Home Energy Assessment

[MG Midget]

Was it worth 850 euro to get this information ?

Information like this can be found for free if you do a web search.

Finding draughts and plugging any gaps is not that difficult.
A night light candle slowly moved around doors, windows, skirting boards, floor boards etc will find the smallest of draughts.

The candle flame will flicker in response to tiny amounts of air flow.

As an example, a candle wouldn't tell me that the quality of my pumped walls was excellent or that my windows didn't need replacing (while my neighbour spend €25,000 upgrading theirs - both houses built by the same builder at the same time). All of this equals peace of mind.

I was approaching this from a perspective of what do I need to do with this house before I retire in order to future proof it

Loads of information on any topic is available with a simple web search, it is your knowledge of what to look for and ignore/implement. You could suggest a web search/You Tube videos for any possible service provider depending on your level of expertise

Was it worth it for me 100 percent

 

[SomethingWhere]

Is this for the cold rooms only ?
Is the heat on for longer in the warmer rooms ?
Do the radiators in the cold rooms feel as hot, top and bottom as the ones in the warmer rooms.

Sorry, I only spotted this post now. I am a new user so I need to let time pass before I can post again.

Yeah - this is for cold rooms only.
No, the heating is controls by the boiler and a simple on/off/timer. So the heating is on the same amount of time in all rooms.
The rads are all piping hot to touch. I don't feel a difference between the warm and colder rooms.

Were you thinking it was a central heating problem?

 

[S class]

Were you thinking it was a central heating problem?

In this very cold period 2 hours is a very short heating time.
The fabric of your house will be at a very low temperature and will not get much chance of gaining a lot of heat in 2 hours.

Think of your house as a very large heat battery. 2 hours of heat charging time will not charge it up to any significant heat level.

Your C2 rated house can only maintain a heating charge if it has actually been given a reasonable heating charge in the first place.

In the 2 hours you are basically heating the air in the room and adding a few degrees of heat to the building fabric.

When you turn off the heating the building fabric then cools the air back down to its temperature.

Your house is probably a lot better performing than you are thinking at the moment.

There might be a lack of insulation in the colder rooms or a draught problem.

Are the radiators in these rooms roughly the same size to room area ratio as in the warmer rooms ?

I would be inclined to check out any problems in the two cold rooms rather than spending 850 euro getting the whole house examined.

 

[SomethingWhere]

In this very cold period 2 hours is a very short heating time.
The fabric of your house will be at a very low temperature and will not get much chance of gaining a lot of heat in 2 hours.

Think of your house as a very large heat battery. 2 hours of heat charging time will not charge it up to any significant heat level.

Your C2 rated house can only maintain a heating charge if it has actually been given a reasonable heating charge in the first place.

In the 2 hours you are basically heating the air in the room and adding a few degrees of heat to the building fabric.

When you turn off the heating the building fabric then cools the air back down to its temperature.

Your house is probably a lot better performing than you are thinking at the moment.

There might be a lack of insulation in the colder rooms or a draught problem.

Are the radiators in these rooms roughly the same size to room area ratio as in the warmer rooms ?

I would be inclined to check out any problems in the two cold rooms rather than spending 850 euro getting the whole house examined.

Interesting. I wonder how long is enough time to run the heating for to warm the fabric of the house - I guess to me it seems crazy to run the heating for so long when the people inside are warm - but maybe I am looking at it incorrectly.

The radiators look like they are appropriately sized for the room compared to the rooms that warm up well.

 

[lff12]

I bought a C2 detached house a few months ago. It was built in 2001 and is heated with a gas boiler. It has attic and wall cavity insulation but it is very cold.

I know its freezing outside right now, but some rooms can get to a comfortable enough temperature (18/20 degrees) but other rooms struggle to get above 15 even with the heating on for 2 hours or so. I also feel the house gets cold very quickly - which is surprising given that it has insulation added. Last night, most rooms dropped 6 degrees in temperature until 7am.

I am starting to go a bit mad. First, I think that the wall cavity insulation was not done correctly, or not done at all on certain walls (some walls have no clear marks of pumping holes - although it pebble dash so its hard to see). I then think its the windows/doors that are the problem. Then I think that the heating systems is not setup correctly (even though all rads are roasting to touch).

I want to do an assessment to tell me what is what. My questions are:

1. Should I get a Home Energy Assessment or a Heat Pump Assessment?
2. Are these tests actually checking the walls/windows for the actual heat loss, or do they just give an estimate based on the year of construction, known upgrades, etc?
3. Do they do it by room; so they can tell exactly why one room holds heat better than an other room (i.e., the wall in one room has cavity insulation, while the other one does not - or that a specific window is a problem)?

I just don't want a generic report like BER that is based on assumptions. I want specific reports by room and exactly why heat is being lost.

Could someone please help guide me on this?

Thanks!

Technical assessors who do home energy assessments and BER inspections can also do standalone assessments on homes like yours to identify problems and help come up with viable solutions.
Of course if you go the SEAI route there's discounting on this included.