Posted by: @weoleyric

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Hi,

I'm after some insights/advice into how best to heat an external building that I use as a studio workspace.

The building is a brick-built 9.44m2 (2.5m Height, 1.93m Wide, 4.89m Length) structure that was refurbished last year to modern building standards, with insulated floor, ceilings and apex roof.

It is located approx 12-13m away from our main house.

The outbuilding is currently heated by 2 x Herschel Select XLS 400watt Infrared Panel Heaters which are connected to smart thermostats which we can turn on/off as needed.

Without the infrared heating turned on (and during the current cold-snap, with 0c external temperature here in Newcastle-upon-Tynet, UK) the temperature inside the outbuilding will drop to around 6c.

Our challenge is, that while the outbuilding is used a few times per week, but not in continuous use, the infra-red heating takes around 40mins to raise the temperature by 1c -- so to bring the building up to habitable warmth can take hours.

Our main house is heated by a recent installed Daikin Altherma Low Temperature Monobloc 4kW Air Source Heat Pump (EDLA04E2V3) which works really well.

My questions are...

1. Is it worth exploring extending the existing house ASHP heating to incorporate the outbuilding, so the outbuilding is kept at a stable temperature and always ready to use?
2. Or, is it more cost-effective to leave the Infrared heating on at a lower temperature, so that the outbuilding can quickly be warmed to a habitable temperature when needed.

 

I would say its difficult to say.  However 12m is a long way to run pipes, particularly if you decide to go underground (which you probably want to to get better insulation).  As you use it relatively rarely, it may well cost more to keep it constantly warm even with the efficiency gain of an ashp, and definitely the case with the IR heaters - so I definitely wouldn't leave these on all the time. 

TBH I would be tempted to get a fan heater so you can quickly bring the air up to temp, or buy a small self install air to air ASHP for the outbuilding alone.  Heating the air only for the occasional use may well be a better bet than trying to heat the fabric.  I dont know if you can get heated office chairs to sit on though  

@jamespa Thanks for the advice, and I wasn't aware that self-installed ASHP existed! Are there any you'd recommend?

I forget to mention that I have an Air Conditioning unit (a Toshiba RAS-B13J2KVG-E 45W) in the outbuilding, that can also heat. I could use that to quickly bring the temperature up if necessary -- I've always been reluctant to as I'd assumed it was far less efficient than Infra-Red Heating or ASHP.

Posted by: @weoleyric

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@jamespa Thanks for the advice, and I wasn't aware that self-installed ASHP existed! Are there any you'd recommend?

I forget to mention that I have an Air Conditioning unit (a Toshiba RAS-B13J2KVG-E 45W) in the outbuilding, that can also heat. I could use that to quickly bring the temperature up if necessary -- I've always been reluctant to as I'd assumed it was far less efficient than Infra-Red Heating or ASHP.

An Aircon unit is an air to air heat pump.  I think you already have all you need.  A2A should get you good cop so should save relative to the ir heater.