Renewable Heating Hub Heat Pump Forums

Search with Wattson
Forums
Sustainable Sidetra...
Well & Truly Off Th...
An off the wall ide...
 
Notifications
Clear all

Joining the Renewable Heating Hub forums is completely free and only takes a minute. By registering you’ll be able to ask questions, join discussions, follow topics you’re interested in, bookmark useful threads and receive notifications when someone replies. Non-registered members also do not have access to our AI features. When choosing your username, please note that it cannot be changed later, so we recommend avoiding brand or product names. Before registering, please take a moment to read the Forum Rules & Terms of Use so we can keep the community helpful, respectful and informative for everyone. Thanks for joining!

An off the wall idea (or rather, an in the wall idea) for heating system

 
Well & Truly Off The Grid
Last Post by NeilH 5 years ago
4 Posts
3 Users
4 Reactions
2,655 Views
RSS
 NeilH
(@neilh)
Active Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 10
Topic starter 12/10/2021 4:09 pm   [#133]

Much as I'd like a heat pump when the old gas boiler needs replacing (not long), I ain't going to dig up the concrete floor in my 50s bungalow for UF system. I do have though a long central double brick wall running the length of the place (a couple of doorways in it), and I'm wondering about fixing the tubing on the back of that wall (living areas are to front), building a 100mm dense concrete block wall against the tubing and filling the gap with wet weak mortar before final course is laid. I'd lose 130mm off some smaller rooms that could afford to lose that. They need redecorating anyway.

A vertical underfloor system, with zero heat-loss (insulate top of wall, obv). Any feedback, +ve or -ve ?

Of course, any old master paintings I happen to acquire couldn't be hung on it. And I don't think I'd be allowed to Paint It Black for better radiation (and winter sun collection through the windows)



   
Quote
 Kev M
(@kev-m)
Noble Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1276
12/10/2021 6:12 pm  

Interesting idea.  I've heard of radiant wall heating, which is similar, just not using your vertical concrete slab method.  I don't know how effective the lower temps will be on a vertical wall. They do work on a floor though.  You could always use some nice big radiators instead - I don't have any ufh, all radiators and it works fine. 

Have a look at this:

https://www.beka-klima.de/en/wall-heating/



   
ReplyQuote
 Derek M
(@derek-m)
Illustrious Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 4425
12/10/2021 7:22 pm  
Posted by: @neilh

Much as I'd like a heat pump when the old gas boiler needs replacing (not long), I ain't going to dig up the concrete floor in my 50s bungalow for UF system. I do have though a long central double brick wall running the length of the place (a couple of doorways in it), and I'm wondering about fixing the tubing on the back of that wall (living areas are to front), building a 100mm dense concrete block wall against the tubing and filling the gap with wet weak mortar before final course is laid. I'd lose 130mm off some smaller rooms that could afford to lose that. They need redecorating anyway.

A vertical underfloor system, with zero heat-loss (insulate top of wall, obv). Any feedback, +ve or -ve ?

Of course, any old master paintings I happen to acquire couldn't be hung on it. And I don't think I'd be allowed to Paint It Black for better radiation (and winter sun collection through the windows)

Hi Neil,

That is a novel idea. I am no expert, but I cannot think of any reason why it would not work, it would be like having a very large radiator. The response time would probably be slower, but the concrete would act as a heat store, so would help smooth out changes in temperature. You would have to ensure any joints are sound, because springing a leak would be a real pain. You would also need to be careful doing any drilling.

As an alternative there are UFH system that can be installed directly on top of a concrete floor. It raises the floor height by a few centimetres, but adjusting the doors would probably be preferable to digging up your concrete floor.

As Kev stated, you could fit higher output radiators, the height and width being the same as your present radiators, just the depth would be slightly greater since they would be multi panel. It all depends what you have at present. A test that you can carry out if you can adjust the water output temperature on your present boiler, would be to lower the temperature and see at what point it is no longer meeting the heat demand. That would give you some idea of how well your present system would perform if you just replace your boiler with a heat pump.

For best efficiency a heat pump should be operated at the lowest water flow temperature that meets the heat demand. Obviously improving insulation and increasing the output of your heat emitters would all help to improve efficiency. 



   
👍
4
ReplyQuote
 NeilH
(@neilh)
Active Member Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 10
Topic starter 13/10/2021 7:57 am  

@kev-m Thanks. So first searches, I'm not off the wall.

British versions https://www.thermo-floor.co.uk/wall-heating-modular-systems.html
https://3thermo.uk/

Analysis https://www.homeheatingguide.co.uk/central-heating/wall-heating-systems-pros-cons-costs
https://builderandengineer.co.uk/heating-plumbing/wall-heating-system/



   
ReplyQuote
Forum Jump:
  Previous Topic
Next Topic  
Share:

SPONSORS

Join Us!

Installer Finder

Degrees of Separation

Latest Posts

SPONSORS

Click to access the login or register cheese
Protected By
Shield Security PRO