Complying with Part L of the Building Regulations

ninjaBob

I was just going over all my Quotes and I was just wondering what exactly is needed to comply with part L.

Unfortunately the house is positioned in such a way that Solar Panels would not have a sufficient impact to warrant the price tag (North Facing, in a dip and surrounded by trees). So i've been looking for alternatives:

GeoThermal (Air to Water, GroundSource etc.)
Heat Recovery
Condensing Oil Boiler
Wood Pellet Boiler
Wood Stoves + Back Boiler

I was wondering exactly what is required to comply with this regulation as I am getting conflicting reports from sales reps (As expected).

When I read the regulations I didn't interpret it that 10% of the house needs to be renewable, but rather it just needed to be very efficient, so it is a viable option to put in a Condensing Oil Boiler which is highly efficient and leave the ability to come back and install GeoThermal or Wood Pellet when the time comes.

Anyone in a position to know exactly what is required?

sinnerboy

Assuming you mean complying with one aspect of Part L - Renewable

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,19069,en.pdf

Section 1.2 refers - in brief the following must be provided by renewables

• 10 kWh/m2/annum contributing to energy use
for domestic hot water heating, space heating
or cooling, or
• 4 kWh/m2/annum of electrical energy, or
• a combination of these which would have
equivalent effect.

This is only one aspect of Part L

When you decide please take part here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055500071

sydthebeat

ninjaBob wrote: »

GeoThermal (Air to Water, GroundSource etc.)
Heat Recovery
Condensing Oil Boiler
Wood Pellet Boiler
Wood Stoves + Back Boiler

In my experience of carrying out DEAP calculations to check for minimum Part L compliance this is what ive found.

For small dwellings (up to say 2500 sq ft):
1. Condensing boilers with solar panels are the most practical way of meeting minimum regs. usually means standard elemental u vales suffice.
2. Wood boilers, be they pellet, chip of gasification, are let down by lower efficiencies. This means that the building fabric (elemental u values) and heating controls need to be upgraded significanly above 'standard'.
3. geothermal heat pump solutions are usually too cost intensive at installation to make them viable (if requiring minimum standard).

For larger dwellings (in excessive of 2500 sq ft)
1. condensing boilers and solar panels become less practical as the area of solar panels increases significantly in order to provide renewable energy on a 'per sq m' basis. size of cylinder / thermal store increases also.
2. wood boilers become more slightly more practical as impact of heat loss elements lessens as the building size increases. Slight increase of elemental u values required over 'standard'
3. geothermal, Heat pump + UFH becomes more economically viable as floor areas increase. Although building fabric and heating controls should be designed to suit this low energy form of heating.

poochie2009

im glad this topic had came up because i was just talking about it at lunch. I started my house on the 1st june 2009. Do i have to put in some type of renewable source in my house to comply with part L of the regulations. is the 1st of july 2009 a date from which if you start your house after that date you have to comply with building regs? Im starting my roof on monday and if i have to put in solar panels i will put them in with the roof.i have been qouted €5000.00 for them so its a lot of money..very confused about this!!

sydthebeat

poochie2009 wrote: »

im glad this topic had came up because i was just talking about it at lunch. I started my house on the 1st june 2009. Do i have to put in some type of renewable source in my house to comply with part L of the regulations. is the 1st of july 2009 a date from which if you start your house after that date you have to comply with building regs? Im starting my roof on monday and if i have to put in solar panels i will put them in with the roof.i have been qouted €5000.00 for them so its a lot of money..very confused about this!!

question 1: when did you apply for planning?

question 2: when was the blockwork completed?

poochie2009

syd,
i rang the DOE there and they told me about the part L.Basically,if you applied before june 2008 then its ok.if you apllied for planning after that date,like i did,then i fall under the new regs. Basically she said that i have to put in some sort of renewable energy that will heat part of of my water or heating system.she also said the a controller from your local council will call out and check??does this happen?i have just finished my block work.
am i still wrong?

sydthebeat

poochie, do you not have a professional certifying the work..???

what the Dept said was correct.

what you need to do is, straight away, get a DEAP calculation do on the plans and spec to see what you need to incorporate to comply with building regulations.

poochie2009

hey syd,
went to my engineer yesterday and sorted it all out.thanks for your help.

ninjaBob

Thanks for the replies, I am at the point where I need to get the heating system in. I've been looking at GeoThermal, Wood Pellet or Oil+Solar Combo (with the ability to add something else in 4 - 5 years).

So I was wondering exactly how I would achieve compliance with Part L if I were to go down the route of Oil, as Solar Panels wouldn't get the best results on our house due to it's orientation and location.

Would wood burning stoves / ranges suffice (connected to a back boiler) or is there anything else that could potentially be used?

I have a 135mm gap in my walls with bonded bead insulation and all external walls are slabbed with 50mm cozy board. We've done a draft test and the house has very little in the way of uncontrolled air flow. So I hope it won't require alot of heating.

sinnerboy

Only a DEAP calculation can say - you must have one done to demonstrate compliance . You must provide renewables regardless