House heating

[robin banks]

Have a friend who has bought land with an old farmhouse outside London. He is renovating it this coming year. And was talking about how to heat it. It's listed building and in his planning permission he must use single glazed windows. He will have a large shed nearby (20x40m) that he fancies putting solar on. He has asked my opinion. Unfortunately I only know Irish rules which would force him to use renewable heating system even in a refurb. Looking at his planning it says nothing about renewable but I am sure it's in your building control rules (or maybe not)
Personally I am not keen on a2w or gshp unless the house was insulated and air tight to modern standards but maybe there are grants or feed in tariffs that make it economically viable in UK.
Who should he talk to re solar on shed roof re selling power to grid etc.

 

[rollestonpark]

Think in winter you may struggle to get enough heat from solar in UK.
Just looking at my 30kw solar setup did 2.6 kwh today.
Is a wood chip boiler not an option?
Log boiler, boiler stove?
Or in combination with oil boiler maybe?

 

[robin banks]

If it was me I would put in log burners with oil fired central heating. Especially as it won't be an a rated build. Low capital cost higher running cost. I can't understand how this renewable is so good but everyone says you need a really well insulated house. Surely if house is well insulated you will need very little oil anyway. Over here in Ireland you are forced to put in a renewable heating system.

 

[renewablejohn]

Have a friend who has bought land with an old farmhouse outside London. He is renovating it this coming year. And was talking about how to heat it. It's listed building and in his planning permission he must use single glazed windows. He will have a large shed nearby (20x40m) that he fancies putting solar on. He has asked my opinion. Unfortunately I only know Irish rules which would force him to use renewable heating system even in a refurb. Looking at his planning it says nothing about renewable but I am sure it's in your building control rules (or maybe not)
Personally I am not keen on a2w or gshp unless the house was insulated and air tight to modern standards but maybe there are grants or feed in tariffs that make it economically viable in UK.
Who should he talk to re solar on shed roof re selling power to grid etc.

Well he needs to sort out his planning permission. No reason to accept single glaze on a listed building. I have triple glaze on my grade 2 listed and that should now be the norm with MVHR to protect the fabric of the building.

 

[Rowland]

I’ve got grade 2 listing. We got permission to put double glazing in the existing windows had to the thin expensive stuff though

 

[einstein]

I’ve got grade 2 listing. We got permission to put double glazing in the existing windows had to the thin expensive stuff though

What manufacturer did you end up using? How does its performance stack up against argon filled k glass with the normal gap.
Im astounded planners /conservation officers can still demand the use of single glazing. its bordering on the scandalous. I would like to use a more friendly form of heating in my listed building but until im allowed to put some heat saving windows in then im sticking with oil and wood.

 

[Rowland]

The windows got refurbished and the units put iin by local joiner . They were histine I believe. Very probably spelt wrong

 

[renewablejohn]

What manufacturer did you end up using? How does its performance stack up against argon filled k glass with the normal gap.
Im astounded planners /conservation officers can still demand the use of single glazing. its bordering on the scandalous. I would like to use a more friendly form of heating in my listed building but until im allowed to put some heat saving windows in then im sticking with oil and wood.

They only get away with it unless you challenge them. So long as you have the backing of Historic England the planners/conservation soon back off. We started out with planners insisting on oak frames with single glaze with all frames the width of the opening windows. Historic England were livid as originally the house dating back to about 1650 would have had glass direct between the stone mullions. whether it was 4mm or 50mm made no difference to Historic England as it was still contained within the bevel of the stone mullion. So I ended up with 4,16,4,16,4 triple glaze argon filled thermal coated and self cleaning, direct into the stone mullions without any wooden frames. The light increase into the house has been dramatic.