# A3 rated house



## badgerhowlin (13 Feb 2012)

Hi,

Im not sure what is the best way to put this question.

How much should an A3 rated house save you, is what i want to ask but i have no base line to go with 
SO
Maybe how much does your avarage A3 rated house cost to run might be a better way of putting it.

House has a geo thermal heat pump to heat it.


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## lowCO2design (13 Feb 2012)

A3 is now the minimum requirement under the 2011 TGDL building regulations

why not tell us how much your house is costing you to heat? and have you gone back to the Geo-HP/UFH sales people?


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## badgerhowlin (13 Feb 2012)

The reason i have no base line is because this is a new house. SO no cost at the moment!

Yes i have gone to them and they have given me names of people that they installed the heat pump i called them and they told me how much it is costing them to heat the house but they have no BER cert.(about €1300 a year in electric)

Didnt know A3 is the min , as the official from the co.co told me i needed a b3! 

On a side note
Wouldnt you think that would be something that should  be in my planning requirements. It didnt even tell me i needed a BER cert.

I have bull stuff about not keeping pegs or life stock in my garage!!!


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## threebedsemi (13 Feb 2012)

badgerhowlin:

If you house is already constructed, or has received planning permission before last November, the relevant ‘TGD L’ is from 2008, and a B3 rating may well meet the requirements. Therefore the official from the Co.Co. was not entirely incorrect.


If you have applied for planning permission since November 2011, the new TGD L applies, and in this case an A3 rating is likely to be required. 


There is no 'catchall answer' for how much an A3 house should cost to heat. It depends on the individual house design, orientation, what the actual constructed airtightness is, etc. 

You should have a BER certificate for your house if it is built, or a preliminary one if you have not built yet. The person who prepared this cert should be able to estimate your heat load from the BER calculations. From this, the cost of providing the required heat should be easily to calculate. He can do this for both an ‘A3’ and a ‘B3’ and should be able to tell you the difference.

Bear in mind that there are several ways of achieving an ‘A3’ rating. What you should be focusing on is maximising your insulation levels, airtightness, window orientation for solar gain, thus minimising your heat load. The BER rating, renewables etc. will then generally then take care of themselves. 

A BER assessor who knows what he is doing is worth his weight in gold in terms of good advice and for talking through options, a guy offering a BER cert for €100 is not.


Just to clarify your sidenote, the Planning System and the Building Regulation System (including BER Certs) are based on totally different Statutory Instruments. Conditions on a planning permission should only relate to planning matters, and Local Authorities have no business putting conditions relating to building regulations in a planning permission (another plus mark for the Co.Co. official!)

www.studioplustwo.com


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## badgerhowlin (13 Feb 2012)

I have a preliminary one.  House is almosts finished.  all insulation, Heat pump, heat recovery windows are in.  I just need to sent on the certs for the windows and doors.

I could see 56.3KWh\m2 or something like that on his BER program when he was correcting some of the information he had done out


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## lowCO2design (13 Feb 2012)

badgerhowlin said:


> I have a preliminary one.  House is almosts finished.  all insulation, Heat pump, heat recovery windows are in.  I just need to sent on the certs for the windows and doors.
> 
> I could see 56.3KWh\m2 or something like that on his BER program when he was correcting some of the information he had done out


whoever sized, installed & commissioned the HP unit (preferrably the same guy as installed the under floor) is your point of contact as regards its running costs. 
btw you installed mvhr: have you done an air-tightness test?


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## threebedsemi (13 Feb 2012)

Don't be afraid to quizz the person who did the BER cert for you until you are satisified. If they are not willing to stand over and explain their calculations, what use are the calculations? 

Also, as LowCO2design said, the suppliers/fitters of the HP unit must have carried out some calculations in order to design and commission the system, and they should be ableto provide these for you. The other option is that they took the findings of the BER cert at face value, which brings you back around to quizzing the BER assessor...  

www.studioplustwo.com


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