Efficient upgrade of central heating and HW system.

Margaret1 · 21-01-2014 12:25AM #1

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can guide me in the right direction here. I am trying to get a more efficient way of heating my house built in 1991.I have to change the boiler this year and if I need to do any revamping this might be the best time, I have thought about getting solar panels to take advantage of the southern aspect for DHW.

I am planning on having the rear and sides of the house pumped with cavity insulation, there is insulation board in the cavity space, which I saw once when reading the ESB meter.
I am wary of doing the front elevation as the aspect means wind and rain land horizontally on the front of the building. It's very sheltered to the north, east and south.

Presently it has a FIREBIRD 120 boiler and 20 radiators. I use part of the downstairs annex [4 rooms], east facing, as an office during the day and need heat there for the most part till 4 pm. I had all but two of the radiators fitted with thermostatic valves a few years back and either these are not working properly or the insulation is not sufficient as they never close down even when on 2/3 setting. I had the roof insulation topped up 3 years ago and this made a big difference at the time to the sleeping area, but the office area cools down so quickly if i don't have the boiler on all the time or use supplementary electric heating.

1.In the boiler house about 10 feet from the house is a switch plate with three switches like a light switch to choose between central heat-plus-hot-water and hot-water-only and an on/off switch. There is a very basic "timeswitch"in the utility. The plastic control on the thermosat on the boiler is broken so I'm guessing the temperature of the boiler is set at about 70 degrees, any higher than this and my overflow in the attic sprays water when the heating is on. In the hot press I have a thermostat on the LARGE (nearly 6' ) hot water cylinder set to 65 degrees. The system has no thermostat for setting a desired temperature in the house.

2.There is a switch in a press in the annex that operates a pump, the previous owner didn't say what it controlled, but I think it might be pump for the boiler!!.

3.There is an open fireplace with a back boiler (in the "good room") which we never use,:o as we installed a freestanding stove in the living area.

I apologise for this long post, but in short I would love to know the best way to upgrade the system, can you retrofit thermostats and zone areas without too much disruption and expense.:eek: I'd appreciate any insight from the experienced heating and plumbing fraternity out there!
Thanks in advance

shane0007 · 21-01-2014 12:56AM

For the boiler, I would opt for a Grant Vortex, unless you have natural gas as an option.
Full zone control would hopefully be an option but it would depend on pipe layout to split the system. By the sounds of it, you can already separate heating & hot water.
It would be useful to have your day area as a zone, again dependent upon pipework.
Certainly move all controls internally. You could opt to move the boiler to adjacent the house with an outdoor boiler. This would save in heating the ground if it is poorly insulated.

There are systems on the market that can zone each radiator individually but these can prove expensive.

I would consider doing something with the unused back boiler fire as if it is an open fire, it will suck the heat from the house through induction.

I would certainly improve the insulation levels for all parts of the home.

You can avail SEAI grant assistance for all of the measures also.

Margaret1 · 21-01-2014 10:28PM

Thanks for your prompt reply,:)
I have an idea now, how to proceed. Get my insulation in order and then sort out the heating and control of same. I am researching bonded beading for the cavity insulation. Maybe an inset for the open fire.
I'll get a plumber to look at the existing pipe work and give me an idea of the possibilities.
Is 10 feet an ok distance for the boiler house, {it looked ok around the boiler house when we had that bad snow in 2010}.I'd prefer to keep the boiler housed as I wouldn't like to risk an outdoor boiler in the seaside conditions we live in. Lots of sea salt in the air!

shane0007 · 21-01-2014 10:37PM

Margaret1 wrote: »

I have an idea now, how to proceed. Get my insulation in order and then sort out the heating and control of same. I am researching bonded beading for the cavity insulation.

I would always get the heating sorted first. It's always best to give the plumber money first & leave the scraps for them insulation fellas :-)

Margaret1 wrote: »

I'll get a plumber to look at the existing pipe work and give me an idea of the possibilities.

Just make sure they are SEAI registered & preferably somebody who has been referred to you by a happy customer.

Margaret1 wrote: »

Is 10 feet an ok distance for the boiler house, {it looked ok around the boiler house when we had that bad snow in 2010}.I'd prefer to keep the boiler housed as I wouldn't like to risk an outdoor boiler in the seaside conditions we live in. Lots of sea salt in the air!

10 feet is long way with poor insulation & short if good. How many rads could you fit into the ground within 10 feet?
It's probably fine & the sea air would have a fairly negative affect on the casing over a period of time.

Efficient upgrade of central heating and HW system.

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