berlininvest
Registered User
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Background
My brother in law is building a 2500 sq ft dormer house on a standalone site on his own land.
The problem
His head is melted trying to decide what heating system to go for.
The house
He is building his house to a high spec of wall, floor and roof insulation, with DG (e-glass and argon) windows which are more on the south/west aspect than on the north/east aspect. However, it would not be a passive house.
He has provision for 2 solid fuel stoves in the house, to burn turf, but these would not be the main source of heat for the house.
Preferred system for current conditions
As things stand, he favours an oil-fired condensing boiler with rads, on a timer, with thermostatic rad valves. He believes that he will need minimal amounts of heating to keep the house at a comfortable level because of the relatively low heat loss. I would imagine 1000 litres of oil would go a long way for him in the year. He wants the flexibility of the 'quick blast' of heat if need be that an oil boiler can give.
Doubts about 'green' systems
He is also dubious about geothermal or air-to-water at this stage. For geothermal, while there are examples of it working well, there are also many examples of it NOT working well. Also, if the geothermal collector pipes go wrong, it seems like a big job digging around to fix it.
Another major negative is the cost of electricity to drive the geothermal or air-to-water.
Planning for future oil prices
However, he is aware that the only way is up for oil, long term, and over the life of the house, oil could be very much dearer, becoming an even bigger part of the household budget.
At some point he might then want to change to some kind of 'green' technology e.g. one of the forms of geothermal / air-to-water to drive the heating system. Perhaps at that stage the technology will be bog standard, cheaper, and possibly grant aided or subsidised. However, he has been told that these would not be suitable for driving rads.
So, if he were to change from oil to geothermal / air-to-water, he would have to retrofit under-floor heating i.e. tear the house apart. Not really an option.
Make provision for UFH
He was wondering if it would be a mad idea to go ahead with the traditional OFCH system, with oil boiler and rads, but to also install the under floor heating network? At least then it is there if he decided to switch at some point in the future.
He is aware that this might be overkill, but wanted to check with the people on here as to what they think.
Questions
1. Would it be a lot more expense to install UFH that may not ever be used?
2. Is it technically feasible i.e. would the rads system get in the way of the UFH ?
3. Could he even have UFH mixed with a few rads on the same system?
4. Is there a danger the UFH system would corrode or degrade if it is not commissioned and in use?
5. Has anyone else done this or thought about this?
6. Would he be better to just use the oil boiler with UFH from day 1, and forget the rads, and then switch 'boiler' if he wants to down the line?
7. If he is to do that, how can he get the quick blast of heat he might want at certain times? Surely this is an issue for anyone with UFH?
8. He is also concerned that the UFH, driven by the oil boiler, would be less efficient than traditional rads run by oil boiler - would that be true?
9. He has heard horror-stories of UFH taking a couple of days to warm up, and then being too hot or too cold for the conditions at any given time. Could this be satisfactorily overcome with proper use of thermostats (inside and out) and timers?
Final points to note
Other points to note is that he is going with solar panels to help with hot water, he is surrounded by any amount of the finest bogland in Ireland, and he might also be tempted to put in a wind turbine at some future date (could be used to run another family home beside this one which also has a business attached). Maybe if he had 'free' electricity it might make the geothermal / air to water system more attractive.
Please give your advice
Thanks for reading this far. I know there is not a simple answer, in some ways there are too many choices.
It would be really appreciated if someone with knowledge and experience could look at this scenario and even say which options are definitely bad or which ones are more sensible.
My brother in law is building a 2500 sq ft dormer house on a standalone site on his own land.
The problem
His head is melted trying to decide what heating system to go for.
The house
He is building his house to a high spec of wall, floor and roof insulation, with DG (e-glass and argon) windows which are more on the south/west aspect than on the north/east aspect. However, it would not be a passive house.
He has provision for 2 solid fuel stoves in the house, to burn turf, but these would not be the main source of heat for the house.
Preferred system for current conditions
As things stand, he favours an oil-fired condensing boiler with rads, on a timer, with thermostatic rad valves. He believes that he will need minimal amounts of heating to keep the house at a comfortable level because of the relatively low heat loss. I would imagine 1000 litres of oil would go a long way for him in the year. He wants the flexibility of the 'quick blast' of heat if need be that an oil boiler can give.
Doubts about 'green' systems
He is also dubious about geothermal or air-to-water at this stage. For geothermal, while there are examples of it working well, there are also many examples of it NOT working well. Also, if the geothermal collector pipes go wrong, it seems like a big job digging around to fix it.
Another major negative is the cost of electricity to drive the geothermal or air-to-water.
Planning for future oil prices
However, he is aware that the only way is up for oil, long term, and over the life of the house, oil could be very much dearer, becoming an even bigger part of the household budget.
At some point he might then want to change to some kind of 'green' technology e.g. one of the forms of geothermal / air-to-water to drive the heating system. Perhaps at that stage the technology will be bog standard, cheaper, and possibly grant aided or subsidised. However, he has been told that these would not be suitable for driving rads.
So, if he were to change from oil to geothermal / air-to-water, he would have to retrofit under-floor heating i.e. tear the house apart. Not really an option.
Make provision for UFH
He was wondering if it would be a mad idea to go ahead with the traditional OFCH system, with oil boiler and rads, but to also install the under floor heating network? At least then it is there if he decided to switch at some point in the future.
He is aware that this might be overkill, but wanted to check with the people on here as to what they think.
Questions
1. Would it be a lot more expense to install UFH that may not ever be used?
2. Is it technically feasible i.e. would the rads system get in the way of the UFH ?
3. Could he even have UFH mixed with a few rads on the same system?
4. Is there a danger the UFH system would corrode or degrade if it is not commissioned and in use?
5. Has anyone else done this or thought about this?
6. Would he be better to just use the oil boiler with UFH from day 1, and forget the rads, and then switch 'boiler' if he wants to down the line?
7. If he is to do that, how can he get the quick blast of heat he might want at certain times? Surely this is an issue for anyone with UFH?
8. He is also concerned that the UFH, driven by the oil boiler, would be less efficient than traditional rads run by oil boiler - would that be true?
9. He has heard horror-stories of UFH taking a couple of days to warm up, and then being too hot or too cold for the conditions at any given time. Could this be satisfactorily overcome with proper use of thermostats (inside and out) and timers?
Final points to note
Other points to note is that he is going with solar panels to help with hot water, he is surrounded by any amount of the finest bogland in Ireland, and he might also be tempted to put in a wind turbine at some future date (could be used to run another family home beside this one which also has a business attached). Maybe if he had 'free' electricity it might make the geothermal / air to water system more attractive.
Please give your advice
Thanks for reading this far. I know there is not a simple answer, in some ways there are too many choices.
It would be really appreciated if someone with knowledge and experience could look at this scenario and even say which options are definitely bad or which ones are more sensible.