What heating, this is what I have..........

oldhead

Hello to all,

Happy New Year to all for starters. i am looking to install the best heating system that i can, that is cheap to run.
Firstly havent decided on rads or underfloor yet?? Looking for ideas.
The house is block built with hollowcore and was never planned to be airtight, but I am in that process now. All siga membranes used on ceilings upstairs and the different siga tapes for windows doors etc. I have airtight boxes made and all taped off for downlighters etc. All screws and holes in electrical boxes have been filling with gripfill, hollowcore has been sealed and every screw that has been inserted in hollowcore covered also. I have a double glazed, A rated window from ogradys. I have the inside of all the external walls grey coated and I have put a 50mm insulated board on the inside of all external walls and a 38mm insulated board on all ceilings. I will have 2 airtight stoves, 1 wood burning and the other multifuel. Dont know will a backboiler work off either of these stoves as they could be too far from cylinder. The house is piped for HRV. I am hoping to install solar also. There is a 6" floor to go in downstairs yet and a 4" floor upstairs, so that is what I have for insulation, piping and screed. Then insulation in the cavity is just 60mm. When eventually in the house I will be going and coming from work, there will be no one in it during the day except on days off etc. This is what I have to work with. Any ideas on the best system and the cheapest to run etc will be greatly appreciated. All ideas welcome or problems that people had with there system

Many thanks

archtech

The first question I will ask, have you had provisional BER done, or the proposed dwelling assessed in DEAP. If you haven't I would recommend that you should do this before going any further.

daver123

oldhead wrote: »

Hello to all,

Happy New Year to all for starters. i am looking to install the best heating system that i can, that is cheap to run.
Firstly havent decided on rads or underfloor yet?? Looking for ideas.
The house is block built with hollowcore and was never planned to be airtight, but I am in that process now. All siga membranes used on ceilings upstairs and the different siga tapes for windows doors etc. I have airtight boxes made and all taped off for downlighters etc. All screws and holes in electrical boxes have been filling with gripfill, hollowcore has been sealed and every screw that has been inserted in hollowcore covered also. I have a double glazed, A rated window from ogradys. I have the inside of all the external walls grey coated and I have put a 50mm insulated board on the inside of all external walls and a 38mm insulated board on all ceilings. I will have 2 airtight stoves, 1 wood burning and the other multifuel. Dont know will a backboiler work off either of these stoves as they could be too far from cylinder. The house is piped for HRV. I am hoping to install solar also. There is a 6" floor to go in downstairs yet and a 4" floor upstairs, so that is what I have for insulation, piping and screed. Then insulation in the cavity is just 60mm. When eventually in the house I will be going and coming from work, there will be no one in it during the day except on days off etc. This is what I have to work with. Any ideas on the best system and the cheapest to run etc will be greatly appreciated. All ideas welcome or problems that people had with there system

Many thanks

If you can afford it put solar tubes in now is it will save you a lot of expense in the future - Gas condensing boilers are very efficent and handy to have if you are near a gas main

No6

If you have access to low cost solid fuel such as timber or turf make sure one of the stoves has a back boiler, its a no brainer purely on economics.

Get a provisional BER done and if you are at completion stage pay the little bit more to get the house pressure tested, find and seal any gaps to get the best airtightness result you can achieve for your house.

AS mentioned if you are on the gas grid go with natural gas, if not have a look at lpg, its pricy enough but if you have a house with solar and solid fuel you will not use much. Oil is the cheapest instalation cost but will be very expensive in time.

If you are going to be out most of the day most of the time save some money and use a radiator system, underfloor heating is expensive to install and need to be running a lot of the time.

Alternatively depending on the size of your house and the heat load you could look at a heat pump, correctly sized heat pumps can be quite efficient in well insulated airtight houses.

oldhead

archtech wrote: »

The first question I will ask, have you had provisional BER done, or the proposed dwelling assessed in DEAP. If you haven't I would recommend that you should do this before going any further.

Hey Archtech yes I have had a BER done. House is approx 190m2 downstairs and approx 161m2 first floor. I have approx 110m2 of a walk in attic that will be converted down the road, well a long way down the road. The guy I got to do the test says that I will achieve A3, if I will. He recommended a rad system run off a 97% Seasonal Efficient Grant Vortex 90 - 120 Oil Condensing Boiler, along with 6m2 of solar panels, with a 50mm factory insulated dual coil hot water cylinder with a capacity of 400 litres. This test was carried out in Jan 2011, was hoping to be in by now but things went against me shall we say.

oldhead

No6 wrote: »

If you have access to low cost solid fuel such as timber or turf make sure one of the stoves has a back boiler, its a no brainer purely on economics.

Get a provisional BER done and if you are at completion stage pay the little bit more to get the house pressure tested, find and seal any gaps to get the best airtightness result you can achieve for your house.

AS mentioned if you are on the gas grid go with natural gas, if not have a look at lpg, its pricy enough but if you have a house with solar and solid fuel you will not use much. Oil is the cheapest instalation cost but will be very expensive in time.

If you are going to be out most of the day most of the time save some money and use a radiator system, underfloor heating is expensive to install and need to be running a lot of the time.

Alternatively depending on the size of your house and the heat load you could look at a heat pump, correctly sized heat pumps can be quite efficient in well insulated airtight houses.

Hey No6,I have plenty access to turf and wood but I think I am too far away for a back boiler to work efficently. The fire place that would be used most would be 20m min away from the cylinder

oldhead

daver123 wrote: »

If you can afford it put solar tubes in now is it will save you a lot of expense in the future - Gas condensing boilers are very efficent and handy to have if you are near a gas main

Hey daver123, im putting in 6m2 of solar, but I am not near gas main. Im worried about oil prices in the future thats why im going to the airtightness and try and insulate well