Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the postings to my last post. I have been persuaded with books, advice and web-pages supplied to go down the super insulation route and build a passive house. I am planning a storey and half house about 200 m2. Now presented below are the problems I am now facing;

1) Local architects advise me that its impossible to do it in the far north of Scotland climate due to strong winds we experience. My argument is its been done in Canada and Norway so its surely realistic here. Any thoughts?? Or will the costs outweigh the benefits?

2) My girlfriend grew up with an open hearth coal fire. She would like this as a feature, however it gives me headache as I want to have a house with no heating system and no leaks. Are there any solutions that allow me to have something similar that can recover the heat for hot water and not leak all my air up the chimney!!!

3) So my plan is as follows; superinsulate, triple glaze, solar collectors for hot water with immersion to help, heat recovery ventilation. Possibly feature fire. Have I missed anything???

4) Last but not least. Is it possible to build your house in such a way to monitor its performance real time. I was thinking along the lines of thermocouples at various points. As I know zilch about how to do this, it would be great if someone could advise!!!

Cheers
Tin

Check out these guys - the West of Ireland is known for a breeze every once in a while

http://www.scanhome.ie/

Go for it. even passivhaus pluss.

1) If possible try building into a slope to protect the house from wind or plant trees to form a shield.

2) Instal a stove in a traditional looking open fireplace but with no holes to the sky.

3) Given its a windy site have you thought about a turbine.

4) An efergy meter for electricity consumption. http://www.greenstamp.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=65

It can be done - and should be done (for all homes).

I spend all weekend in Glasgow showing people around a Holiday Lodge that is 30-40% better than a a new build home and I have outline technical specifications for a Code 6 (heat loss) and Passiv Haus version of the same home. (I have been realy fortunate to be asked by a Lodge manufacturer to specify the first eco static caravans/lodge homes in the UK). These all work in the North of Scotland.

The reaction was amazing - the stand I was on was the busiest in the show and they were turning people away as far back as the motorway! - Build it and they will come.

For the Lodges the target specification was to get annual heating costs under the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and this has been achieved. For yourselves the target willl be higher - but how far is a case of diminishing returns - a few days and nights of heating per year could save a fortune elsewhere...

Your first step should be to be to appoint an experienced technical advisor to work with your architects; This should be done prior to planning applications as the shape, size and orrientation have a huge impact on the final performance.

(for fireplaces my view is that if they are not on then they are a heat loss - in my last home we used a fire resistant board to seal it)

Hey, I lived in Canada where it was a bit chilly for six months of the year and before the jargon was born we were living in what is now called a passive house. It had, super insulation, in our case it was cordwood and loads of insulation in the roof at least 30cm. It was a saltbox design, with the long roof section an unbroken barrier against the prevailing weather. The house frontage was glazed but as it was an old house, 18c, the double glazing was taken off every spring and screens put in to stop the flying biteing things getting in, while allowing fresh air to help remove excess heat, we also had porches that were great airlocks into and out of the house. There was a massive fieldstone fireplace that had its own air source so we didn't create drafts, it was possible to scale the size of the fire to suit the conditions, burnt wood very efficiently behind its sealed doors with little windows to still see the flames and an oven was separate item great for slow cooking! Our hot water came from the main fire, embedded copper pipe in the stone mass to indirectly heat a pumped hot water storage system (electricity was used as back up). The rest of the house was space heated by a central plenum that ducted to the individual rooms via floor vents. The plenum extended to the roofline where it was vented outside so that in the summer when the temperature got to 35 dg C it sucked warm air out of the rooms and away using a form of natural ventilation. We shuttered the main windows in the height of summer to reduce this latter problem and it worked a treat except for dealing with humidity. For cool air we also had a massive reservoir of water in the basement that was filled from the guttering as well as providing us with grey water it kept the basement cool, this space was where our freezers and fridges lived and as they didn't work so hard they didn't chuck their heat back into the house. The house cost virtually nothing in electricity annually and about 5 cords of wood. It looked stunning, was easy to maintain as nearly all the spares were local. It was designed by pioneers who had to survive in much tougher conditions than today. Have fun!

Wow great response. Positive words, are keeping my belief levels very high!!!

Interested in the heat shield for blocking the fire place up. Sounds worth investigating. I noticed that there are fires that are built into the wall with a glass screen, not unlike a traditional fire......anyone know what these are called and if they are any good?

Cheers
Tintin

Hey ralphd, 5 cords of wood was used all year round and was our only cooking fuel as well as fuel for an open fire in the workshop annexe to the main house but then back in the 1980's all I had to worry about at the time was did we have enough wood cut to get through a Canadian winter with minus 25c plus windchill, btu's didn't even figure!

Would'nt be passive with a fire. Surely if you must have real flames then a room sealed stove would work. Many wood burning stoves have a piped in external air supply. Allways a good thing to bring the air in specifically for the fire passive house or not. These can be traditional or modern design – plenty to choose from. Search this forum.

I think your problem would be too much heat, so you’d have to have the smallest and use only very little wood (good).

Cheers
Mike up North

The answer to the original question is --- It is possible to build a passive house in the far north of Scotland. Its not even difficult either.

Why not do a thermal model of the proposed house and calculate the heat losses with various levels of insulation?

One never has to spend silly ammounts to make it passive house standard although there are plenty willing to take silly money off you if they get a chance for anything.

It is even possible for new build to spend the same and get to passive house standard.

Tintin,
1) PassivHaus buildings have been built in Sweden and Norway. Airtightness will keep out the draughts, and structures that satisfy the PassivHaus standard are the amongst the most airtight in the world.

2) For a flueless flame fire try an Ethonol stove: http://www.planikafires.com/

That is because too much heat is generally lost through overly large windows. See other threads. eg " they say I like a lot of light"

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: bot de paille</cite>So why do green houses work which are not even double glazed??</blockquote>

A green house is not kept at 18-20*c year round.

Ludite,

do you have a white cat and a black leather swivel chair?

i presume you need a floor that slides open too, with a map of the world covered in model log piles (instead of oil rigs?