Puit Canadien ou Puit Provencale - anybody own one?

Property & Home
1

Hi all, does anyone have any experience of Puit Canadien or Puit Provencales that they could share with me?


Andrew Hearne put me onto the idea and looks like a good one but would love to hear from anyone who has one or has had one in the past.


Cheers

2

Can someone please explain exactly what a puits canadienne or puits provençale is? I remember seeing a Canadian one at an expo a few years ago but the person doing the "selling" wasn't very informative/not interested in explaining, and we simply thought it was a system of drainage......

Thanks!

3

Thanks!

4

try also looking at http://www.fiabitat.com/puits-canadien.php

5

It does sound like a good idea, particularly as we have to dig a trench to connect the new extension to the microstation too. The company we are using are specialists in Maisons BBC (Basse Consommation) anyway, so I'm going to ask them about this system as we're otherwise not too mad about heat exchangers or an additional boiler for underfloor heating.

What's the best website to find out more about this system so I can forward it to them to discuss at our next meeting?

Very much appreciate the information Suzanne!

6

We are doing excavation and will have a digger in for ground works anyway. We also have to dig a deep trench for our new waste water pipe to go below the stormdrain bed nearby into the village communal drain so will be digging a deep trench anyway. Our garden is about 25m long and 26m wide. I saw an article in last month's La Maison Ecologique 76 and it said their ground works for their puits canadien was 300 euro. The total cost of the installation including a VMC Double Flux, puits canadien hydrolique, reseau air exterieur, reseau de repartition, batterie de chauffe et regulation was 12,000 euro. We've seen an interesting site http://www.fiabishop.com/fr/ where you can buy the kit. Have a look their site is really useful and all the prices are on there too.

We just thought it might be a reasonably priced way of cooling in Summer and not losing heat in Winter. Unless your house is passive I don't think its a replacement heating but as I understand it, it will reduce your costs for running whatever heating you do install and make it more comfortable environment to live in. If you are doing a big renovation or new build anyway - why not?

7

Actually, I'm REALLY interested in this since we're starting an extension next year and I would like it to be independent from the rest of the house (separate water, electric and heat supply, though shared septic tank).

We will be excavating deeply to put a basement on this extension - and to remove/close off an existing water well in the footprint of the extension.

Is this an alternative to a main heating system, or simply a supplement?

8

I have only had experience of geothermal heating/cooling which has not yet been commissioned but I thought I would give a word a warning. I expect you can get quotes for the installation but before you sign up be sure to get quotes for the ground works required as, depending on the terrain this could be very costly unless you do it yourselves. Looking at the diagrams you will need a long sloping downward run for the external pipe to an area beneath your property, so, unless you are doing a new build or have a "cave" it is probably not worth considering. No reason why it shouldn't work though.