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This Geya unit seems to be a 3 position switch. They seem very little money. Anyone got anything to say about quality or UK standards? GYHO8 Transfer Switch 1P

I've got 2 of those changeover switches, one in each of the main house consumer units. They let either of the CUs be fed from the grid or the backup output from the inverter. One is normally fed from the grid, the other normally fed from the inverter backup output. I'm not aware of any regs that prevent that configuration but it's such a niche that I'm not sure those producing the regs will have detailed if and how they should be use??

I ran condensate drains but they're always dry because I run it over dew point. I did run it (much) colder for a season, but the condensation on all the plumbing gubbins was too much. Pipes are easy to insulate, but circulation pumps, 3 port valves, magfilter, flow sensor, etc not so much. It quickly started to look a real mess. Adding a second (much larger) FCU greatly reduced the need to run at such low flow temp

Yes. (It already is, not going to be on grid for half a year)

Progress has been interesting . qwen coder is a bit spazzy at writing code from prompts - too many errors . We have a pipeline where automatically the error goes to derpseek that rewrites the prompt for coder again ! But at this stage ChatGPT reins king ; it defines and (expletive deleted) me ! Makes me test every single step . It does the code as it’s small snippets and documents them a bit too much ! But it’s a rock solid implementation. Proper SE stuff ! . So structure / framework at this stage is complete . Added the uma8 multi microphone array . All good . In the next few days expect the engineer dashboard to show wake word recognised , stt . At that point things get interesting . It’s going to be a massive project in complexity and I’m in awe what one person can achieve with llm . Will swap back to deep seek and a better coder model when I get something with more ram - which could be some wait ; though I do smell an m5 ultra flip opportunity…. 😊

I never came across the slightest hint of corruption. But maybe I don't spot any hints, not thinking that way myself. (I'm forever seeing social media comments blaming everything on 'brown envelopes", presumably from people who would if they could.) However, I have come across ignorance and misplaced self- importance esp in LA inspectors.* It surprises me when I occasionally see on here that a BCO has given a self- builder advice, as they do spot checks, not thorough inspections. My guess re the now required registration is that some authorities or businesses were delegating to juniors or other unqualified staff, so that had to stop. If there was any criticism in Grenfell et al, then I've missed it. * one such young LA chap told me he wasn't accepting block paving in an industrial yard. I asked him why and he blustered some nonsense. So I told him I'd get an Engineer's letter to him. He responded that I needn't bother as they'll write anything they are asked for. I did a how dare you rant, but wished I could have got him sacked. Readers , I was that Engineer but was probably dressed other than he expected. So yes, there need to be standards for a BCO, and I hope they have risen.

I would just add your manifold, leave the pipe tails long and mount manifold on a convenient place. Leave pressurised and you can see the pipe integrity via a pressure gauge pressure test with water glycol or air.

Oh and to add - for every non-compliant detail that was missed by a BCO there was an incompetent builder or designer that actually did the work!

I'm not sure there was widespread dishonesty rather than widespread variation in expertise. The registration process is meant to try and drive up standards and in reaction to Grenfell (and be honest some of this may be political with a small p) something needed to be seen to be done.

So is this an inverter that will run in Island mode, most don't

In the end I bought a thermal camera off Amazon, took some photos and sent them in and they signed it off. Then after all my stress I remortgaged on to a standard mortgage and nobody even bothered to look at the warranty. Perhaps I will need it in the future when we remortgage again! No plans to sell.

It depends, is the only answer right now. If i can get away with grading it to fall towards soil then it will stay as it is. If it were not a planning condition to be SUD's compliant i would leave it as it is. Worst case, if i have to dig up what is there today then all bets are off.

What if any surface layer will the drive have? If that will be impermeable anyway (e.g. traditional tarmac) then there's no point changing to a permeable sub base. Can the drive be laid to a slight fall, such that run off is naturally towards a permeable area (soil) on your own property? Looks like 100m2 of drive needs 20m2 of permeable run off area. Otherwise you're into needing to construct some sort of drainage/soakaway. I'd work out how much MOT type 3 you'd need as a replacement sub base to at least see where you are on cost and consider how that compares to any alternative approaches. @Mr Punter you're probably right and no-one may check, but if they do then costs to redo a finished drive later will be a lot higher than cost of redoing just the sub base now.

Hello. My electrician was questioning the regs regarding changeover switches as he has not fitted one to an inverter before. I intend to have two changeover switches, one to connect my grid DB to the load output of the inverter in the case of a long term power cut and one to connect the load DB to the grid in case of an inverter failure. I know others on here have done exactly this so I thought I would ask for recommendations as to what make/model of switch people feel is suitable. My inverter is a 10k single phase and the supply breakers will most likely be rated at 63 amp. The electrician has always fitted large 3 position changeovers for large generator installations. His concern is whether there is a regulation that the changeover switch should have an off position, in other words a 3 position switch. I was considering something that would be along the lines of the image below, din mounted in a neat box. rated at 125a. However this unit is £17 + vat which he thought sounded cheap and nasty. It also seems to be a one or other position, not and on - off -on. Does anybody know if there is any reg or code of practice that prohibits this type of changeover for what I want to do? Any particular units I should be looking at?

Nick, we've abandoned the multi room option, it's just far too difficult to design. Just spoken to our installer and he has said even Panasonic acknowledge that the systems just aren't quote there yet in terms of design and individual room control. All needs more thought by their techs to get a system that people can actually install without loosing their sanity!

Sorry I've confused things! The ducts are in relation to a multi room fcu. Abandoned now....

If it is rubble filled why not claim it is compliant (if asked) and see where you stand. If you top it off with gravel or permeable block paving I can't see questions being raised. I have had a SUDs condition and it was never checked.

There must have been a fair bit of dishonesty going on for it to result in all that! Although it was pretty clear it was going on.

Possibly true, i just need to learn what & how this might be achieved.

We worked hard on that, especially on our Winter Garden (at the back , partly hidden in the photo) I fantasized about variable geometry (incidence?) baffles on the brise soleil. Snapped straight out of that into reality when I realised exactly how much that was going to cost. On a really bright, summer's day for an hour or two, the baffles aren't enough when we sit outside in the Winter garden. Inside the house is fine. It's a small problem - solved by a pair of sun glasses

Alex can add more details later, but we did look at the plot and where we wanted the garden to be, where the main road was going to be. The original orientation of the house according to outline planning was not optimal so we rotated the house's footprint ~20 degrees or so, trying to keep it within the outline application's footprint, making sure the house faces the street and adds passive security to the neighbourhood, etc. Our architect advised against that because of planning difficulties and other equally not strong enough reasons, so we stuck with it. We improved PV efficiency, solar gains optimisation (better solar gains in winter, reduction of overheating in summer). Just to be clear, our house is not full of glazing, we don't particularly like the idea of being on display (went back and forth on this to figure out if we were wrong). For the unavoidable big windows for views that face S-SW we have added brise soleils that help reduce the overheating in summer but do not affect the heat gains in winter. We did all our simulations and kept resizing and moving windows, brise soleis and spaces until we were happy with: 1) the way the different spaces flow. We tried many designs, moved the different rooms to different facades and split/joined living spaces several times until we landed on a design that was right for us. Thought about accessibility, public vs private spaces, avoid sensory overload in any given space (how noise travels through the walls from the different sources) 2) the way light hits all the different spaces at different times of the day through the year (daylight simulations). We made sure daylight reached as far in as possible, providing good daylight autonomy in all the different spaces. 3) the simulated solar gains (winter) and overheating (summer) through the year

Couldn't you do this with the "temporary" supply i.e get it into a kiosk where the meter and isolator would live and then take your own cable in a duct to the CU. The digging would be down to you then. Our supply to the static caravan went into a kiosk with the meter etc then the new build had it's supply taken to it. The kiosk now sits among the raised vegetable beds behind the greenhouse out of sight. Paid UKPN the once (and that was enough).

Ditto. 2016 Welcome! Fast Forward 10 years: 1 disaster, two new hips, endless (expletive deleted)ety(expletive deleted)ety(expletive deleted)Ups later (most detailed here) we have - Passivhaus adjacent plenty of south facing glass (cleverly covered by our intelligent, thoughtful architect) still some solar gain less hair than I started with more entertainment value from BH than I could ever have expected no money Deeply grateful for all the help I've been freely given here

Update. I have found no evidence that a decoupling mat provides benefit on a well constructed concrete or screeded floor. Our screed has one tiny visible crack and of course it will stop moving. That on an area of over 300m2. All rooms were already formed in stud, and had foam perimeters so the screed is not stuck ro walls. Had a tiler in to look. He has agreed to quote without a decoupling mat, and will include a flexible adhesive. He has never seen a case of a cracked tiled floor due to absence of mat. Moral I think is: Decoupling mats are for poor quality newbuilds, or a rushed programme or 'peace of mind'. It makes money for the seller and tiler. Btw the tiler also says the dips and ridges that look rough to me are just normal, and part of his job to lose by double buttering. Ie no latex levelling. A good day so far.... now let's see his quote.

It's out of date as building inspectors have to be registered and it's an offence to call yourself one and not be registered. Given the potential for criminal action being taken against inspector as per: Criminal offences Criminal offences include: giving advice or acting outside the scope of your registration deliberately doing anything that implies work is within scope of your registration, when it is not acting as or implying that you are an RBI, without being registered obstructing, deceiving or impersonating an authorised BSR officer giving false or misleading information to BSR failing to provide information as requested by an authorised BSR officer If your registration is suspended it is a criminal offence to: carry out restricted activities give advice relating to restricted activities deliberately do anything to imply your registration is not suspended If there is evidence you have committed a criminal offence, you may be prosecuted. I'd say the chances of getting lots of advice from a BI are getting slimmer. Not sure many other construction professionals are under such constraints.