ICF House - Recommended Heating System

windyboy

Hi,

I am about to start a 2 storey t-shaped house build using ICF. The house is 2800 square foot and there is 76 m2 glazing. The house is more or less orientated south with the majority of the glazing to the south and west. My BER assessor has done a preliminary calc using DEAP. Based on U-Value of the KORE ICF wall of 0.2W/m2 K. Hopefully we can achieve an A3 with the right amount of floor insulation (150mm EPS), good windows( Uw <1.2W/m2 K), solar, good insulation and airtightness in the attic (cellulose over flat or soya based foam sprayed between rafters) and heat recovery ventilation.

I was thinking of installing a stove with a back boiler in the open plan kitchen/living area. We also have place for a glass fronted fire in the lounge.

I need to decide on whether or not to use underfloor heating in the ground floor which will affect floor build up, but I hear it works best with low temperature geothermal or air heat pumps which I would have thought would be an expensive solution.

I am a little confused with all the options available, and was wondering if anybody has built or is planning an ICF build and what method of heating system would you suggest to be the most economic and comfortable.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Windyboy

I built using an ICF system, I also installed UFH which is currently heated with an oil boiler via a 300 litre cylinder and thermostatic mixing valve which draws high temperature water from the cylinder and mixes it down to 30C for the UFH.

Using a cylinder and mixing valve gives you the best of both worlds.

Check my "self-build website" (link in sig below

Carlow52

OP: good luck with build. While I know you didnt ask about this:

Just wondering what u will run off the backboiler and where u will put the heat dump, especially in the event of a power failure.

I am not a fan because you have very little control and you must use the heat when it is produced. typically the split is 2/3 to rads and 1/3 to room which can often lead to a much bigger stove in the room which can become very hot.

They are difficult to plumb in // with other closed heating systems.

I have seen enough of them cause problems to make these, hopefully useful comments

Borzoi

windyboy wrote: »

I need to decide on whether or not to use underfloor heating in the ground floor which will affect floor build up, but I hear it works best with low temperature geothermal or air heat pumps which I would have thought would be an expensive solution.

It's really the other way around, heat pumps work best with UFH. But UFH is good with all heating methods. Geo or ASHP will be more expensive to install but will pay for themselves over time.

MicktheMan

Hi Windyboy,
seeing that you have decided to go for icf, would you consider going the extra mile and aim for passive? this way you will more than likely not need a "wet" heating system at all! Just a thought.