Infrared heating

[JohnMo]

Looking at one of your previous threads it says you looking to build 100 to 120m2.  If that's still the case your heating demand for the whole house could be as low as 1 to 1.5kW.  You should get good built in airtightness from the Sip if your still going that route.  Which Scottish building regs will drive you to MVHR.

 

What is really important is getting the boiler sizing right, in nearly all cases they will be hugely oversized.  So plan from the offset for a big buffer.  If you are doing UFH you should make sure you can flow at low temperatures - 25 degC or so. Don't zone your heating use thermostat as limit stops not temperature controllers.  Otherwise you will get short cycling of the boiler and big lpg costs.

[jack]

50 minutes ago, Joe-90 said:

the house faces south with 4 large floor to ceiling sliding doors to maximise the solar gain. 

 

How much sun do you get during the months in which you need heating?

 

Given the much lower insulation offered by glass compared to walls, are you sure you won't lose more energy through these windows than you'll get back through solar gain?

[JohnMo]

Also be careful with overheating, we are further north than you, and the roof extended over our living room windows, but in the evening we get the westerly sun coming in and can overheat the room very quickly if we are not careful with the blinds.

[recoveringbuilder]

@Joe-90I know exactly where you’re building and having previously lived there I can tell you that in winter it gets very cold and windy, you’re at quite a high level, we are further down the road which is slightly better but still pretty cold in winter 

[Jilly]

2 hours ago, Joe-90 said:

Hi Jilly, after researching the last few days we have decided on LPG after a chat with Worcester Bosch very helpful team who had taken us through all the options including ASHP and LPG. Flemings are producing our kit with the upgraded installation under floor heating to a concrete floor finish. The second floor loft space of the house has a large single room which we going to use infrared heating panels the house faces south with 4 large floor to ceiling sliding doors to maximise the solar gain. Like you I think the upfront cost has pushed us towards LPG. 
 

Make sure you do the UFH spacings to be ASHP ready, for when you eventually change to it

[JohnMo]

2 minutes ago, Jilly said:

Make sure you do the UFH spacings to be ASHP ready, for when you eventually change to it

If your well insulated you can really do what ever spacing suits you.  We did 300mm in a 100mm of concrete and 200mm PIR below.  Flow temp on the coldest day is below 30 degrees, so ready for a heat pump if I wanted. Most the time closer to 25 degrees. 

 

Closer pipe spacing helps reduce your buffer size or even the need for a buffer if you can a heat pump small enough.

[Joe-90]

On 31/07/2022 at 11:44, JohnMo said:

Looking at one of your previous threads it says you looking to build 100 to 120m2.  If that's still the case your heating demand for the whole house could be as low as 1 to 1.5kW.  You should get good built in airtightness from the Sip if your still going that route.  Which Scottish building regs will drive you to MVHR.

 

What is really important is getting the boiler sizing right, in nearly all cases they will be hugely oversized.  So plan from the offset for a big buffer.  If you are doing UFH you should make sure you can flow at low temperatures - 25 degC or so. Don't zone your heating use thermostat as limit stops not temperature controllers.  Otherwise you will get short cycling of the boiler and big lpg costs.

Hi Johnmo, we going with Fleming homes with upgrade installation and we have finalised the internal floor space 110sqm ground floor does have vaulted ceiling half of the house and useable loft space on the other half, interesting on the use of thermostat Johnston Jgas was explaining the same to use the other day

[Joe-90]

@recoveringbuilder aye it's windy alright we planning to live in the canary islands for most of the winter months or possible 2 or 3 months at a time watch out for the build starting drop bye say hello.

[Joe-90]

not sure of the amount of sun light but on the windows we talking with a window manufacture in The Netherlands who product glass that helps solve the loss of heat during the winter due to reflecting glass capabilities so we hope to control over heating and heat loss also by installing a air circulation unit thats temperature controlled. We have a problem with over heating in our current house with 2 large windows facing south one in the lounge other in the bedroom above. Its a timber frame build house by Laing back in the late 80s 3 bedroom in the winter downstairs used to be warm and really cold upstairs since we installed  an air circulation system a few years back it now keeps both levels warm and really helps in the summer keeping it from over heating. Before installing the air circulation system if could become unbearable in the livingroom with the south facing window your would have a sorehead in no time with the heat. 

[PeterW]

13 minutes ago, Joe-90 said:

who product glass that helps solve the loss of heat during the winter due to reflecting glass capabilities

That’s standard in the U.K. and depends on the coatings. Planitherm, SolaGard, they are all trademark standard coatings used on glass, plain float glass is now pretty much obsolete in modern windows. 

 

St Gobain used to have an excellent calculator where you could build up your 2G/3G units and coatings and get the heat loss and transmissivity values back. Not sure if you don’t now have to register for it. 

[Simplysimon]

On 31/07/2022 at 11:30, SteamyTea said:

does anyone know of anyone that uses it?

have friends who installed it in their house prior to sale as the only heating they had was a woodburner in the sitting room. stairs in sittingroom to bedrooms meant they got warm. they didn't feel the cold but when we visited we normally went well wrapped up in the cooler months. the radiant panels worked fairly well and made the house feel warmer but their bills went through the roof.

[JtG]

Just spent the winter using far infrared heat ceiling panels to heat one woman and 35 square metres with 4 heaters totalling 2.1kw

 

Used smart plugs and smart thermometers to set up fairly detailed scenarios including turning the temperature up when there's someone in the room so they get the rays directly. 

 

 Looks to have reduced my bill from 8000 kwh of gas to 2000 kwh of electricity.

 

My sister has also used 2 x175w in her office for working from home. She said that she turns them on when she starts feeling cold and feels only faint drift of heat,  then 10-minutes later realises she doesn't feel cold anymore.

 

I would say they have their place in the electrification of heating in British homes.

 

 

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, JtG said:

Looks to have reduced my bill from 8000 kwh of gas to 2000 kwh of electricity.

I have heated 50 m² with less energy using old storage heaters.