Matt Lowe, our Commercial Director, recently refurbished his own home to improve energy efficiency. This was no mean feat!
He starts by saying, “Two years ago, I stood outside our house and promised not to buy it. I had an inkling as to how much work needed to be done.
That was before I had a proper look at the electrics, plumbing and heating!”
He continues, “For some crazy reason I thought, along with my wife (happy wife, happy life), that it would be a great idea to accommodate my mother-in-law. It was during the middle of covid. Crazy things happened during Covid. Who wouldn’t want to live with three daughters, a wife and a mother-in-law deep in the Welsh countryside?!
Eighteen months after moving in, we removed the gravity fed plumbing system. No more air locks. No more tanks in the loft (we had three). We removed the solar fed hot water tank. Its pump set had long run dry. We removed the heating system. No more micro bore pipe. No more cold radiators. No more red hot radiators that you couldn’t turn off. We insulated all internal walls and installed a pressurised heating and hot water system. We use PV panels to store heat energy in a Sunamp Heat Battery. We use ESBE circulation units to efficiently control the distribution of hot water around the system.
There is so much more that we could do. I want to add solar battery storage. In the summer we send way too much electricity to the grid and pay far more for the electricity we buy back in. I’d also like to add a ground source heat pump, but this would cost serious money, approximately 15 times more than a combi boiler. This will have to wait. I’d dearly love to be free from my reliance on fossil fuels. The technology is there, the cost remains prohibitive to the vast majority of households”
In this case study we outline the project challenges and several solutions that were implemented to improve comfort for residents and maximise energy efficiency.
Products Installed include:
Danfoss radiator valves
Salus controls
Hopefully you will find something in this story that inspires you to install something a little more energy efficient. Essco are here to help.