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Frequently asked questions
The following questions come up most often in practice. The Documentation, the Program workflow and the Fundamentals describe the background in more detail. Inside the program the help assistant is available: it knows the area you are working in, searches the integrated help free of charge and – with your own access key – also answers freely worded questions. In addition, tooltips appear when you move the mouse over an input field.
What does the name EPOS-Plan stand for?
EPOS stands for Energy, Planning, Optimisation and Simulation – exactly the four steps the program covers: determining energy demand, planning the plant, optimising the interaction of the components and simulating operation over a full year.
Do I need Excel to use EPOS-Plan?
No. EPOS-Plan is a standalone Windows application with its own data storage and presentation. Excel is needed neither for the calculation nor for the output; results can, however, be exported as CSV files and processed further there.
What are the system requirements?
Windows 10 or 11, the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime and the Microsoft Access Database Engine; both are installed by the setup if required. Details and troubleshooting are given under Installation and update.
How accurate is the calculation?
Heat demand is determined per day from building characteristics and climate data and distributed to 8,760 hourly values using type-dependent daily profiles; electricity demand is handled in 35,040 quarter-hourly values. Heat pumps use the complete manufacturer performance map, collectors follow EN 12975, boilers are modelled with fuel-dependent efficiency and standby loss. The quality of the result depends above all on the quality of the input data: consumption bills, measured load profiles and the correct flow temperature improve it far more than any refinement of the model.
I only have the heating bill – is that enough?
Yes. Instead of the floor area you enter the annual consumption of oil, gas or fuel; together with the annual utilisation ratio of the old plant EPOS-Plan derives the useful heat and scales the building model accordingly. The annual profile is then tied to the real consumption.
Where do the climate data come from?
They are retrieved automatically from the place name as a typical meteorological year and contain ambient temperature and global, direct and diffuse irradiance for every hour, converted to the orientations south, east, west and north. Own climate regions can be created at any time; the supplied ones are write-protected.
Why is heat production higher than heat demand?
Because the standby losses of the buffer tank also have to be covered. The difference between production and demand corresponds exactly to those losses – a tank losing about two kilowatt hours per day adds up to several hundred kilowatt hours over the year.
How do I model hot water and space heating separately?
Hot water is recorded as a separate demand component and shown separately in the demand chart. In the simulation configuration every heat pump can be assigned a heat sink: total demand, hot water only or space heating only. This allows booster concepts and separate generators to be modelled realistically.
How do I find the right storage size?
By calculating several variants. For the buffer tank, operating hours, cycling and the charge level curve show whether the size fits; for battery storage the gain in self-consumption clearly flattens above a certain capacity – that is the economic limit.
Can I use several heat pumps?
Yes. Every machine has its own priority, heat source, heat sink and operating mode. The simulation processes them in the defined order and reports the results per module.
Can I import my own manufacturer data?
Yes. For heat pumps, boilers, buffer tanks and solar collectors an import according to VDI 3805 is available. Own data sets can also be created directly in the catalogues; factory entries are write-protected and remain available as a reference.
How do I export results?
Using the export buttons in the result areas. The CSV files contain a time stamp and the ambient temperature together with the respective values – for energy demand, for the heat pump and for the currently displayed chart with all active curves.
Is my project data transmitted anywhere?
No. Project, customer and simulation data stay locally on your computer. An internet connection is only used for climate data, place name search and online documentation. If you use the help assistant with your own access key, only your question, the name of the program area and the integrated help texts are transmitted.
What does the help assistant cost?
The local search in the integrated help is free of charge and works without internet. For freely worded answers you enter your own access key; billing then goes directly through the respective provider. A daily limit in the program caps the number of requests.
Do I need an access key for the help assistant?
Only for freely worded answers. Searching the built-in help works without a key, without an internet connection and free of charge. If you want written-out answers, store your own access key in the chat window under Settings…; billing runs directly with its provider, and 50 requests per workstation and day are possible. You do not have to use the assistant – it can also be switched off completely.
What data does the help assistant transmit?
Your question in full, the name of the area you are working in, and extracts from the built-in help texts. Project and customer data, simulation results and file paths are not transmitted. Before each request you can display exactly what would be sent; before the first request the program presents a legal notice, and nothing is sent without your consent. If you additionally enable actions in the chat window, the results of the read steps carried out are included – project and plant names in them are replaced by placeholders.
Where do I find the licence terms?
In the program under Help › Licence. There you will find the complete licence agreement, legal information on use, liability and data processing as well as the components and data sources used – to read, print and save.
My question is not listed – what now?
Ask the help assistant in the program; it searches the entire help and this online documentation. If that does not help, support is available as part of the maintenance agreement.