MBC High Performance timber frame energy consumption in November

[RedRhino]

We are entering our first winter in our self-built timber frame house.
ChatGPT created a graphic and I thought people might like to see it. 
With MVHR the good and bad news is that room temperatures tend to equalise; and the rate of cooling is slow so nighttime temps are very similar to daytime temps.
On that basis we have just one thermostat on the ground floor which is set to 21c. 220m^2 across three floors. No heating upstairs. Tesla Powerwall 3 to store solar. We only exported about 10kwh in November. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, RedRhino said:

We are entering our first winter in our self-built timber frame house.
ChatGPT created a graphic and I thought people might like to see it. 
With MVHR the good and bad news is that room temperatures tend to equalise; and the rate of cooling is slow so nighttime temps are very similar to daytime temps.
On that basis we have just one thermostat on the ground floor which is set to 21c. 220m^2 across three floors. No heating upstairs. Tesla Powerwall 3 to store solar. We only exported about 10kwh in November. 

Great post, thanks for sharing here. 
 

Can you use the ASHP to cool? Doing that for a few hours in the afternoon to early evening may help knock off 1° which would be quite significant for having cooler rooms when you are looking retire each evening.

[RedRhino]

Thanks for the comment.
I believe the current gov’t ASHP grant is only applicable to heating machines rather than heating / cooling machines. 
So no, ours doesn’t cool. Our bedroom only has easterly windows to avoid overheating in summer. 
As mentioned, we have no heating upstairs so the bedrooms are cooler: about 18c.

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, RedRhino said:

I believe the current gov’t ASHP grant is only applicable to heating machines rather than heating / cooling machines

Grant doesn't state anything or care, MCS don't care either.  In the past under a different schem there was a requirement for cooling not to be possible - but that went away about 10 years ago. Most heat pumps will cool, its just a matter of finding what settings are hidden away.  The new R290 Grant heat pumps, Grant state they will not cool, but there is a dip switch in the casing that can be set to allow automatic change over of heating or cooling, heating only or cooling only.  Grant default is heating only.  So exploration you may find it can cool.  All ASHP have the ability to cool and they must move to that function (refrigerant 4 way valve) to do defrosts.

 

1 hour ago, RedRhino said:

no heating upstairs so the bedrooms are cooler: about 18c.

 

4 hours ago, RedRhino said:

MVHR the good and bad news is that room temperatures tend to equalise

You've contradicted yourself.

 

 

[RedRhino]

10 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Grant doesn't state anything or care, MCS don't care either.  In the past under a different schem there was a requirement for cooling not to be possible - but that went away about 10 years ago. Most heat pumps will cool, its just a matter of finding what settings are hidden away.  The new R290 Grant heat pumps, Grant state they will not cool, but there is a dip switch in the casing that can be set to allow automatic change over of heating or cooling, heating only or cooling only.  Grant default is heating only.  So exploration you may find it can cool.  All ASHP have the ability to cool and they must move to that function (refrigerant 4 way valve) to do defrosts.

 

 

You've contradicted yourself.

 

 

Haha - good spot!

What I meant to say is that all the heated rooms tend to have a common temperature and all the unheated rooms have a common (lower) temperature. 
I'll investigate the cooling for our model (Valiant Arotherm 5KW) ASHP - thanks

[JohnMo]

4 minutes ago, RedRhino said:

Valiant Arotherm 5KW

You have to buy a plug to make it cool - Valiant UK want to charge many hundreds of pounds for the part, but the same widget is also used on boilers (not for cooling) and it basically a resistor.  There is thread on here that has all the parts numbers.  The gas version is about £10. You plug it in and the heat pump that has all the cooling options show up on the controller - another UK ASHP con - premium ASHP you have to buy extras for, to make do a basic ASHP function.

[JohnMo]

This is the first topic I found on it - on another forum

https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/vaillant-arotherm-plus-cooling/26658/15

[JohnMo]

Some info here also