Hot stuff: The changing ways we'll be heating our homes this winter

There are many ways to adopt clever interior design while keeping your home cosy

Nope, not logs, not gas, that’s a talented electric fire by Gazco. With vivid flame effects, an immersive, random LED light system creates a mesmerising display where a highly insulated house doesn’t demand the fierce heat of traditional flame. Look for new fuel-bed lighting and flame colour choices to set the mood in a pebble, crystal-ice or log look fire. Remote control allows set temperatures from 15C-25C, detects open windows, and will operate to a schedule for heat or a cosy ambience. Prices from €1,020. Suppliers include Cork Stoves, corkstoves.com.

THE future of central heating at home in Ireland is changing. It’s taken several cold shoves from the most environmentally aware, but it’s happening. 

SEAI grant assistance and the Building Regulations (part L) have been finessed to propel those building or renovating to install a renewable heat source, generally a sustainable air or ground sourced heat pump. Only natural gas can get anywhere near its economy. With carbon taxes heaped up year on year on our finite fossil fuels that competition may soon be over.

It’s not enough to smugly assume using wood as space heating or whole house heating is just carbon neutral and therefore an Earth-friendly choice. Reach for Clear Skies Certification for total peace of mind. For a safe, pleasing burn, before winter sets in clean the roof of the fire-box, give the glass a rub with some wood ash, remove the throat plate and leave the air inlets open to allow a flow of air through the stove to prevent rust. Farringdon Small Eco (multi-fuel) ecodesign-ready/Clear Skies Level 5 stove by Arada, 4.9kW, around €1,530, aradastoves.com for suppliers.

According to the SEAI, if you own a house built after 2005, it is likely to be heat pump ready with a heat loss of 2Watts/Kelvin/sq m, something you can drill down on with a full technical assessment during the grant aid process. Don’t be frightened off by this BER demand, as there are exceptions made. 

This skinny profile, underfloor heating system is controlled by a remote control or wall switch and compromises heating cable attached to a fibreglass mesh scrim. It simply rolls out onto the floor before tiling, and is fixed in place with double sided tape on the underside. UFH by Ecofloor, carries a power rating of 150 watts per square metre. €222.30 for 5sq m ex. installation, deluxebathrooms.ie. Thermopad and Cosytoes brands available through The Bath Shack from €79 for 2sq m, bathshack.com. Termofoil heating film kits from €43 per sq m, termofol.ie.

There are plans for natural gas to be blended by injection from anaerobic digesters around the country, into more Earth-friendly, carbon-neutral renewable gas to join the already available BioLPG. Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) boiler technology and retrofits are being championed by oil boilermakers. Even electric heating has been transformed out of all recognition.

Where you don’t have a flue or chimney, this 1500w Evonic Gilmour is majestically staged out into the room with woodland or silver birch logs. E-smart cloud app control includes six pre-set flame designs and six solid colour effects with overbed (ember) illumination. Compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home hubs, it comes in a white and soapstone surround with stepped side wings and a completely open front. From €1,798, staklums.ie. Evonics and Dimplex also available at the House of Stoves (Kilkenny) and The Stove Shop, New Ross, Wexford.

That said, nothing surpasses the potential 300% plus energy efficiency boasted by a well detailed geothermal heat pump system. The deep retrofits needed to make the installation of any heat pump meaningful, may not be a cost-optimal answer for you and your family, even with green-loan assistance.

Hive Active Heating is designed as a simple plug’n’play replacement to your existing thermostat, supported by Google Assistant and Alexa. Offered by Bord Gais with a number of its new customer heating bundles, set up to six time-slots for your heating and hot water to fit with your daily routine, and change them around easily on your Hive app. With Geolocation, your Hive thermostat knows if you’ve gone out and left the heating on, sending a reminder. €349 bought outright with a full boiler service, bordgaisenergy.ie.

Whatever your situation, having insulated and draught-proofed the building as fully and comprehensively as possible, upgrades to your air and water heating should go hand in woollen glove with an eye to improved control. 

Electric radiators (especially kW devouring early storage heaters) had a very bad reputation, not deserved of the latest, highly reactive, energy efficient models. Poking in a little extra heat where needed, a properly insulated home can wear modular aluminium or ceramic radiators of 650w-2000w with programmable thermostats and timers. Wall mounting contributes to their consistent performance, Look for optional wi-fi routers, and think about linking them to solar PV, or check out dry ‘solar’, clay radiators including Sunflow (UK). Rointe Kyros from €262.25 for 330w, rointe.ie.

There’s an enormous waste of kW energy all over the house, simply down to adult habit finely minced with teenage couldn’t-be-bothered. The ventilation of the living spaces, should also be professionally assessed to ensure that any physical tightening of the home’s envelope, does not compromise that vital air quality.

Look for strong crisp lines in contemporary vertical or horizontal panel radiators. Vitra Ultra, heights available 300mm, 450mm and 600mm, lengths 400mm to 2000mm, 410w to 3203w. Stelrad panel prices from €90 to €900, stelrad.ie, multiple suppliers including Heat Merchants and Davies.

Here, we take a look at inspiring progress from all over the home technology and heating industry, together with hot products and ideas to help you warm up to winter 2021 on just about any budget.