TECHNICAL
Home automation project includes hydronic underfloor heating
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Today’ s technology makes home automation a very real and practical proposition— not only for the sake of comfort and convenience of having an automated living space, but it also offers tangible practical and economic benefits.
Viega Fonterra PB piping system being installed at an automated home in Constantia. Pipes are sandwiched between an insulation layer placed on the floor slab and the final screed.
Currently under construction in Cape Town’ s Constantia suburb is an excellent example of a fullblown automated home that incorporates the latest energy saving elements, off-grid and sellable power capability, security, and comfort features.
Suppliers and installers of these high technology aspects of modern living are Greenability Installations, who have chosen the Viega system of Fonterra hydronic underfloor heating and cooling to maintain comfort levels in this 1 000m 2 double-storey home.
Rudi Junge, a partner in Greenability, explains how the underfloor system works and the benefits of hydronic( water based) heating and cooling systems.
“ The Viega system includes special polybutylene piping that is embedded into the insulated floor screed, through which the heated or cooled water is circulated, giving up to or absorbing heat from the living space. The system design comprises various zones or areas of the house that can be individually controlled. In this application, more than 4km of polybutylene piping was used in 50 circuits, feeding about 15 zones on both the ground and first floors.
“ Zone piping terminates in one or more manifolds, which house valves that control the water flow to the individual zones. These valves in turn are controlled via signals sent from room thermostats, which are set to the desired temperature comfort level.”
Solar – not the panacea The all-important heat source, says Junge, cannot rely entirely on solar panels as is often suggested, but needs to be augmented with a high efficiency, low energy consumption heat pump, which if reversible, can provide cooling during the summer months.
Continued on page 75 >> www. plumbingafrica. co. za February 2017 Volume 22 I Number 12