New house advise

monseiur

I'm at the heating design stage of a new house, it's a storey and half dormer
basic rectangle with front storm porch. The usual 3 bed etc. upstairs 2 bed down stairs etc. The site is in the country with south facing aspect.
Windows etc. will be the usual double glazed.
What type of central heating would you guys with experience recommend ?
I was thinking some solar panels with oil boiler, gas is not an option.
Also as I may have access to timber and turf I will have a solid fuel stove in the kitchen.
In relation to wall insulation, is pumped beads better than boards in cavity ?
It's a minefield out there so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I find it much more educational and practical to listen to real people at the coal face than guff theory and untried unpractical ideas from office based architects etc. in other words the practical do's and don'ts I'm after.
Thanks.

antoinolachtnai

The first thing is to get professionals who have the knowledge you need and whom you feel you can rely on. For starters, a professional will need to assess how much heat the house actually needs, so that everything can be correctly sized. You are right to be concerned about getting the right advice. A lot of 'knowledge' out there about how to construct a well insulated house is just plain wrong. This is a problem at every level. You go to experienced builders' own homes, a home they've built themselves for themselves and you can come across some awful things.

The second thing - solid fuel - do you really want to be hauling solid fuel and ash around? Even if it is for free? If you want it for ornamental purposes I can understand that. But if you have a job and a couple of kids, it could be very time consuming to be at all dependent on it. And flues introduce draughts. Of course, it is a personal choice.

The third thing is that the insulation is really the key to this. The building regulations are now much more stringent on this than what they were before. If you do the insulation well, you really shouldn't need very much heating. There are also requirements in relation to renewable energy.

The orientation of a home (how the windows relate to the sunny side of the house, really) can make a significant difference to the amount of heat it requires.

The current 'best' thing in heat sources for houses that can't get piped gas is heat pumps. There is a lot to the correct specification and installation of heat pumps. A good heat pump setup should be better than a good oil heating setup. But a bad heat pump setup will certainly be worse than a bad oil boiler setup, if you see what I mean.

TPM

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

A good heat pump setup should be better than a good oil heating setup. But a bad heat pump setup will certainly be worse than a bad oil boiler setup, if you see what I mean.

when they are good they are good and when they are bad they are horrid.

you also have to take installation costs into account there is a big difference between the installation costs of an oil boiler and a heat pump.
also maintenance/service costs and yes heat pumps should be checked/serviced regularly too

Idbatterim

surely lpg is an option?

antoinolachtnai

Idbatterim wrote: »

surely lpg is an option?

It has advantages for sure, but it is definitely not famous for being cheap!

TPM

Idbatterim wrote: »

surely lpg is an option?

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Statistics_Publications/Fuel_Cost_Comparison/Domestic-Fuel-Cost-Comparisons.pdf

per kw you are looking at lpg being around 70% more expensive than oil

monseiur

Thanks all for your input, greatly appreciated.
M.

lolliedog

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The first thing is to get professionals who have the knowledge you need and whom you feel you can rely on. For starters, a professional will need to assess how much heat the house actually needs, so that everything can be correctly sized. You are right to be concerned about getting the right advice. A lot of 'knowledge' out there about how to construct a well insulated house is just plain wrong. This is a problem at every level. You go to experienced builders' own homes, a home they've built themselves for themselves and you can come across some awful things.

The second thing - solid fuel - do you really want to be hauling solid fuel and ash around? Even if it is for free? If you want it for ornamental purposes I can understand that. But if you have a job and a couple of kids, it could be very time consuming to be at all dependent on it. And flues introduce draughts. Of course, it is a personal choice.

The third thing is that the insulation is really the key to this. The building regulations are now much more stringent on this than what they were before. If you do the insulation well, you really shouldn't need very much heating. There are also requirements in relation to renewable energy.

The orientation of a home (how the windows relate to the sunny side of the house, really) can make a significant difference to the amount of heat it requires.

The current 'best' thing in heat sources for houses that can't get piped gas is heat pumps. There is a lot to the correct specification and installation of heat pumps. A good heat pump setup should be better than a good oil heating setup. But a bad heat pump setup will certainly be worse than a bad oil boiler setup, if you see what I mean.

Assuming a high level if insulation and piped natural gas available, how is part L usually achieved.