Qvantum: Smart heat pumps save energy and time

Two degrees Celsius. That was the indoor temperature a Qvantum heat pump reported from a holiday home in northern Sweden last winter. Nobody was there. The owner, hundreds of kilometers away, had no idea his heating had a problem. But the heat pump knew. It sent an alert to Qvantum’s monitoring system QDoctor and David Lillienberg, After Sales Director at the company, picked up the phone. 

“I called the owner and said: ‘It seems like it’s two degrees in your house. I just wanted to check that everything’s alright,’” Lillienberg recalls. “The owner was stunned. He said: ‘How could you possibly know that?’” He turned out to be the founder of a company that sells extended warranties for heat pumps. In this case, the situation was under control. The sensor sat in an uninsulated outdoor room, and the heating system ran on glycol, so nothing could freeze. Lillienberg: “It could easily have been different. A frozen house means burst pipes, water damage, tens of thousands in repair costs.” 

The episode illustrates what sets Qvantum apart from most heat pump manufacturers: every unit that leaves the factory is connected to the internet via cellular network. Not optionally. Not if the homeowner manages to configure the Wi-Fi. Always. 

Qvantum’s solution is straightforward. At the factory, every heat pump is paired with a cellular modem and a pre-configured Deutsche Telekom IoT SIM card When the installer powers on the unit at the customer’s home, it connects automatically via 4G. No manual steps, no passwords, no second visit required.

The response from installers surprised Qvantum. “We initially added the SIM card so we could push software updates in the early product phase,” says Lillienberg. “But it turned out that installers are extremely happy with it. They told us: ‘This is your unique selling point.’” The reason is time. If a problem occurs during commissioning, the installer calls Qvantum’s support line. Because the heat pump is already online, the service team can immediately see the unit’s status, identify the issue, and guide the installer through the fix. No troubleshooting Wi-Fi. No driving back the next day. 

Connectivity enables a feature that directly benefits the homeowner’s wallet. Qvantum’s heat pumps download hourly electricity prices every day. A proprietary algorithm then shifts heating to low-tariff periods automatically. If prices spike at 2 PM, the heat pump has already boosted the building’s temperature beforehand and reduces consumption during the peak. The built-in water tank, which can store heat at over 80 degrees Celsius, acts as a thermal battery for this purpose.

Lillienberg experienced the effect firsthand. “A neighbor said to me one morning: ‘Have you seen the electricity prices? They’re four times higher than yesterday.’ I panicked for a moment. But when I checked my heat pump’s data, it had already avoided the peak entirely. The smart algorithm did exactly what it was supposed to, without me doing anything.” 

The savings depend on how volatile prices are in a given year, but Qvantum estimates 10 to 20 % lower energy costs for homeowners who activate the feature. 

For Qvantum, the choice of connectivity partner was also a logistics decision. The company manufactures in Sweden and Hungary, sells across Europe, and needs every SIM card to work in every market without renegotiating local contracts. 

Deutsche Telekom’s IoT network covers all countries where Qvantum operates through its own infrastructure and roaming agreements with over 600 partners. Qvantum manages all SIM cards through a single portal and a single contract. “We see Deutsche Telekom as a partner to grow with,” says Lillienberg. “They are a strong, well-established global player. That gives us confidence.”

The Telekom brand also carries weight with Qvantum’s customers. In Germany, where the company is expanding, installers and partners respond positively when they learn that the connectivity runs on Telekom’s network. “It is a trusted brand,” Lillienberg says. “That matters when you are asking people to rely on your product for 20 or 25 years.”