“The PV panels have contributed about €300 of electricity in the year, so our total mains electricity bill for heating and hot water is now €750,” says Charles. It also runs at night, in order to avail of nightsaver electricity. On a sunny day the solar electricity is used directly to power the heat pump – Charles has set the air source heat pump to come on for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. Now it is zero.ĢkW of phono solar PV panels, covering 12 square metres on the roof, and a pulsa micro inverter were installed to generate electricity. Prior to the retrofit Charles’ annual oil bill was €1500, sometimes €2000. They were fitted with thermostatic radiator valves which work by sensing room air temperature and regulating the flow of water through the radiator to keep the room at the chosen temperature, in Charles’ case 19 degrees Celsius.Ī 250l hot water cylinder with a special low temperature coil and temperature control was also installed, replacing the old hot water cylinder. Ten old steel radiators had to be replaced with aluminium ones in order to maximise the efficiency of the new system. This includes intelligent room temperature control and energy monitoring.
“They took the old boiler out and the heat pump went straight into the old plumbing.”Īn Ecodan Flow Temperature Control 5 system was also installed with the heat pump. These pumps extract heat from outside air and concentrate it into the water that is pumped through the radiators. It was replaced by an 8.5kW Monobloc air source heat pump. Like many households Charles relied on an oil boiler to heat the radiators. Replacing fossil fuel boilers with a renewable source is one of the key Electric Ireland Superhomes criteria.
The attic was also insulated throughout with 300mm of earthwool fibreglass insulation. “Now you can’t see the difference but you can feel it,” says Charles. As part of the retrofit, a contractor drilled hundreds of holes in the external wet-washed walls and pumped Kore fill expanded polystyrene insulation into the cavity walls. “I thought it was wonderful but not compared to what we have now,” he laughs. Insulation had been put into the cavity walls and the attic when Charles and his wife were building the house in 1993.
replacement of some underperforming radiators.replacement of the oil boiler with an air source heat pump.pumping the external walls with insulation.Retrofit measures for their 170 square metre two-story cavity wall house included:
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