It turned from the typical cold and mouldy Scottish house into a real gem, well worth the effort. The real gain is not just in the savings made on heating, but the gain in comfort. I have insulated my roofs and exterior walls from the outside, and despite having a rather large property of 210m² of living space plus an accessible attic I do just use 2-2,5kW of heat at an average 24 hour temperature of 6°C to heat living room and kitchen up to 20°C and the other rooms to 17-19°C. Upstairs no heating is needed at this outside temperature to keep these room temperatures. That's a far cry from the 9-9,5kW needed on average during the heating season in the past and then the master bedroom would still be freezing cold in winter with the radiator on, room temperatures were deliberately set lower to get not bankrupt on the gas bills . I also changed from a gas boiler to air to air heat pumps (needed more than one because of the size of the house) and I think the same heat pump water heater as in the video.
Very interesting. Particularly the hemp and jute with smart vapour barriers, I'll need to do some research on those. We used to build timber frame houses like that-ish when I was younger, they're ubiqutous in Scotland. It's very dissapointing seeing the bodgery and lack of ventialtion and vapour barriers. Scottish carpenters and joiners take that very seriously normally, particularly in such an exposed location beside Ben Nevis!
Great job and excellent video. I'm actually quite surprised that the single heat source in the dining room heats the whole house but I suppose that's down to the efficiency of the sealing and insulation and the passive heating design
Enjoyed that. Having that view of the Ben! How could you think of moving? I am bit by bit insulating the walls of my solid walled brick built Victorian terrace in Sheffield.
Lovely video and congratulations on this great project. Can anyone tell me the exact heat pump cylinder used for the hot water - I can see it's Vaillant but what type of Vaillant?
Ed, is that what they call a mini split heat pump? Make and model? How noisy is the internal unit. Is it ok in freezing weather. I am considering one in my house in Kinlochleven Thanks
The one on the wall is a ductless minisplit heat pump. Internal unit is just a fan so not noisy There are models that operate in climates like Alaska- you likely don't need that in Scotland. I recommend Japanese brands like Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Daikin.
You can absolutely do a DIY EnerPhit. You (or a PH consultant) will need to model the house in PHPP, carry out the work exactly as designed, you need to gather evidence of the work as it is carried out, have an air test carried out by an accredited tester etc. etc. the people carrying out the work do not need to be PHI certified tradespeople but the quality assurance process must be followed precisely 👍
I'm pretty sure that the energy "available" from the MHRV would fade into insignificance compared to the abundant energy available from the external environment. Certainly not worth chasing with elaborate additional plant and engineering design time.. The MHRV system would be a compact and relatively efficient sub-system as is..
Nice to see some DIY EnerPhit. I did mine this way too: ua-cam.com/video/OVcvk9Wnyw4/v-deo.html Saves a fortune over paying builders to do it all, and ensures things get done properly (but does take up an awful lot of weekends, so has taken years here, with a couple of major aspects each year). It's very tiresome that all government help for retrofit is not available to DIYers, only companies. Govt doesn't actually care about fixing the buildings - it only cares about jobs. But it could get 3 times as many buildings done for the same money if it let DIYers use grants on materials and equipment.
The tapes and adhesives are designed specifically to last and will easily last 100 years if they aren't exposed to the elements. However, the builder (DIY or otherwise) needs to read the product spec sheet to ensure that the air barrier tape is compatible with whatever it is applied to. Having the experience and knowledge (or some extensive research) is a key part for success in the execution stage of a Passive House.
@@hiramcamp1930 I have to disagree. There's numerous examples where adhensives has just dried up and died. Or the glue has transformed itself to some weird form. Things were made to last in 1924. I doubt that most of the ones from 2024 will last to 2124. Air & moisture are elements as well. Still, I wouldn't buy scotch tape from you, based on your claims.
Makes sense my heat pump sits outside where it is very cold in the winter and when the pump freezes up it takes the heat from the house and pumps it outside to unfreeze it.Surprise surprise it costs a complete fortune to run.I notice heat loss calculations weren’t mentioned and all the excuses that heat pump guys use to dispel why it’s so unaffordable.Funny that
Where exactly are you? The defrost cycles shouldn't be all the time and aren't a major problem. If you are in a cold climate you need a heat pump rated for it- I'd go with one of the Japanese ones as we have the most experience with them. I have 4 in my current house (Panasonic and Daikin- also like Fujitsu and Mitsubishi) and am very happy with the comfort and performance.
😅😅 sorry. But 100mm inside brings the condenswatterpoint inside the construction. If now warm air from inside comes to this point .more condenswater. Airtight is 100% important. 👎👎🇩🇪. German word. Can't make a hero in Derby from a donkey. 😅😅
Look at 4:34, the construction looks alright to me as an (german) architect. Should be pretty save as there is just 25% is just a 40mm thermal insulation behind the vapour barrier is 140mm. There is also an installation cavity before the vapour barrier, this gives you a nearly fool prove system. Also the intello vario vapour barrier helps to dry out the construction in summer, together with the forgiving hamp and the cavity between the outside bricks and the insulation thumps up from my side. 🙂
Wow. My 1961 house in the Midwestern United States wouldn’t need quite this much work but this was an incredible look at a very interesting project.
It turned from the typical cold and mouldy Scottish house into a real gem, well worth the effort.
The real gain is not just in the savings made on heating, but the gain in comfort.
I have insulated my roofs and exterior walls from the outside, and despite having a rather large property of 210m² of living space plus an accessible attic I do just use 2-2,5kW of heat at an average 24 hour temperature of 6°C to heat living room and kitchen up to 20°C and the other rooms to 17-19°C. Upstairs no heating is needed at this outside temperature to keep these room temperatures.
That's a far cry from the 9-9,5kW needed on average during the heating season in the past and then the master bedroom would still be freezing cold in winter with the radiator on, room temperatures were deliberately set lower to get not bankrupt on the gas bills .
I also changed from a gas boiler to air to air heat pumps (needed more than one because of the size of the house) and I think the same heat pump water heater as in the video.
Thank you Es for sharing this PH project. Really useful as starting to looks at this option with a timber framed building in Brisbane Aust.
Very interesting. Particularly the hemp and jute with smart vapour barriers, I'll need to do some research on those. We used to build timber frame houses like that-ish when I was younger, they're ubiqutous in Scotland. It's very dissapointing seeing the bodgery and lack of ventialtion and vapour barriers. Scottish carpenters and joiners take that very seriously normally, particularly in such an exposed location beside Ben Nevis!
That view! What a wonderful project.
Amazing project!
Great job and excellent video. I'm actually quite surprised that the single heat source in the dining room heats the whole house but I suppose that's down to the efficiency of the sealing and insulation and the passive heating design
Fantastic!
Great work Es
Enjoyed that. Having that view of the Ben! How could you think of moving?
I am bit by bit insulating the walls of my solid walled brick built Victorian terrace in Sheffield.
Thanks for sharing
Lovely video and congratulations on this great project. Can anyone tell me the exact heat pump cylinder used for the hot water - I can see it's Vaillant but what type of Vaillant?
An interesting, informative and inspirational video.
It would have been good if you could have shared the overall cost of this project.
can you share the ducting you did?
Ed, is that what they call a mini split heat pump? Make and model?
How noisy is the internal unit.
Is it ok in freezing weather.
I am considering one in my house in Kinlochleven
Thanks
The one on the wall is a ductless minisplit heat pump. Internal unit is just a fan so not noisy There are models that operate in climates like Alaska- you likely don't need that in Scotland. I recommend Japanese brands like Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Daikin.
Can you get EnerPHit certifications if you do it yourself without being a Passivhaus tradesmen? Was this house certified?
You can absolutely do a DIY EnerPhit. You (or a PH consultant) will need to model the house in PHPP, carry out the work exactly as designed, you need to gather evidence of the work as it is carried out, have an air test carried out by an accredited tester etc. etc. the people carrying out the work do not need to be PHI certified tradespeople but the quality assurance process must be followed precisely 👍
Surprised the hot water air source heat pump isn't using the output from the MHRV as its source of heat.
I'm pretty sure that the energy "available" from the MHRV would fade into insignificance compared to the abundant energy available from the external environment. Certainly not worth chasing with elaborate additional plant and engineering design time.. The MHRV system would be a compact and relatively efficient sub-system as is..
Nice to see some DIY EnerPhit. I did mine this way too: ua-cam.com/video/OVcvk9Wnyw4/v-deo.html
Saves a fortune over paying builders to do it all, and ensures things get done properly (but does take up an awful lot of weekends, so has taken years here, with a couple of major aspects each year). It's very tiresome that all government help for retrofit is not available to DIYers, only companies. Govt doesn't actually care about fixing the buildings - it only cares about jobs. But it could get 3 times as many buildings done for the same money if it let DIYers use grants on materials and equipment.
Stupid question. How does those tapes glue hold on for 10-20 years to keep the air tightness as good as it was in the beginning?
Not a stupid question at all by the way 👍
The tapes and adhesives are designed specifically to last and will easily last 100 years if they aren't exposed to the elements. However, the builder (DIY or otherwise) needs to read the product spec sheet to ensure that the air barrier tape is compatible with whatever it is applied to. Having the experience and knowledge (or some extensive research) is a key part for success in the execution stage of a Passive House.
@@hiramcamp1930 I have to disagree. There's numerous examples where adhensives has just dried up and died. Or the glue has transformed itself to some weird form.
Things were made to last in 1924. I doubt that most of the ones from 2024 will last to 2124.
Air & moisture are elements as well.
Still, I wouldn't buy scotch tape from you, based on your claims.
@@jacksmith4266 One of the particular tapes viewed here by Tescon is rated to 100 year with premature aging tests.
Gosh
Makes sense my heat pump sits outside where it is very cold in the winter and when the pump freezes up it takes the heat from the house and pumps it outside to unfreeze it.Surprise surprise it costs a complete fortune to run.I notice heat loss calculations weren’t mentioned and all the excuses that heat pump guys use to dispel why it’s so unaffordable.Funny that
You must be somewhere very very cold. Consider ground source heat pump (geothermal).
@@Robin-xe4yz Robin 🇬🇧 it is the government pushing people into having one the houses have no insulation old 1910 built.Heat or Eat over here now.
Where exactly are you? The defrost cycles shouldn't be all the time and aren't a major problem. If you are in a cold climate you need a heat pump rated for it- I'd go with one of the Japanese ones as we have the most experience with them. I have 4 in my current house (Panasonic and Daikin- also like Fujitsu and Mitsubishi) and am very happy with the comfort and performance.
😅😅 sorry. But 100mm inside brings the condenswatterpoint inside the construction. If now warm air from inside comes to this point .more condenswater. Airtight is 100% important. 👎👎🇩🇪. German word. Can't make a hero in Derby from a donkey. 😅😅
Look at 4:34, the construction looks alright to me as an (german) architect. Should be pretty save as there is just 25% is just a 40mm thermal insulation behind the vapour barrier is 140mm. There is also an installation cavity before the vapour barrier, this gives you a nearly fool prove system. Also the intello vario vapour barrier helps to dry out the construction in summer, together with the forgiving hamp and the cavity between the outside bricks and the insulation thumps up from my side. 🙂
@@mauersegler9894 how would you do a shipping container for 1c to 40c weather. steel container insulation vapor barrier plywood?