Suggestions for alternative to oil for underfloor heating

King Mallie

Hi All,

I was looking to get alternative to oil to heat my underfloor heating for my house.
Had a company called LVP to qoute for solar panels and it was 9K with no gaurantees of no more oil usage.
Has anyone used solar to heat the underfloor ?

Does have any sugestions for alternatives ??

btb

solar will not work for this, try gshp, solid fuel or wind

dathi

lvp is not a solar panel system. it is a heat pump with an external panel that collects heat from the air and as with all air source heat pumps the coefficient of performance falls when the outside temps are low. ie. if they say you get 3kw out for every 1 kw used this will fall as the outside temp falls until you end up getting 1kw of heat for every 1kw used, there are several treads on this product

paddy147

dathi wrote: »

lvp is not a solar panel system. it is a heat pump with an external panel that collects heat from the air and as with all air source heat pumps the coefficient of performance falls when the outside temps are low. ie. if they say you get 3kw out for every 1 kw used this will fall as the outside temp falls until you end up getting 1kw of heat for every 1kw used, there are several treads on this product

Well Im a happy camper.Just got my SEI grant into my bank account last week too.


Best regards.:)

BryanF

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74409623&postcount=20
this is my experience as a specifier of trying to get info from the same guys

Paddy, please keep us informed over the next few months, thanks
also have you an energy meter or some way you can calculate the electricity consumed by the system separate from your usual elec consumption?

King Mallie

I had the guys out to do a site inspection and they reckon that my oil consumption will be zero once the gas filled panels were installed on the roof ? But 9K is alot of cash ?

heinbloed

Funny fridges.....
These heat pumps are as much 'solar' as any fridge or freezer.
Just because the heat exchanger (the back of the fridge resp. the 'panel') is exposed to environmental energy - the thermal energy contained in the surounding air - the gimmick is marketed as 'solar panel'.

These marketing methods ask for the intellectual low flyers to be buffled.
For fools.

ALL walls of a structure, ALL things on this planet -every object on any planet in the universe that is - are 'solar panels' under these premises. Even my shoe soles.

Investigate yourself what the term 'solar panel' means.

The heating industry uses the terms "photovoltaik panel" or "solar thermal collector" when looking at the active usage of solar radiation energy.
The terms " solar panel " or " solar PV " mean nothing in technical terms, they are just marketing slogans aimed at incompetent consumers.

dathi

of course your oil consumption will be zero ,they are replacing your heating system with an air source heat pump. that runs on electricity not oil . have they done a heat load calculation for your house, to show you how many kwh you need to heat your house and supply your hot water per year, and how much this will cost you in electricity per year? I THINK NOT. but if they have post them up here and give us a laugh because every time they are asked for hard data they refuse. there are plenty of good systems out there keep on looking.

bbam

I'll start off by presuming you are acheiving a very high level of air tightness and high insulation levels in your new house.. Without both of these and good ventilation control then you're going to struggle to run UFH efficiently no matter what the heat source..


Ground loop heat sources can work providing there is a suitable soil type there for heat conduction.. the thing that scared me was that NONE of the installers I spoke to were willing to check and see what we had... they just looked and said there would be enough room.. If the ground isn't suitable then the recovery unit has to work harder... more work = more electricity

Air heat sources... problem is they become less efficient just when you need them !, when the air temperature drops they have to work harder to recover the available heat... more work = more electricity

Vertical bore hole ground loops, I've never seen them in operation.. I'd imagine if you had enough bore holes then this might be a good option.. But id totally depends on watere table, porosity of the rock etc.. I know a chap who bored 4 >400ft holes on a 1.5 acre site and had to blow the well to get any water at all.. more than €12K in boring costs:eek:

From a supplier I spoke to when building, the best cost effective option is if you have access to a pond or stream where you could recover the heat from..
If you have enough standing water or a stream they will hold a constant temperature and a large enough bank of energy to draw from, win/win. But who has such a source close enough to their house??

You need to get this right... if you're build isn't of high enough spec then UFH will be expensive to run, I know of a couple with a ground loop haet source and UFH throughout a 3000sq ft house and they were wearing two jumpers and having €1100 ESB bills as well.. The house was leaching out more heat than the heating could supply... poor detailing and shale ground which I understand is not suitable for ground loops..

Sorry for the long post but I feel that lots of people think UFH & Heat recovery is some sort of magic heating system...

King Mallie

Thanks guys. I keeping searching for that low cost heating system and report back my findings. :rolleyes:

bbam

King Mallie wrote: »

Thanks guys. I keeping searching for that low cost heating system and report back my findings. :rolleyes:

Eliminate the need for heating is the answer... As close to passive as is possible in the design.... our planners were too conservitave to allow the features, large south windows etc..

King Mallie

Dont think that is feasable now that the house is built 4 years.

PeteHeat

Hi,

Most boilers, stoves, solarand heat pumps can be used with underfloor heating, the most important part is a buffer or accumulator tank to store the energy until it is called for by the underfloor heating zone.

Surprising but solar panels can make a contribution but it is important to have the house surveyed and the system properly (and honestly) explained to you so you can make an informed decision about how to plan your system.

Many people add different types of heat sources to buffer tanks so they can get the best out of the cheapest fuels at any given time, it is possible to add each heat source in stages as funds allow.

The major benefit of underfloor heating when properly installed is the low flow temperature needed which means you can get the most out of the boiler stove etc.

.

heinbloed

The OP asks:

Has anyone used solar (-thermal energy) to heat the underfloor ( -heating system)

?

Yes, and I'm still doing so.

There are thousands of buildings in the EU using ST energy activly for space heating purpose. Hundreds are running on ST alone, all year round.

Try google.

http://www.jenni.ch/

http://www.aecb.net/forum/index.php/board,19.0.html

The IEA has some 300 ST heated buildings in their research program.

heinbloed

An Irish sample of a ST heated house:

http://www.scanhome.ie/pdf/Storing-Sunshine.pdf