Competence and Tradition

WATERKOTTE is an expanding producer of innovative heat-pump system solutions and automation. The extraction and use of
renewable energies is a field of activities
which has a promising future.

The Waterkotte GmbH developed from the pioneering work of its founder Klemens Waterkotte who in 1969 developed, unknow
up to that time, heat-pump heating technology. At its company site in Herne, WATERKOTTE produces heat pumps with a power range from 5 to 1,000 kW.

From the idea to the foundation of the company

The inventor's original version
A impressive pioneering work
Continuous further development
for more than 40 years

From the idea to the foundation of the company
The company founder Klemens Oskar Waterkotte is the man who in the 1970s invented and established the heat-pump heating.

Since 1970, this pioneer has been heating his own house by means of geothermal energy. In the development process of this innovative technology his well-founded theoretical and professional experience in the field of refrigeration, air-conditioning and process engineering as well as his unerring faith in an environmentally friendly, healthy and at the same time also economical heating system led his way.

And his strategy proved to be correct: The good idea became widely accepted in the market and it is still being nowadays the basis of the success of the company WATERKOTTE which exclusively concentrates on this technology.

More information

More about the way from the idea to the foundation of the company

The Engineer Klemens Oskar Waterkotte laid the foundation of the company WATERKOTTE. Since 1970, he has been heating his own house by means of geothermal energy.

At the ende of the 1960s, he began with the developing process with deliberations regarding the issue "insulation" and, in contrast to the opinion of many experts of that time, he had the opinion that the insulation of the building as well as heat-insulating windows were a matter of course.

After the work on this issue he set himself the goal to find a heating technology which was economical and environmentally friendly at the same time. In this context, he applied his well-founded theoretical and professional experience in the fields of refrigeration, air-conditioning and process engineering.

The decisive basic idea was set from the very beginning: the heat pumpt. He acquired the background knowledge with regard to the constant temperature in the soil by means of regular measurements and literature in the field of mining. It is due to his professional activities in connection with the air-conditioning of greenhouses for cultivations of mushrooms that he had the idea of spreading the heat by means of a so-called low-temperature underfloor heating, a concept unknown at that time.

After many optimisation calculations and after verifying numerous details the goal was finally achieve: A heat-pump heating system which rapidly became the model for a new, up to that time unknown, heating technology.

Even after the market for heat pumps collapsed Klemens Oskar Waterkotte still kept his unerring faith in the future of this useful technology.

The pioneering work of that time paid off. It constitutes not only the basis for the currently successful company Waterkotte GmbH in Herne, but it also guarantees a considerable competitive edge in terms of know-how for the company.