Detached house in Běleč nad Orlicí

Basic information about the building

It is a detached family home with two storeys and without a cellar, featuring a total (heated) floor area of 156m2. The house was constructed from sand-lime bricks with a thickness of 240 mm; a 300 mm-thick layer of grey NeO polystyrene was used for the thermal insulation of the façade and a 180 mm layer was used for the thermal insulation of the floors. The windows have wooden frames, with triple glazing. The house is inhabited by a four-member family.

• Useable (heated) area: 156 m²
• Heat loss (calculation): 2,9 kW
• Main circuit breaker: 3x25A
• House tariff: D 45d

Heating and warm water-heating system

According to the TNI 73 0329 Standard, the heat loss is 2.9 kW (an outdoor temperature of -15°C and indoor temperature of 20°C was assumed for the calculation). The family uses a fireplace insert with a system distributing warm air to all habitable areas; the electric floor heating is a supplementary and back-up heat source. ECOFLOOR ADSV electric two-core heating cables with a total installed wattage of 6.6 kW have been installed in all rooms. In order that reasonable spacing between the heating cables can be maintained, and the floor heated evenly at the same time, the installed heating is significantly over-sized as a precaution against heat loss. However, overheating is reliably prevented by the regulation system.

The cables were embedded in 50mm-thick anhydrite. There are floating floors in all the habitable rooms and floor tiles in the bathrooms, WC and utility room. A 400W ladder radiator for the drying of towels was installed in the bathroom as a supplementary heater. The heating of warm water takes place using waste warm air sent from the recuperation unit via a pump into a storage tank with auxiliary electric heating (heating element).

Operating experience and costs

The heating system was supplied and installed (including the pouring of anhydrite floors) by ANIPO CZ s.r.o., which has its headquarters in Černilov. The user himself evaluated the heating system after the first year of operation as follows:

“For the period from 2. 8. 2012 to  1. 8. 2013, the consumption of electric energy for heating and the operation of the household (high + low tariff) was 4 791 kWh, for which we paid 18 312 CZK. Wood heating cost a further 4 000 CZK, as well as involving my work with processing, storing and daily heating. I find these activities quite relaxing and heating with wood pleasant but I admit that not everybody may feel this way.

However, we didn´t have very dry wood during the first season and therefore its heating capacity wasn´t very high. Despite that, it was sufficient and it wasn´t necessary to have the electric floor heating switched on permanently, even though the heating season was relatively long. Therefore, much of the electricity consumption was from everyday household requirements such as lighting, cooking, television, PC, etc. and the supplementary heating of warm water. I find the costs very favourable within this context.

Thanks to electric floor heating, we also have the D45 tariff, i.e. 20 hours of low tariff and 2+2 hours with high tariff per day, which was also reflected in the aforementioned operating costs of the house. I find the combination of a fireplace and electric heating ideal – a passive house has very low energy consumption and the fireplace is sufficient for the majority of the heating season. The electric floor heating wasn´t expensive – the acquisition costs were around 80 000 CZK and the installed wattage is way more than we’ll normally need – and even though we have it as a back-up, it brings savings. The low tariff makes the operation of electric appliances significantly less expensive and their use costs more these days than heating. Not only that, but when we switched on the floor heating for about 14 days when the temperatures were at the lowest level below freezing point, it provided high thermal comfort.” 

Heating system supplier

ANIPO CZ, s.r.o.
Pouchovská ulice 79 (BAK premises), 500 03 Hradec Králové
Tel: +420 775 564 762
email: anipo@anipo.cz; www.anipo.cz