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Dreadnaught

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Dreadnaught Advanced Member

Dreadnaught

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Hi, Tom here. New to the site. I am a passive-house enthusiast, already planning designs for a new build but I have not even found a plot yet, so I am probably letting my enthusiasm get ahead of me. I aim to build a small home in the South East of England, probably around Hertfordshire or Buckinghamshire. 

 

I have no experience in building but have been reading intensively for a few months now and have learnt a lot from this site and many other blogs, including Jeremy Harris' and podcasts, including Ben Adam Smith's House Planning Help podcasts and by visiting houses on the Passive House open days.

 

I am fully convinced that Passive House is the best way. And have been persuaded that SIPs above a floating concrete slab might be a good construction approach. For DHW and heating, my latest best guess for internal services is an ASHP,  UFH, SunAmp with E7 and PV.

 

Best regards,
Tom

 

 

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ProDave Advanced Member

ProDave

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Hi and welcome

 

The only thing I would caution against is designing the house before you have a plot.  You need to know the size and shape, orientation, views, restrictions, not overlooking neighbours etc before you can design what will work for that site.

 

But of course fill a scrap book with ideas while looking.

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Dreadnaught Advanced Member

Dreadnaught

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Modifying what I said in my first post, I have just read a host of @TerryE's splendid posts about his own build and I am now persuaded by the merits of a Willis Heater heating the slab and the ingenious use of the slab as a heat store.

 

Thus my my latest best guess for internal services or my build is to drop the ASHP and  add a Willis heater and stick with UFH, E7, SunAmp (especially the new model with two temperatures, one of which is suited to UFH) with E7 and PV.

 

And maybe plan for the possibility of a heat pump later if cooling turns out to be needed or if the economics of a HP is justified by realised space-heating requirements, which I suspect will be unlikely as I plan to build only a small-ish two-bedroom house.

 

And even if cooling is needed, as @JSHarris said in a post, a cheap commoditised air-to-air HP may well be a wiser purchase particularly as the floor slab is probably not the best location for the delivery of cooling, given the nature of convection and the risk of condensation (which is probably small if well controlled and cooling is only by a few ºC). 

 

I admire the simplicity of this approach. It is just what I am seeking. And could require very little maintenance. As @TerryE well said, the only traditionally mechanical part will be the water pump(s).

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Nickfromwales Advanced Member

Nickfromwales

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@Dreadnaught

Id reconsider the Willis heater and await the arrival of the 3rd generation Sunamp heat battery if I were you. ;). DHW and space heating in one box with zero Willis-associated external pipework / pumps / losses, and you won't need a Sunamp ( PV model ) then either so none of those internal wet components either. Near 100% efficient for electricity to PCM ( Sunamp storage ) and loads less complexity. 

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Triassic Advanced Member

Triassic

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16 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I'm in talks with @AndyT at the moment and more information should be publicly available around the beginning of March. 

Will be worth the wait me thinks. ?

 

So current best practice would be a Sunamp, is there a general schematic showing the pipewoek layout (I’m moreof a visualisation learner). I assume it’ll do both UFH (low temp) and domestic hot water?

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PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

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Just now, Triassic said:

 

So current best practice would be a Sunamp, is there a general schematic showing the pipewoek layout (I’m moreof a visualisation learner). I assume it’ll do both UFH (low temp) and domestic hot water?

 

Sunamp won’t currently do UFH in its standard config - you need a different PCM for this in a different unit. 

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Triassic Advanced Member

Triassic

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1 minute ago, PeterW said:

 

Sunamp won’t currently do UFH in its standard config - you need a different PCM for this in a different unit. 

Right, now I understand. I had in mind an UFH heating cooling system like Jeremy’s (I must re-read his blog!)

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Visti Regular Member

Visti

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3 minutes ago, Triassic said:

So current best practice would be a Sunamp, is there a general schematic showing the pipewoek layout (I’m moreof a visualisation learner). I assume it’ll do both UFH (low temp) and domestic hot water?

 

It certainly appears so when combined with PV or you dont have access to mains gas. Anyone done a comparison against a conventional unvented cylinder fed by a gas boiler?

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PeterW Advanced Member

PeterW

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15 minutes ago, Triassic said:

Right, now I understand. I had in mind an UFH heating cooling system like Jeremy’s (I must re-read his blog!)

 

So that’s a buffer for the UFH - standard wet 120 litre copper cylinder will work - and a Sunamp for the DHW. 

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Dreadnaught Advanced Member

Dreadnaught

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28 minutes ago, Pete said:

I am confused as @Dreadnaught was wanting to use the same set up as @TerryE and @Nickfromwales advised not bothering with the willis heater and wait for the new Sunamp so I am assuming this will do some form of heating?

 

Yes. As I understand it the new version of the SunAmp will contain two types of cell, with two different phase-change materials to cater for two different hot water temperatures: one well suited to DHW (higher temperature) and one good for UFW (lower). 

 

The SunAmp PV always had the equivalent of a Willis heater built-in. It is what converted the PV (or any electrical supply for that matter) to heat energy which was then chemically stored, so no change their.

 

The advance with the new version of the SunAmp, as I understand it, is the ability to output water sufficiently low temperature to be suited to UFH (and presumably on a separate circuit so that UFW and potable water is not being mixed), all in one package.

 

Others will surely be along to correct me if I am wrong.

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Nickfromwales Advanced Member

Nickfromwales

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1 hour ago, PeterW said:

 

Sunamp won’t currently do UFH in its standard config - you need a different PCM for this in a different unit. 

I'd hold that thought for now ;). The storage temp is neither here nor there if you have a blending valve on the UFH manifold, and the only time you'll need the PCM 38 is if your heat source is low temp, eg solar thermal or heat pump. 

Hopefully I'll be Sunamp acccreited very soon, just waiting on a date. B|

Then I'll know them inside out. What I've seen so far makes them a game-changer imo. 

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Dreadnaught Advanced Member

Dreadnaught

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27 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

The storage temp is neither here nor there if you have a blending valve on the UFH manifold

 

Yes, I was thinking about that. Assuming that the UFH water circuit is a closed loop, would you bypass some of the water around the Sunamp and re-blend the unheated water with heated water from the SunAmp outlet using a thermostatic blending valve? Sorry for my basic description, I know next to nothing about plumbing.

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