plant outside the house

[ykhan16]

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).

[Roundtuit]

Our electric meter is in an external boundary box (like several others on here), but to be honest, there's nothing else in our plant room I'd want to put in a 'shed'.  I think architects need to get their heads around planning-in adequate space for increasingly sophisticated plant.  In the not-to-distant past it was pretty much an airing cupboard for the water tank, and somewhere to mount a consumer unit.  It depends on exactly what you're planning on putting in there of course, but probably better to make your plant room part of the house-proper if you can I think, to make sure it's secure, dry and accessible.

[ProDave]

As I mentioned in another thread, I provisioned for a "plant room" but all that is in there is the MVHR unit (quite a big one) and some of the heating controls.

 

The HW cylinder is in an airing cupboard to put it at the middle of the house for short hot water pipe runs, and the ASHP is outside.

[ToughButterCup]

10 hours ago, ykhan16 said:

[...]

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.

[...]

 

In haste: for the same reasons you give, we considered it, got the answer wrong and this is how we got it wrong.

I'll show you how we are solving the issue later to day if I get the time. In brief - keep it all in the heated envelope

 

[ykhan16]

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?

[Bitpipe]

A few considerations. Your electricity meter can be quite far from the house (as noted, many of us have this in an external kiosk / box) but if you're on gas then that needs to be much closer to the house - ours is in a ground box right next to the utility room.

 

Definitely plan to have MVHR inside and preferably in a central location to even out the runs (makes balancing easier), ditto UVCs which can take up quite a bit of space and generate a lot of heat even if well insulated.

 

That said, our plant room ended up in basement under the utility so we broke both those rules  we do have a hot return circuit so that minimises the impact of having some long runs to bathrooms. Gas boiler is in there also as is all the power distribution (i.c/ PV and diverter), incoming cold feed etc

 

Can you fit MVHR and UVC in your loft? I recall an installation that @Nickfromwales did that had the UVC side mounted. They are the two bulkiest items.

 

[ykhan16]

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.