Been giving this some thought recently.
I have a gas boiler that supply’s both my heating and hot water.
In the UK they plan to phase out new gas boilers in new builds from 2025 and replacement boilers by 2030.
New boilers are expensive to replace add to that the cost of any replacement radiators etc.
I have been looking at alternatives and the best efficient way of heating a house I believe is
Infrared panels, It appears cheaper to install and run and save space as they can be mounted on ceilings etc.
I would have to purchase and install a hot water tank which in theory could be heated by the Sun if positioned in the right place.
Of course all of this would have to integrate into a smart home. Anyone else had any ideas and thoughts and ideas round this.?
Do you mean IR panels to heat inside directly or do you mean IR panels to preheat water running through them?
There’s a company local to me called Tepeo that is making thermal mass boilers. It is interesting technology and I know they are looking for beta testers. Let me know if you would like an intro!
I am thinking of panels to heat inside directly, but I am open to other ways of heating a home. I’m not ready to change yet as I’m waiting for the boiler to fail. but I want to be ready with a plan
I live in an house built in the 80s which is heated by oil. Since we moved in, we are constantly investing in the most cost efficient measures to bring consumption down. Then end goal is of course to heat carbon neutral.
But I guess the preconditions between UK and Switzerland are so different that the approaches would be very different.
Do you know you would be comfortable with this sort of heating? The room will not be as warm as you are used to but you may feel comfortable because the radiant heat will be warming your body (mainly your head!).
You would still be buying 1 kW of electricity to produce 1 kW of heat. Much better to consider a heat pump which will produce 2 to 5 kW of heat from 1 kW of electricity.
Not so easy Dan but anything you do in that respect will save you money whichever heating system you settle on. In order of priority: more insulation in loft; seal draughts; wall insulation - either cavity, internal or external insulated cladding; floor insulation and double glazed windows.
Then you can go heat pump, solar panels, battery storage etc.!
I think the problem is not the bad insulation per se, but the fact that you have to heat such a house with very high temperature water. And that means the heat pump will not work efficiently and you are basically just heating with electricity.
For tap water, you can buy boilers with an integrated heat pump. I guess that is a good idea in many cases where you simply want to replace a tap water boiler.
Surely solar thermal/PV combination is good for this? I believe the water gets pre-heated by the thermal and then solar electricity can be used to increase to hight temp…
Does anyone use Apilio for any of this stuff yet? If so is there anything else needed as we are very keen to support a transition to clean house energies.
Heat pumps only produce very low grade heat. This means that for the average house you need to replace all of the radiators with bigger units to get the required amount of heat out. This makes an expensive option even more expensive.
As for cavity wall insulation there have been too many problems with damp ingress for me to consider it. One of my families homes has been ruined by this and their compensation claim has been going for over 2 years with no end in sight. In the meantime they have to live in a very damp house.
The last contractor to knock on my door offering to install it foc admitted to me that he wouldn’t do it to his house!
The reason I am attracted to IR heating was proven to me yesterday, my thermometer in the garden only read 18c but when i was in the sun it felt a lot hotter, this is what I like ambient temperature is low but feeling warm, and as IR warms up walls and furniture around you you have the benefit of radiated heat
I agree it has got to be worth a try. I must admit I don’t instinctively love the idea of introducing an additional radiation source in the house, albeit benign, but it seems an entirely sensible approach and I respect your logic @Drivingforce .