€10,000 to spend....

Stevie Dakota

As the title says, I may have around €10,000 to spend on some form of renewable update to our our house, which is a 2,100sq ft dormer bungalow, 2006 built, quite well insulated. Oil fired central heating, both UF and rads. The long term aim would be to reduce both our carbon footprint and reduce monthly bills. It would be great to be shot of the oil.

What would the suggestion be in terms of integrating solar, replacing the oil with wood pellet, or any other solutions to improve things?

I appreciate this may sound a bit vague but I am new to this so any input would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Scottie99

Check out this website, and also there was a thread on HALO
http://www.esb.ie/main/sustainability/about-halo.jsp
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055768815

Charlie 08

would also like to hear peoples opinions/experiences on this. As well as solar and wood-pellet, was also considering a heat pump

Doctor_L

Hi,

I would recommend you check out http://wood-pellet-ireland.blogspot.com/

It may put you off wood pellet but the analysis is sound and rigorous.

I would also recommend that you talk to your local energy agency as they provide neutral advice.

You could read the CAT centre in Wales book http://www.cat.org.uk/catpubs/pubs_content.tmpl?sku=PUBS_25&key=WHB

To be honest I would spend money on the insulation, doors and windows before I would spend money on the heating system.

Before you consider any heating system get your house BER rated and a thermal image analysis of the building. Some technologies only work with houses with a good BER rating.


Liam

Stevie Dakota

Cheers Liam, the house is quite well insulated being a 2006 build, and all the doors and windows are double glazed with argon gas, so not really starting from scratch, although I am sure there is always room for improvement.

quentingargan

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

What would the suggestion be in terms of integrating solar, replacing the oil with wood pellet, or any other solutions to improve things?

I hope by integration, you aren't thinking of using solar to heat the house. TBH in this climate it just doesn't work, and the better insulated your house is, the worse it works. Solar is brilliant at giving you free hot water during the summer, when (hopefully!) your central heating is off and as a result your hot water tends to be more expensive.

Cost of fitting solar depends on a few things. It usually involves replacing your cylinder (which is a large chunk of the cost), but the new cylinder will help to save energy all year round. For a modest system, expect the nett cost (after SEI grants) to be between €3,500 and €4,500.

But as Dr. L suggests, there may be lower hanging fruit, and only a proper BER assessment will identify these for you. Q

sinnerboy

Check out the efficiency of your boiler here

http://www.sei.ie/Your_Building/BER/BER_Assessors/Technical/HARP_Database/

And see how it compares with the most efficient . If you can get a jump from 70% to 90% in boiler efficiency this may give the best bang for your buck

Next - check if your hot water cylinder has it's own stat . If not you are overheating it ( and wasting fuel )

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