Heat recovery system??

scottishpedro

Hi all

I live in a 4 bedroom house. it is has a spare bedroom on the south side of the house which is above the kitchen and 2 bedrooms and a family bathroom situated above another bedroom and sitting room on the north side of the house. The open plan kitchen/hallway/living area/staircase is in the middle of the house. The open living space is double height and probably makes up 50% of the volume of the house.

It takes a fair bit of heating (oil central heating and large wood burning stove) to heat the main space, and obviously the hot air rises to the roof space.

I was recommended to get a heat recovery system. I am not an expert on this but was advised it may be best to have the unit in the loft above the north wing of the house. air would be drawn through a vent from the high open plan area, into the unit and down into the bedrooms and sitting room below.

I have some questions. Is the main purpose of the heat recovery system to improve air circulation/cleanliness of air, or could it be installed with the main purpose being utilising the heat which rises in the open living area and lost through the roof? would it be worthwhile having the system installed (i.e. would the temperature of the bedrooms rise a significant amount, maybe enough not to require the radiators to be on?)
Roughly how much could I expect to pay for a system to be installed? How long should I expect the system to run effectively for and does it take much maintenance?

Many thanks in advance

Pedro

Pincher

The key component is the heat exchanger.
If you understand what that does, you wouldn't be asking the question.

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/xpelair_whole_house_ventilation_heat_recovery.html

It's easy to do the extract vent at ceiling level, but the incoming fresh air can a bit difficult. You will probably run it down through the 1st floor behind a wardrobe or something.

A by-product of cooling breathed air is condensation: drip, drip.