Should I use an air source heat pump in a Passive House?
I am looking to install a heat pump ,HRV, Radiant heat in the slab and a wood stove. do I need all this or can I do it wish just the heat pump? Or can you advise me on a better system to install? I'm building 2 bungalows about 1350 square feet (120m2) on a polished slab.
That’s a whole whack of heating systems for a Passive House, you can for sure trim that down. In some areas, achieving Passive House Certification allows you to bypass normal building codes, so your location is very important, where are you building?
And you may not know this but there are different Passive House programs, or rather different certifying bodies, like PassivHaus, Passive House Canada and PHIUS. So first you need to pick the one you want to work with, so start on this page here –
All you need to know about Passive House Certification
But to answer you question specifically, you’re talking about way more heat than you'll need there. Upfront it’s more expensive to build a Passive House, but cheaper in a couple of ways - longterm you have lower heating bills, that’s a no brainer becaues on average they are 90% more efficient, and as they love saying, “you can heat a Passive House with a hair dryer”. But there’s savings to be had in building costs as well, because you can reduce the size of the heating system, and you certainly don’t need that many!
So we can help you save a bunch of money on heating infrastructure, we just need to know what your concerns are. Do you want a wood stove for security, romance or because you have 5 acres of trees? Do you like warm floors? Or, do you want a heat pump for the lowest bills? (Heat pumps are 3 times more efficient).
And to help you pick the best heating system for Passive House, here are a few pages to check out :