Ballynoes

Hopefully ProDave will comment here, I also read his Blog about his house build, very interesting it was too. We are going to build a modest house of around 120M square with a U value of 0.1, as we have lived in a 200 year old drafty house for long enough. Underfloor heating is the preferred option, but I was looking at a GSHP, as I assumed they were better, however reading on here it looks like a properly specked ASHP will do just as well, as the heating demand for the house, I hope will be very limited, compared to our old drafty oil fed house at present. A log burner will also be installed, for those really cold evenings when we want to toast ourselves. Like Dave we live in the highlands, in the countryside where temperatures can get down to -15 in bad winters. The hope is that the house will be warm for getting up in the mornings, then off to work, and warm for coming home, as our old oil boiler does at present Am I therefore correct in that an ASHP will be effective at keeping the new house warm, electricity costs don't matter too much, as we have more flood lights round the outdoor riding school, than I care to mention.

Hi All, An interesting thread indeed. I am under the impression that an ASHP is not that efficient in the winter when needed the most, just out of ignorance really, as I don’t see how it can get much heat from a temp outside of say -10. Please feel free to correct me as I am new to all this. We are planning a new build in 14 months’ time, so I am looking at GSHP or ASHP. I have 10 acres, so land for the GSHP loops is not a real problem, but reading some of these posts it looks like there is not much difference in them. I will be installing underfloor heating, so what’s the secret to an ASHP, as the initial cost will be significantly lower, but I want the best option for our build, by the way it will be well above code as far as insulation is concerned. Also if I may, how are ASHP at heating water? We also wish to install a log burner for those days during the winter we are sat home.