New construction instead of renovation: A detour to their dream home

With their renovation of a property from the sixties, the Wieseneder/Paschinger family of four from Lower Austria wanted to fulfil their long-held dream of owning a house in the countryside. But the planned renovation ultimately turned into a new construction. The heart of the new home is a Windhager pellet/solar heating system, which ensures a particularly comfortable and inexpensive heat supply.

A house with a garden where their two sons can romp around as they please has long been at the top of Gerhard Wieseneder and his partner Marianne Paschinger's wish list. In 2014, the family of four fulfilled this dream and purchased a house from the sixties in the municipality of Mank in Lower Austria. It was clear from the beginning that additional investments would be necessary for renovating and modernising the building. "In order to be able to live in it comfortably, we wanted to extend the attic and renew the building services including the heating system," Gerhard Wieseneder recalls. But then everything turned out differently from planned.

Demolition instead of renovation

It quickly became clear that the core of the building was so derelict that renovation would not really be worthwhile. For the newly minted homeowners, this initially came as a big shock. But the Wieseneder family also recognised that it was an opportunity to be able to fulfil their specific dreams for their own way of life. After the financing was secured by means of subsidised loans, the initial renovation plan was scrapped and they started to tackle an almost completely new building. Except for three outer walls, the rest of the existing building was demolished and rebuilt over a two-year construction period. In addition to a modern, generous room layout, it has now also been possible to implement a modern extension that expands the usable floor space of the residential building to a total of 213 square metres. In addition, the building was equipped with modern building services and controlled ventilation. Two heating circuits were installed for heat distribution: a floor heating circuit on the ground floor and a radiator circuit that supplies the towel dryers in the two bathrooms and the radiator in the basement.

Future-proof heating concept with pellets

When the existing building was demolished, the old heating system, which ran on liquid gas, was also disposed of. For the newly built home, Gerhard Wieseneder wanted a contemporary solution that could be operated comfortably and as independently as possible at a low cost. He found the answer with the Windhager BioWIN2 Touch pellet boiler, and also an eight square metre solar heating system for backup heating. "Heating with pellets has always been appealing to me. The fuel comes from the region and has been very cheap for years. On top of that, some of my acquaintances had already had very good experiences with this type of heating. And with the solar heating system, we also save money and are even more independent when it comes to heating," explains the homeowner.

The BioWIN2 Touch

A 15 kW BioWIN2 Touch Exklusiv was used to heat the newly built house. The boiler is particularly compact and could therefore be accommodated in a corner of the boiler room to save space. The BioWIN2 Touch is impressive, with its virtually residue-free and clean combustion and environmentally friendly low-dust technology. It produces so little ash that Gerhard Wieseneder has to empty the ash trap only once or twice a year. In addition, the BioWIN2 Touch has impressively long maintenance intervals. Unlike conventional solutions, the boiler needs to be serviced only once every two years, or after 16 tonnes of pellet consumption at the latest.

Pellet storage without sloping floors

The pellet storage is located directly next to the boiler room in the basement. At around six square metres, this was created with dimensions large enough for the annual pellet requirement of five tonnes to be accommodated without any issue. A Windhager suction system with three removal probes was installed for transporting the pellets to the boiler. These were mounted on the floor without sloping floors, so that the entire surface of the storage space can be used without any loss of volume. The Windhager pellet suction system works completely maintenance-free, and the transport the wood pellets especially gently and most importantly, safely, in a stream of air from the storage to the boiler.

Solar heating backup

To optimise the environmentally friendly and economical operation of the pellet heating system, the BioWIN2 Touch was combined with an eight square metre solar heating system. This provides free hot water in summer and supports the heat supply for the entire house during the heating period. A 1,000 litre AccuWIN solar accumulator tank ensures optimum solar utilisation. This is equipped with a drinking water module, which supplies the Wieseneder family with hygienic hot water around the clock.

Heating control via app

Gerhard Wieseneder is particularly enthusiastic about the heating control of the BioWIN2 Touch. The boiler can be operated just as easily via its high-quality glass display as with a smartphone. Thanks to the web server integrated into the boiler and the Windhager myComfort control app, Mr. Wieseneder can easily control his heating system from anywhere. I can also conveniently control the heating while I'm out and about, and it is very simple and intuitive to operate," says Gerhard Wieseneder happily.

Satisfactory conclusion

In the meantime, the house of the Wieseneder Paschinger family is ready to move in. The exterior insulation and plastering that have yet to be added are to follow next year. And although the renovation did not go entirely according to plan, Gerhard Wieseneder is satisfied with the results. "The effort was definitely worth it for us. Our new home offers us all enough space and modern comforts with a sustainable and very affordable heat supply".