Julia’s home sits off the gas grid, which for most of Northamptonshire’s villages means oil. It works, but it means a large tank in the garden, deliveries to schedule, and a price that moves with the market rather than with anything you can plan around.

Julia's System

Instead of a cylinder, Julia’s hot water comes from a Sunamp heat battery. It stores heat in a material that melts as it charges and sets as it gives the heat back - the same principle as a pocket hand warmer, scaled up and put to work. It holds as much hot water as a large cylinder in a fraction of the footprint, with fewer parts around it. 

Most of the existing radiators stayed put: eight emitters were changed and the rest were kept, which brought the cost of the job down. The old oil tank was cut up and taken away on the same visit.