The HeatPod project was successful in the National Home Improvement Council’s 2011 annual awards, winning Category One ‘Best Local Authority and Registered Landlords Completed Modernisations’ and also runner […]

The project was in most respects complete by the end of July, although a few finishing touches have been added during August together with commissioning of the heating systems and completion of the monitoring […]

The wood pellet stove has been installed and commissioned by the Stove Shop (based in Liskeard,Cornwall). The stove is a Caminetti  ‘Linea Pellet 6’ model with a nominal thermal output of 6kW which can reduce to 1.8 kW – the latter being more suitable for such a well insulated house. The unit is fully automated and [...]

                The final element of the insulation package for the house is a 400mm layer of mineral wool installed in the loft. To facilitate this items previously stored there have been moved to a new garden shed – a much more economical solution than modifying the roof structure [...]

                      The heat pump system at the heart of the HeatPod project is now running. The essential items of equipment are housed within a cupboard inside the HeatPod (conservatory) and consist of a Calorex HeatPlant 35 ground source heat pump, its associated mains pressure hot [...]

Installation of the conservatory was carried out on 7 th & 8 th July by the Causeway Trading Group Ltd. (CTG) who built this unit for the project.  The installation was quickly and expertly carried out and the quality of the manufacture is first class – it promises to fulfil its role perfectly. It has been described as the [...]

Following fixing of the insulation boards they are consolidated with a layer of glass fibre reinforcing mesh bedded in a coat of reinforcing mortar. Stop beads are fitted where required to form neat edges to the final render coat. Following completion of the reinforcing layer the final decorative top coat of render is applied. In this [...]

Work has started on fixing the external wall insulation. The 100mm thick phenolic boards will provide the external walls with a ‘u’ value of 0.16 W/m2K and form an airtight seal against the new doors and windows when the render system is applied. The system used is manufactured by Knauf Marmorit and is being installed by their Truro based [...]

The house is now ready for fixing the external wall insulation. All of the new windows and doors have been installed. The new doors are by Homesafe and include their ‘Eco Packs 1 & 2’ providing added air tightness and a ‘u’ value of 1.2 W/m2K – in addition to a Secured By Design accreditation. The [...]

Week beginning 11 th April – work started on replacing the existing windows with new Jeld-Wen ‘DreamVu’ all timber triple glazed units. These are high performance windows with a ‘u’ value 0.7 W/m2K. As can be seen in the photo, the windows are positioned with the frame overlapping the outer face of the external wall. This [...]

The PV system was expertly fitted by local installer Plug Into The Sun. It is a 1.15 kW solar PV system using Moser Baer MBPV 230 (1661 x 991 mm) modules mounted using the Alpha Mounting System and linked to a SMA Sunny Boy SB1200 inverter. The PV system is not intended to meet all of [...]

The wood pellet room heater was delivered to the site on 31 st March by the Stove Shop from Liskeard in Cornwall. The room heater is a Caminetti Linea Pellet 6 unit made in Italy. It is a completely room sealed device which takes its combustion air from the external air via a duct to be installed [...]

Project week 2 – foundations laid for the HeatPod base ready for construction of the substructure. This will include a concrete floor slab surrounded by insulation which will provide an element of passive thermal storage. The external soil & vent pipe visible in the photo will be replaced with an internal system in order to [...]

14 March 2011 – Work started on site with a new main contractor Mears Limited who have a very capable and enthusiastic team assigned to the project. The first items of work to be carried out include removal of the existing concrete porch canopy (see photo) and then excavating the area to be occupied by [...]

Despite not having a main contractor on site it was possible to arrange for the ground source heat pump borehole to be drilled during November 2010. This was carried out successfully by GSHP specialist contractor EarthEnergy with only minimal disturbance of the garden. A 60m borehole was drilled and groundloops inserted and grouted ready for [...]

Just a week after starting work on site, our main contractor Rok fell victim to the recession and entered administration. It was a frustrating moment as team at Rok were enthusiastic and well prepared to carry out the work. Fortunately, despite the demise of Rok, our team of specialist sub-contractors were all still available to [...]