Help please, What heating system to go for???

oldhead

I have just poured my foundations. the house is approx 3,600,sq ft. It is a 2 storey house with a 15 x 15 sunroom, 19 x 16 kitchen and a 10x 9 utility all out the back of the house in a single storey. The kitchen roof will have a total of 6 velux windows acting as a skylight, there will be 4 velux in the sunroom. both the kitchen and the sunroom will have a double height ceilings. i dont know how i will heat these rooms. The biggest room in the house is a 17 x 17 sitting room. inside the front door there will be 2 more velux windows as you look up to the roof, again acting as a skylight. How the hell will i heat this area. I will have to buy shares in velux........... I have plenty good black turf that i would love to use, I dnt think i am having any range in the house. am interested in UFH, but dnt know what is good and what isnt. i have heard more bad reports than good about GEO UFH, also the costs would be greater. We have 2 fireplaces and herself wants one of them to be a fancy gas fire. all suggestion welcome. many thanks.:)

sinnerboy

if you build right i.e to passiv haus standards you won't need ANY heating system

what facing material are you looking to use - if render then 215solid blockworks with 300mm expanded polystyrene and render over is probably the least expensive option

you will pay more for , but get great build quality from , many German or Austrian timber frame companies

Then get an air tightness strategy in place

As much as you are free to do so -and comply with your planning permission drawings - large windows to south , small to north

The sun will provide free energy for the foreseeable so look to solar for hot water . Or wood burning appliances .

www.sei.ie/getFile.asp?FC_ID=3453&docID=357

heinbloed

Since you're still in the beginning of your project consider to stop the work until a proper energy demand report is done on the proposed building.
Open fires and internal chimneys are a thing of the past century, so are roof windows if they're not PH standard. Roof windows are usually the worst energy wasters in buildings since they are placed in a place where the highest amount of insulation is needed.
Modern heating systems use a low temperature transmitted via a large surface like floor and walls.This can be solar heating or condensing boiler.
Or-as sinnerboy said already-no heating system at all with the PH, they use the airducts of the HRV to ad the little bit of heat to the building that might be necessary.

ovalu

heinbloed wrote: »

internal chimneys are a thing of the past century, .

why is this? excuse my ignorance

heinbloed

Since we're only allowed to install condensing boilers due to the building regulation that boilers must have min. anual efficiency of 86%. And these need no chimneys, a double pipe trough the wall is enough. A chimney used in connection with a condensing boiler would be contra productive since it would either need an extra ventilator/propellor or an expensive non-corrosive lining with an aditional outlet for the condensed vapour.And chimneys ad to the (cold)surface of a building, increasing their energy demand.There are many more reasons.The legal point -the building regulations on boiler efficiency-leaf little to be discussed. Unless one wants to dump a lot of money on an unnecessary bit of traditional apearence.

muffler

To avoid any confusion I think it needs to be pointed out that statements like "Unless one wants to dump a lot of money on an unnecessary bit of traditional apearence." are a personal opinion and the use of the traditional chimney/hearth is not prohibited under any regulations.

I dont want to see people leaving this forum with the idea that cant put an open fire and chimney into their house when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

oldhead

it is been built with the good old concrete blocks, with the 4" cavity plus the 50mm cosy board on the inside of the external walls. i know the insulation regs are changing in 2010. does anybody know anything about these.

sinnerboy

Yes . And you can too if you download the link at post 2 . We are headed towards passive haus standard as min standard - by 2011 . Stop and re think your build now

oldhead

Many thanks

ovalu

slightly off topic, but does one need a chimney with a solid fuel stove?

heinbloed

Yes, for a solid fuel stove a chimney is necessarry.This is due to the high temperature that is emitted with the fluegases, with the smoke.These tempereatures can be dangerous, demaging (building) material and living things as well.Furtheron there is always the risk of sparks emitted by solid fuels. These can be drawn into doors and windows if not guided away from these -by a chimney for example.Boilers running on solid fuel can be a different matter. Nowadays there are very efficient pellet boilers available with condensing technic, these do not emitt high temperatures. Fly ash and sparks can be filtered with modern boiler technic as well, usually the bespoke pellet condensing boilers have these traps build in as well.They're not cheap though, but future proof in the technical term. Even in areas with a problematic air policy these can be used.They were developed to keep the pelletboilers available (sellable!) in clean-air areas, where pollution is stricly controlled and the usage of solid fuel is otherewise banned.

ovalu

with the solid fuel stove in a new build house, do you need an actual chimney flu built in to the house or would it be just a stainless steel pipe style flu with a chimney on the roof? thanks

heinbloed

You have to use special flue pipes,these are fire rated/-proof and insulated.There is no need for a traditional chimney at the end of them.Check out the various chimney/flue manufacturers, they have different systems.Various diameters and materials are available for various purposes.If the diameter is to small you won't get enough draw and if the diameter is to wide then the same problem might occure.Turning a flu designed for an open fire into a stove flue is banned in most countries because of this.On the European continent the installation of fire places/stoves/boilers is a proper profession,since centuries these jobs are only allowed to be done by registered professionals.Too much can be done wrong.

sinnerboy

Contact these people for more advice

INFO - Irish Nationwide Fireplace Organisation
01 801 5959
www.fireplace.ie
infoinfo@eircom.net