All Activity

Didn't dream this:

What could the same unit do to an oil refinery or storage depot? Remember Buncefield? Strangely, the distributed, relatively low density nature of renewables males them more resilient. Many smaller generation units spread over a wide geographical area are harder to disable than fewer larger units. Truck bomb at a nuclear plant - knprobbaky cause a precautionary shutdown and knock out mutliple GW of production. Blow up a solar farm, maybe lose a field, which would be a few MW tops. It feels like you really are grasping for reasons against, whilst not addressing the fundamental issue of our current dependence on oil and gas rapidly becoming unsustainable. How would you approach the coming increace in our reliance on imported fuel?

What’s your budget for a project manager?

Our SE isn't interested in specifying this - any tips for finding one that will? Am I looking for someone who specialises in old houses or should any local SE be able to assist? I'm nervous about someone over-specifying in this situation because I genuinely believe it hasn't significantly moved in the 5 years we've been here. When I said plastering I meant lime plastering (lime putty hemp mix from Ty Mawr) rather than gypsum. I've also been plugging any bigger holes with a premixed lime putty mortar and stones as I've been going. In this case is there any risk of encouraging more spreading by filling the gap? I get the bars from your picture - they look like they're effectively chased into slots then secured with resin? How deep are they chased in? Is the plate similar to what @ProDave is suggesting? flat to the front of the house and tied into threaded bar embedded deep into the stonework? When you say 'well away from the gap' I'm not sure how that would work - for it to pull against anything it would need to go something like this wouldn't it?

Nor me, and £86 million is certainly worthwhile. Just a shame that their parent company isn't British too - their turnover was €17.3 billion (the 4th biggest company in Denmark).

Just a little update on this one on the offchance anybody is interested.... We had the fella from the council planning department round last week to do his site visit as part of our pre planning consultation. Now I am not sure how much they give away when inspecting and how much things like this will come down to his opinion or the opinion of the various agencies (Water company, Coal Board, Highways etc.) but he was very much of the opinion that if a rule/guideline/policy couldn't be complied with it would be a case of 'what are the real world implications of this' rather than a binary yes/no situation. The bins for example, he said so what to having to drag them longer than is ideal, the next plot along do it already and with regards to the lack of access for the fire appliance, as long as it is mitigated by an approved sprinkler system maybe with a water tank on the plot then this is likely to suffice in his opinion. Now I know he may just be saying what we want to hear to avoid any awkward conversations but I suppose we will know more in the next month or so when the report is likely to come back at which point I will update further. Thanks.

If my experience is anything to go by then mistakes will be made - nothing major, though every small mistake seems enormous in the moment. Stress will be high. But, without a doubt (for me, with zero prior knowledge) it was definitely the best decision.

Welcome! There are some exceptions in Part L of the Building Regulations for 'listed buildings, buildings in conservation areas and scheduled monuments' and for 'historic and traditional dwellings'. However they only apply when the work would 'unacceptably alter the dwelling’s character or appearance' - in which case 'the work should comply with standards in this approved document to the extent that it is reasonably practicable'. In theory you might qualify under the first of these, but in practice it's unlikely to help; it's more for when insulating internally and externally are both ruled out for heritage reasons, or double glazing can't be retrofitted to historic windows. In theory the second case wouldn't apply as it's a barn, not an existing dwelling, but the Local Authority may be flexible on that if they want to see it put to use as a house. Don't use PIR. Vapour-permiable options are readily available and advisable - you'll find some topics on this forum. In a renovation there are provisions for when the the full insulation standards can't be met but, from memory, they wouldn't normally apply in a conversion. Is unlikely to be financially viable outside the World's major cities, where the property value /m² of floor area gained exceeds the cost of Aerogel. That's not an argument that will fly; you'll need to use clever design to maximise the space that is available. Sounds like you need to find yourself a local architect experienced in restoring / converting old buildings.

I think that came to you in a dream. 🛌

They are very competitive. Not sure how many installers use them though so you might have to hunt a bit if relying on someone else to install. First step, is look again at the heat loss. Is this building either very big or almost uninsulated? 10kw is very high, but equally this forum is littered with threads from people coming here with specs from an installer of similar and after some proper heat loss calcs they walk away with requirements much much lower. If the heat loss calc is right, rather than spending money on batteries and solar, put it into improving the building.

Don't assume the heat loss is correct check for yourself. I have been told by two companies I needed a 10kW ASHP, will be installing a 4kW on Saturday. Certainly don't install anything bigger than you need as part load performance (average winter day) will suffer. Do you have PV?

Wonder what a drone / claymore combo would do to a solar farm? 🤔 Vulnerable, oh yes!

It seems Fogstar offer the best bang for buck. 2x 16kwh batteries comes out to £4k. Thats £125/kwh. I don't think there's anyone else who comes close. I'm trying to get to a point of being cost negative. How much money can I generate from this? I don't know what my energy usage will be. I'm currently in the process of speccing a ASHP install. I've been told my heat loss is above 10kw, so i'll likely be fitting a 12kw heat pump.

Just vaguely recall someone "copying" my concealed mixer, riser, rainfall setup but in plastic. Yes, I did copper and brass.

yes I have, but I don't want to make big mistakes and was hoping it will be less stressful too.

Sorry. My DNA is made primarily out of copper and brass. Yes, Hepworth (NOT JG Speedfit!!!!) would be equally as handsome as I was when in my 20’s. Im still quite buff at 51 btw. 🤩

No. With a 48V battery you need really thick cables for even a short run as you are looking at ~100A current, it'll get very expensive and inefficient to run long lengths of cable. The batteries should be within a metre or two of the inverter. If you want a long run between the solar inverter and battery, maybe best to look at AC coupled batteries (either that come with their own inverter or install a seperate one for them) or look at the high voltage battery options (though even then I'm not sure how keen you'd find installers to go down that route as it won't be a standard option).

Stating the obvious - screw piles are fairly novel still. Anything novel gets a bit of extra scrutiny and probably some higher safety factors (explicitly or implicitly) as it's perceived to be higher risk. Nobody wants to make a mistake. Your BCO has called in their engineer because they don't feel able to sign off themselves in the same way they might for a more conventional foundation. Your BCO and their SE may not have dealt with screw piles before (although the BCO's SE is sounding v confident). Your BCO's SE has called your own guy incompetent (or at least that was the BCO's interpretation), which means it's all got a bit out of hand. Suggest your own guy has a call with the BCO's engineer to see whether they can square their differences. It should all be quite simple to agree which is the right design code and determine whether it meets that code. Looking at the situation positively, any extra scrutiny reduces the likelihood of any residual error.

Also interested to know! I want the battery in the external garage, but the fuse box and solar inverter is in the utility room. I have 2 x armoured cables, and 2 x Cat6a, running between the two, originally for car chargers, can these be used to connect the battery to the house? I have no comms cables installed, is this an issue? Thanks

The UK isn't big enough to vertically integrate everything - almost no nation on earth is except perhaps China (now) and India (eventually). Certainly no European nation. But thr build out phase of renewables is less important than the maintance of renewables. As has been pointed out - renewable infrastructure lasts a long time. It doesn't really.matter if Danish, American or Chinese companies build the turbine as long as you control it and can maintain it. How many of us built our own houses?

For completeness, the old school fix down with bare BFO brass screws was successful and reliable, only, because the pans were always set down onto a bed of mortar to absorb undulations or imperfections in the cast of the porcelain. Doing that with the junk that’s puked out of factories nowadays is a suicide mission. Furthermore, I haven’t screwed a pan down for prob over 2 decades. I just bed them down, like the old boys did, but with clear CT1. If there are fsome zing holes, I buy the kit I linked to above, grind the heads off the bolts, and silicone the remainder of the kit in as decorative plugs.

Hi all - this is my first post here, so be kind I have a very tiny barn in cornwall, where I'm from - it's over 150 years old, not listed, but it is in a conservation area, a traditional barn for these parts, made of granite, and in a mess - unused for probably 50 years or so, needs a change of use applied for, and in doing that we'll be asked how we're going to comply with insulation regs - sometimes it seems in these circumstances owners are expected to match new-build standards, but my argument would be that this has always been a breathable building, and to put 200mm of PIR everywhere will stop it breathing, leading to problems - it will also nab a large amount of the available space, as this barn is really tiny - so I'd be asking for the historic nature of this barn to be taken into account, including its breathability, and then asking that we use other insulation materials, probably aerogel in some form (I know, it's VERY expensive, but this is a tiny barn) - we can show calculations that would prove we were doing the best we could without damaging the fabric of the building, but has anyone out there actually DONE THIS????? in terms of speaking to building control, persuading them that you don't have to match new build regs, doing your best to get as close as possible to the regs etc - have you done this and how did you do it? I'd REALLY appreciate any experience anyone has of this tricky area - thanks very much - nick

Not worth using plastic?

Yes, but we are a global trading nation, I have no problem with overseas companies investing in the UK. Quick look at Companies House and Vesta Offshore Wind Blades UK is a registered company with a turn over of £85.55m. Here Wish they were in Penzance.

How long is the wait for Fogstar? You can’t become huge rush, and @jack has one of their units iirc.