Winter Floor Heating effectiveness report

I just thought I'd make a post about how my "system" of the combination of

1. Solar Floor heating
2. Insulation in floor and Ceiling
3. Use of Reverse Cycle AirCon
4. Wood burning stove

is working out for me.

With overnight lows of about -1C (so frosts) but typically sunny days of about 18C, I get sufficient energy from that to heat the floor and this therefore takes a significant load off the AC because as the floor (basically) never gets heated by the warm air blowing out of that (so, upper walls and ceiling are heated) the floor heating system then brings the whole house up warmer.

This is a typical winter day here:

The time zone indicated by A is where I turn on the R-C A-C and the zone indicated by B is where I lit the fire. Because the house is already warm (and insulated top and bottom) the fire requires just a fraction of what would be needed otherwise.

As the sun starts to warm outside I choose that time to then turn on the AC because the exterior heat exchanger will have more advantage in raising the temperature inside if the outside is actually warmer.

Its just like the height difference between two points on a hill. The higher the difference the more energy you need. So even though I'm using technology and electricity to move and amplify that heat I'm still taking advantage of the Sun to do that.

So only one component would simply not work, but all four parts work together, consequentially my house is warmed (but not 100% of the time, my power bill is much lower) and I burn less than a quarter of the wood. For example the load of wood I bought in 2023 is still serving and I anticipate that it will provide for this winter entirely too.

I'm a big fan of

1. understanding diminishing returns
2. seeking maximum value for money

I know what it would cost to improve this situation, and so I'm quite satisfied with the additional amenity provided by my existing solar floor heating in conjunction with Reverse Cycle Air-Con and insulation to augment the little wood burning furnace that the house already had delay the need to and reduce how much I burn when I do.

The whole project is well described here: (link)