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comply with building regs PART L

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  • 05-06-2011 11:51am
    #1
    Katz83
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭


    got planning March of this year. All along we had been told that putting in solar panels 30 tubes would comply with building regs. now that we have gone to get a provisional BER done we are told that we do not comply with part L and should put in either heat pump (which cant be done as pipework is done and floors poured) or a wood pellet stove which again we have only done the plumbing under ground for a back boiler stove. Is the BER Assessor correct do we not comply with part L and what are my options now at this stage to comply. Thanks


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    #2
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,140 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    Katz83 wrote: »
    got planning March of this year. All along we had been told that putting in solar panels 30 tubes would comply with building regs. now that we have gone to get a provisional BER done we are told that we do not comply with part L and should put in either heat pump (which cant be done as pipework is done and floors poured) or a wood pellet stove which again we have only done the plumbing under ground for a back boiler stove. Is the BER Assessor correct do we not comply with part L and what are my options now at this stage to comply. Thanks

    give your architect hell, i presume he told you would comply? what has he suggested you do

    need alot more info to help on tgdl compliance


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    #3
    Katz83
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭Katz83


    BryanF wrote: »
    give your architect hell, i presume he told you would comply? what has he suggested you do

    need alot more info to help on tgdl compliance

    we only got him to do plans have an engineer now for rest of house. yes he told us we would have to put in solar panels to compy . if id a known this wouldnt of been enough i would of gone with heat pump. have we any options now.


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    #4
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,140 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    Katz83 wrote: »
    we only got him to do plans have an engineer now for rest of house. yes he told us we would have to put in solar panels to compy . if id a known this wouldnt of been enough i would of gone with heat pump. have we any options now.

    katz, you have of course got options, which solution did engineer suggest?

    apologies if i seem to be avoiding your question but its difficult to comment without plans, spec, deap.. you see, part L(tgdl) takes more into account than just the renewable requirements. what about asking for the .xml file (the deap file) and posting it here


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    #5
    No6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,489 ✭✭✭No6


    Hi Katz

    I have found this problem with large one off houses of the sort that I design and do the BER assessments for. The problem in achieving compliance is the floor area in relation to the size of the solar panels, if you increase the size of the solar panel, add more tubes until you comply then see what that costs, personally I would consider an alternative such as a wood burning (not pellet) stove with a back boiler. Heat pumps are IMO very expensive and still use electricty and can be quite expensive to run!! Pellet stoves tend to be noisy and not very nice looking and pellet boilers are unreliable and a lot of work ( I have one!!)


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    #6
    Katz83
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭Katz83


    No6 wrote: »
    Hi Katz

    I have found this problem with large one off houses of the sort that I design and do the BER assessments for. The problem in achieving compliance is the floor area in relation to the size of the solar panels, if you increase the size of the solar panel, add more tubes until you comply then see what that costs, personally I would consider an alternative such as a wood burning (not pellet) stove with a back boiler. Heat pumps are IMO very expensive and still use electricty and can be quite expensive to run!! Pellet stoves tend to be noisy and not very nice looking and pellet boilers are unreliable and a lot of work ( I have one!!)

    Is a wood burning stove a renewable energy source. i didnt think they would count. We have a stove in kitchen dinning area and a wood burning stove in stting room Stovax Riva Studio 1. prob put a hunter stove in kitchen dinning area but think it is two far from hotpress to put back boiler.


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    #7
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,140 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    katz, do you hav MHRV? and whats the Floor area?


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    #8
    Katz83
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭Katz83


    BryanF wrote: »
    katz, do you hav MHRV? and whats the Floor area?

    We dont have HRV looked at it but it came in at around 6000 euro so said we will put in the vents in the windows instead as this is very expensive. The house is 2000 square foot bungalow and has 14 rads i think it is about 90000 btus.


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    #9
    No6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,489 ✭✭✭No6


    Katz83 wrote: »
    Is a wood burning stove a renewable energy source. i didnt think they would count. We have a stove in kitchen dinning area and a wood burning stove in stting room Stovax Riva Studio 1. prob put a hunter stove in kitchen dinning area but think it is two far from hotpress to put back boiler.
    As long as it only burns wood then yes, a multi fuel stove does not count so no stanley or similar type stoves. If your ber uses the wood buring stove as a secondary heat source you might just achieve complaince, its hard to tell without the full data set.


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    #10
    fclauson
    Registered Users Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭fclauson


    Katz83 wrote: »
    ... putting in solar panels 30 tubes would comply with building regs. ...

    Take a look at putting in a large thermal store (say 1000litres) and then panels to match (probably 9 to 12 SqM) . You get good BER credits for this

    This can then help drive the UFH
    @90,000 BTU - you seem to think (or your heating engineer thinks) that you house will seep energy - what spec are the floors, walls, and windows - on a 3000 sq ft build I have got the demand down to 12 wM2 which means a very small boiler - (will be going LPG as its clean, efficient, instant, modulating, and can be housed in side the envelope so any heat loss is captuted.


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    #11
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,644 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    For anyone reading this and thinking of building, you should get this provisional BER assessment done befo eyou even start getting prices.

    it is impossible to know exactly what spec you need to comply without this provisional BER.

    Katz, you still have options.

    The wood stove does not have to have a back boiler. Actually, a back boiler supplying how water doesnt actually count towards your renewable requirement.

    Ask your BER assessor to see what happens if you include a dedicated wood stove of say 78% as your secondary heating system. Does this bring you up?

    If it doesnt... ask him what air tightness result he/she is including. If they are imputing the minimal "10" (0.5 air changes per hr) the ask them to use "5" or 0.25 air changes per hour. This should make a difference, and should also focus you to take great care on how you make your house air tight.


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    #12
    No6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,489 ✭✭✭No6


    Syd my reccomendation for a back boiler on a stove is more to do with the rising price of fuels such as oil or gas rather than the renewable requirement, A wood buring stove on it own may help the op achieve the requirement, one with a back boiler (if available) might keep her heating costs lower into the future!! The renewable requirement is diffcult to comply with in large one off houses as its based on floor area, a standard solar set up will probably achieve compliance for the typical 3 bed semi but will get nowhere near compliance for a one off house!! And yes get a provisional BER assessment done before you start building, its the only way you can know if you are getting anywhere near the requirements.


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    #13
    sydthebeat
    Subscribers Posts: 41,644 ✭✭✭✭sydthebeat


    No6 wrote: »
    Syd my reccomendation for a back boiler on a stove is more to do with the rising price of fuels such as oil or gas rather than the renewable requirement, A wood buring stove on it own may help the op achieve the requirement, one with a back boiler (if available) might keep her heating costs lower into the future!! The renewable requirement is diffcult to comply with in large one off houses as its based on floor area, a standard solar set up will probably achieve compliance for the typical 3 bed semi but will get nowhere near compliance for a one off house!! And yes get a provisional BER assessment done before you start building, its the only way you can know if you are getting anywhere near the requirements.

    i agree no.6

    i read the OPs first post incorrectly, i though they were dismissing b/b because of the plumbing, but i see now that there is plumbing installed for it.

    my apologies.


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