Heating and hot water
Biobased and Solar based heating system
Originally, our heating and hot water depended on wood, a small inefficient wood stove with a back boiler, and a diesel-powered backup system. This setup was not only inefficient it was not able to heat the entire house but also contributed to poor indoor air quality and wasted a lot of energy.
The goal was to completely remove fossil fuels from our heating and hot water supply. We wanted a system that would heat the whole building efficiently, reduce manual handling of wood, and make living spaces healthier and more comfortable.
We achieved these goals by installing a modern wood gasifier system. This single unit now provides heat to the main house, the rental apartments, and a 500 liter hot water boiler. The wood gasifier is much more efficient than the old stove, and it produces significantly fewer emissions, leading to cleaner indoor and outdoor air. It also requires far less wood to operate, saving time and effort.
To handle hot water needs in summer when heating isn't required, we added a solar collector. This system heats water directly with sunlight, covering most or all hot water demands during the warm months without burning any wood at all. As a result, our energy use dropped dramatically, and our comfort increased equally dramatically. The new setup provides consistent warmth and warm water throughout the entire building, solving the patchy heating problem of the past.
Looking ahead, we plan to further improve the system. One idea is to add a sand or granite battery that can store excess heat produced by the gasifier or solar collector, helping balance supply and demand. We also want to increase the surface area of the solar collector, which will capture even more energy on sunny days to match the demand. Finally, we're exploring integrating a ground-fed cooling system that can use the same distribution network to cool the building during hot weather, completing a year round low-tech climate solution.
This project is a practical step toward our goal of combining modern comfort with sustainable, locally maintainable systems. It shows that it’s possible to replace fossil fuels without sacrificing convenience or quality of life.
