Project - Heating Upgrade

Location: Carlingford, Co.Louth

This property is a 180m² floor area bungalow with a conventional oil boiler as the main heating source.  The oil conventional boiler was located in an outside boiler house approximately three metres from the dwelling.  The dwelling consisted of one heating zone; all radiators and domestic hot water cylinder.  The roof insulation was 100mm of fibreglass between the ceiling joists.  The occupant contacted Kellys Renewable Energy Solutions to upgrade their heating system with grant assistance from the Home Energy Saving Scheme and the Greener Homes Scheme through the Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

The project involved replacing the existing conventional boiler with a high efficiency oil condensing boiler.  A two zone time clock replaced the existing one zone time clock thus creating two separate heating zones, one for the domestic hot water and the other for the central heating.  TRV’s (Thermostatic Radiator Valves) replaced existing radiator valves on each radiator in the dwelling, giving the occupant increased control of each individual room.

The dwelling is timber frame with reasonable insulation installed in the external stud (built in 1998).  The existing insulation in the roof was 100mm of fibreglass between the ceiling joists.  An upgrade of 200mm fibreglass was installed running adjacent to the ceiling joists, taking the U-Value from 0.35 W/m²K to 0.16 W/m²K giving approximately a 40% reduction in heat loss through the dwellings roof.  The additional insulation reduces heat loss from the dwellings roof.

A two panel in-roof solar thermal system was installed in the property with grant assistance from the Greener Homes Scheme through the SEI.  The existing 120 Litre single coil domestic hot water cylinder located in the hot press was replaced with a 280 Litre twin coil cylinder.  The top coil in the new 280 Litre cylinder is for the new high efficiency condensing oil boiler and the bottom coil for the 4.4m² of solar thermal flat plate collectors.  The new solar thermal flat plate collectors provide approximately 60-70% of the dwellings domestic hot water needs for the year.

The occupant has been delighted with the results of their newly upgraded heating system.  They have found that they have more control over the heating thus meaning reduced energy consumption and increased savings.  The occupants have also been pleasantly surprised with the amount of domestic hot water gained through the solar thermal collectors.

The additional support through the various grant schemes from the SEI played a major part in the occupants contacting Kellys regarding the upgrade of their heating system to a high efficiency version.  Overall we have received great feedback from the occupants and an extremely high level of customer satisfaction.