Stove or no stove?

Nickypicky

Am starting a new build so it will be finished as an A rated house. I am from a farmhouse where we had a fire in the sitting room and and the kitchen. Have been talking to people and they are saying they might only light their stove a few times a year. What are people generally doing in new builds/renovations in a rated houses? I reckon aesthetically a stove would be fabulous, however my next problem is where does the tv go in relation to the stove. Any opinions/ideas/pictures welcome.

The sitting room in question is a small sized room.

Water John

In an A rated house, in a small room a stove will roast you out of it. Maybe if it is used to heat rads/UFH, that would take some heat from it.
Dry stove a nice feature in a bigger area.

Nickypicky

Thanks for reply ! just hard to imagine a sitting room with no fire !! however I also think if its in the room unlit its a waste of money. We are going for air to water and ufh so it won't be heating rads.

Sitting room will be 14'' x 18''

Nickypicky

Concerned about how fast /slow ufh can be to warm up the house and on a cold night would it be a loss not to have a stove to throw on

Water John

Inches?
Seriously, that isn't a very small room. Might get away with a small tidy one.
Set back the UFH a bit, eg 18 C rather than 20/21 C. Definitely a thermostat in the room. Nice feature all right.

I've seen stoves set in the corner, looks fine.

ger vallely

My sitting room is far smaller than the kitchen. We've a radiator in the sitting room and a stove in the kitchen. We tend to only watch tv at weekends and the rad is totally fine. The kitchen, for us, is the heart of the house and the stove is perfect there. We are in the process of selling up and in the running for us to buy is a house with only electric heating. The plan is to install a stove, again in the kitchen and eventually gas or oil heating throughout the rest of the house. I guess it all depends on your living habits. As I say, we spend most of our week in the large kitchen and prefer to have a stove there.

Nickypicky

ger vallely wrote: »

My sitting room is far smaller than the kitchen. We've a radiator in the sitting room and a stove in the kitchen. We tend to only watch tv at weekends and the rad is totally fine. The kitchen, for us, is the heart of the house and the stove is perfect there. We are in the process of selling up and in the running for us to buy is a house with only electric heating. The plan is to install a stove, again in the kitchen and eventually gas or oil heating throughout the rest of the house. I guess it all depends on your living habits. As I say, we spend most of our week in the large kitchen and prefer to have a stove there.

One option for us was to possibly install a double sided stove as we are starting from scratch, and again was just too worried about the pace being too warm.

Totally agree with the kitchen being the hub of the house !

Nickypicky

Water John wrote: »

Inches?
Seriously, that isn't a very small room. Might get away with a small tidy one.
Set back the UFH a bit, eg 18 C rather than 20/21 C. Definitely a thermostat in the room. Nice feature all right.

I've seen stoves set in the corner, looks fine.

measurements are feet :D:D

Agree with it being a lovely feature, would just be great to be using it also

Would only be going for a 6-8 watt stove if anything

Water John

An A rates house won't drop off much. The best way is to have heating on all the time for the winter and control everything with timer stats.
With A rated, your costs will be low.

Water John

BTW if you are doing an A rated house that is well sealed be sure to allow for putting in mechanical ventilation, cost €5K approx. Otherwise the air in the house will be unhealthy. Very low running cost.

Nickypicky

Water John wrote: »

BTW if you are doing an A rated house that is well sealed be sure to allow for putting in mechanical ventilation, cost €5K approx. Otherwise the air in the house will be unhealthy. Very low running cost.

Is the mechanical vent only required for a stove or in general for A rated houses?

Water John

You will only achieve an A rated house, not just with insulation but well sealed also. In order to change the air in the house and not have it humid and stuffy you should consider having a Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation (MHVR) installed.
This system takes air, usually from bathroom and kitchen and expels it, using this air to heat the fresh air coming into the other rooms in the house. Has a filter and a little pump. I think €40 will run it for the year.

For a house of this spec, I wouldn't view it as optional but necessary.
Nothing to do with the stove but is part of the heating and insulation budget.

mjp

Am in similar position to you Nicky in building new house next year and will more than like be going for UFH and A2W heating system along heat recovery ventilation system to meet energy regulations. Have two openings for fireplaces . one in living room and another one on snug which is directly behind it. With the airtightness and inuslation in the house i dont think we will have much need for these but think the rooms will be odd without a fireplace or opening for one.

I expect us to use the snug a lot more than living room due to it being just off the kitchen/dining area and will be more cozy etc. its sized 4m x 3m whilst living room is 4.6m x 4.8m. Trying to upload photo of plans to give better idea but it wont upload for some reason.

Nickypicky

mjp wrote: »

Am in similar position to you Nicky in building new house next year and will more than like be going for UFH and A2W heating system along heat recovery ventilation system to meet energy regulations. Have two openings for fireplaces . one in living room and another one on snug which is directly behind it. With the airtightness and inuslation in the house i dont think we will have much need for these but think the rooms will be odd without a fireplace or opening for one.

I expect us to use the snug a lot more than living room due to it being just off the kitchen/dining area and will be more cozy etc. its sized 4m x 3m whilst living room is 4.6m x 4.8m. Trying to upload photo of plans to give better idea but it wont upload for some reason.

Would love to see pics if possible. We also have an opening for a larger sitting room but haven't even thought about that room yet as it won't be used in the next few years !!!!!

mjp

Finally managed get photo uploaded through photobucket after many failed attempts. You can see the two fire openings from below. The sunroom/snug has a step down to it from kitchen so will be at a slightly lower level to living room but thinking of putting floating fire there anyway rather than full fireplace due to size of room. Still dont know what heat demand i will have for house and wont know that until Ber asessment is done.

Water John

Very nice, BER should come in low.

mjp

Water John wrote:

Very nice, BER should come in low.

Know very little about how BER is calculated but do you mind explaining to my how u know BER would come in low from looking at plans? Is it layout/ number of windows etc?

Apologies for my lack of knowledge in this area. How much would it cost for a provisional Ber assessment. Can I have input into heating system I want or will the assessor recommend a choice based on heat demand?

Water John

Its a nice square building. That maximises the ratio of sq area to perimeter.
Think of a room 4 X 4. This has a perimeter of 16. But a 8 X 2 room has a perimeter of 20. Yet both are the same area.

Not a very large area of glass, helps. Porch does too.
The selection of heating does affect BER as it deals with the carbon print of the building. Renewable energy will fare best, whilst, electric storage heaters would be the worst.

A good sealed envelope and insulation is important. Even if you don't use underfloor heating do put good insulation under it.