underfloor heating in a period property

[JMartin]

What's your energy consumption like? Have you noticed a dramatic increase since installing the heat pump?

Clearly this needs to be taken into consideration with the cost of usual heating fuel but the whole reason we, and I'm sure many others, like the idea of the heat pump is that future price increases in fuel would have less effect than if we were slaves to oil or lpg.

 

[MdB]

The heat pump tell me it is running at 30 deg for the radiators upstairs at the moment.

That's interesting to know. Thanks. We are going to leave upstairs unheated to start with to see how much heat from downstairs leaks upstairs. We can live for a year like that and then make a decision on what to do.

 

[KN]

We haven't lived here with any other form of heating so I've nothing to compare to. All I know is the house is costing us far less than our last one that was oil, and it is bigger (7 beds over 4 floors). We also have an electric aga and run a B&B so our electricity consumption is going to be higher than the average house.

 

[KN]

MdB

Our underfloor heating rises up the stairs and does a really good job at heating all the way up (to second floor) so we haven't any radiators on the stairs. If you keep the bedroom doors open it should work for you.

 

[MdB]

... and run a B&B ...

Do your guests notice the under floor heating? Any negative comments?

 

[KN]

The B&B's comment how warm the house is, I think they think Old house bring your jumpers!

The only thing I would do differently is in the bathrooms as the towl rails aren't as warm and we have big bathrooms. Also I put the sensors in the house too high so I have to make a bit of an adjustment with the settings.

Karen

 

[ljn]

I too hope to be proved wrong, so I was glad to read about KN's positive experience.

I also heard that the Albert Hall used to be heated with a similar system up untill the 70's and that can't have been an easy space to heat.

 

[AMc]

I'm encouraged to read KN's comments. Half our house will be refurbed with new (sub) floors for underfloor heating and the tiles relaid - the walls and roof will be insulated as there is nothing left of the original finishes.
Upstairs and in the other half there are suspended floors so we need to stick with radiators.
One of the heatpump quotes suggested fan assisted radiators which I instinctively didn't like (noise, reliability, cost etc.) so the idea of some oversized cast iron ones is much more appealing.

I also did some research into wood pellet boilers as a more sustainable replacement for our aging oil fired system - big drawback is the size of storage needed for the pellets but they are still 'on the list' as a possibility.

 

[Flyfisher]

I also did some research into wood pellet boilers as a more sustainable replacement for our aging oil fired system - big drawback is the size of storage needed for the pellets but they are still 'on the list' as a possibility.

Ditto, although after the usual web research I contacted a couple of fairly local companies specialising in such systems but they never did get back to me with any further details. Presumably, they weren't interested in, or couldn't meet, our needs, which is fair enough but I get so annoyed when suppliers don't just say so.

 

[skier-hughes]

So fay I have contacted 5 companies for the same sort of thing, one has said yes, shortly will contact me when they do - nearly 12 months ago now- one said no, 3 haven't replied.

 

[AMc]

@Flyfisher as you are also in Norfolk.
The company I spoke to are Anglia Woodburners 01603 716200 - just off the A47 in North Burlingham. They've been very helpful with our woodburner ) ), getting the chimney swept and replacing some bits that fell off.
They are moving into installation of Windhager systems (http://www.windhager.com/).
I had some interesting conversations with the owner Nigel (IIRC?) He also put me in touch with the UK distributor who answered some of my concerns - the pellets being trucked from Austria (there are plants setting up in the UK now) pellet storage and automatic operation.
We had hoped to see their working exhibition unit which Windhager brought from Austria to the Norfolk show but we didn't make it in the end.

I haven't been back in touch as we are still working on plans for the renovation/conversion of the house but I would definitely give them a call if you're interested in the idea.

A world away from the useless GSHP 'quote' I got from a Norfolk firm that contained a single line item and turned out to include £16K for drilling a borehole

I have also heard good things about http://www.eco-conversions.co.uk in the underfloor/GSHP area from a local builder and a local architect. Our kids go to the same nursery and so I'm trying to organise a 'play date' for the kids with site visit for the Dads at some point.

 

[KN]

We had a quote for a pellet boiler and it was about £40,000 for our house, and looking at the pellet costs they went up and down with the oil price. Also you have to have the pellets delivered and keep them in a huge vat. I can just forget about my heat pump. :wink:

 

[Penners]

We had a quote for a pellet boiler and it was about £40,000 for our house

Was that the solid gold model? Steel is more heat resistant, you know.