Show me your plant rooms!

[divorcingjack]

So, we are mid-planning for the first fix plumbing and specifying boiler, UVC, buffer tank, manifolds etc. It has come to my attention that there is rather a lot of "stuff" to fit in to our utility room, plus electrical gubbins, UFH manifold, MVHR unit and general utility things. I am well aware that if we leave it to the contractors, they will generally do the easiest thing for them, and we'll end up with a right mess. 

 

As we don't have a dedicated "plant room", all this stuff has to look vaguely presentable - either in a cupboard or at least behind a door. Would anyone care to share pics of their meticulously planned plant/utility rooms? I don't want to have to buy a load of cupboards and then mutilate them to cut chunks out of the sides or backs to be able to make connections. 

 

Cheers for any ideas!

dj 

[lizzie]

Think you might struggle to get it all in a cupboard(s) if mine is anything to by!  Will get a pic when I go to site.  Its rammed full of stuff that I have no idea how to work....yet!

[ProDave]

I have never subscribed to the "plant room" philosophy.  I have wired 3 new builds now where that has been done. and without exception, the obsession of putting everything in one place has resulted in the hot water tank being much further from the main points of use than it has to be.

 

I have a room above my garage that houses the mvhr and will house the buffer tank for the heating. The main use of that room however will be a workshop and storage.  The Air source heat pump is a monoblock unit outside. That then only leaves the hot water tank and that will be in an airing cupboard off the small bedroom,m putting it very close to the kitchen and bathrooms.

[divorcingjack]

@ProDave, we do have one other large cupboard which will have an additional UFH manifold and a plumbing manifold for the bathrooms, but there's just no-where else to put the rest of the stuff. It's a flat roof, so no loft space or eaves to tidy ugly stuff away into. The utility is fairly central in the house - next to the kitchen and not too far from the bathrooms. 

[HerbJ]

@ProDave makes good points, particularly regarding the hot water tank.  Space management is a critical factor when you are designing a house and this needs to carefully considered alongside the layout and requirements of all the various systems that are required at the earliest stage of deisgn..

 

I have developed my layouts around a plant room, which is accessed via the garage. The plant room is located so that it close to all of the main users, except the Master Ensuite. It is a very comfortable size of 3450 x 1800 approx and was always a part of the house design.  It has space for adding future equipment as required, such as buffer or acccumulator tanks - in fact they were part of the orIginal sizing requirement together with a thermal store but not fitted as the heating/HW design evolved.

 

The plant room contains the main electrical distribution and including meters, MVHR, condensing gas boiler and controls, UVC, water softener and an old belfast sink (the only item saved from the demolition of the original house).  The MVHR plenums are located in a separate service cupboard above the plant room  and more central to the house.

 

These are the services for a 336m2 house, excludIng garage. 

 

 

[Gone West]

This is the water supply side.

 

 

 

This is the hot water, ventilation and warm air heating unit (Genvex Combi185).

 

 

 

This is the electricity cupboard.

 

 

The washing machine will be squeezed in between the Genvex and water supply cupboard (when built). This is all in a room 1.9m x 2.3m.

 

 

[lizzie]

this is our plant room...not yet finsished but main components in