Renew Energy for 1850sqft dormer, advice?

Pudz21

Hi Guys

We are in the planning stage of our build and this is a subject that I need help on.

Can anyone please advise the different renewable energies that are out there and what they can offer me i.e. heating/energy ect?
Can you please tell me what you would advise that I look into for my house of 1850sqft.
I will defo be putting in Solar panals to heat the water only but could any tell me what would compliment this system if any?

Thanks in advance.

quentingargan

Any system can integrate with solar quite easily, except for a combi boiler. You just have one coil on the cylinder for each system, so the solar panel feeds one coil, while your heating system feeds another.

So it depends on your situation. For example if you have access to cheap firewood, or can use a chainsaw, then a log gassifying stove would be the business. If you don't have either the storage space or access to firewood, but want to use renewables, then pellets might be the way to go.

If you have land with a stream running through it, you might look to geothermal, or even consider boring a well for geothermal (I'm no great fan of this because of the way we produce electricity in Ireland, but it can be economical in some situations).

Beware of spending too much on your heating system. I assume from your attitude that insulation will be very well done (though dormers are a problem to achieve a good BER rating). If your heating requirements are very modest, then spending €20K ++ on a geothermal system might not pay the same dividends as it would on a house that has the heating running 9 months our of 12.

I'm afraid so much depends on your situation, it is impossible really to give generic advise. I am building at the moment, and one thing I plan to avoid is underfloor heating because its response time is terrible. If the sun breaks out on one side of the house and starts warming the rooms, you can't just stop the underfloor heating. So that might rule out geothermal.

Also, I would make each and every room a zone. There is a company in Tipperary offering a system that does this. There is no point in considering all bedrooms to be one zone, because some have the sun streaming in on the west side, while others on the east side might be freezing. Q

PJMCKE

Hi Quintin,

Can you pm me on the tipperary company if it is not allowed to post them here.
What system are you currently working towards Quintin, as I am looking exhaustingly at wood pellet/solar combinations but half decent pellet boilers in ireland are extremely expensive compared to europe for the same item.

I am reluctantly resorting to oil and solar just to comply with regulations (house is 2900sq ft).

I have to agree that spending excessive amounts on a heating system after spending 10-15k on insulation and airtightness is madness. I just cant seem to find an option that meets renewable contribution and doesnt cost the earth. Currently I am looking into a 32K bill for wood pellet boiler radiators and plumbing for a pressurized system. It is hard to believe.

Thanks quintin.
pjmcke

quentingargan wrote: »

Any system can integrate with solar quite easily, except for a combi boiler. You just have one coil on the cylinder for each system, so the solar panel feeds one coil, while your heating system feeds another.

So it depends on your situation. For example if you have access to cheap firewood, or can use a chainsaw, then a log gassifying stove would be the business. If you don't have either the storage space or access to firewood, but want to use renewables, then pellets might be the way to go.

If you have land with a stream running through it, you might look to geothermal, or even consider boring a well for geothermal (I'm no great fan of this because of the way we produce electricity in Ireland, but it can be economical in some situations).

Beware of spending too much on your heating system. I assume from your attitude that insulation will be very well done (though dormers are a problem to achieve a good BER rating). If your heating requirements are very modest, then spending €20K ++ on a geothermal system might not pay the same dividends as it would on a house that has the heating running 9 months our of 12.

I'm afraid so much depends on your situation, it is impossible really to give generic advise. I am building at the moment, and one thing I plan to avoid is underfloor heating because its response time is terrible. If the sun breaks out on one side of the house and starts warming the rooms, you can't just stop the underfloor heating. So that might rule out geothermal.

Also, I would make each and every room a zone. There is a company in Tipperary offering a system that does this. There is no point in considering all bedrooms to be one zone, because some have the sun streaming in on the west side, while others on the east side might be freezing. Q

quentingargan

I read about this system in Construct Ireland here courtesy of another poster that I had been on PM with. I think its ok to put that link here.

I had the idea of doing a similar system on my own house, but I plan to do this using a PLU - probably a Crouzet Millenium 3 controller, and putting a PT100 probe and switch into each room, with a motorised valve on each radiator, and the whole lot wired back to PLU.

Afraid that in my current house, I have a chainsaw and use an old-fashioned stove, so I haven't much experience of pellet stoves. There are issues I know. The new house is in The VIllage in Cloughjordan where they have a wood chip district heating system.

One thing I will say - I think solar water heating is worth putting into a new house - you will be putting in a high spec cylinder anyhow, and the extra cost of solar panels and a pump station, and doing it all while the scaffolding is in place isn't more than a couple of thousand.

A well insulated house will not have the heating on at all during the summer. During that time your solar panels will provide the hot water. It would seem a shame to be running a pellet stove, heating up the stove and all the pipework between it and the cylinder, just to get a cylinder full of hot water when a solar panel can be doing this. If you use tubes, there will be only a very short season between having your solar hot water, and needing the stove anyhow.