Avoiding Unnecessary Costs in a Hybrid Heating System
Project type: Residential heating consultancy; heat pump and inset wood stove integration
Challenge
This homeowner wanted to combine an air-source heat pump with an efficient wood-burning boiler stove and thermal storage. The challenge was to design an efficient integrated system, while limiting any additional complexity.
What we did
Firepower developed a heating strategy incorporating a heat pump, boiler stove, 1,000 lt thermal store and intelligent controls. The design was "as simple as possible, but not simpler". It's also important to create a system which is understandable by a new heating engineer trying to work on it several years down the line.
However we also explained the considerable additional cost of integrating these systems, and explored a simpler alternative: a smaller, non-boiler inset wood stove providing direct room heating alongside an independent heat pump system.
This allowed the homeowner to compare the practical benefits, costs and complexity of both approaches before making a decision.
The heat pump system itself will be low maximum temperature, open-zone, weather compensated, underfloor system. It uses a manifold that automatically balances and still allows the homeowner to select different temperatures in different rooms, combines partial floor cooling in the summer, and has integrated humidity sensors in the floor to eliminate condensation.
Potential savings and benefits
Choosing the simpler arrangement offered the opportunity for substantial savings on equipment and installation, as well as reduced system complexity and future maintenance requirements.
Rather than recommending the more expensive system simply because we could design and supply it, our advice helped the homeowner make a more informed, cost-effective decision.
Sometimes the most valuable part of heating consultancy is identifying what you don't need!
