change until they are switched on.

Borehole fields are sized with the brine temperature model instead of a yield-per-metre table

A field's yield per metre is calculated with the brine temperature model from the field's number of holes and depth, unless you enter the yield yourself. Calibrated to the simulated wells of Helsinki's energy well report, the model keeps the mean fluid temperature at −1.5 °C or above in the coldest month and at −5 °C or above through a three-day peak over 30 years, which gives one hole in Helsinki's climate 111 kWh/m at 150 metres, 121 kWh/m at 300 metres and 136 kWh/m at 500 metres. The same model calculates the brine temperature month by month from the area's climate instead of a fixed 3 °C, so the ground source sCOP changes.

Boreholes can be placed on the street and park land beside the lot

Two new options add land beside the lot to the drillable area, with the city's permission: either the street halfway to the opposite lot plus a narrow strip of the adjacent park, or the whole adjacent park near the lot. With the first, drill starts stay on the lot and the holes are drilled at an angle, and a large lot that already fits enough boreholes gets no street or park land added.

A heat pump model can be chosen from a list of manufacturers' real models

A sizing-table row can take a ground-source or air-to-water model, and a number of units of it, from a catalogue fitted to manufacturers' published data: 145 ground-source and 67 air-to-water pumps. The calculation uses the chosen model's COP, operating limit and cold-weather output, so the row's sCOP and coverage are the model's. When the building's existing heat pump is chosen from the catalogue, today's heating and the baseline for savings run on that model.

• Improved: The solar array's size can be entered in kilowatt-peak
• Improved: The energy subsidy can be calculated for investments you choose
• Calculation change: The boreholes' distance from a neighbour's plot grows with their depth
• Calculation change: Window and door renewals default to U-value 0.70 W/(m²K), so they count towards the energy subsidy
• Calculation change: Heat pump COP curves were fitted to manufacturers' measurements
• Calculation change: Current electricity cost rises where a building has a heat recovery machine

Results are now also shown building by building

A building switcher shows each building's own figures, and heat recovery calculated per ventilation unit is shown unit by unit. Heating systems, heat recovery, solar and envelope measures can be calculated for the whole property or building by building, and the guidance says when the per-building choice makes sense.

Shared workspaces are available to every user

In a shared workspace colleagues see and edit the same projects, while a personal workspace's projects are seen only by the person who made them. Anyone can create a new shared workspace from the menu, invite colleagues to it and switch between workspaces.

Installation work is priced dearer in the capital region

Municipalities fall into the six areas of Haahtela's tender price index, and the installation and site work factor ranges from 0.92 to 1.08 by area. In Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen the factor rose from 1.0 to 1.08, and in Turku from 0.975 to 1.00. Oulu belonged to no group before and took the cheapest factor, 0.95; its factor is now 0.96.

The results show the property's energy flow as a diagram

The diagram runs from current consumption to consumption after the recommended investments: space heating demand, circulation losses, free energy, heat pump electricity, energy efficiency savings and the solar share. Its left side is the current state, and only the two right-hand sums describe the state after the investments; with no investments, the diagram shows the current state alone.

The consumption year normalises heat consumption for weather

When the consumption year is given, the space heating share is corrected by the ratio of heating degree days between the measured year and the calculation's reference weather while hot water stays as it is, so consumption measured in a mild year no longer understates a typical year's heat demand. Stored hourly series are normalised from their own year, and the factor shows in the results and the report. Without a year the results do not change, and a heat pump property's consumption is not normalised.

• Improved: Design costs can be added to the energy subsidy, by default 3% of the recommended investment
• Improved: A system is chosen and costed in one section
• Improved: The IFC and energy performance certificate uploads are no longer in beta
• Improved: Energy reports for renovation projects can be made
• Calculation change: An air-to-water heat pump's electric backup boiler is sized only for the peak the pump leaves
• Calculation change: Oil and gas heated properties are recommended a pure heat pump over a fuel hybrid
• Fixed: A price entered for a building's heat distribution upgrade is used in every heating solution
• Fixed: An investment price entered with VAT is no longer taxed twice

Heat pump capacity fell, now that it is sized for a target share of the year's heat energy

The capacity is now the smallest that covers 98% of the year's heat energy for ground source and 95% for air-to-water and air-to-air; it used to be a fixed 70% of peak power. In the calculation's default example the ground source capacity fell from 143 kW to 120 kW, and to 73 kW with heat recovery, where the sizing covers the remaining demand. In close cases the recommendation can change. Detached houses are still sized for full peak power, and a coverage share of your own can still be entered.

Apex Heat can be used from an AI assistant through the MCP connector

Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant that supports MCP can open Pro projects, read calculation results, import consumption, energy performance certificate and IFC files, and make reports. Every change that saves is confirmed first. The connector is in beta and is switched on account by account, and apexheat.io/connect shows how to add it.

Reports are made as editable Word documents

Every report can be downloaded as a Word file, which suits editing the report yourself. The PDF still comes straight from the app for sharing with the customer, with the same content and the report theme's fonts.

• Improved: District heating energy price, demand charges and emission factor can be entered
• Improved: A property buying district heat through a neighbour can calculate its own connection
• Calculation change: Walls shared by adjacent buildings are deducted from the exterior wall area
• Fixed: A field that blocks the calculation can be reset to its estimate with one click