All language subtitles for Heat.my.Home.S01E04.1080p.RTE.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoRN_track3_[eng]

# #

I'm Ciaran McCarthy,

and I've been working as a building
engineer for nearly 30 years.

I get asked all the time, how do I
save money on energy costs?

Well, retrofitting is all over the
news lately,

And in this series, I'm travelling
around Ireland,

checking out homes that are getting
energy upgrades.

Look at the walls.

That dark blue is the coldest.

This is typically what I'd expect
to see in an old house.

< With prices only going up and the
planet under pressure,

more and more people are saving money

and energy in their homes by taking
on the retrofit challenge.

I'll be showing you what's actually
doable

and what grants are out there to
help.

From heat pumps to HVAC,

I'll break down the technical jargon

and it makes sense of all the
retrofit lingo

so it's easy to follow.

You're just bamboozled with all the
decisions that need to be made.

< So come with me as we retrofit
Ireland

and discover how you can reduce your
energy costs.

This is Heat My Home.

# #

Today, I'm on my way to County
Tipperary,

where I'm meeting up with Emma
and Michael Morrissey.

They live in a four bedroom bungalow
just outside of Clonmel,

which they built in late 2003 and
moved into in early 2004.

They're hoping to upgrade it from its
current BER rating

of a D1 to an A3 rating.

They have enlisted the help of a
one-stop shop

who have a plan to complete all the
works in just a couple of days

and get Emma and Michael back into
the home of their dreams.

It was the dream house because we
lived

in a corporation house beforehand,

and it was lovely to actually get
the opportunity to build our home.

We did have the attic insulated

and the walls pumped about two
years ago,

and recommendations came out of
that.

So we started saving again,

and we would hear a lot of the
grants that are available,

and we thought it was a good time.

There is a draught, we noticed in
the house.

We could be sitting here at night
time and the door would pop open.

Or if I go close curtains at night
time,

I can feel a draught coming in the
windows.

With all in that and to the prices
of energy,

the electricity is going up

and solid fuel has taken a big
jump this winter, we notice.

It's a good time to actually start
changing for the next generation.

This will just be an advantage,

one little advantage that we can
make it to change.

We have a new grandchild coming the
first week in April, end of March.

It's a new generation in our house.

It's a new change all the way
around.

We really have no worries apart
from the upheaval

within the house for the few days
that it's all been done.

# #

Before the upheaval starts,

I can see that Emma and Michael

have kept their home in the very
best of order,

which makes me wonder what they're
hoping to achieve

with their planned retrofit.

As I look at the house, it's in
pristine conditions.

Actually, you know yourself now, it
would take a bit of work,

but the bones of the house need to
be upgraded a bit,

just the heating and all that.

That's what brings us here today.

Well, it sounds like a very exciting
journey ahead.

Will you show me the inside?

I will. Yeah, come along.
Thank you.

No, bother.

# #

What a wonderful kitchen.
Thank you.

Thank you. Very much.

And are these the original windows?

Yes, you see everything is original
in the house,

and now we feel it's time to change.

When you look at the windows like
they're in such good condition,

you think that they are that they
are...

It's just the tell-tale signs.

All these little draughts kinda make
for a cooler house.

We're hoping that the work we'll
have done will sort all this out.

Emma and Michael have chosen triple
glazing over double glazing

because it provides an extra layer of
glass

which reduces heat loss more
effectively.

This means better energy efficiency

and lower heating bills.

Triple glazing can also improve
soundproofing

and reduce outside noise.

You're getting a new heating system.
Tell me about the heating system.

The heating system we're getting
in is the air to water heat pump.

We have at the moment an old
Firebird internal boiler,

so that's coming to the end of its
life now.

We're getting new radiators and a
new tank

and system is going into the hot
press then as well.

What is an air to water heat pump?

Think of a domestic fridge.

It extracts heat from inside the unit
to keep food cold,

and you can feel that heat being
released to the back.

A heat pump works in a similar way,
but in reverse.

It pulls in air from outside,
extracts the heat,

and uses a refrigeration process to
raise the temperature.

That heat is then transferred
into water,

making it hot enough for your heating
and your showers.

To finish off my tour of the interior
of the house,

Emma and Michael show me
to the attic where they've taken

the first steps towards a warmer
home.

Tell me, you've already had some
installation worked

on here already.
We've had.

The floors are done. They've brought
up the insulation.

There was 4 mil, but then as
you know,

regulations changed and all that,
they had to bring it up again.

So they have all new insulation
between your ceiling joists?

Yes.

Tell me, what works are happening
up here now

when the builders arrive?

Well, mainly the ventilation system
is going to go up through here.

There's ventilation going into all
the rooms,

and it's going to be plumbed up into
the eaves here.

The benefit of living in a bungalow

is you have a full heat recovery
ventilation,

you're going to go in.

So you've ducts coming from all the
habitable rooms.

And rather than looking for a route
for all those ducts,

they can go straight up to the
ceiling into the attic,

criss-cross and a meet up with the
ventilation unit.

If you were living in a two-store
house, it would be a bit trickier.

Doable, but trickier.

So you have all the benefits
of the bungalow anyway.

That's it for the interior for now.

And I want to head out to the
driveway to have a look at the roof,

where Michael has plans for seven
solar panels.

This is a south-facing house,

so we will get most of our
light during the day.

It will be the front of the house.

The great thing about solar is
you're going to create a lot

of electricity, particularly in the
late spring,

all during summer, right up into late
autumn,

you'll be creating a lot of
electricity.

A bit less in the winter, clearly,
but of course,

all the savings you would have in the
summer,

you can use to generally offset
some of the higher expenditure

you would have in the winter.

On an annual basis,

you'll definitely be using less
electricity, a lot less electricity.

That's a big benefit.

The Morrisseys are aiming to have
this project done and dusted

in two working days.

I want to have a look at some
of the costings,

and more importantly, the grants
that are

available for the retrofit.

We better get the paperwork out.
We will.

The torture bit.

See where it all lands.

The total cost of the retrofit before
grants is 48,700.

No, in fairness, that is a huge
amount of money.

It's a big bite.

When you put it all together,
looking at things individually, no.

When you put it all together, you
end up with a big figure like that.

That must have shocked you when you
first saw it.

T'is a shock.

Yeah, but we'll be pleasantly
surprised

when you see the grants that have
come in. Right.

I'm ready. Off you go.

So the total cost of the retrofit
after grants, 24,740.

That's that price.
That's amazing, isn't it?

It's way under what we expected
initially to have to pay out.

That must have been a huge relief.
It was.

The grants were available to us.
They were fantastic.

So you can see now why we went
for everything at the one go.

It makes sense.
It did, yeah.

Get in all the builders in one go,
get all the work done,

and get all the benefits. Yeah.

And one of these days, quite soon,

we'll close our front door and we'll
have a lovely, cosy home.

Everything will be done.
No draughts. No draughts.

Yeah, absolutely.

Alright.

We'll see you soon.
Okay, folks.

Take care.
Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

So there's an awful lot of work here
ahead for Emma and Michael.

This house has been their family home
for over two decades.

And now with the kids grown and the
savings in place,

they're determined to transform their
home into a warm,

energy-efficient haven that they've
always wanted.

But will the time scale prove too
much?

We'll have to wait and see.

The clock is ticking on this project,

and the contractors are on site in
numbers.

The plan is to complete all major
works within two days,

which is a tight turnaround.

But it's not going to phase
plumbing contractor Warren.

It is a lot to get done in the time
frame,

but from the moment we get
here,

everybody is doing exactly
what they should be doing

when they need to do it.

We all work really hard on the days

we're doing these to cause minimal
disruption to the customers.

Today we'll be taking out the oil
boiler,

we'll be taking out the old
radiators,

the old cylinder and the hot press.

We'll be fitting a new cylinder and
we'll be fitting new radiators.

We're going to have a new rad

coming into the room here and there
is no pipe work for it.

So we will use the pipework on the
other side of the hallway

where there's an existing rad
already.

So we will put the rad here where
it'll come straight through

and we'll be able to come straight
through.

So the only bit of pipework you'll
have is literally up to the rad

and there'll be no other extra
pipework or anything.

Working alongside the plumbers
on site,

the window contractors are on a tight
schedule.

They only have a few hours to swap
out the old for the new,

and they're just in time because
the existing windows

leave a lot to be desired.

The old windows, they were leaking a
lot of air.

The insulation detail around the
window itself wasn't great,

so any air that came in through the
cavity was then

starting to come in at the side of
the window.

You can generate all the heat
that you like

and try and keep it at a constant
temperature,

but if you can't hold that inside
in the house,

you're trying to heat the whole
world.

It's not going to work.

So yeah, the new windows
will get rid of all that.

So that will make the whole
house a lot more efficient.

We're heading for the end of day
one here at the Morrisseys.

Emma and Michael are dropping by to
check up on progress,

and Emma is nicely surprised by what
she sees.

I love the door. Oh, yeah, it's
nice.

That's exactly what I wanted.

The windows are lovely, aren't they?

Yeah. They've got a good solid
frame.

They look good solid, heavy windows.
They did a lovely job on them.

Will we open that?

Yeah, open it up there and we'll
see.

Oh, wow. Yeah, it's lovely.

Oh, yeah. Isn't that nice?

Yeah.

It's lovely, isn't it?

God, it really puts a bit of light
in, doesn't it?

It does. Even with a blind.

You'd be surprised with the blind
open.

And they're really tidy, the tiles
and everything.

There's no marking on the tile or
nothing.

Because it's all been done
together,

we can see the benefits really
quickly.

In one day, to pull out 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6 windows

and have them replaced and a front
door.

That's great going.

Yeah. We've had really no hiccups at
all.

And it changes the house.

I think it changes the house.

It looks very different.

But then it's something now that
we'll get used to.

And we won't probably even notice
it now in a couple of weeks.

But for now, it's like everything
else.

Once you get something new,

it'll be lovely now coming into the
summer.

Yeah, we're going to have to go back
painting. Yes.

(Chuckles)

Today,

I'm on my way back to Tipperary to
catch up with Emma

and Michael Morrissey,

who are carrying out a full retrofit
on their modern bungalow.

This project is an unusual one in
that all the works are to be

completed in just two days.

This is a big ask of the contractors
involved,

so I'm very excited to see how it's
all going

and to hear what's still left to be
done.

Michael, good morning. How are you?
Good, yourself?

< Emma's at work today, so Michael is
flying solo.

You've a lot done since I was here
last. Yeah.

You'd be amazed what can be done in
the day or two.

What's happening outside today,
Michael?

We have the heat pumps going in.
Yeah.

A few radiators to be hung
in the house itself,

and three windows going in at the
back.

There's a lot going on here today,

and I'm interested to see how work

is progressing on the heat pump
setup.

What they're effectively doing here
is they're attaching the outdoor

unit to these rubber-oid legs.

There's a tiny bit of vibration as
the fan goes around,

so you don't want that vibrating.

So it's a modified rubber, it can
dampen the noise,

really, in the vibration.

With the outdoor unit installed,
indoors,

Nigel is programming the heat pump
system.

So the heat pump would have been
designed for 45 degrees

to the radiators at minus three
outdoor temperature.

These are steel rads which work fine
with a heat pump,

as long as they're sized correctly.

Yeah, so it's an intelligent system.
Exactly, yeah.

It isn't like... gone are the days
when you walk into the house,

the house is freezing, you turn on
the heating system.

These systems are already be
monitoring the outside temperature

and the inside temperature, and
they're aligning the heat

then to work with that.
Exactly, yeah.

< The heat pump will soon be up
and running.

Up in the attic,

I want to take a look at the demand
control ventilation system

that works in conjunction with a new
heating setup.

The interesting thing here is,

this man is lagging the extract

pipes from the demand control
ventilation unit

to stop any condensation

because these pipes will be coming
into a cold attic,

and the last thing you want is the
warm air condensing

in the cold attic. That's why you're
lagging the pipes here.

# #

It's not just domestic setups that
can

benefit from demand control
ventilation systems.

They can be used in a wide variety
of commercial applications.

I'm paying a visit to Enniskerry,

County Wicklow,

to sit down with cafe owner,
Peter Norton,

to find out more about the measures

he's put in place to make his
business more energy-efficient.

Peter, tell us about your cafe
and how you got

fascinated by energy saving.

Fascinated is probably the correct
way of whatever.

But no, I bought here in 2001,

and we traded as normally and
whatever,

and I just figured it could be done
better

and more efficiently.

We basically looked at it,

we started off with the solar
thermal,

which are the solar tubes as it
generates the water.

Then when we could afford it,
we went another bit,

and another bit, and another bit.

Obviously, running a coffee shop
like yours,

you have to be very cost-efficient.

What was the initial cost in all
these work?

How did that work?

The solar thermal, that cost about
5,000.

The heat pump cost about 6,000.

The big one was obviously the solar
PV,

because unlike people's houses
where they don't pay VAT,

you have to pay that on it.

There's also, it's a three-phase
invertor we use.

It's supposed to a single-phase
invertor,

so that's obviously more expensive
as well. That costs us 19,100.

Then the monitor was about a
thousand on top of that,

but the monitor is brilliant.

Behind the scenes,

Peter is taking me to see

the engine that's driving the
reduction

of his energy bills in the café.

This is the heat pump,

and it takes the hot air out
of the kitchen,

which is the other side of the wall.

Takes all the heat out of it.

It also helps us save on energy

because we don't have to use
the extracts in the kitchen.

It's often dis-replaced our
emersion, so it's brilliant.

That's basically taking heat from
the warm air

that you're expelling in the kitchen

and creating a hot water store for
all your indoor hot water needs. Yes.

You're getting heat from waste,

really, which is really what it's
about.

I mean, this is a real circular
movement here

in terms of energy efficiency?

100 percent.

We used to have one big oven,

and what we did is replace it with
two smaller energy-efficient ovens.

The main benefit of this, obviously,

is the fact that different things

are cooked at different
temperatures,

so therefore you can maximise the
energy efficiency of it.

So we're reducing it by
non-consuming it,

if you know what I mean.

Outside of the facts and figures,

what is the overall benefit to your
business?

I personally believe that a business
owner

has a duty to the community, their
employees,

and we are very sustainable.

We're a lot more profitable than we
used to be.

And then even from our staff and our
customers' point of view,

they love what we're doing.

There is some customers who come
here specifically

because of what we do.

Peter's cafe is proof that even small
businesses

can take control of their energy use.

With the right upgrades and planning,

savings on energy use can be real and
measurable.

It's about using energy smarter,

and that's something we can all do,

whether it's a business or at home.

# #

Back in County Tipperary,

and the two day retrofit

of Emma and Michael Morrissey's three
bedroom bungalow

is entering its final stages.

The last major works to be carried
out is the installation of seven

solar panels to the south facing
elevation of the roof.

This is a It's a straightforward
process,

but Michael does have some questions
for supervisor Lewis.

The installing of them and the fact
of damage, and leaks and that.

We get a lot of questions about
that.

We obviously use tried and tested
mountain system

and how it works is it makes a very
small hole

in each part of the roof.

That small hole is then filled

and covered over by plastic
flashing,

and then the original slates go back
in.

So the roof is entirely water tight
after that.

You'll never hear a panel rattle and
it'll never move.

And in terms of the integrity
of the roof,

it's almost better than before we
started.

And the panels themselves, what's
the lifetime,

guarantee, lifetime of?

Depending on the panel manufacturer,

the panels generally have 20 to 25
years warranty standing over them.

The mounting systems are similar.

I think the inverters are 10 years
off the top of my head.

Obviously, it's still fairly new
technology,

but if they're willing to put 25
years in it,

then obviously, they're confident
it's going to last that long.

Before the contractors finish the
job,

Lewis has some maintenance tips
for Michael

to ensure the solar panels work their
best.

The actual panels themselves,
they've got self-cleaning glass.

All we'd recommend is once every
one or two years,

use a service of the electrical side
on the inside.

Apart from that,

it's just once the lads have
finished here today,

plug it in and go, and then you're
fine.

You're talking about self-cleaning
glass now.

How would you mean?

The glass has tiny little groves in
the glass, and the water,

as it comes down from the rain,

gathers in those little groves
and pulls all the dirt out,

and that's how it works.

If something did land on it or
whatever,

you'd have to really obscure quite a
large percentage

of the panel before it was affected.

So once they're up there,

leave them up there and let them do
their job.

# #

# #

Just 48 hours ago,

Emma and Michael Morrissey's dream
home

that they built in 2003 was invaded
by a host of different contractors

who were given the task

of carrying out a retrofit that aimed
to improve

the home's BER rating from its
current D1 to a much cosier A3.

It was a huge endeavour for the
one-stop shop to coordinate.

I'm back for one final visit

to see how it all finished up

and to find out about Emma and
Michael's experience

of the whole process.

The amazing thing about your
project

was it only took a few days.
I know.

How was the whole process?

It was busy.

It was very quick, very busy,

but we were only exhausted
for a couple of days.

But I suppose you would have had as
much upheaval

if you had to move out and take your
gear out of the house.

Sure, I think we would have had
more upheaval, to be honest.

We just continued on with work and
life went on.

So your original BER was a D1.
That's right.

We all remember from school that D1
was never a great result to get.

And I know you were hoping to get
into the As.

Yes. What did you get in the end?
A2.

Great.
Yeah, so we're really chuffed.

That's an amazing result.
It is.

It has just brought new life to the
house.

Yeah. And we're really finding the
benefits of it now.

Well, having spoken about the house
so much and your new A rating,

I'm dying to see what it's like
inside. Will you show me around?

Lovely.
Thanks.

# #

The one thing I'm noticing about this
room straight away

there seems to be a lot more light
than when I first saw it.

There is, yeah, because we always
really had light here

because of the four windows.

But with the extra pane of light, we
do see a difference, definitely.

And the room is so quiet.

We have a reasonably busy road
outside, you can't hear a thing.

The triple-glaze windows have done
the job.

We would hear noise to a certain
extent,

but it has kind of reduced it.

So now your living space has been
renovated

you've in a much more efficient
house.

What's it like to live?

It's very comfortable, very cosy,
very quiet.

It's lovely.

We have the ventilation system then
over the cooker,

so it takes out all the smells,

the steam from cooking.

And we have no condensation on
windows.

All that helps.

The ventilation system helps with
that.

And we have that throughout all the
rooms.

No draughts any more.

At the back of the house is the
outdoor unit of the air

to water heating system,

which I know can be the source
of a low-level humming noise.

Would you be that conscious of it now
in the summer

if you were sitting out?
No.

I think initially, the first few
times

and maybe first coming into the
summer that we set out,

but then you don't hear it any more.

It's like a noise that you get used
to.

It's not particularly intrusive.
No.

The interesting thing about a heat
pump is

it needs a very efficient envelope

because it doesn't send a phenomenal
amount of heat into the house.

So what it does send in, it needs to
stay there,

which is why you've got all the work
done

on the envelope of your house.

I know in the past, you've had the
walls pumped,

you've got extra insulation in the
attic.

So you have a very efficient
envelope now,

which works particularly well with
the heat pump, but you need it.

You can't just replace an oil
boiler with a heat pump.

Not unless you have the efficiency
work done

on the envelope of the house.

It's kind of a package deal then,
isn't it?

Yeah, it is. Exactly, yeah.

The transformation here is just
great,

and the A2 rating is an an absolute
bonus.

But I'm curious to hear about
the final part

of their retrofit package.

Michael, how is the solar working out
for you?

Good, yeah.

Most of the work was done upstairs
on that.

I actually have an app on the phone.

You can see here, your savings for
the year,

your savings for the month,
and your daily savings.

It all tallies up at the end of the
day.

Simplifies it then.
Great.

When you can track it then,

you can improve a little bit on what
time you do your cooking

and all that things to coincide with
better rates.

Even time of the day.

The great thing about the solar
panels is our electricity bill

was nearly 300 before we got the
solar panels in,

but our August bill was 114 euro.

A huge difference.
We were really surprised.

So things are working

and we're beginning to see the
benefits.

It's time for Emma and Michael
to show off

their new energy-efficient house.

Friends and neighbours are here
to see how the Morrisseys

heat their home today.

But guest of honour for the grand
tour

is their first grandchild, Ellie.

It's lovely. It's really nice.

The windows make huge difference.
Yeah, definitely.

That's really compact, isn't it?

Yeah, it's very nice. It's fabulous.

It's cosy, fabulous, yeah.

Just amazing looking.

Huge difference, yeah.

It's like a constant steady heat,
which is lovely.

You've done a fantastic job.

The house was great before the works
was done,

but it's even better now.

It's been a long road in some ways,
but it was great to have it done.

We have almost like a brand new
house, we feel.

It took us a little while to get
used to how it works,

but we really enjoy it now.

It has changed the house, changed
the heating,

changed the atmosphere in the house.
It's lovely.

I'd really recommend it to anybody.

Don't be afraid, and it's a great
experience.

My bit of advice would be to get
your project manager

and to hand it over to them.

Emma and Michael's house was
already immaculate on day one,

but within just a few it's become
warm,

modern, and energy-efficient.

It just goes to show you that you
don't need to dig up floors

or uproot your life to transform your
home.

With their new grandchild now,

part of the picture,

it's a perfect, cosy, healthy space,

just in time to share it with a new
member of the family.