ATW Heat Pump for Old Farmhouse with Stone Walls

bemak

I'm waiting to commence work on a farmhouse refurb. Waiting for prices to stabilize and to arrange finance. Have the luxury of not bing in a panic to complete works.

The house is build with 600mm deep stone walls which are rendered inside and outside with sand and cement plaster. Looked into stripping off all the plaster for lime but the cost is prohibitive and would kill the feasibility of the project.

So the plan is to install a good french drain around the perimeter of the house which will dry out the walls. It will take a bit of time to dry out the walls but it will work.

I'm not drylining the walls internally - I think dry stone walls have a better u-value than people give credit for so I'm going to see how it goes initially. If certain rooms need to be improved I might look at insulating them as required. The attic will be fully insulated.

New windows and doors which will seal the house from draughts. Controlled ventilation will be installed also.

So to my question - in terms of heating I had been considering going down the traditional boiler route as I think it would be quicker to heat the house when required. i.e. come in, house feels cold, pop on heating, house feels warm in 20-30 minutes. I will also have a stove with a backboiler linked to rads. While this approach might be old-school and not everyones cup of tea, it will work.

However, before I lock in this approach to heating, I just wanted to see if anyone has installed a heat pump into a similar house (stone walls with limited insulation to walls) and how they are faring with it?

mcljot

My mother is in a 6 bed 1840s stone farmhouse with poorly installed insulated slab on external walls. Heat pump is wonderful. €230 a month is her only bill, for 19° rooms and a full tank of hot water at all times, cooking, lighting, appliances. She also has the heat pump hooked up to the same system as the backboiler on the stove so that the heat pump only kicks in when the backboiler isn't producing hot enough water. She wanted to keep the option of having the stove heat the rads in case the heat pump didn't work out. She never lights the stove anymore, there's no need.

bemak

Thats very interesting to hear. I'm going to put in a new slab so it will be ideal for a heat pump if we end up going down that route