comfortable house with minimal bills

Kevhog1988

Guys,

Hopefully buying a house in need of renovation over the next few months which has approx 8 acres of land. My main plan is to live somewhat self sufficiently and keep electric,water, heating bills to a minimum.

Any advice/tips on what products are best to use i.e. solar/wind etc.

Filibuster

External insulation and floor insulation - lots of it.

Since you have land around the property you could look at a ground source heat pump - they basically run long loops of pipes into the ground and extract the heat through a heat pump.

Consider paying for a private well to be dug on your land.

Don't get wind or solar PV.

SEAI have grants available and Budget 2014 introduced a tax credit for home renovations.

Kevhog1988

why not go for wind or pv??

Filibuster

Solar PV won't work in Ireland.

Wind is a con similar to the wood chip boilers that were the craze a few years ago. They are reliant on government subsidies and public ignorance to stay relevant.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/blow-for-council-as-wind-power-fails-to-light-up-20m-park-29709815.html

The inverter will use more power from the grid then will ever be sent the other way from the turbines.

jonon9

I don't normally post in this side of the forum but I thought this was a good question.

I always say to my misses if I was building a new modern house in the morning It would be completely self sufficient, The use of fossil fuels in brand new homes is in my opinion silly. The technology is out there to make our homes a comfortable temperature all year round but until our old and out-of-date planning laws change this will keep happening.

You got two choices either build a completely passive house or when designing your house accommodate for extra thickness for wall insulation,floors etc dont bother with the bod standard thickness 3-4 inches whatever the thichness is I say aim for 8-10 inches.

Insulation may be an old method but its a proven one, lots of Scandinavian house still rely on it.

Depending on your budget look into triple glazed windows. They keep whatever heat from sunlight in the house a lot better.

Now you may like a stove despite what I said above I have one due to my house isn't that greatly built, its 35 years old

Sorry for the mini rant But I feel the government should help encourage self sufficient house a lot more.

Grudaire

Solar works well for warming the water in the tank tbf.

What is best depends heavily on your location as well as everything else, at least with a decent chunk of land you have options. For example a wood fueled stove, and plant some of the land with trees,

Khannie

Filibuster wrote: »

Solar PV won't work in Ireland.

This is not true at all. DIT did a study a few years ago and actually power levels were pretty decent.

Tabnabs

I know the lighthouse authority have replaced all their wind turbines (moving parts break, frequently...) with solar panels. If you're charging 12v batteries, solar panels all the way.

skippey

Filibuster wrote: »

Solar PV won't work in Ireland.

Wind is a con similar to the wood chip boilers that were the craze a few years ago. They are reliant on government subsidies and public ignorance to stay relevant.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/blow-for-council-as-wind-power-fails-to-light-up-20m-park-29709815.html

The inverter will use more power from the grid then will ever be sent the other way from the turbines.

I run my house with a baxi wood-chip boiler that I bought 2nd hand for the last 5 years with very little problems.
I have an oil boiler as a backup that i use in the summer to heat the water and will be putting up panels soon to reduce the oil use in the summer
The wood-chip boiler requires a lot of work filling the hopper daily cleaning out ash daily, I change the auger once per year and thats about that but the beauty is I get the chip very cheap and basically heat my house for next to nothing. I turn the heating on whenever I like for as long as I like.
now if i was running oil like i run the chip boiler my bill for the year would be very close to €6000
When we first moved in to the house we burned 900L of oil in 2 months

Kevhog1988

where do you buy the chips?? What was the install cost??

waterfordham

Filibuster wrote: »

Solar PV won't work in Ireland.

I'm getting about 5% return-on-investment from the micro PV stuff I have. Wouldn't run a house though, but better than putting money in the bank.

Pretty crap at the moment though as panels are shaded and I can't re-locate them.

skippey

theemigrant wrote: »

where do you buy the chips?? What was the install cost??

I get the chip from a waste company who shred their recycled timber
the install cost was aprox as follows
2nd hand modle 4.0 baxi boiler €1500 5 years back you could pick it or a 2.5 boiler or similar now for €500-1000
900l buffer tank €1200 new
other bits and bobs like non return valves, pumps, pipe etc €1000
plumber friend to fit as favour €1000
also built a block 20x20 shed to put it and chip in
after the first year it basically pays for itself but opposed to oil or such a bit of sweat is involved
Also it took a bit of detective work and a few modifications to get her running right ,the sales people didn't have a clue when they sold it (BLUFFERS) and really didn't want to know after they sold it:rolleyes:
you could buy a wood pellet one and convert it fairly easy too

The Glass Key

One of our best investments was a traditional wood burning cooker (also burns coal) which with zero electric cooks, heats the water and keeps the kitchen and a good deal of the house warm. The cooker does rely on a water supply but even then its easy to blank off the boiler (stack of fire bricks in front of it have then cut just in case) or fill the system from rain water.

The Glass Key

One serious tip is don't waste a growing season the first year you move in.

You'll probably be up to your neck in work on the house but any long term items like woodland, copice, shelter belts and hedges will obviously growing and helping you be self sufficient quicker the sooner you get started. Willow copice is very easy to get going from "sets" if you have some land that holds a bit of moisture (willow doesn't need bog).

Fries-With-That

The Glass Key wrote: »

Willow coppice is very easy to get going from "sets" if you have some land that holds a bit of moisture (willow doesn't need bog).

If I was to plant willow, how soon would I be able to coppice it for fuel.

The Glass Key

Sorry Fries-With_That I replied last night but as I don't see the post I must have done something stupid.

Anyway some good info here http://www.thewillowbank.com/willow.firewood.facts.htm . I've coppiced old established willow and that was done on a 6/7 year rotation the growing conditions were good for willow but soil was poor and there was a lot of competition from established trees growing alongside.

Currently I just grow willow as shelter beds and site screens for the house and garden so don't use them for firewood but one variety (must look up what it is) produces 1 1/2 - 2 inch stems when left for two years.

For anyone starting out, planting willow as a site screen/windbreak has the advantage of producing plenty of cuttings for future planting and allows you to see which varieties perform best, basket weaving anyone?

thehippychippy

I have an old pot belly stove in my work shop, works a treat. Being a carpenter, I have fuel a plenty for it, but have recently started cutting up old scaffolding planks for burning. Have a ready supply of them lying around, their 9" x3" x8'. You can pick up good ones on done deal for bout €3 each. I cut them bout 8" long then split them, one plank would fill a big lidl shopping bag (will try to stick up a pic later on) Compared to what their changing round here for bags of timber, the planks are a way cheaper deal. Dont heat like hardwood or coal in an open fire, but for the price, you can't go wrong.

The Glass Key

thehippychippy wrote: »

I have an old pot belly stove in my work shop, works a treat. Being a carpenter, I have fuel a plenty for it, but have recently started cutting up old scaffolding planks for burning. Have a ready supply of them lying around, their 9" x3" x8'. You can pick up good ones on done deal for bout €3 each. I cut them bout 8" long then split them, one plank would fill a big lidl shopping bag (will try to stick up a pic later on) Compared to what their changing round here for bags of timber, the planks are a way cheaper deal. Dont heat like hardwood or coal in an open fire, but for the price, you can't go wrong.

Anyone who hasn't burnt wood in a closed fire (woodburning stove/cooker) might not realise exactly what the word wood means. When push comes to shove wood is anything that might have once had a connection with something growing, the fact that it is full of nails and is half rotten doesn't matter if it still burns!

Wood isn't always the neatly staked pile of wood you see in picture postcards.

Fries-With-That

The Glass Key wrote: »

Sorry Fries-With_That I replied last night but as I don't see the post I must have done something stupid.

Anyway some good info here http://www.thewillowbank.com/willow.firewood.facts.htm . I've coppiced old established willow and that was done on a 6/7 year rotation the growing conditions were good for willow but soil was poor and there was a lot of competition from established trees growing alongside.

Currently I just grow willow as shelter beds and site screens for the house and garden so don't use them for firewood but one variety (must look up what it is) produces 1 1/2 - 2 inch stems when left for two years.

For anyone starting out, planting willow as a site screen/windbreak has the advantage of producing plenty of cuttings for future planting and allows you to see which varieties perform best, basket weaving anyone?

Thanks for the link, interesting reading and apparently simple enough to operate.

I think it might not be a bad idea to plant some willow for myself.

amber69

What would ye think of burning man made timber eg. plywood mdf or osb. Id be worried that the resins or glues would be similar to fresh wood and be bad for a boiler stove.

The Glass Key

amber69 wrote: »

What would ye think of burning man made timber eg. plywood mdf or osb. Id be worried that the resins or glues would be similar to fresh wood and be bad for a boiler stove.

Get an extension put on the chimney

But your right best avoided. I used to be able to get as much 2 inch thick chipboard as I wanted (waste from a company that made doors) and it was a great fuel; I wish I hadn't used it but at the time money was tight and it was for free

btw they aren't any problem for the boiler its you that needs to be worried about the toxic smoke and fumes.

I still burn small amounts as you get pallets sometime with have spacer blocks made of some form of chipboard but won't go out of my way to get it.

mdf gives off even worse (more toxic) fumes and smoke imo. And nearly forgot that really cheap plywood sold for shuttering that is really nasty stuff to burn.

Kevhog1988

great info guys

Sh1tbag OToole

amber69 wrote: »

What would ye think of burning man made timber eg. plywood mdf or osb. Id be worried that the resins or glues would be similar to fresh wood and be bad for a boiler stove.

I have never had bother with burning it myself but then I never had loads of it to burn. it is usually grand and dry. Nor tbh have I noticed any unusually bad fumes off it, not like burning an old pair of shoes or anything