New House - What heating system??

Dummy

It's fast approaching crunch time and we will be signing a deal for our new house in the south of Ireland within 2 weeks. I've made the house as green as I can and am in the process of checking the costs of installing a rain water resevoir.

But my BIG issue is the heating system. I have absolutely no idea what way to go. The ways that I am not going are oil or gas - they are too expensive and too dependent on fragile international factors. Electricity is the same and I have been following other threads about the cost of setting up my own wind turbine and this is not an option for us.

I have been searching for people who have implemented a heating system other than oil or gas or electricity in their homes but without any joy. The sales people who sell these "alternative" heating are commission-driven and I cannot depend on their advice.

The systems I am looking at are geo-thermal and wood-pellet boilers.

Has anyone here implemented a geo-thermal system or a wood-pellet boiler in their homes? If you have perhaps you could tell me:

1. What system did you implement?

2. Does your system work?

3. Do you have to supplement your heating system with another form of conventional heating?

4. Do you consider that your heating system has a lower operating cost than conventional heating systems?

5. Are the costs of servicing your system higher than conventional systems?


I would be grateful for all feedback as I really have no idea what to put into this house.

Goll Mac Morna

Dummy
I am going to put in a wood pellet boiler and I would recommend it Vs. Oil or gas.
although Natural Gas is not an option where I live.

Cost of pellets approx €130 per tonne.

2 tonnes of pellets = approx 1000L of oil in performance (from what I hear)

so 2 x €130 = €260

Vs. approx €500 or €550 ffor 1000L of oil.

Long term wood pellets have to be more stable/sustainable than fossil fuels-it just makes sense.

lomb

go natural gas if u have a pipeline running near u.
there is alot to be said for the convenience of just switching on, no mess no fuss. sure u pay a few hundred a year more than someone with a wood pellet burner but then can u imagine the 'work' that will go into heating your house!

electricity isnt an option for heating, and oil isnt bad where there is no gas. just get a super efficient condensing boiler at 90%+.

CJhaughey

lomb wrote:

go natural gas if u have a pipeline running near u.
there is alot to be said for the convenience of just switching on, no mess no fuss. sure u pay a few hundred a year more than someone with a wood pellet burner but then can u imagine the 'work' that will go into heating your house!

electricity isnt an option for heating, and oil isnt bad where there is no gas. just get a super efficient condensing boiler at 90%+.

Did you read what he said?

Dummy wrote:

The ways that I am not going are oil or gas - they are too expensive and too dependent on fragile international factors.

What exactly are you talking about when you say work?
Many wood pellet burners have a hopper into which is poured the 1000kg or so or wood pellets and an auger system that feeds the pellets into the burner.
No more work than turning on a gas central heating system.
People have this idea that any system other than oil or gas is some far out groovy alternative.
Wood pellet burners are just the same as any other fuel burning boilers.
Dummy have you maximised the Passive solar gain by having big south facing windows? also consider uprating the insulation on the north side where a lot of heat losses occur.
good luck with the build , and keep us updated..

Dummy

Thank you all for coming back to me.

Lomb - Natural Gas is not an option for us. This house will be in the middle of nowhere.

Goll - I was just reading the SEI website and see the economies that the wood pellet system provide. They are very good.

CJ - By "work", I mean does it provide a sufficient amount of heat to a house. I have a very young family and need to ensure that babies are kept warm.

A very high percentage of the southern aspect (the rear) of the house is glass. I had read about this and realised its value and incorporated it into the house plans. CJ, that was an excellent suggestion. If you have any more suggestions like this, that I may have missed, please pass them on.

The house will be exceptionally well insulated all round.

I will certainly keep you all updated on this build. The build does not start to happen for another 8 weeks but contracts have to be signed next week. I was amazed to see that so many new houses that I visited implemented the "old reliable" conventional heating systems. While I want to be adventurous and move forward, I have still to be prudent and spend wisely.

garyh3

Just like to add.. Get a boiler with a high efficiency rating A or B. May cost a little more but worth the cost, you would be surprised what a builder would put in these days. Do know if pellet boiler has a SEDBUK rating??

An A rated boiler is 90+% efficent D rating (like mine) is 78% efficient

CJhaughey

Dummy wrote:

CJ - By "work", I mean does it provide a sufficient amount of heat to a house. I have a very young family and need to ensure that babies are kept warm.

My mistake I wasn't addressing you I was talking to Lomb when he said 'Work' in the context of pellet boilers.

Dummy wrote:

A very high percentage of the southern aspect (the rear) of the house is glass. I had read about this and realised its value and incorporated it into the house plans. CJ, that was an excellent suggestion. If you have any more suggestions like this, that I may have missed, please pass them on.

The house we are building is a Scanhome and will have triple glazed windows all round with a U value of 1.2, like you I have incorporated a lot of glass on the S side while minimising openings on the N side.
Be aware that Velux windows while nearly essential in a Dormer structure have a net heat loss, where possible minimise use of these.
Have you got your windows yet? If not look at the possiblity of installing Low U value windows maybe with an Argon fill and low emission glass? even just on the S side.

Dummy wrote:

The house will be exceptionally well insulated all round.

Ours is too but we are still putting another small(45mm) layer of insulation outside the plasterboard and another plasterboard outside this, primarily to break the cold bridge. This is only on the N side.

Dummy wrote:

I was amazed to see that so many new houses that I visited implemented the "old reliable" conventional heating systems. While I want to be adventurous and move forward, I have still to be prudent and spend wisely.

People have a real fear of anything different in this country.
I have discovered this while talking to many tradesmen, "underfloor heating I cannot advise against this strongly enough" I was told this by an electrician. :rolleyes:
Underfloor heating is fantastic if used correctly but many people do not understand the principle behind it.
Maybe air to water heat pump may work for you?

yop

Dummy - I would suggest that you might have a look at the Geothermal thread on boards, there is a fairly detailed explanation of Geo, Air source, well sourced heat pumps, and pellet boilers.

karltimber

there is a colleague at work who recently finished his house and put in a system where an oil burner heats air and this is then pumped around the house.
A computer controlled system of motors moves hotter air from the top of the house and re-circulates it to the bottom etc etc.

he is very happy with it.

CJhaughey

The standard in most Scandinavian houses is a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system, if a house is sealed so that cold air can't get in then logically fresh air cannot get in either.
All "passive" or near passive houses have one it is explained on the scanhome website but they are not the only ones doing these systems. It is far better for a a house to have mechanical ventilation as you can control the whole thing rather than depending on wind or draughts to do your ventilating for you.
plus you recover some of the heat that you lose in an unventilated house.
I have never seen the computer controlled ones but I know that the mechanical system works by bringing in fresh heated air to the bedrooms and living spaces and exhausts it from the "dirty rooms" ie cooking/bathrooms etc

e.hartery

there is a thread on the helpmebuildandrenovate.com forum about this. i think loads of different options

yop

e.hartery wrote:

there is a thread on the helpmebuildandrenovate.com forum about this. i think loads of different options

Tut tut, blatant advertising!!

Only messing a good site! best of luck with it!!

BTW - thanks for the link to our blog.

e.hartery

kinda oops.
i did put other replies up this morning and i was thinking more along the lines of refering your blog without copy and pasting all the info that was passed on that thread. ha ha.

i am only going mad that i dont have geo thermal and i have to pay bord gas every 2 months weather i use the heating or not. robbers. and the esb and telecom and the oil companies need i go on oh and my visas but they are self inflicted. lol

anyone see the rip off ireland last night. brill.

e.hartery

i work for a different company. we supply fixings. so i am up a bit on the fixing end. we advertised in the "OTHER SITE" and found them good, so have no prob recommending them.

actually i see u posted a few too.
do u get any time to build ur house, lol

yop

It is a good site, they stole my idea!! not really I don't have the time to keep as detailed a site as they have, it is excellent and I think could be a great success.

Home heating oil going up another 4 cents this weekend, great not!

Dummy

Thanks to everyone for the very useful feedback.

We have emailed, called, written to suppliers of wood-pellett and solar systems here in Ireland & the UK. Also spoke to someone with solar panels on their house. Also the people in SEI and their website www.sei.ie were very helpful as were the websites suggested on this thread and other threads on boards.ie

We are going with 2 systems. The wood-pellett system to provide heat and hot water in the winter months. We really liked this system as it appears to be as effective as present day conventional systems but not as expensive and much kinder to the environment which is just as important to us.

Then for the warmer months, we are going for a solar panel on the roof to provide hot water.

The nitty gritty of whose system we go with does not have to be decided for another few weeks.

Once again, thanks to everyone for suggestions, comments and help.

yop

Excellent setup dummy (as in your name, not calling u a dummy!! )

Would you mind if u can/want to supply us with costings for this and setup as I have had of late people asking me how much, how is it done, who does it etc and I would appreciate an over view on this.

All the best with it

towbar

Dummy wrote:

...

We are going with 2 systems. The wood-pellett system to provide heat and hot water in the winter months. We really liked this system as it appears to be as effective as present day conventional systems but not as expensive and much kinder to the environment which is just as important to us.

This is the route were steering towards as well but how do you reckon the cost of wood pellet is less expensive, boilers seem to be running at 7k against 1.5-2k for a conventional boiler. Also are you going for under floor or radiators? I've been looking at these solo terminals on www.lowenergy.ie. They look neat but incorporate a fan.

obb

Dummy wrote:

Thanks to everyone for the very useful feedback.

We have emailed, called, written to suppliers of wood-pellett and solar systems here in Ireland & the UK. Also spoke to someone with solar panels on their house. Also the people in SEI and their website www.sei.ie were very helpful as were the websites suggested on this thread and other threads on boards.ie

We are going with 2 systems. The wood-pellett system to provide heat and hot water in the winter months. We really liked this system as it appears to be as effective as present day conventional systems but not as expensive and much kinder to the environment which is just as important to us.

Then for the warmer months, we are going for a solar panel on the roof to provide hot water.

The nitty gritty of whose system we go with does not have to be decided for another few weeks.

Once again, thanks to everyone for suggestions, comments and help.

just read your good news . i am about 3 weeks away from decision time too, could you give me costs. type of boiler, suppliers etc. I'm new to this site and it's taken me ages to find someone who's doing the same as myself. Ta

Goll Mac Morna

Gerkros in Tipperary are due to launch a new range of Irish made Pellet boilers onto the market next month.
I have no connection with them I just came across this info recently, while contacting them re: boilers.

What if a group of us bought from them together maybe we could get a good deal?
I contacted Ger Crosse from the comapny and he comes across as a good person.
They are hoping to market this boiler at €3,500 to €3,800, which is a great price considering my favoured FROLING boiler cost approx €10,000.

They want to create an affordable pellet boiler for the Irish Market.

I am going to see the boiler at the sustainable building show in the RDS form 22nd to 24th Sept.
If you want to be included in a list of prospective customers that I could present to Ger Crosse PM me and give details of when you think you might need the boiler.

I am sure if a 'crowd' of people bought together he would be delighted to get his boiler off to a flying start , I personally won't need it until next summer (at foundation stage of new house) but we could put an order in .

I will post here after the SHOW to let people know how things went.