ᐅ Planning to Buy a House: Which Heating System Is Best for My Home?

Hello,

we are planning to buy a house and are now considering which heating system to choose.
In the main rooms, there will be wood-burning stoves (living and dining rooms).
So we would only need an additional heating system for the winter.
We were thinking about electric heating.

The house is 300 m² (3,230 sq ft) over 2 floors.
Ceilings are on average 2.5 m (8 ft) high.
It will be fully renovated and insulated, but it will not be a highly insulated house as in an ideal case. It’s an old solid masonry house that will be upgraded to meet standards as much as possible.

Natural gas would need to be connected; all other heating systems require a boiler room and a new chimney, which would have to be built first.

How much would all of this cost, and what is really worthwhile?
We are willing to invest, but it should stay within reasonable limits...

Hello,

BastiHH schrieb:
...So, in the main rooms there will be wood stoves (living and dining rooms). We would then only need supplementary heating for the winter. We thought of electric heating.

This is a significant misconception. Wood stoves should only be used as occasional supplementary heating. Direct electric heating in a moderately to well-insulated building results in high energy costs and is therefore not advisable.

BastiHH schrieb:
...It’s an old solid masonry house, which will be upgraded to meet the standards as much as possible.

Which standards exactly?

BastiHH schrieb:
...How expensive would all this be and what really makes sense?

This cannot be reliably answered without further information such as previous energy consumption, heating load, or similar data.

BastiHH schrieb:
...We are willing to invest some money but it should stay within reasonable limits...

Be careful, as existing properties are relatively challenging to upgrade energetically. Often, the so-called “bargain” ends up being a money pit.

Best regards.

Hello,

JooM schrieb:
..But using a wood stove saves heating costs, right?

Hardly, and there are good reasons for that. For example, energy authorities like the KfW no longer recognize a wood stove in the energy balance—finally!!! 😉 A large part of the energy is lost through the chimney. The overall efficiency is dramatically low. That’s why manufacturers advertise the combustion efficiency! 😉 With a masonry heater or similar system equipped with appropriate thermal mass and/or auxiliary heating surfaces, the situation looks significantly better 🙂