Heat pumps V conventional

jill4287

We are about to embark on a barn conversion. we would like to go with an alternative to LPG/Oil. Mains gas is not an option and I do not want to go all electric. I was initially thinking of a combination of heat pump, ground or air plus PV and solar panels if I can get them on my slate roof without wrecking the look. Cost is an issue, when isnt it? and the world is full of people trying to sell you something. its hard to get clear independent advice. Its is an upside down house and overall will be 250m2 (external measurement). Its upside down with a master suite , dining kitchen and separate living room upstairs overall internal is 114m2. Down stairs consists of two guest bedrooms, utility, entrance lobby/study and a 'granny' suite with bed/sitting room, bathroom etc. We want to keep the open ceilings into the beams upstairs so the rooms will be high at the roof apex, Floor to roof apex approx 7 m. We intend to go with good insulation floor, walls and ceiling. Windows have to be timber framed and we will try to stretch to the but we can. There will be 3 adults living full time in the house, one of them elderly and most likely there will be some one at home most days. We want any system to supply sufficient heat in winter and, given our summers, when its needed at other times of the year and hot water for showers /domestic hot water etc. Given the design the master en suite, kitchen utility and granny pad are all down the same end of the house. This means we would only need to run hot water to the sinks in the guest en suites and perhaps fit good electric showers as they would only be used occasionally. Log burner in the livingroom because we love them.

Has anyone out there had a system fitted that is meeting their needs, comes up to expectations and justifies the capitol out lay?? I would love to hear what you have to say and would like very much to speak to real people with real experience of being at the consumer end of these systems. Right now I am spinning like a top and starting to panic a bit!

[Deleted User]

Suggest also posting on http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/ and http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/

I have the ASHP/PV/Stove combo and have to say very very happy so far.

However your property is very large and of different construction/layout so don't feel qualified to offer any specific advice.

What I did was get as many expert heating installers for all different types of technologies through the door then sit down and piece the jigsaw together...

If you want answers to specific questions feel free to either PM me or post reply?

lovesgshp

Is the heating going to be rads or underfloor? Your best option would be a ground source heat pump. You would not really need the solar hot water panels, as the pump can supply copious loads of hot water with a very fast recharge time.
Off the top of my head, you would probably need a 14Kw output unit, with a 300 ltr domestic hot water tank. This could also remove the need for the electric showers.
Although I am in Italy, am quite willing to answer any questions you may have on the subject.

TiredGeek

A heat pump should suite you perfectly
Good insulation, probably underfloor heating, need for heating all day - a heat pump is perfect.

If you have ground that is good a GSHP will work well, but they cost more to fit what with trenches for pipes etc. Forget bore holes unless you have ££££££ which you've already said you don't
ASHP are cheaper to fit, nearly as efficient and would also do you well, particularly if your soil isn't moist or you don't have a large enough area of ground to play with.

With this technology the main thing is planning and installation. Get either wrong and you lose efficiency or it stops working in extreme cases (ask me how I know ). Done right they're wonderful

Cardew will be here soon saying about capital outlay versus interest from the bank - valid points.
Consider your options carefully, sometimes oil may stack up finacially.... for us it didn't, for you it may

Cardew

TiredGeek wrote: »

Cardew will be here soon saying about capital outlay versus interest from the bank - valid points.
Consider your options carefully, sometimes oil may stack up finacially.... for us it didn't, for you it may

One dificulty you face is that you won't get an honest appraisal on the suitability of your barn conversion for an ASHP - from firms who install ASHPs!!

You will get absolutely no guarantee of the performance of your ASHP system; indeed it will be impossible for you to know the performance unless you get the manufacturer to monitor. So as said above:

With this technology the main thing is planning and installation. Get either
wrong and you lose efficiency or it stops working in extreme cases (ask me how I
know )

So you just make sure it is planned and installed correctly! How you ensure that happens is the difficult part!!!! Every installer will assure you of their expertise.

Also, as said above, the capital outlay is huge; £15,000 to £20,000 for a 250 square metre property??? You have to consider not only the lost interest on the capital(or interest to pay on a loan) set against the additional running costs of oil, but to pay back that additional cost to purchase.