Geothermal & UFH in Roscommon area

K

kilros

Registered User
Messages
12
Hi,
I have read all the posts regarding Geothermal Heating, Ground Source Heat Pump and Underfloor Heating. Loads and Loads of good information. I am in the middle of building a house at the moment in Roscommon and everyone I talk to has an opinion about the heating I should put in the house (Wood pellet / Geothermal / Oil /etc)

I am going to go with the Geothermal option. I am not sure even if I should call it the Ground Source Heat pump option. it seems to depend on who I talk to with regard to what what name it goes by.

I have quotes from Climate Control , Alternative Heating and Cooling, Environmental Installations, and EurEcoBuilder and they are all around the 12,000 mark for the UFH and between 14,000 - 18,000 for the Geo

Can anyone actually recommend a company that they were happy with that did an installation of Underfloor Heating? And a company that did an install of geothermal heating?
 
qwerty,

if you don't mind you might send me a pm of that too, im at the same stage and i'm installing geothermal, i have atleast 7 different quotes, various prices going from excess of 35,000 to 21,000.
the more quotes you get the lighter your head gets i say, however i have been talking to some people and then say that the you can't just have one, that on compliments the other, like geothermal/solar and wood pellet/solar, i was going to do this from the start, put solar panels with the geothermal thats why i orientate my house with one long roof facing south.

but now im not so sure, the idea i got was you leave the geothermal running for the winter, when the summer comes around you turn off the geothermal and run the solar. now i have a problem with that, if you leave a pump off for a number of months, thats when you get maintence problems. somebody reassure me please.
 

PM Sent.

We don't have Solar panels, so our GSHP provides the HW during the summer. There also are days during the summer, where the weather isn't so sunny and warm (quite a few) and the GSHP comes on for a while. It's all automatic. You never have to touch it, if it's really cold out, the heat turns up for a faster response. We are extremely happy with it.
 
Just one last question qwerty, what are the running costs like on the system you have installed.
 
Has anyone here installed the geothermal/GSHP with overground radiators. I would like to hear your comments. I am thinking of installing high efficiency radiators with the GSHP. One manufacturor I have heard of is "Solo"
 
JoeHooker said:
Just one last question qwerty, what are the running costs like on the system you have installed.
Click to expand...

January 4.53
February4.53
March4.02
April4.10
May2.67
June1.23
July1.01
August1.42
September1.53
October2.42
November4.06
December4.35

Which is averaging 2.99 a day or 1091 a year, not including Nightsaver. Obviously house size and setup will vary these running costs, but thats the running costs for a 3500 sq foot house.
 

Hi Qwerty,

How did you separate you're normal ESB usage from the GSHP? Or are these figures for your entire usage?

Do you not have a night meter or if you do then why did you not quote the usage on that too? I was under the impression that the best way to run a gshp is for it to do most of its work at night on a night rate meter.

I'm really curious about these because I'm swiftly approaching decision time myself and I've heard some great reports and some nightmares.

As a relevant aside, how did you build? Standard block or timber frame or other? The biggest success I've heard of to date (with a gshp) is with a timber frame build.
 
sas said:
Hi Qwerty,

How did you separate you're normal ESB usage from the GSHP? Or are these figures for your entire usage?.
Click to expand...

I put a separate private meter on the GSHP, so i take readings twice a day off it.

sas said:
Do you not have a night meter or if you do then why did you not quote the usage on that too? I was under the impression that the best way to run a gshp is for it to do most of its work at night on a night rate meter.
Click to expand...

We have nightsaver, but i never take the readings at the right time each day to work out the cost per day and per night, so I roughly estimate my costs at €850 -900 for the year when you take nightsaver into acc.


sas said:
As a relevant aside, how did you build? Standard block or timber frame or other? The biggest success I've heard of to date (with a gshp) is with a timber frame build?
Click to expand...

We used standard block, with plenty of insulation- 105mm cavity fill, 100mm xtratherm in the GF, 300mm fibreglass in attics, and 125mm xtratherm on sloping ceilings.
I would believe timberframes running costs would be a lot better, but I wanted hollowcore and a concrete stairs for sound and fire safety, and it was an odd shaped house, so Timberframe was out for me.
 
Good stuff. That all makes sense.

Don't suppose you'd PM the details of your supplier etc too.
 
I just wondered if, from your experience of geothermal underfloor heating in newbuild, you think it would be do-able as part of a renovation? I am looking at old stonebuilt cottages and considering/trying to cost ufh under slabs or quarry-tile supplemented with solar panel with back-up from a conventional range.
 
Hi, just a question for Qwerty. A bit off track but just wondering if you'd post details of your concrete stairs. We're in the middle of a new build and looking at stairs and don't think I really like wooden stairs. Did you do your stairs yourself, or your builders or is a specialist company needed? Any details would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
It can be done, but you will have to dig up alot of the existing floor, at least 150 - 200mm of it, to allow for insulation and the screed. And at that depth you will probably have hit soil, so will have to go another 100mm for concrete/dpm.

I got a local crowd to shutter and pour them for me. Ours was quite complicated to do, as it turned 90, and then 45 degrees. As i mentioned fire was one reason I wanted concrete stairs, the other was that if made of timber we would have two newels running down into to the hall, which would have been messy. Rough price for a straight run is €1250 excluding concrete, in Mayo anyways.
 
Vertical option or horizontal option? Is one better than the other?

Is one more economical than the other?

Looks like I can get either system put in but I am not sure which one is better ?
 
Despite what some installers will lead you to believe, heat pumps and their circulating pumps are noisy. Don't install in a utility next to a bedroom if you can help it or at least try and hear one in action in a house.
Install outside or in a garage if possible.
 

We have ours in the centre of the house. It is a little noisy, but definately less than an oil fired boiler. I could have put it in the garage but due to heat loss betwen the garage and the house we decided it better situated in the house, and to be honest haven't regretted it in a year. We have hollowcore so that helps with the noise.
 
Make sure to have service ducts to carry the ground loop pipes to wherever the heat pump is going to be located in early, before the ground concrete slab is poured so that the pipes are entering the house below the frost line.
 
Given all the issues associated with ufh do you think a builder who usually does 'conventional' rehabs could manage it or would this require site management by someone with experience? Just thinking all the financial 'bits and pieces' put together make the project costly.
 
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