The Efficient Electric Home of the Future Now
Efficient Electric Home Under Construction
During the Grand Designs show at the NEC in 2019 we were discussing our in ceiling Infrared Heating mats with a family on our stand. Soon after they presented us plans and asked us to calculate the heating requirements for their own new Grand Design build.
The plans of the home take the old 1930’s 3 bedroom footprint and more than double the size of the property. Within the building the clients have made the decision to go all electric for heating and hot water. Jigsaw will supply the homeowner with our in ceiling, plastered in heating mats, Heatmiser thermostats and Mixergy Smart hot water cylinder. The system will be powered by by a 4kW in roof solar panel array and 12kW battery storage system. The client will make use of Octopus’s car charging tariff to charge the batteries on the allotted times.
The ceiling infrared heating systems runs off a 36v power supply and is controlled separately by room or zone. The benefits of this means that the rooms that are being used are the ones that are heated. The others can be on a tick over temperature to keep the rooms at an ambient heat. The mats will run at a lower temperature of around 45ºC. The lower temperature is spread over a wider area and will heat all surfaces in the room evenly creating a comfortable environment for all in the room.
Heating Mats
- It is the flexible Future of Heating
- The Low Cost, High Energy heating solution
- Providing Low Voltage Heating at 36 volts
- With a Healthy Heat from Far Infrared Rays (FIR)
- Providing incredibly rapid warm-up times
- Simple insulation
- Can be part of a renewable energy solution using heat from Solar Panels
- Ability to Zone each room for maximum heating cost efficiency
- Manufactured in Germany
- Come with a 10 year warranty
Smart Hot Water
The Mixergy Smart cylinder will also make use of the power produced by the solar panels during the day. The feed to the cylinder will charge the tank of hot water from the top down. This means that any hot water produced will be usable rather than being diluted into a large non smart cylinder. See more about the Mixergy cylinder here.
Heating Control
All elements of the installation will be able to be measured and controlled via the room thermostats, Mixergy cylinder and apps. The battery system will monitor the power coming into the property from the grid and the panels and will feedback on what is being generated. We are positive that this home will be come a blueprint for future properties, new and old, by the way it will generate and use power.
Once the building was watertight, our team of installers was asked to do a training session on the installation of the mats in the ceiling. The mats had already been wired into the transformers by the electricians ready for plastering. The connections are just needed to be made at one end of the mats with the heat shrunk connector cables jointed and sealed into the ceiling. No need to see any wiring at all!
One of the rooms upstairs was used to demonstrate to the plastering team on the build. The mats require a two part installation. The first being the adhesive to bond the mat to the ceiling. We also find that board adhesive is smoother and is easier to push through the mats. This is to ensure a strong fix to the boards. Top tip – use a plastic trowel to ensure that the mats are not damaged on installation. The mats can be plastered as normal once adhesive is dry. You would never know that the mats were there.
Client and plasterers happy, now for the rest of the home!
The first part of the Solar panel installation has been completed by Terry and his team at Solar Select. Very clean installation with the in roof panels.
The Mixergy cylinder has also been installed. We have added a solar diverter to provide free electricity to the cylinder when the sun is out. No point sending it to the grid if the cylinder can charge full of water.
Summary
More to follow as the site develops. Keep coming back for updates.