Home  5  Books  5  GBEzine  5  News  5  HelpDesk  5  Register  5  GreenBuilding.co.uk
Not signed in (Sign In)

Categories



Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

PLEASE NOTE: A download link for Volume 1 will be sent to you by email and Volume 2 will be sent to you by post as a book.

Buy individually or both books together. Delivery is free!


powered by Surfing Waves




Vanilla 1.0.3 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Welcome to new Forum Visitors
Join the forum now and benefit from discussions with thousands of other green building fans and discounts on Green Building Press publications: Apply now.




  1.  
    https://www.variotherm.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Prospekte_web/MWHK_2019-UK.pdf

    Could be an nteresting system, has anyone tried this kind of thing?

    Instead of plasterboard, you line the walls with these gypsum boards which have UFH pipes prebuilt into them. So the whole wall becomes a big low-temperature radiator.

    Could be good for carpeted rooms, and for renovations where you are replacing the plasterboard anyway?

    Website is a bit vague about how much heat is emitted per m2, and other important details.

    They seem to have thought through the obvious hazards with picture hanging nails!
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2021
     
    I looked into wall heating when we were building. At the time there were systems like a mat/mesh of small diameter pipes that were intended to be plastered into the wall. This Variotherm system looks a lot more sensible. I see no reason why it wouldn't work well. The website talks about a calculator for heat emissions, so I suppose you need to contact them or an installer to get them to run it?
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2021
     
    It looks interesting, but I don't see much that couldn't achieve the same effect with electric resistive cables, and quite possibly a lot cheaper. Plus you could easily link the resistive cables to Solar output.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2021
     
    Posted By: owlmanIt looks interesting, but I don't see much that couldn't achieve the same effect with electric resistive cables, and quite possibly a lot cheaper. Plus you could easily link the resistive cables to Solar output.

    It depends on whether you're fully committed to an electric resistive future or prefer the flexibility of a wet system, I suppose. Plus it gives you ability to cool too. So the closest equivalent would be an A-A heat pump, but they generate noise, drafts and ugliness in some combination according to taste :bigsmile:
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2021
     
    Yes it's that wedded-ness? to wet space heating that's at the root, as for "flexibility ", well electricity has an off switch too. Cool walls, mmm, I had those years ago living in HK, frequently dripping with water.
    First comes the development of a low-temp heat source e.g. A-W then they have to develop more stuff to justify it. There must be a law to describe that.:bigsmile:
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeMay 29th 2021
     
    If you're doing serious EWI, then put the pipes on the outside of the walls, inside the EWI. Mulitiple good reasons - I can expand ...
  2.  
    An attraction of a large radiant wall, is that it would be low temperature, so suit an A-W heatpump.

    If you were doing electric resistance heating, wouldnt it be cheaper to have high-temperature panel radiators?

    Tom's setup uses the thermal mass of the masonry to store and delay daytime (solar) heat to be used at nighttime, which could be good but is not what this Variotherm system seems aimed at. The gypsum wall lining/heating boards are mounted on studs, so are not thermally connected to any masonry, they should respond more quickly like a radiator. They also seem to do a pipe grid system which is plastered into the wall surface, bit more like Tom (and DJH) mentioned.

    I do see the advantages of A-A heatpumps but am looking for something silent for certain rooms.
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2021
     
    TBH Will, I haven't done a cost comparison, probably not much it it considering that ideally you'd may decide to put insulation behind the PB and you'd have to buy a stat and ideally link it direct to its own CU breaker to enable solar diversion, but you'd have to do that anyway if you wanted a panel rad, similarly linked.
    Having said that, I thought part of the "wet wall" rationale was to eliminate the walls being festooned with radiators hence my direct comparison with resistive cable.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeMay 30th 2021
     
    Posted By: WillInAberdeenI do see the advantages of A-A heatpumps but am looking for something silent for certain rooms.

    Skirting radiators may be another possibility. Assuming radiators in underfloor troughs are a step too far :)
  3.  
    Posted By: WillInAberdeenCould be an nteresting system, has anyone tried this kind of thing? line the walls with these gypsum boards which have UFH pipes prebuilt into them. So the whole wall becomes a big low-temperature radiator. Could be good for carpeted rooms, and for renovations where you are replacing the plasterboard anyway? Website is a bit vague about how much heat is emitted per m2, and other important details.
    They seem to have thought through the obvious hazards with picture hanging nails!
    Hi I fitted a Radiant Wall in my house in 2008, it works well and it's comfortable to sit beside it on a cold day. Don't remember how much is emitted but 5kWh sticks in my mind at a Delta T of 6-7 degrees. Room comfort is a combination of room temperature, the temperature of nearby surfaces and draughts/convection.
    • CommentAuthorRex
    • CommentTimeJun 9th 2021
     
    I thought Fremacell had a product like this. Seem to recall seeing something X years ago when I was researching UFH for my house.
    • CommentAuthoralexc
    • CommentTimeJun 15th 2021
     
    I have varotherm system through the house.

    Works fine.

    Mix of piping buried deep in clay plastered walls and fermacell panels. And hooked up to underfloor. We used two manifolds.
    We layed it as per normal underfloor system. We have not hooked it up for cooling. But could do. A to do.
    I would lay it in the ceiling for cooling.
    Main issues really about use of the walls. If I did it again, I'd use ceilings more. Plus I only began leaving gaps between sections of heating on the last few. Wood under clay/fermacell panels so I screw stuff onto walls. Also more fixings in ceiling to hang pictures from. Remember anything in front of walls gets warm.
    We also went for one area with slightly more densely packed piping so once in while to sit next to it, lay flat on wall and get warmed up.
    To really feel the effects of the radiant heat I tend to let the rooms cool down 5 degrees under our target temps. The walls will really heat up, gorgeous when it's freezing outside. The heating tends to overshoot then and does not come back on for some days:).
    Our retrofit comes in around 26kwh/M2 so the walls come only gently normally, but it's like standing in the sun, with radiant heat
  4.  
    VH, Alex, thanks, that is great feedback!

    Any idea how many W are emitted per m2 of wall? (per degC of CH water temperature)

    We have an older house that consumes more heat, so considering this because it would allow more m2 of heating than ufh alone (lower flow temperature) and there are some floors that would be awkward to dig up and re-lay.

    Could also be good in small bathroom where there's hardly any floor area that doesn't already have something on it such as bath or loo. Warm walls sound pleasant 🙂
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeJun 16th 2021
     
    alexc, do you find that with the v high %age of radiant vs convective heat input you must be getting, inside air temp can be relatively cool, for subjective comfort/'warmth'?
Add your comments

    Username Password
  • Format comments as
 
   
The Ecobuilding Buzz
Site Map    |   Home    |   View Cart    |   Pressroom   |   Business   |   Links   
Logout    

© Green Building Press