2026 EPREL: Which R290 heat pumps are quietest in Europe?

What EPREL says the quietest R290 heat pumps are

The 2026 EPREL register contains 537 heat-pump listings declared with R290, against 60,989 heat-pump listings overall, so propane models account for 0.88% of the market by count (market_index_snapshot / Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API; refrigerant_universe / IPCC AR6 GWP table; EU Reg. 2024/573 phase-out schedule; EPREL declared codes). Put differently, any “quietest R290” list is drawn from a small niche rather than from the centre of the European heat-pump market (market_index_snapshot / Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API).

Within that niche, the quietest declared R290 units in EPREL are all air-air heat pumps, not air-water heat pumps or other categories (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog).

The top 10 by declared outdoor sound power are:

Two points stand out immediately.

First, the range is very wide: from 2 dB(A) at rank 1 to 59 dB(A) at rank 10, a spread of 57 dB(A) (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). Second, the first two entries at 2 dB(A) and 20 dB(A) are far below the rest of the shortlist, where the cluster begins at 50 dB(A) (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). EPREL is the official EU product database, but unusual declarations should still be checked on the individual model pages and manufacturer documentation before a purchase or an installation decision.

Readers wanting the broader context can compare this shortlist with the site-wide quietest heat-pump leaderboard and the full EPREL catalog.

How the quietest models compare on SCOP and capacity

The short answer is that the registry does not support a proper SCOP ranking for these specific quietest R290 models. All 10 entries in the quietest-R290 top 10 have SCOP recorded as null in the corpus (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). The dedicated top-SCOP probe for R290 also returns no results (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). So the question “do the quietest R290 models give up efficiency?” cannot be answered at model level from this dataset, because the registry extract here does not record SCOP for those units.

That also means the corpus cannot support a numeric SCOP range for the quietest 10 models. The registry extract provided here simply does not contain those values (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog).

Capacity data are only partly present. Four of the 10 quietest R290 models include minimum power figures: 2.8 kW, 2.8 kW, 3.5 kW and 2.5 kW (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). For the other six, minimum power is not recorded in the corpus (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). That partial record suggests the visible part of the shortlist sits in the small-capacity end of the market, which is consistent with portable or room-scale air-air units, but the missing fields prevent a complete ranked capacity comparison.

At market level, the average declared power for all air-air heat pumps is 5.41 kW (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation), compared with 11.83 kW for air-water, 18.45 kW for ground-water and 35.65 kW for water-water units (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). So the only quietest-R290 models with recorded power all sit below the air-air category average of 5.41 kW (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation).

For efficiency context beyond the R290 shortlist, the whole EPREL heat-pump market averages SCOP 4.55 (market_index_snapshot / Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API). Readers looking for products where SCOP is actually populated should use the general top SCOP leaderboard or the more specific air-to-water SCOP ranking.

Do quiet models cost more, or is silence already mainstream?

The corpus does not contain price fields or price proxies for the quietest models, for the broader R290 set, or for the market overall. So the question of whether the quietest R290 units cost more cannot be answered from this dataset.

What can be said is that low outdoor noise is not mainstream across all heat pumps in EPREL. The overall average outdoor sound power across the full market is 61.3 dB(A) (market_index_snapshot / Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API). The air-air category, which supplies all 10 of the quietest R290 models, averages 64.1 dB(A) outdoors (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). By comparison, ranks 3 to 10 on the R290 quietest list sit between 50 dB(A) and 59 dB(A), which is below the air-air average (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog; type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation).

That is the more defensible takeaway from the available data: the quietest declared R290 air-air models are materially quieter than the average air-air listing in EPREL, but the corpus does not show whether buyers pay a premium for that. For buyers comparing acoustics against running cost, the site’s payback calculator and sizing calculator are useful complements, but they do not replace missing price data in the registry.

Which brands dominate the low-noise R290 shortlist?

The quietest R290 top 10 are concentrated in a small handful of manufacturers. SC Trade & Services GmbH appears 3 times out of 10, equal to 30% of the shortlist (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). Schuss Home Electronic GmbH appears 2 times, or 20% (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). Each of the remaining five represented manufacturers appears once, or 10% each: MH Handel GmbH, ALFA DYSER, SL, OPTIMEA, Buy It Direct Limited and Krone Kälte + Klima Vertriebs-GmbH (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog).

So the top two brands by shortlist presence account for 5 of the 10 quietest R290 models, or 50% combined (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). The top three by count are SC Trade & Services GmbH on 30%, Schuss Home Electronic GmbH on 20%, and then a five-way tie at 10% each (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog).

This is very different from the overall EPREL market structure. Across all refrigerants and all types, Daikin Europe N.V. leads with 14,668 listings and a 24.05% share, ahead of Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. on 5,575 and 9.14%, and JOHNSON CONTROLS HITACHI AIR CONDITIONING EUROPE SAS, SUCURSAL EN ESPAÑA on 5,207 and 8.54% (brand_share / EPREL Public API · brand-share aggregation). Other large brands include Bosch Thermotechnik GmbH on 3,602 and 5.91%, Ariston SpA on 2,618 and 4.29%, ATLANTIC SOC FRANCAISE DEVELOP THERMIQUE on 1,516 and 2.49%, Vaillant GmbH on 1,195 and 1.96%, and BDR Thermea Group B.V. on 925 and 1.52% (brand_share / EPREL Public API · brand-share aggregation).

None of those biggest groups appears in the quietest-R290 top 10 supplied here (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog; brand_share / EPREL Public API · brand-share aggregation). That does not prove they lack quiet R290 products; it only shows that this specific top 10 is dominated by smaller brands or importers rather than by the largest EPREL-volume manufacturers. The full manufacturer index is the easiest way to inspect that brand by brand.

Which heat-pump types are naturally quieter on average?

Across EPREL types, water-water heat pumps are the quietest on average at 42.0 dB(A) outdoor sound power (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). They are followed by ground-water at 58.8 dB(A), air-water at 59.8 dB(A), and air-air at 64.1 dB(A) (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). Heat-pump water heaters are listed separately, but this extract does not provide an outdoor noise average for them (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation).

The SCOP comparison runs in the same direction for the types where SCOP is populated. Water-water units average SCOP 6.15, well above ground-water at 4.77 and air-water at 4.54 (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). Air-air has no average SCOP reported in this aggregation (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation).

So the quietest type on average is also the most efficient type on average in this dataset: water-water at 42.0 dB(A) and SCOP 6.15 (type_efficiency / EPREL Public API · type aggregation). That matters because it weakens the common assumption that quieter automatically means less efficient. At type level, the opposite is visible here. But that type-level pattern cannot be transferred mechanically onto the quietest R290 model list, because those are all air-air products and their SCOP values are missing in the corpus (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog).

For policy background on refrigerants, the EU F-gas regulation and the official EPREL portal are the relevant external references.

What buyers should take from the R290 noise ranking

Three practical conclusions follow from the 2026 EPREL data.

First, the quietest declared R290 heat pumps are clustered in a very small and unusual slice of the market: 10 models out of an R290 universe of 537 listings, itself just 0.88% of the 60,989-model EPREL market (market_index_snapshot / Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API; refrigerant_universe / IPCC AR6 GWP table; EU Reg. 2024/573 phase-out schedule; EPREL declared codes). That makes the ranking useful, but not broadly representative of “heat pumps in Europe”.

Second, quiet R290 products in this shortlist are concentrated by type and by brand. All 10 are air-air (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). SC Trade & Services GmbH alone supplies 30% of the top 10, and the top two brands together supply 50% (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). That supports the editorial angle: very low declared outdoor noise is not evenly distributed across the R290 field.

Third, the available data do not show a model-level efficiency penalty for these quietest R290 units, but only because the registry extract here does not record SCOP for them (top_models / EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog). The same goes for price: the corpus does not record it. Buyers should therefore treat this ranking as an acoustic shortlist, then inspect each individual model page for fuller specifications, cross-check with the market index snapshot, and verify installation constraints such as flammability class. In the refrigerant reference, R290 is propane, a natural hydrocarbon with GWP 0 and flammability class A3 (refrigerant_universe / IPCC AR6 GWP table; EU Reg. 2024/573 phase-out schedule; EPREL declared codes). More detail on that trade-off sits in the site’s refrigerants reference and methodology notes.

Sources

• EPREL Public API via Househeating Pulse catalog — snapshot 2026-07-02
• EPREL Public API · type aggregation — snapshot 2026-07-02
• EPREL Public API · brand-share aggregation — snapshot 2026-07-02
• Househeating Pulse · Market Index v1, computed from EPREL Public API — snapshot 2026-07-02
• IPCC AR6 GWP table; EU Reg. 2024/573 phase-out schedule; EPREL declared codes — snapshot 2026-07-02

Continue reading

• Heat pump refrigerants explained — How R290, R32 and other working fluids differ in GWP, flammability and market use.
• How to read SCOP, SEER and EPREL labels — A quick refresher on the efficiency fields that matter when comparing listings.
• How to compare heat-pump noise ratings — What outdoor sound power means, and where catalogue numbers can mislead.
• Air-to-water vs air-to-air heat pumps — The practical differences in installation, noise and use cases across the main types.