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Although planning a building on the East coast in the highlands, I do have a concern for over heating. Heating to be thermal store - ASHP - PV and ( possible Solar thermal)- all DIY, possibly a small wind turbine connected to DC immersion - it is windy all the time....... Anyway I got to thinking about cooling, and read some people use the ASHP and buffer tank to cool the UFH. I plan to have 6000L rainwater tank ( it also rains a bit), this tank will be underground and relatively cold, so I thought a couple of three port valves and a dedicated loop of pipe running through the tank would provide all the cooling needed and a possible heat dump for the solar. Any thoughts , problems you see.

Hi All, After an extremely tough build we are nearing completion and I am about to order an ASHP for DHW (500 litre UVC)and UFH. The house is 400 sqm with separate bedroom and living areas, 5 bed (3 upstairs). 4 Velux passive roof lights for stack ventilation. We have a larger than average house partly due to disability requirements. The house was planned to achieve 'passive' levels and require little heating, I have been running a couple of 1200 W electric heaters which easily have the house comfortable even during the recent cold spell. I have selected Daikin as the manufacturer due to local support and experience of our plumber, (who has been excellent). I wanted a reversible pump to have the option of cooling as well as heating, with the view that the house may require a small nudge to stay comfortable. The plumbers usual supplier were going to supply a non-reversible 14kW low temp split, I feel that this is oversized and that that a 8kW Daikin Altherma 3 low temp split (reversible) will provide more than we need (and I still have my electric heaters!) along with the electric towel rails (5x800 watt). All ok so far bar the ability to cool as the supplier says it won't work. In all the Daikin brochures floor cooling is promoted for the reversible units. How can I control the cooling aspect of the UFH? a thermostat that controls cooling only seems to be directed to fan coil control. Do I just switch the ASHP to cooling and then set the themostats to the desired temperature and let the ASHP try to achieve that? Perhaps I can set the minimum temperature flow rate to a level where the risk of condensation is minimised? I really only want the bedroom block not to overheat and to be slightly cooled. I also need the system to work simply as my wife doesn't want to be left with a complex heating system when I am unable to tinker. thanks for any advice,