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First time we lit ours, we melted. BUT, treat it low and slow, one log at a time, min air for a clear burn, let it burn almost completely repeat. 3 or 4 logs will heat whole house with ease, without melting you Go through doors not under wall - minimise risk. Ours is flowing through 7 loops, but heat pump has circulation down at 7L/min, can't hear a thing now and when flow is 3x that. No pump though and do you need one - no.

Wow it's looking really great, Susie and in by the end of the year, how exciting. Thanks for the update. Can you remind me on what heating etc you're planning on. Obviously underfloor heating and solar. What water heating? mvhr? Currently looking into this and can be confusing as people are naturally looking to sell rather than recommend. Any pointers would be gratefully received. Thanks

That's why 😅

Right, I've made it to the outside and need to figure out the arrangement here... Hopefully it's clear that the original / temporary stack is to be removed and the new stack is going over to the right. Option A - I personally prefer this because it gives me a sharp drop immediately after the WC outlet - similar to the way it was installed originally which has always worked very well. Its a bit lower, but still around 2.4m at the join to the new stack Option B - seems more conventional, about 200mm higher. Might end up having to use a strap boss for the 50mm pipe at the stack which I don't really like. What's the preferred way to do this, and whereabouts are inspection / access covers recommended? Pipework all to be boxed internally:

With experience now of the steading stove. Externally fed air makes for extremely efficient combustion with even a single log glowing brightly. The tiny amount of ash confirms the efficiency too. So it doesn't have to be a huge blaze with multiple logs as in old draughty burning boxes. Is it justifiable? The steading is rentable and gorgeous, so it's a big plus. Although it is highly insulated the heat isn't excessive and is controllable Plus it's a backup in case of power outage.

Is manifold noise likely to be noticeable through a block wall? (Thinking about my own locations now!)

My off peak times covers both circuits, so I run the washing machine during off peak hours as it is cheaper. When it is really cold, I run a fan heater in the morning to heat up rooms. But I am often up by 4AM. I have also put timers on my off peak circuits, this limits the time to the last 3 hours of the E7 window. This works fine for me as my storage heaters and DHW are charged closer to the times I need them. My life is easy as I live alone.

No probs. If you want you can add one of these in the cupboard to ensure you don’t use more timed peak rate than necessary (eg you won’t forget to turn it off). Link

This, a bit gutless:

Maybe three courses of engineering bricks first, something similar to what you've got. Then build your wall, including some low drainage tubes but paint the back with lashings of black bitumastic paint. If they get damp they'll just suck up water from the dirt behind, freeze, be forever spalling / blowing and just disintegrate.

Thanks alot nick! I'll leave both switches on in cupboard, and kitchen switch off...if used alot of water I.e bath and need more I'll flip switch at kitchen! Really appreciate the feedback

Use a vapour permeable "felt"/membrane before battens and I think you are ok. Check the makers instructions and show to Building Control before you install. Remember the membrane must still drape so a 25mm unventilated void maybe required. This is to stop water pooling above the battens.

oddly enough, the crappiest item I have is a DeWalt circular saw- Binds up mid-cut if you so much as look at it the wrong way... conversely tho, my mate has all Parkside stuff. One of the best items he has is a cute looking wee 3.5" circular saw. Amazing thing, absolutely steams it's way through anything even at max depth of cut.

To remove ambiguity, @Apache, I’d use SIPs as the very last option before just using brick and blocks to build with. Have you PROPERLY looked into the small print for what’s going to be delivered, and then how you’d likely have to add to / dress it up afterwards to get it to a decent spec? SIPs roofs are also very noisy / horribly acoustically transparent in comparison to a good, cellulose filled equivalent structure. Same issue with walls too, but less affected by rain / bad weather etc as the roof. Find a suitable thread and blow the dust off it if you want. More replies / opinions / case studies here than you can shake a stick at.

What are the property heat losses this scheme has been designed for? What are the proposed outputs of the ufh and what flow temp? What is the zoning plan the designers have suggested (red flag already). What is the plan for 1st floor heating? Are they proposing a circ pump & mixer on manifold or more sensibly electronic mixer if going with other emitters on ff? Lots missing in this design to give a full picture of the system first.

The scaffold will need to be certified and tagged, for use by others. What you use yourself has near zero bearing on CDM, but who will be acting as principal contractor? It’s they who have the full weight of this come down on them in the event of serious injury or loss of life.

It’ll be directly behind or to the side of the bed! Maybe set some steel L section rising out of the screed and mount the manifold off the wall slightly, but I’d not want that mounted on a TF / stud of a bedroom. Caveat is, that’s if it has a pump on it. Do you have an initial ASHP / plant design and specification for all this yet?

@Nickfromwales @BotusBuild @ProDavethanks for the comments really appreciate that and a few things for me to think about. CC are 150mm Manifold: is under stairs. Curious why not there and if you have any other suggestions? Also interested in advantage of going through doorways instead of through stud? Bearing in mind ufh pipe level is above the sole plate here. i can see the logic of removing or reducing the hall loop but presumably that would give me an area with inconsistent temperature/control as essentially following the heat call from the rooms. Given its low temperatures run off ashp this may not be a problem. Just seen pro Dave’s comment… makes sense. re the wood burner… slight bone of contention between me and my wife! But… will be externally fed and aiming for something with good heat retention to provide slow release heat. glad I asked the question as would have likely blindly followed the plan. I’ll go back on Monday with some questions.

Then don’t waste money on the wood burner?!?! You’ll light it once, melt to death, and then use it as an ornament. If you can’t get a wood burner ‘roaring’ then the process of proper combustion and incineration doesn’t occur, so lots of nasties in the glue and off to upset the neighbours. Are you allowing for that to be a room sealed / externally fed appliance?

And don't waste time and money fitting UFH loops to the hall. When are UFH designers going to learn that. I was similarly duped and blindly followed the instructions in my first self build. There is simply no external walls to lose heat, so the hall and landing loops NEVER turned on. Complete waste. Sadly it shows lack of understanding by the designer which really puts me off. What is going upstairs?

Doesn’t bother anyone, but if there’s nobody coordinating on site then it opens up unnecessary risk. @junglejim, as them to remove the hallway loop and take all the other flows and returns through that thoroughfare, as it doesn’t need its own specific loop. Expand the (return) of the porch loop into the last 1/4 of the hallway and then you can take all feeds through doorways.

I’d move the manifold off the wall of the bedroom too!!

I don't know why, but I don't like the idea of those pipes under the stud walls of the two right hand bedrooms. Also, I don't think there is any need to have the pipes so close to each other near the manifold - the vertical bit of the blue kitchen/dining loop and top of the hall loop can be removed and then spread out the pipes from the utility, WC, bathroom and left bedroom to fill that space. Spirals probably a reasonable request in the bedrooms. As you have 3 loops in the kitchen/dining the heat distribution will be reasonably even

What cc have they proposed? At less than 200mm cc you cannot perform a U-turn with 16mm (pert-al) metal lined pipe.

Just curious how you sealed penetrations where ufh went through the stud… presumably run through a sleeve and then expanding foam?