air to water heating

J

joshea

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About to begin the plumbing of a new build in the next month.
Have tried to study in summary the advantages and disadvantages of the different environmentally friendly systems,

Hoping to go with the "air to water" system, mainly because the capital investment is not as much as the others, given the economic climate we are facing.

Any do's or dont's would be very much appreciated

j
 
Hi,

Am considering putting in the air to water system, advice is from my brother who is involved as an energy assessor and has advised these as a much better alternative to solar. The installer has put in a couple of systems and the running costs are prooving to be very economic, return on investment working out far better than solar. System is no different to install than a regular system and no special considerations to be made.

Hope this helps.
 
joshea said:
About to begin the plumbing of a new build in the next month.
Have tried to study in summary the advantages and disadvantages of the different environmentally friendly systems,

Hoping to go with the "air to water" system, mainly because the capital investment is not as much as the others, given the economic climate we are facing.

Any do's or dont's would be very much appreciated

j
Click to expand...

I have an air-to-water system and have had terrible trouble with it. The running costs are very high in my case.

I have done a good bit of research on it and there are mixed views on it. In some cases, it works very well and economically, at an average cost of around €2 per day. In other cases, like mine unfortunately, the cost is around €8 per day average. I have read in some places that Ireland's damp climate does not suit air-to-water as the moisture requires the system to frequently defrost, using up a lot of electricity.

Although the system has not been cost-effective in my case, it obviously does work for some people, so I wouldn't necessarily be turning you against it.

I'd be intersted in hearing any info you come across that helps you make your decision.

In terms of dos and don'ts:
  • A key requirement is top notch insulation.
  • Make sure ththe system is powerful enough for the size of the house (my own system is too small, so it has to work hard all the time to heat the house, thus costing a lot of money in ESB bills).
  • I am also told that there should be no rads on the system (I have rads upstairs).
  • Make sure the piping running from the unit outside to the house is the proper (expensive) preinsulated type.
 
any heat-pump based heating system needs to be fitted into a dwelling that is adequately designed for it

as record has said, there are certain dos and donts

1. the house should be at least A rated (the heat pump itself is a major factor... so all building elements should be above minimum)
2. the house should be air tight... with a test result of min q50 = 5
3. a mechanical heat recover unit SHOULD be used. Passive vents and heat pumps are contradictory.
4. heat pumps suit under floor heating... to use them with rads means they will constantly be running at high settings thus reducing their efficiency.
5. if using air-to-water try to design a 'glass house' / 'winter room' type feature into the house, therefore the air intake temps will be above the climatic temps.
 
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