NIBE Case Studies
Prefabricated bungalow benefits from NIBE ASHP and MVHR
Background to the project
Whitehouse Farm is a super-efficient, 1,600 sq ft prefabricated bungalow in Gorsley, Herefordshire. Owner Edmund Dorman commissioned specialist turnkey homes manufacturer Dan-Wood House to create the bespoke, timber-frame building – which was designed and manufactured in Poland, before being shipped to the UK for assembly. The spacious, off-grid home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a cloakroom, and boasts 2.7m-high ceilings throughout.
The whole build took just eight weeks to complete, and the house was delivered with all key efficiency-enhancing fixtures and fittings already integrated. These included extensive insulation, triple glazing, underfloor heating – and a high-tech package solution for renewable space heating, hot water and ventilation from NIBE.
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NIBE products used:
Key stats:
- Low carbon timber-frame home fitted with extensive insulation, triple glazing, underfloor heating & a NIBE air source heat pump
- Installed by The Heat Ltd.
- Full NIBE system installed in under a week
Unsure of some of the terminology used? Check out our handy Heat Pump Dictionary
Read now!The solution to the project
As a Dan-Wood contractor and a NIBE Pro Installer, Edinburgh-based renewables expert TheHeat Ltd. was called in to carry out all plumbing and heating works. This included fitting radiators (in the bedrooms and bathrooms), underfloor heating (in the living spaces) and the complete NIBE air source heat pump (ASHP) package. The package was made up of an 8kW NIBE F2040 ASHP unit, a 200L NIBE HA-WH5 Megacoil hot water storage cylinder, a NIBE UKV 40 buffer vessel, and a NIBE SMO 20 intelligent controls unit – all of which work together to meet 100% of the property’s heating and hot water demand. As the highly insulated home is so airtight, ensuring sufficient ventilation to prevent damp and mould was also a must, particularly as Edmund’s wife Valerie suffers from respiratory problems. For this reason, TheHeat Ltd. installed a NIBE GV-HR110-250 mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) unit too. TheHeat Ltd. Director Lukasz Chojnacki and his team completed all works in under a week.
The Results
Now fully up and running, the NIBE ASHP package solution is providing Edmund’s home with cost-effective, sustainable and comfortable space heating and hot water all year round. It operates seamlessly alongside the NIBE MVHR unit, which extracts stale, used air from inside the property and circulates fresh, room-temperature air in its place. This process not only minimises condensation, protects against damp and mold and keeps the air clean and healthy to breathe, but it also reduces the heat load on the building, as MVHR systems only cause nominal heat loss.
Testimonial
My professional background is in the construction industry, and I even lived in Sweden while doing a timber framing apprenticeship – so a Scandi-inspired, pre-fab home with a timber frame was a natural choice for my own dream home! I’ve always admired the Scandinavian way of doing things, from their general lifestyle to their forward-thinking approach to building methods and energy management, as well as the quality of their products. This, combined with the fact that heat pumps have always fascinated me anyway, meant that opting for an ASHP system and mechanical ventilation from NIBE just felt right. I knew I could trust in the quality of the system, not only because of NIBE’s Swedish heritage, but also because the brand comes recommended by Dan-Wood House.
Lukasz and TheHeat were excellent, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again in future – not least because they’re always there on the end of the phone if I have any questions about my new system. Although that said, now that it’s all in, everything is working beautifully, and I more or less leave the heat pump and ventilation systems to their own devices. They do what they’re supposed to do virtually unaided; they just work really well. The increased air cleanliness in our home thanks to the MVHR system is another huge added bonus for my wife, as it helps dramatically improve the symptoms of her asthma. System running costs are nice and low too: my annual electricity bill for everything (including powering the heat pump and ventilation systems, and all the LED lighting) is around £700, which is significantly less than your average dual fuel bill.
Edmund Dorman owner of Whitehouse Farm
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