ᐅ Which heating system is best for a new build without a mechanical ventilation system?

Hello everyone,

We are planning to build a single-family house (including a basement) next year with a living area of 150 sqm (1,615 sq ft). However, we do not want a ventilation system, and meeting KfW 55 standard is not mandatory.

The plan is to build with either 36.5 cm (14.4 inches) or 42.5 cm (16.7 inches) Poroton blocks. Triple-glazed windows and a stove in the living area are also planned. A gas connection and our own forest are available. One roof side faces southeast/northeast (gable roof with a 45° pitch).

Which heating concept would you recommend?

Please let us know if you need any further information.

Thank you in advance.

If you have your own forest, wood chips or even split logs are of course an option. However, gas burns cleaner, and an electrically powered heat pump produces (locally) no emissions at all. Basically, many options are possible; it depends on your preferences (cost? convenience? environmental impact?) and your circumstances (space?).

By the way, I would recommend a ventilation system!

Hi,
it depends on what you want... economically, gas heating is currently hard to beat.
For a greener option, you can choose a heat pump, but with electricity prices expected to rise significantly in the future, it won’t get cheaper.
The CO2 footprint of a heating system is like a car’s fuel consumption: completely irrelevant, even if environmentalists don’t like to hear that.

Just the amount of concrete used to build our house caused about the same CO2 emissions as our gas heating will produce over the next 20 to 30 years combined...

I would always see a stove as a cozy feature for sitting in front of, not as a main heating source—even though it can warm up a modern house very quickly.
But who really wants to first light a stove just to get warm???

Best regards,

Andreas

We clearly prefer cost-effectiveness.

We see the stove in the living area as a bit of a luxury.

@Bieber0815 What are the arguments in favor of the ventilation system?

Since none of us can see into the future...
I would recommend gas or a heat pump... with monthly heating costs between 40 and 60 euros, many other options are not cost-effective.
Building protection and comfort. One week of vacation and the house smells like new—instead of like stale salad.

Hi,
if cost-effectiveness is important to you, I would recommend considering a gas heating system. Whether and which kind of solar support you might need to comply with the energy saving regulations depends on your specific case.

You can probably forget about KFW 55 quickly; do just enough to meet the requirements, but no more!

It might also make sense to install a ventilation system, as this can potentially allow you to avoid using thermal storage. However, everything is interconnected: brick, insulation, windows, heating, thermal storage, controlled residential ventilation...

Originally, we also didn’t want a controlled residential ventilation system, but we ended up installing one because it made it possible to do without basement windows (which are very expensive when flood-proof) and also made thermal storage unnecessary. Basement windows and thermal storage together would have cost nearly as much as the controlled residential ventilation system.

Best regards,

Andreas