The Mistral Combo is the first heating and hot water system which has been designed to give all year round performance, bringing together either renewable technology completely, or a combination, including more traditional products, into one affordable, workable solution for the domestic market.
Many companies offer individual products such as solar thermal, air source heating, biomass pellet boilers or traditional gas or oil boilers. However, the Mistral Combo has been designed and configured so that the Mistral approved products work seamlessly together via the ‘Mistral Magic’ control unit. The brains of the system, the controller, allows approved individual systems to co-ordinate between each other to achieve the best all year round results, for the lowest cost, both environmentally and financially.
Unlike many systems on the market, when Mistral’s solar panels have heated the hot water cylinder to a sufficient level, they won’t shut off. Instead a diverter valve will open allowing a buffer tank to be heated. The benefits of this are two fold, when hot water in the main cylinder is depleted the buffer tank will feed it providing a substantial increase in hot water availability, ideal for larger households. If the buffer is supplying the cylinder at any given time then this does not affect the supply for heating. In addition the hot water system is further enhanced by air source and boiler backup.
Generally speaking unless the property is modern and of a good environmental standard in the first place, renewables such as ground source, air source or solar alone cannot give you everything you need, but the Mistral Combo system ensures that even in the depths of winter households are guaranteed a warm home.
The buffer tank also acts as a base for the heating system meaning it doesn’t have to heat up from cold, saving energy and money. Water from here can be used to supply radiators, under floor heating or a combination of both. It can even be used to help heat a swimming pool.
When it comes to heating the home, Mistral has chosen air source heating as the preferred main unit having weighed up the balance between efficiency and cost.
Again the beauty of the Mistral system is to offer either a complete renewable system or a combination to include more traditional products, such as gas or oil boilers. So on cold winter days where air source can not work as efficiently as possible or a customer just wants to raise the temperature beyond its capacity a boiler will kick in, be that traditional gas or oil or even another renewable option, a pellet boiler. No matter what combination, each Mistral approved product has been chosen to work together. Systems are delivered fully configured while the ‘Mistral Magic’ controller ensures they continue to work together seamlessly.
The footprint for the entire system is small and could easily fit along one wall of a single garage. For those who don’t have the internal space then outdoor units are available. Housed in a weather-protected enclosure no bigger than the size of an 8 x 4 greenhouse, its advantages don’t stop there. For customers that don’t like solar panels installed on their roof, they can be specified as part of the outdoor system away from the house, in a garden land owned by the household. The fact that the unit can also be sited in any direction eradicates the need for expensive solar east/west kits when a property faces the ‘wrong’ way for optimal performance.
Incredibly, depending on the options chosen, the initial list price starts at only £12,000 (plus VAT). This example of Mistral approved products would include a full internal kit consisting of solar hot water with cylinder, air source heating with buffer tank and a traditional back up of gas or oil boiler and of course, the Mistral Magic control unit.
The system is now up and running at a farmhouse in Worcestershire and data from its first few months of operation has confirmed the system is performing better than anticipated; making the Mistral Combo a real contender for anyone serious about climate change, emissions reduction or simply rising energy costs.
