Re: Zoned Heating Control

["rb_ziggy" <rb.lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Laurence=20

If you are considering underfloor for some areas, I'd strongly
recommend you use this as the whole solution (at least for the
groundfloor). We used UF for our build (ground and first floors in our
case) and it was the best decision we made - especially with a heavily
insulated house. The quality of comfort is way better than rads. (Also
consider  MHRV as a complement.)=20

A word of caution on log burners and modern houses.  We have to open
the windows and doors when ours is on, just cant loose the heat fast
enough!  The problem with super insulation is that rooms really don't
cool down fast enough - they seem to have a massive lag. It's almost
like the heating just tops it up from time to time. Injecting 6/8/10Kw
of a log burner just overloads everything!=20

I wonder if there is a way of heating water with a log burner - I
remember we had a back boiler in one at my parents and I seem to
remember agas can do something similar.  Then you could have a dual
boiler system - oil when no log burning etc.=20=20

Good luck=20

Richard

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Laurence Mason <laurence@...> wrote:
>
> We are building a large well insulated farm house and I would like
to=20
> have a practical system for zoning the heating. My dream system
would be:
>=20
> Separate zone for each room - we could consider ~20 zones
> Individual override in each (or some) rooms
> Central programming panel plus ability to do this via browser
interface
> Full seven day programming per zone
> External temperature compensation
> Wired system - not wireless - Radio amateur and do not want
interference=20
> either way
> Unobtrusive valves as we will be fitting column radiators and want
to=20
> achieve a look in keeping with them
> One or two areas of underfloor heating
> Learns thermal response of room ( we will have log burners in three=20
> rooms so not sure how this would affect the learning - and an aga in
the=20
> kitchen)
>=20
> Now, we went to the self build / automation show the other week,
which=20
> was very interesting - it is some years since we last went. Still=20
> waiting for some of the suppliers to sent us information - I guess
they=20
> must have a lot to catch up on.
>=20
> Talking to the automation people it appears there are a range of=20
> solutions, some of which are very expensive - =A320K buys me a lot
of=20
> heating oil!
>=20
> It would appear that the TRV body with the wired remote control head
is=20
> an economic way to control the flow of water in each of the zones -
we=20
> could even hide them in a cupboard or bathroom so they are not seen
in=20
> the main living rooms. It appears the major cost is in the
controller or=20
> are we missing something? In general we are not looking at
automating=20
> the lights or sound so don't want to pay for a system to only use
10% of=20
> it's power to control the heating - perhaps that is why some of
them=20
> appear so expensive? We will want a monitored alarm system so
perhaps=20
> that would help to offset the cost? We would cover the wiring and
plumbing.
>=20
> So any suggestions on a sensible way forward or do I just fit
normal=20
> TRVs in every room and spend a little more on oil each year? The
house=20
> is well insulated but it does seem wasteful to heat the spare room,
for=20
> example, to a normal temperature profile when we have no guests!
>=20
> Thanks,
>=20
> Laurence
>