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Housing - Renovation: Heating & Cooling a 500 year old stone building?

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthornotsogreen
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    As my user name suggests I am not very ‘green’ but have decided that it is now time to get off the ‘hamster wheel’ and change my ways. To this end I have bought a small 500 year old stone farmhouse in southern Italy that needs total renovation.

    My question is, what is the most environmentally friendly solution to heating and cooling the place? The only service we receive is a 3kw electricity supply although I am led to believe that it can be upgraded to either a 4.5 or 6Kw supply. The internal area of the living accommodation will be 150sqm but there is about 10,000 sqm of land with it. There is no heating system nor plumbing of any sort at the moment.

    I want to avoid installing radiators if I can because they do not look too attractive against the stone, so under floor heating may be the way. However, I have heard it can take 24 hours for UF heating to heat a place properly, so I am not sure. It would be nice to have some more instant heat. Also these type of properties get damp from Oct to Mar, so need something that provides a cheap background heat if I am not there.

    Given the amount of sunshine in this part of Italy, a solar option may be the way to go with a back up boiler (but not powered by gas or oil). Ground heat pumps in theory sound good but I am not sure on cost grounds and also they still need electricity to run, which is a lot dearer in Italy.

    Then there is the need for cooling, I do not need full on AC but it would be good to have something that reduces the temperature by say 10C.

    As you can tell I have gathered lots of snippets of info but need someone with experience and common sense to point me in the right direction. Help!

    Thanks in advance

    Robin
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    1) Put in a solar hot water system I would suggest with a large thermal store 1500l or ideally bigger. Use this for hot water and for background heating.

    2) Make best use of solar shading and roof insulation to moderate temperatures. Move bedrooms downstairs? Fit a couple of air to air heat pumps ( a/c ) units these can work as heaters or coolers. They will also work as dehumidifiers.
    • CommentAuthornotsogreen
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    Tony thanks for your advice. I am however a complete novice so am struggling with some of the terms. By thermal store do you mean a hot water tank?
    Also are you suggesting that for the main heating I just rely on the air to air pumps? I thought they were quite expensive to run in comparison to a pellet burner? By the way it is all single storey but the walls are VERY thick about 1m in most places but the roofs are much thinner , so how do you insulate as there are no lofts just barrle vaulted ceilings or cones (Trullo)?

    Sorry for the barrage of questions and thanks again for your help

    Robin
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    A thermal store is quite similar to a hot water tank but it is usually bigger and better insulated and can keep water hotter 90 even. The water in it is used to heat incoming mains water via o heat exchanger and can also be used to heat the house in lots of different ways. If it was fed from solar panels then the heat would be free -- cheaper than wood.

    Yes air to air heat pumps should be OK they are easy to install even DIY cheap £400 to buy or £ 600 installed, they would cost less to run than most other heaters and they will do cooling too. Two birds with one stone.

    Insulating the roof is going to be important, you need to keep the heat out. Possibly you could over roof with serious insulation in between the new and existing or insulate under the ceilings and form new ceilings any shape you like.
    • CommentAuthornotsogreen
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2007
     
    Thanks again Tony. Very useful. No mains water though, although I guess water pumped from our tanks can be treated in the same way?
    • CommentAuthornotsogreen
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2007
     
    Tony, your comments re insulation have made me realise this is an area I had not really thought about as I had fallen for the agents blurb saying that the thick stone walls will keep the tempreture constant. But of course, as you point out, the roofs will need insulating to keep the heat in and out.

    Most of the roofs are either flatish or barrel vaulted and I was wondering the best way/type of outside insulation. Some roofs have to be replaced so can the insulation be incorporated in the design and some will remain original so the insulation will have to be an add on.

    Any ideas/advice much appreciated and attached is a drawing of the property to give an idea of what I am talking about!
    • CommentAuthornotsogreen
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2007
     
    Drawing again
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2007
     
    Cant see your drawing sorry
  9.  
    Another try to upload the picture
    • CommentAuthorstephendv
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2007
     
    notsogreen, the image is too large to upload to this forum, try scaling it down or reducing the quality.

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