All Activity

We are just going over plant room layout as trenches are being starting to be dug for services. Architects gave us initial layout for plant room which is in the centre of the house (2 bed bungalow, with small brick outbuilding which will be used for workspace). Simplified sketch is below with kit sizes to scale. Red arrows show ins and outs. Unsure how realistic this looks! Obviously keen to get it right before pipework is laid and any concrete poured. As ever any comments more than welcome. – We are building to passive principles so assuming all these should be coming up through the slab? – Should everything come in using ducts? (other than the 125mm pre-insulated pipe?) – Should these ducts be sealed / grommeted / something else? – How best to choose position of incoming / outgoing ducts? All new to us.. architects gave a general idea but not much else. Groundworks team are great but not experienced with passive side of things. Many thanks in advance 🙂

Instead of Uncle Nick..........methinks "Number 2" sounds good. And not the 'taking a shit' one btw.

Does that convert you from cone to flat-faced?

10% gpu; yep!. 25% if you get the worst possible grazing angle over water. Added upscale (for some minor quality loss) even on the water grazing angle if I drop to 70% gpu at 13%, drop to 50%, gpu 10% Plenty of engine for more fun!

Hit 50% gpu with procedural background planets/nebula/stars. So optimise , optimise, optimise. Took a while now back at around 30% gpu. Proper (frustrating) exposure aswell. So when you look at something really bright you are blinded for a bit and colour 'seaps' back in. Trying to function like an eye rather than a camera (so binned lens flare). Going for clouds again (3rd attempt) - tricky one but got a 25 page spec for it. Then more fun... always bugged me with a height map that of course you cant have arches/overhangs/caves but have another spec for a hybrid system that allows such things. Another sped up thing was that the baking was taking upto 4 seconds (which bugs me) ; down to 1 second now. So startup is far quicker.

As I (G) am wrinkly I’ve not a clue what a company like that actually does, in my world lighting meant BHS. What do they provide exactly?

Can't we not put rare earth magnets on a fan blades? It works to soften water, improve fuel consumption, cure headaches and rheumatism, it just has to cool air.

I guess you mean Norwich Architectural Lighting? We did.

Sure and I'd guess even most DIYers aren't going to be capable of doing anything other than the most basic system, unlike that proposed. A middle ground is the umbrella scheme, where the scheme provider does the design work and you take care of the install with the provider coming in to do commissioning and sign off. Likely costs are possibly cheaper than pure DIY as you do get access to the grant, though it will take more time and co-ordination and options are limited. For a complex install as we are discussing it'll be extremely difficult to find a viable scheme.

@zzPaulzz - did you use the Norwich guy?

Straight away, so likely my fault, or has been pointed out the wrong washer used!

Maybe, but a good MCS installer isn't just an installer, they're a system designer too. Good design takes both time and experience, especially since the OP has already mentioned hydraulic separation. That's entering a mine field. If you find a good one, that will pay dividends down the line.

Based on reading peoples experiences on here if you are a competent DIYer and you can get easy/low cost access to an electrician and plumber to do the regulated bits then you can self install for a similar price than you will end up paying an MCS installer. (The MCS installer will take the grant and charge you much more on top partly to cover MCS, etc, overheads but also to make a tidy profit). Having said that if you are not confident in your ability to do this stuff then getting an installer in is really the way to go. The effort should be spent on finding a good one.

How have you determined that you actually need hydraulic separation and additional pump? This is really not always needed and I'd recommend you calculate the pressure losses fully before specifying this in a design. Even if you used CCTs, you're going to suffer from distortion on the secondary circuit, even if it is variable speed pumped. E.g. right now I'm completing an installation for a customer that has a mixture of 8mm, 10mm copper and 10mm plastic throughout. Pressure loss is no problem.

We had huge pumping lorry 4 times, so a lot of wash water and unused concrete. Basically got it dumped on our driveway, then broke up before it fully set where it was bit thick. All of it is under our drive way.

I use these nowadays, far more reliable with cone fittings: https://directplumbingsupplies.com/product/bonfix-insert-brass-with-o-ring-15-mm

I've been able to make these work cost wise, especially when you use a time use tariff. Even with an ASHP I just do immersion heating.

Tend to agree, especially if you are installing for the express purpose of using 'smart' features that most companies seem to support for about 5 years and then end-of-life leaving you stuck. Or a heatpump UVC if you want. Yep. If you want one heatpump to rule them all then stick to an air2water monobloc and run everything off the water loop including fancoils. I think that's what the Samsung system is doing but the Daikin system is not. I wouldn't want refrigerant lines running all over the place in my house. R290 is not an option for that (very strict limits on its use due to flammability) so you end up with R32 which requires an F-gas certified person to do anything related to the pipework. DIY not an option.

Keep it simple, UFH which allows heat and cool, if you have an upstairs fan coils in bedrooms. It's cheap enough without any grants

To me it looks a complex solution to allow heating and cooling and is possibly daft money. Not really keen on a solution that is reliant on one manufacturer as one bit does most likely it all does. I would step back a little. Have a rethink. 1. An A2A solution (Aircon) do it for whole house and heat and cool. Do DHW via a direct UVC. 2. A2W (ASHP). Dump the idea of a buffer. If you want cooling think fan coil to replace radiators. You can keep your micro bore, but do a close couple tee instead of buffer. Way less chance of flow and return mixing. Then balance flow either side of CCT.

Following this thread with interest! I'm also thinking about these 'hybrid' heatpumps that support air2water and air2air for my selfbuild. I can't directly help with your questions, but also notice Daikin released a similar offering in June: https://www.daikin.eu/en_us/press-releases/daikin-introduces-x-series.html Is it confirmed that Samsung EHS Quint will be BUS grant eligible?

No comment if you plan to use something native to SmartThings, but if you were thinking about integrating into Home Assistant I've just seen that Samsung have announced they will charge a per month subscription if you want to use Home Assistant.

Not sure this really addresses your question in any way but given the end result I wonder why you are so focussed on the specific solution? ie, specifying Samsung Given that you are looking for an installer to do this work for you and installers with experienced of mixed radiator/fancoil installations are rare, why not look for an installer with the right experience and then seek their advice for the solution? They will likely have specific solutions they are most familiar with and the best installer that is close enough to you might have different equally suitable solutions. Now, Buildhub is littered with people who come here because they've had naff advice from an installer so it's good to go into a conversation understanding what you want but I can't help feeling there are multiple routes you could go down to get what you want. For example, Panasonic have offered these solutions for a while and multiple people hear have used them and found installers for them. I've not heard of Mitsubishi being used like this before here. I'm not saying Panasonic is better, or that Samsung is the wrong answer, just that it feels too early in the process to narrow the spec down.

I've started talking to a few builders now, and one to-day was initially very keen on moving the sewer. But then when he saw it was shared with the neighbours' houses (it runs along the front of a row of four houses, of which mine is the second, serving all of them) he went right off the idea, saying it wouldn't be possible to move it. Is that the case? Am waiting to see what the other builders say now...

That doesn't matter. In fact it grips the concrete better than non-rusted, and without water it won't change.