ykhan16

I'm going to apply for the 5K government grant for ASHP- will this dictate whether the heat pump can be run in cooling mode?

Funnily enough also looking at this what with the weather we're having! We are going with ASHP with UFH downstairs and radiators upstairs. From what i've gathered through scanning the thread the simplest method would be running the ASHP in cooling mode with the UFH taking care of the downstairs- the neatest method for the 1st floor would be fan assisted radiators in the bedrooms. I cant however find these after searching- anyone can direct? Second question- is it worth getting a more powerful ASHP than required? Would there be tangible benefits to the level of cooling?

Of course. Price of gas connection was £2k plus £5k for the gas heating system- ASHP was coming in at over 13k. I will probably switch/add ASHP down the line at some point though but I think at the moment i'm comfortable with this choice. Will definitely get an induction hob with 1 gas burner.

For reference having looked at the numbers I have opted for mains gas and a system boiler installed. The (none-diy)ASHP option was significantly more expensive even accounting for the cost of connection so I just couldnt justify it. -The house will be well insulated so space heating requirements should be small. -Solar PV will primarily be used to heat the UVC throughout the day with boiler for support. -The UFH and radiators will be designed for future compatibility with a heat pump further down the line. Thanks all for the advice- its been a really useful exercise going through all these options and has brought lots of things to my attention that I should really have considered ages ago!

Thanks again for the links and everyone for their replies- been doing more reading and i'm kind of getting snippets of useful info across several different threads as opposed to one. I think i'll try to get a direct cost comparison quote between a system boiler + UVC and an ASHP + UVC, with both UVC's (400litres) having immersion heaters that can make use of the PV energy. I'll have a go at calculating with the spreadsheet what size of system I will need but I'd be grateful is anyone have a very rough ballpark figures for the costs of the equivalent systems given our house size and occupancy. @Temp This is a good suggestion - we would only use a bit of gas so that particular cylinder would last us years! No experience at all with cylinder gas but the one you use seems quite big so do you keep it inside or outside? I assume there is a regulator that you need to attach to it- does this need maintenance/replacing after a period?

Thanks Olf- could you point me towards which section it is in? I was looking around all yesterday evening (maybe in the wrong places!) before I posted the thread and couldnt find anything. Yes we are going induction but with a single gas burner. Most of the cooking would be done on induction but there are a a few things an open flame is better for.

Hi guys- not been on here for a while as my self-build project has been EXTREMELY slow in getting off the ground. Things however are now starting to move with the site now cleared and setting out taking place this week. Long story short hadnt really put much thought into the plumbing and heating side of things besides a short chat with the architect where we decided to go for a system boiler instead of a combi (so hot water doesnt get interrupted). He contacted me last week though saying that if we instead use an electric boiler (which can be partly powered by PV) this would be a 'greener option' and also save £2k on the mains gas connection (main contactor pc sum). Obviously I would never go for the electric boiler so I would have to install an ASHP +UVC so i'm sure upfront cost would still be higher. Builder strongly recommends to have a gas connection over not having one as it gives flexibility down the line- install a gas boiler now and then either replace or use in tandem with an ASHP later. (Wife wants gas for one of the hobs- but i guess we could bottle for that). I've been reading as much as I can on here and the majority who did not get a gas connection was because it would have been pretty expensive/they were off the grid. For reference Home is ~200m2. 100 downstairs- HW for wc, utility and kitchen; 100 upstairs -HW for ensuite (shower) and bathroom (shower) Well insulated with Solar PV system 4.5KW (SE facing) 2 adults, 2 children occupying with occasional guests. Any advice on what makes more economical sense would be really appreciated (note im not prepared to go the DIY route). The ending of RHI and start of the boiler upgrade scheme in April (which I think self builders qualify for) makes things a lot more murkier. First fix scheduled in Feb- 2nd fix April but our builder needs a decision on the gas connection really soon so starting to panic a bit! ? Help!

Wasnt sure where this thread should go- hopefully this is a suitable place. I had been chatting to someone about the new government Green Homes Grant (due to start this September). Details arent completely clear at the moment but vouchers up to £5000 are being made available to support improvements made to homes in the form of insulation or low carbon heating. Was just wondering if anyone knew where self builders stand in all this? Would we have to complete the build- THEN apply for a grant to help pay to install something e.g. ASHP? Cheers!

Haha contradictory but i'd do the same if we had a basement! ?Honestly I didnt know placement of the MVHR was so critical- just assumed the unit could be anywhere as its connected by ducting. Might have to read up on this. Well yes the loft could house it but was hoping to dedicate that space for storage (squeezing this to a minimum in the general living spaces) and potentially down the line a loft conversion.

Thanks for linking that thread. The mention that you're still solving the issue almost 3 years later has given me pause for thought! But it seems like we were thinking along similar lines though my plan was to have the enclosure annexed to the house to reduce potential problems. To me it just sounds sensible to have meters/MVHR/PV battery/control systems all accessible and in one place without taking up indoor space (which for us is actually a bit of a premium)- but I suppose there must be a reason why everyone doesnt do this. Am I right in assuming the biggest problem is condensation due to the temperature differences?

Currently in the design phase and having discussions with the architect. One of the things we're thinking about is to have an exterior plant-room (though not an actual room but just a walled off enclosure next to the house) which will contain gas/electric meters, and all the other bits of kit. Reasoning is to maximise the usable interior floor area and allow everything to be easily accessible. May also make this a touch bigger than necessary to store tools, paints etc. I have searched the forums but I cant seem to find any instances of this being done. I'm wondering if there are any disadvantage in having equipment housed outside- i'm thinking along the lines of having to work in a non heated environment (in particular the MVHR).

Hi, we kind of had a fairly similar issue. A plot came up but even with our savings we were short on funds to buy it so we had to get money from the equity held in our house. We didnt remortgage to do this but applied to the lender for "Further borrowing" on the house. The lender did ask what we needed the money for and we told them it was to buy a plot. Then we just chose which product we wanted for the borrowed amount (2 year fixed) and keeping within the total LTV of the property. All got sorted in a few weeks and now we have a mortgage comprising both the original product and the new product with both the repayments paid together. Not really clear on the 2nd part of your plan- selling your home then starting the build. In my case I am planning to go through build store to get a self build mortgage. As I own the land outright that should make things easier as I should be able to get a mortgage that pays in advance so we can stay in our current home whilst the new one is built.

I'm really liking some of the plans on this thread especially Re. dressing rooms/ensuite layouts *steals ideas*. Personally I wouldnt be too bothered by what people say/think- if you probably dont think you need an ensuite then maybe you shouldnt try to squeeze one in. (I would actually like my new home to have an ensuite mainly because with 2 kids theres a lot of bathroom traffice and me and my wife need to wake at practically the same time to get ready for work- atm I have to wake up 15mins earlier just to free up the bathroom! ) Have you considered modifying your first idea about the single bathroom (between master and bedroom 2) but with two doors- one to the main bedroom and one to the hallway? You can get a simultaneous locking system fitted to both.

@TerryE That sounds sensible. Can you confirm you didnt put UFH in your upstairs bathroom? My upstairs will be carpeted but will tile the bathroom and ensuite so would worry about them being cold to feet and slower drying. Many thanks!

Thanks @ProDave I will try to dig this up!