Which heating system is most suitable for new construction

Hello everyone,

since my girlfriend and I want to fulfill the dream of owning our own home, we have already gathered some offers. However, we are completely uncertain about the topic of building services...

We would like to be as independent as possible and not use an oil heating system. In addition, we would like to return to the component of firewood (we have our own piece of forest). I am aware that this is associated with work, but I really enjoy doing it (I already cut about 5-6 cubic meters per year from trees that have fallen). Or is heating with wood no longer sensible nowadays?

Framework conditions:
- 1 single-family house with about 190 sqm living space
- underfloor heating
- outdoor pool planned (approx. 6m x 3m)

Can you recommend anything here? We would also like to install a photovoltaic system with storage... sensible or not?

I would be very grateful for your advice.

Hello,

I am aware that this involves work, but I really enjoy doing it (I already process about 5-6 cubic meters per year from the trees that have fallen). Or is heating with wood no longer sensible nowadays?

In terms of fine dust emissions and other pollutants, any old oil heating system is probably better than a wood stove. But that's probably not your issue.

If you have your own forest and see woodcutting as an alternative to the gym, that's certainly not bad.
However: keep in mind that you might want to sell the house someday and the buyer may not have a forest, or that you yourselves will get older and at 60 woodcutting may no longer be a pleasant activity but hard toil. Or your life circumstances might change, and you simply won’t have the desire/time anymore for constant woodcutting and stoking the stove.

In other words, I would always recommend having the option to retrofit a gas heating system or heat pump.

Best regards,

Andreas

A wood gasifier makes sense if the wood is free or very cheap to obtain, otherwise less so. Additionally, there is the necessary storage and the effort to keep the heating running. Whether you still want that (new) in 2017 is up to you. For me, it is equivalent to carrying coal in 1902. The air in new residential areas is already polluted enough by cheap, improperly operated decorative stoves. In this respect, as a neighbor, I would be glad if no one also deliberately heated with wood. Storage with photovoltaics is a hobby and not profitable, to put it succinctly in one sentence. Photovoltaics can be economical, but especially through self-consumption. Heat pumps fit well because they are large electrical consumers that gratefully transform photovoltaic electricity into heat. For "burners," whether wood, pellets, gas, ... solar thermal is better. The goal is at least in summer to turn off the heat generator and cover hot water entirely through solar thermal.

(I already process about 5-6 cubic meters per year from the trees that have fallen down). Or is heating with wood no longer sensible nowadays?

Ecologically, I consider the use of windthrow or thinning wood "unprocessed, just as it lies in the forest" to be more sensible than first converting the wood (pellets, etc.), since every conversion costs energy (or serves as compensatory exercise if you do it yourself with an axe).

What is economical is unfortunately also subject to the fashion of political will. In this respect, I would never tailor a heating concept too narrowly to certain energy sources.

What burns with which pollutant emissions always also depends (among other things) on the parameter combustion temperature.

Framework conditions:
- 1 single-family house with approx. 190 sqm living space [...] outdoor pool planned (approx. 6m x 3m) [...] We would also like to install a photovoltaic system with storage...

In my view, a ground source heat pump is the obvious choice. Money should not be an issue, and the photovoltaic system fits well with that.

So we are also building a single-family house of 200 sqm with geothermal energy through ground collectors and a heat pump. Underfloor heating. Additionally, due to our own woodland, we are installing a 7 kW wood stove to be more independent of the heating system during transitional periods or to support it in winter. We are also planning a photovoltaic system but are not implementing it yet due to cost reasons and the still immature storage technology. This might also be an option for you since you can use your own wood but are not strictly dependent on it.