Loft Conversion Heating (A2A)

[MrMagic]

Hello all, 

 

In the process of planning a loft conversion but getting a bit stuck on heating options at the moment - 

 

- Loft conversion on standard, nothing grand, Victorian terrace

- Will be insulated to meet or exceed regs (but nothing spectacular as we still need to stand up in it!)

- Air tightness will be as good as you can get it in a leaky Victorian house (but with good attention to detailing on the conversion)

- Glazing will be pretty standard veluxes

 

....so your basic run of the mill loft conversion.

 

Where the plot thickens - how to heat the darn thing. We have a standard/modern mains gas combi boiler heating the existing bedrooms - logic would dictate that we simply extend that in to the loft however we also have an A2A heat pump with mini-splits in each of the existing bedrooms, primarily used for air con in the summer. (#firstworldproblems)

 

Now the plan is to fit an additional mini-split unit up in the loft room for summer A/C.... thats a given. The question is - do I bother fitting a radiator up there as well or take the plunge and just have the heat pump? (note.. there will probably also be a little electric heated towel radiator on a timer in the ensuite)

 

I know A2A heat pumps work in heating mode in my area, I use one to heat my office (read: shed) and it works remarkably well. On the worst, humid days it does of course drop in to defrost mode but not for any great periods of time (and it appears to do it without sucking huge amounts (if any) heat from the heated space).

 

Mains Gas + Electricity is on an 'eco/green' tariff so electric is low/no-carbon as such.

 

Bit of a ramble on my part... but whats everyones thoughts? anything I've overlooked? am I overthinking this too much?

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by MrMagic

[Nickfromwales]

Deffo to air con if you can get it, as heat rises  and if you felt compelled to fit it in the bedrooms on the 1st then.......

I'd fit radiators and use those as the primary heat source. A thermostatic radiator valve will deal with shutting the rad off to avoid overheating and it doesn't get much simpler than that. I don't think I'd want to rely on the A/C for heat for the winter as in this country it's on for a long time . 

No noise off a radiator either ? 

[MrMagic]

Thanks Nick. For the sake of a few hundred quid I guess it makes sense to run it in now.... can easily turn it off at a later date but would be a pain to install after the fact.