All Activity

I think I understand now that the shelly doesn't take on the job of the MCBs after it, so the x3 MCBs would be needed eitherway.

This is a Period property. There is no way the skirting boards are coming off after having re-plastered all the rooms it has to be done from below and I won’t leave any gaps.

I’m going to say this is such a horrible job to do that you will end up doing it badly if done badly with air gaps then you might as well not do it. I would do room by room take the skirting off, lift the floor, re fit floor re fit skirting and then re decorate each room.

Heating the hot water will heat it hotter than the ASHP so there will be more expansion. But that should not be a problem. You have two expansion vessels for the hot water, I only have one, and my single expansion vessel is still working fine. If you wanted to keep the 2 old ones you could refurbish them with a new bladder in each, or even ask they guy if he would replace the bladders for less than the cost of replacing the whole thing?

Plant room 18mm ply direct to the walls then 2.4x1.2 sheets of fermacel jointed using their joint stick, then two good coats of eggshell paint. all the plumbers handprints and pencil marks wash off easily or a quick touch up and there gone. this is what I did. I cannot believe the amount of unpainted walls in plant rooms I see on here that then have ufh manifold fitted and tanks put in place before the walls are painted looks totally rubbish.

I think we will just get them sorted for now. We haven't paid for services for a few years so I guess this is payback. I am going to be here and will ask him to show me them and explain everything too. Would we have caused this by using the solar to heat our how water and not having the ASHP heat our hot water/turning it off for a large amount of time?

If you want an insulated board for window reveals then the cement faced xps has been used by a few on here myself included, I called up one of the technical depts and found out the need for the primer.

That's the smart solution. If you put it in a bag you will soon learn all about it. True, about the same as 20mph wind, hitting all sides of the building at the same time.

I'm not an expert of ground works but my understanding is that new driveway surfaces need to be permeable which means Type 3 not type 1. With our groundworks company for driveway prep, they specified a compacted finished depth of 200mm of hardcore (type 3) and we are on clay soil.

dig down and see what your conservatory foundations are like.

Okay progress. We know the hot tank is over pressurising when the water is heated which does indeed usually indicate the expansion vessels(s) have failed. I am a little surprised as there are two of them so would expect them not to be particularly stressed. This is not something to ignore. You have to trust your gut feeling and get the person that quoted to replace them or a different plumber that comes trusted or recommended by a friend. This does not need to be a heat pump plumber as these expansion vessels are the same regardless of whether it is a heat pump, gas or oil boiler, or just plain direct immersion heated. Switch off the solar diverter for now and only heat the hot water occasionally as needed using the heat pump to heat it. A lesson here is be there when the next plumber comes so you can engage with them and when they find a problem like this they can probably show you what they are testing that made them conclude they need replacing. One would hope they had de pressurised and concluded the air bladders are burst and they would be able to show you. EDIT: to add to the above post, if you have a car pressure gauge and a bicycle pump we could talk you though checking the pressure to be absolutely certain if they have failed or just not enough pressure in them.

I'm guessing the drips are warm? It definitely appears to be an expansion vessel issue, but it doesn't mean that the expansion vessels need to be replaced. They may just need recharging. From what we've seen we can't be sure that the service involved a proper check of the expansion vessels. Personally, I find it slightly surprising that both have failed a the same time after just 5 years or so. It's actually easier to check the expansion vessels on an unvented cylinder than heating because you just need to isolated the incoming mains (there's usually an isolation valve just before the multi-bloc and then you open a hot tap to take out the pressure, leave the hot tap open while you check and adjust the expansion vessel pressure).

Hi folks Any recommendations for a supplier of corrugated roof sheeting in NI? I'm after rolled material for a curved roof for a workshop/garage, the likes of 13/3. Thanks

Thank god we have no sun forecast! The Solic diverts any excess but we likely are not getting any excess but were yesterday as that is what gave us majority of hot water then 🙄

If this is related to using the immersion then don't. Using the immersion is worse than using the ASHP to heat the water at this point.

Thank you, I need to study a little to fully appreciate what you are describing. Especially to save my head from spikes and such... No heat pump, but set up for it and a large solar array that is likely to come pending planning etc.. @Nickfromwales there are x2 10mm cables running side by side, a distance of 8m from main CU to attic. Nil else with them. Only to be used for heating, maybe future vent/aircon. Nothing connected to them currently. At most maybe power a smart hub if we get signal drops across the house/outside. Instead of 10mm to Shelly PM4, then from there to 3 immersions, you are suggesting 10mm to auxCU, then x3 RCBOs then shelly (I assume a different model) then immersion. Is it so that they don't all go off if PM4 fails?

I think we may be wise then getting the company back who serviced it/quoted on the basis we could really do with hot water this week! I only just managed to heat the water to 42 degrees when I noticed the leak so until it is resolved we are kind of stuck and solar isn't doing much! Gym it is this week to use their shower...

Indeed and that's the bigger problem, though not directly (I think) linked to the pressure loss in the hot water system. Overpressure issues triggering safety systems much more urgent than loss of pressure. I would guess so but listen to the experts here not me.

Tundish is definately leaking, a lot! Are we ok to have our ASHP heating on still and just avoid using the ASHP for heating out hot water?

Why not use smaller screws so they don’t go through both layers? i.e. 25mm plus payload. I’m trying to get my head round airtight. To check my thinking: We test at 50pascals. I think that’s equivalent to less than 6mm difference in a water manometer. So it’s sod all in pressure terms. So unless an ex screw hole is huge and ragged, even if there’s a few dozen of them, would that make a difference? Have I got my sums right?

I take it it is likely those two white cylinders do need replacing then?

One option would be to build with standard mortar but rake out during construction,then hit the pointing in one go at the end. The extra cost of the white cement would be dramatically reduced this way. You could even be using the build as samples for variations in mortar mixing. The pointing could then be tackled when the build is water tight with yourself as the labourer to ensure absolute consistency of colour.

Spoke to soon! Definately leaking. Turned water off on ASHP.. presume we shoulsld try and avoid using the ASHP to heat our hot water and probably try and get this sorted asap. Maybe I was too quick to doubt the first company then. 20260111_143031.mp4

Don't think I've seen anyone else mention this yet so I will. A small leak like this is all thats needed to drop the pressure in the system. I'm guessing this pipe is part of the DHW heating loop though wider photos would confirm. Unless I'm mistaken, until that dampness is solved I'm not sure it's worth looking for other issues.

Simple fail-safe is to bridge L&N from the Shelly in(s) & out(s) in a local 20a DP switch (the type normally used to turn an immersion on / off anyways) and no heads go on any spikes If we do an UVC in an attic, I always fit the 20a switch in the living area somewhere, with a neon, and then the lady of the house just pokes that with her finger vs your left eyeball.