An energy-saving house in Rasošky

This energy-saving house is situated in Rasošky, a village in the Hradec Králové region. It is a one-floor building, the disposition of which was slightly altered in comparison with a standard house, and which has no basement - the area under the staircase was used for a WC. It has a total floor area of 135 m² and approximately 120 m² of useable (heated) area. Heating is provided by a combination of Ecofilm ceiling foil and Ecofloor floor heating.

Description of the building
It is a family house built by the company EKORD (www.ekord.cz), type 122, with a slightly altered disposition. Family houses offered by this company meet the criteria for placement in the NED group. The house is used by a three-member family.

The heating system is somewhat oversized - this is partially caused by the installation of Ecofloor heating cables for the comfortable heating of the floor in exposed places, and is partially intentional, in order to increase the dynamism of the of the heating system startup. Thanks to the electric heating's great regulatory system, this fact has no effect on the consumption of electric energy and there is no undesired overheating of the rooms. The increased wattage didn't even have any effect on the size of the house circuit-breakers needed.

Heating
Most of the heating takes place via ceiling heating with Ecofilm C electric heating foils, located in plaster board soffits. This system uses the principle of infra-red radiant heating, but compared to ordinary radiant panels, output is spread along a larger surface area while the surface temperature of the ceiling remains lower, which brings improvements in terms of comfort. Because this is a radiant system the distribution of temperatures is completely even and the temperature difference between the floor and under the ceiling is approximately only 1.5°C.

In rooms with ceramic tiles, the heating system is supported by Ecofloor electric floor heating (heating cables and mats) - mainly in the entrance corridor, WC and the bathroom. Also, in the kitchen by the kitchen unit and in the living room in front of the sofa, zones with floor heating were created for comfortable heating of the floor.

The heating system is complemented by a fireplace with a warm-air fireplace insert which is located in the living room. The fireplace functions mainly as a comfortable element for long winter evenings; however, in the case of an unexpected power-cut, it can also serve as an alternative source of heat.

Acquisition costs
The whole system was supplied and invoiced in two stages. The total invoiced sum was 117, 634 CZK. However, this price also included the acquisition and installation of a home switchboard with a value of 30,140 CZK. The heating system itself - the Ecofilm heating foils, Ecofloor heating cables and regulation system - cost 85,988 CZK including the installation.

Operational costs
It needs to be pointed out at the beginning that all home appliances also use electricity in order that the direct heating tariff provided for electric heating is used to the maximum. Operational costs don't only include the heating of the home, but also the heating of water, cooking, lighting and all the operational costs of all home appliances in the house which use electricity.

The building was completed and the owners moved into it in autumn 2005. They had to face an unusually cold winter in 2005/2006 which was very rich in snow. The heating system was given a tough test at the very beginning which proved that it can heat the individual rooms to the required temperatures without any problems. This forever closed the dispute over whether or not ceiling heating is capable of heating a house in harsh climatic conditions.