Heating Systems

M

marsbars

Registered User
Messages
17
Hi All,

I am building new house and want an efficient heating system. Does anyone have a marble radiator heating system (available from smartsol)? I will be building a house with a good u value. How about wood pellets etc. Any info. will be gratefully received.
 
There is a grant scheme for the installation of certain types of renewable heating products, including wood pellets. See [broken link removed] for info.
 
i know someone who has that pellet system and they reckon it costs €6 per day to run it and €9 on cold days, the house its heating is not too big either, personally i think that it way too expensive, not sure if everyone has the same experience with this.

might be something to look into before you decide on this.
 
Nationwide had a thing on last night about this sort of thing.

A solar panel on the roof to that heats water for the cylinder, something about little wind turbines.

I saw a thing about gathering rain water to use for flushing toilets and grey water tasks. More relevant if you have a water meter like the uk.

There is a good program on tonight on bbc2 at 8.30 about going green, have a look at some of the ideas they have used.

He has installed a heat exchanger system, a water wheel to give some electricity, water from a spring with a pump using a wind turbine.

Mind you they do have plenty of elbow room.
 
About the wood pellets, you'd want a plentiful supply of wood close-by. If you have to buy them the bulk costs of fuels are :
gas 2.7 c/kWh
oil 3.4 c/kWh
wood pellets 4 c/kWh
- this ties in with what Judy says above.

Pellets price is based on €300/tonne, which I got from a supplier on the SEI list. They only supply bagged stuff, which is imported from abroad. It can be purchased in bulk up North for £108 per tonne, but you're talking 15 tonne deliveries! HOWEVER, a price of £108 per tonne makes it 2.1 c/kWh which is cheap compared to other fuels ...

Also, it is very important that the pellets do not have a high moisture content.
 
The cost of wood pellets per delivered unit might not stack up too well against oil and gas at the moment but in the future this could change.

Consider the fact that the gas crowd are looking for a 40% increase in their rate this year .... Makes you wonder where the price per delivered unit will be in 5 to 10 years time.

In my opinion, the trick with the wood pellet thing is that it is not overly damaging to the environment and it is sustainable. The wood that is being used as fuel is growing as quick as it is being harvested.
 
I would be concerned about the service life and parts availability of a wood pellet boiler.
It is interesting that manufacturers like Potterton and Myson are not doing a wood pellet unit.
Or Aga or Stanley etc for that matter.
 
Mars,

I am also building a house with a very low U value (using SIP system). The heating requirements are so low I am going with oil using a condenser boiler. The oil will be used to heat the air supplied through the house by a ventialtion system with heat recovery.

As far as i can make out solar panels for heating hotwater is a no brainer, if you intend to stay in the house for a long period of time. It does make sense. i have never heard anybody say to me they dont make long term financial sense.
Woodpellets am not convinced too many conflicting stories.
there is a very knowledgeable guy on this site who made a very valid point to me. He said the lower the U value and the heating requirements the less attractive are the alternative methods of heating a house. In saying that the grant system has made some of these more attractive. I find when doing research the best people to talk to are people who have these systems in their house. They can tell you the pros and cons. If you have a supplier of a product you are interested in ask them for a customers name and follow it up. they will hopefully fill you in on some of the pitfalls.
 
A radiator system isn't very efficient, esp. if the radiators are covered with something (marble?).
The first thing that should be done is to get a REAL architect or civil engeneer to figure out the heat demand of the building.There are three major figures: the total demand per year expressed in "kWh/a" and then the max. demand expressed in "kWh/m2max" and then the normal load expressed in "kWh/m2".
For the decision if it's worth to think about a heating system/any heating system the last number is the most important.
To keep this number at a low value it is most important that the house is designed not to loose energy.That means a good insulation but also a good design. The design is the first step: make it compact. No baywindows or other things sticking out, no pebble dash.
Then keep it hole free, no chimneys, no pipes sticking through the walls.
Then make it draft free, no holes(again!), no exit doors eqipped with letter boxes.
Insulate ALL fabric parts, incl. the ground floor, from the outside. Forget the usuall double wall system, insulation belongs on the outside. Insulation is there to protect the building, not to be protected by the building.
And then check the previous posts about home heating here on AAM.
A ZERO energy house can be constructed for as little as 5% extra of building costs. Tell your engineer that this would be his job. And let her/him sign a guarantee on this issue.
If you can't find a competent engineer check the web for "zero energy homes" or a similar search word, there is plenty of competition out there.
 
Thanks all for replys. According to seller of marble radiators it is a cheaper system as you do not need any fuel or central heating system. The rads are made of solid marble with an electric current that RADIATES the heat. This is a more efficient way of heating a room. You do not need oil, gas etc. Every room has its own thermostat which guarantees 100% efficiency with no heat lost through pipes etc. There is also case studies backing up cheaper overall cost. However I have not heard of anyone else who has this system. Regarding a solar panel, I am doubtful - it would cost 5000 euro. By using night saver electricity for two hours a day to heat your water (2kw x 2 hrs x .06 x 365) it would only cost about 100 euro for the year. In this case a solar panel would only save you 50 euro per year (about 50% of your running costs) leaving a 100 year payback!
 
Hi AJL,

Are you using the Nuaire solar air system to heat your house? If you are, do you mind me asking how much it will cost?

Regards
 
No redlady,

Have not completely decided. Looked at pro air and eco samrt system by Nuaire. Will keep you posted when i have made final decision. If I forget pm me in a couple of weeks!!!
 
Hi Just wondering what system you went with and are you happy with it.
You can pm me if you like. We are trying to decide a the moment and it is so hard to make a decision. Thanks
 
AJL said:
Mars,

I am also building a house with a very low U value (using SIP system). The heating requirements are so low I am going with oil using a condenser boiler.
Click to expand...

Excellent point, and one that's often overlooked. In our efforts to build better houses, to a higher standard, the actual energy requirement is falling. With a much lower energy requirement, the savings offered by some heating technologies would want to be huge, to justify the initial capital outlay. A very well insulated and well built house will only use a % of the oil you'd normally require anyway, so conventional fuels are back in the frame, quite easily - and even oil/gas based systems are improving all the time too, don't forget.......
 
A heating guy has suggested to me that by putting extra solar panels on the roof that as well as supplying hot water, I would be able to supplement my heating using the excess hot water from the panels circulated using Radiators particularly in the spring and the autumn when you would have still plenty rays from the sun and the odd day here and there during the winter. Is this a runner or is it worth the investment?
 

I always enjoy your posts Heinbloed.
I'm about to build in the next few months, and since I found out about AAM, a lot of my priorities have changed. Before AAM, I never would have considered energy efficiency, but now it's the single most important thing in my mind.

Its very interesting what you say about insulating everything (including the floor) from the outside.

Just one question, what system of construction would you use if you were building a new zero energy house, and what system of insulation, and what system of ensuring airtightness.
Its a fairly open question, but there are so many alternatives, and I want to be in a position to "suggest" ideas to my architect.
 
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