The story of KRONOTERM is one of courage and vision. What began as a modest garage workshop has grown into a European symbol of innovation in domestic hot-water heat pumps. While many industrial giants failed to understand this market and walked away, KRONOTERM spent the last five decades steadily building expertise—driven by quality, continuous development, and its own testing laboratory—on the path to becoming Europe’s leading specialist.
Every great story has humble beginnings. KRONOTERM’s started in a small, 50 m² locksmith’s workshop next to a farm building with two cows and a pigsty. With no capital and only basic tools, founder Rudi Kronovšek—drawing on experience from a previous employer—already in 1976 recognized the bright future of heat pumps. While others offered crude, noisy, and low-quality machines, KRONOTERM set out on a different path from day one.
Even under these improvised conditions, a commitment to excellence took shape. The paint shop, as the founder recalls with a laugh, was simply the branches of nearby trees: “Spray cans were our paint shop, and the branches served as hangers for the parts,” Kronovšek explains. This resourcefulness was more than necessity—it became the seed of a strategic direction: always aim to be the best.
KRONOTERM’s breakthroughs have always come from a deep understanding of technology. In 1984, after years of testing his first homemade heating heat pump, Rudi wrote a report that confirmed his vision: “It convinced me that heat pumps simply have no competition,” he says.
The first tests took place in the tiny workshop, which he would occasionally convert into a test chamber: “With a small electric heater and a mini cooling unit, I tried to maintain the right temperature for testing heat pumps,” he recalls.
The next step was legendary: a testing facility set up in a simple canvas tent. Though makeshift, it provided controlled conditions and the first serious measurements—proof that progress must be based on data. That tent laboratory marked the first milestone towards one of Rudi’s earliest goals: “To build a development laboratory of European importance as the foundation for innovation.”
In an environment where every day brought new challenges, one of KRONOTERM’s most important innovations happened by accident. A miswired sensor could have been just a problem—but curiosity and technical insight turned it into a solution that boosted efficiency. A mistake became an invention.
This ability to transform errors into improvements became a hallmark of KRONOTERM. From a tented test rig grew a modern European laboratory, and from a garage a state-of-the-art factory. With every new heat pump, every measurement, and every refinement, KRONOTERM reinforced its vision: that heating no longer means noise, waste, and pollution, but rather quiet, efficient, elegantly designed, and sustainable solutions.
Today KRONOTERM is Europe’s leading expert in domestic hot-water heat pumps, proven by systems that still operate flawlessly after 35 or even 40 years. Their success rests on a clear vision, which in 2003 led to a decisive step into large-scale production—a move the founder calls “the right one.” Yet the company’s philosophy has remained unchanged, summed up by Rudi Kronovšek through a thought from Dale Carnegie: “Greatness does not decide who rises or falls. But whatever you are—be the best.” That relentless pursuit of excellence is what keeps KRONOTERM at the top.
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