New A2 House Is Freezing!

frankiekk

Hi 

Hope all's well? We moved into our new build in October, and the house was absolutely freezing all winter. The heating comes on and works well, but after about 30 mins it's freezing again. The thermostat is always around 14-18 degrees without the heating on and there's draughts and cold air everywhere.

We've been back and forth with the developers for over 3 months now and they don't seem to know or care anymore. The house is on a hill, so they've told us we should expect it to be cold. Its suppose to be an A2 house. We've had the the window supplies out to look at windows and ventilation lads in too, and they say all is fine on their end, but they also say something is definitely wrong. 

We just got a hygrometer in and the Humidity is also 16%. We hear its suppose to be between 40%-60%?

We've given up on the developer, so looks like we'll need to do it ourselves. Would there be any experts/consultants out there we can contact?

Furze99

What sort of heating system is in it? And how is heat distributed around the house? Who certified it? Are the draughts caused by the ventilation system or coming in around doors/ windows? 16% humidity must be wrong - sure you'd be getting desiccated with that. If the house is well sealed and insulated my non expert thinking would be pointing at the ventilation/ heat recovery system assuming one installed.

brokenangel

Is it A2W heat pump? If so why is temp at 14-18? Normal temp for house would be 20 degree or so. Or am I picking that up wrong?

also my brothers have heat lumps, they don’t turn off, it’s keep going all winter.

Del2005

If you're close to Dublin the libraries have home energy monitoring kits. Try to get one to see if you can see any problems.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/dublin-libraries-to-stock-kits-to-test-home-energy-use-1.2990116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058236007/new-a2-house-is-freezing

Get an air tightness test and ber test done independently yourself. Might be worth explaining to the technician your problem so he knows to give it a proper test and not just a box ticking exercise.

If results aren't right I'd be back onto your solicitor.

I'm on my 2nd A3 rated house and the radiators should not heat a house in the same way an older radiator does. They're only supposed to be luke warm and give an ambient temperature, which should be all that is needed in an A rated house.

frankiekk

It's a gas heated house, heated with rads. No idea if machine is broke or what but it says 16%. That's the problem really, no idea what we're doing, so looking for any recommendations for who could help us.

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738004#Comment_118738004

Thanks Del2005, yeah we got one of those and it's showing us a few problems.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738069#Comment_118738069

If the builders not acting on the issues then it could be time to get legal advice. A new A2 house shouldn't be freezing.

ongarite

How is the home ventilated?

Hole in wall in each room with a grill that lets fresh, cool air in?

Trickle vents in the windows?

MHRV system with vent in ceiling?

What orientation is the house main rooms facing?

Based on your complaint, I would guess west or north west facing?

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738004#Comment_118738004

They have them in libraries outside Dublin too!

https://www.meath.ie/council/council-services/libraries/home-energy-saving-kits

https://droghedalife.com/news/council-launches-home-energy-savings-kits

https://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/local-news/293016/home-energy-saving-kits-available-to-borrow-in-local-libraries.html

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738055#Comment_118738055

Does each room have separate thermostats?

What temperature are you heating the house to?

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738157#Comment_118738157

Ventilated with Air Inlets: https://www.aereco.com/products/air-inlets/eht/

No idea what an MHRV system is! Facing west.

homewardbound11

Regardless of all an A2 rated house should hold its heat much longer than 1/2 an hour . Sounds like air tightness issues .

even with massive cold bridges the decrement delay of temperature wouldn’t be as fast as 20 minutes

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738178#Comment_118738178

House is set to 21 degrees. But the heating is fine. When it's on, the house is warm, but 20-30 mins later it's cold again so it's escaping somewhere.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738216#Comment_118738216

To lose heat that quickly you have to have huge gaps. You said you got the kit from library. What did it show?

I have an old house, when I moved in it had nearly no insulation, build in 80s and it didn't lose heat that quick.

Do you have a temp gauge in the room to show it losing heat? like I use Drayton Wiser and I can put a temp into the room. It shows the exact temp in the room. The library kit had oene as well, did you monitor how long it took to drop temp in a room with doors closed etc?

ongarite

Is your home on its own or part of a large development with many identical units?

If the latter, have you talked with your neighbours to see if they have the same issues?

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738257#Comment_118738257

Yes four on the same street have same issues.

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738226#Comment_118738226

We've bought thermometers for every room. You can see the drop.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738370#Comment_118738370

Ok but how long does it take to drop a degree

20-30 mins to get cold after heating would suggest a window open to let that much heat out

mickdw

I know I'm specifying mechanical heat recovery and ventilation across the board on one off larger builds yet alot of estates builds are still using wall vents.

Personally, I don't agree with the old style wall vent when dealing with an A rated house as the heating system typically isn't up to dealing with such uncontrolled airflows.

Mechanical ventilation is balanced, controlled and recovers heat as air is exchanged.

Another issue is that in housing developments, only a percentage of houses are required to be air tested while all one off houses are air tightness tested. This surely results in very poor standards of detailing and construction (thrown together).

If the heat can do the job when on, I'd suggest you problem is airtightness and uncontrolled ventilation.

blackbox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738189#Comment_118738189

Quotation from your link "A closing device and an airflow controller can be used to protect from cold weather and strong winds.".

I presume you have them closed.

MHRV is mechanical heat recovery ventilation.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118738842#Comment_118738842

It’s only 5 houses so I would expect they all got tested

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739482#Comment_118739482

I read it that 5 houses on the street have issues not that there's 5 houses in the development. Are BER tests in developments done on random properties?

OP since this is affecting more than 1 property it looks like the builders have made a massive mistake in construction. I'd be talking to your neighbours and looking to get a professional survey done on the houses. If they are loosing heat that fast there is something major wrong and who knows what else they did wrong. My parents have a 70s house with no insolation and that doesn't loose heat that quick.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739557#Comment_118739557

I read it that it was a small development of 5 houses :-) one of us is right

You are correct in terms of heat loss, my house was 80 bugalow with zero insulation and it didnt lose heat like that. Previously I had a 70 house in Dublin, start semi....single pane windows etc and it held heat better.

Has to be serious issue to drop heat like that.

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739471#Comment_118739471

Yeah they're closed. The company called out too and said it can't be down to vents. The holes are too small. Even without the vent (so if it was literally just a hole) it'd take at least an hour for the whole house to lose the heat.

frankiekk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739557#Comment_118739557

Thanks Del2005, yeah I think I'll be contacting the others and getting someone out. But any idea who to ask? Can see there's a lot of options out there (BER Consultants, Air Tightness Tests, Therminal Imaging etc.) and they all cost a few hundred €. So don't know where to start!

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739716#Comment_118739716

I would get it assessed as if i was selling and say nothing about the problem... it is is compulsory (i think) to do this when selling a property so the person doing the test need not know... Get someone from a bit away as the locals will all know each other and may flag something in advance... You can compare with the original BER rating...

iColdFusion

I don't think another ber report is going to help you as that will just be based on the plans of what's supposed to have gone into your walls, thermal bridge details etc, I'm going to guess the house is timber frame so you should request the air tightness report from the builder, they have a legal requirement to achieve a minimum air tightness and if you can't get it consider getting your own one done.

Timber frames are very dependant on good workmanship and air tightness sealing or else your internal walls are venting directly to the external facade, less of an issue with older houses as you had block inside and out, hard to build an internal wall that stays standing with gaps in it!

Don't forget you have building control too, send your address to your local council dept and ask then to chase up that all the proper documents and test reports have been uploaded as part of BCMS, an engineer should have checked and signed off on the installation of insulation, etc

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118739716#Comment_118739716

No idea who to contact but I'd definitely be getting the air tightness checked as a 1st step. As I said my parents are in a 70s house with no insulation and some drafts and that doesn't loose heat that quickly.

Another thing to check is that the A2W system is configured correctly. If you are loosing heat that fast it could pulling the heat from your home.

Henry Ford III

Get a proper and independent BER done. If it's not up to the A2 standard talk to your solicitor.

Alkers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118740387#Comment_118740387

I don't think this will help, this will only record what should be there, not an actually assessment of whether it was built to standard.

What part of hte counry are you in?