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It does even with my 300mm pipe centres, its way more powerful when you get down to 100mm centres. Uber simple to get working, set flat WC curve, say at 19 degs, let that run 24/7, to keep floor slightly cooler than rooms, have cooling thermostat to switch to second set point say 16-17 degs flow temp, when room temps hits 23 deg. I will be using the smart grid terminals within the ASHP to demand a reaction of 2 Deg in flow temp. My UFH controller is switchable between cool and heat and so is the ASHP, so use a single repurposed light switch connected to both (used to provide a volt free open/closed signal), one position changes both to cool the other position to heat. Pretty much a no brainer, very cheap to run, when between 10 and 25 outside the CoP is between 7 and 9 in the tick away mode, you still get a CoP over 4 running flat out in boost mode when its 35 outside.

I had planning to knock down an existing bungalow and build One new large house. I dug a small trench, and took a photo to make the application active. That permission had no requirement for a bat survey. My new application for Two new houses, which was passed, started mumbling about bats. I told ecology that the demolition was being undertaken under the big house application, and therefore the application for Two new houses had no requirement for a Bat survey. They were ok with that, and stopped muttering.

So I may have a solution but it's not exactly neat. Went out to the shed to find some 1mm twin and earth to raid the earth wire and then spotted this. It's flexible electric fence wire. I was still getting light zaps until I threaded the tail into the pipe. Not had a shock had for the last half hour. Suspect the wire could just be only inside the hose and come out by the Henry and still work. Tied it off to a rad.

Financialisation as well. ie, companies (and the government) focusing on maximizing the next set of financial returns rather than long term plans. Been reading a lot of criticism of this recently focussed on our large financial sector dominating the discussions that leads to cutting longer term investments for the short term returns. It's obviously something that happens everywhere but is a particular issue here. If companies aren't doing well then they have a difficult situation but this financial focus means that there isn't the focus of getting out of the hole, just making the best of the current situation. In terms of government we seem to have had repeated attempts to set up long term planning, investment in capabilities (that will only pay off with continued investment/projects) only for those future projects to be cancelled and all the investment ploughed into the capacity being wasted (with other countries going to hire the engineers we expensively trained).

well as i am currently drilling deeply down into my fabric, and ventilation heat losses @SteamyTea . After completing my part "O". I am going to consider myself very skilled, but only when i get it bloody completed. I could murder a Kebab, or a bloody good burger, as my brian is currently using energy at a rapid rate.

Not sure it is the skill level that is missing. Think it is the capital investment in new plant and machinery that is missing. We have many companies that barely make any money, and revenue is often used to pay director's bonuses and pensions. These are know as Zombie Companies. While running a zombie company can be good for the major shareholders, it (expletive deleted)s better investment opportunities and crucified industrial sector investment. I am coming to the conclusion I work for a zombie company.

My son in law works for a British, French, Belgium Company, that designs and manufacturers, and maintains weapons, missiles, including nukes. They do use a lot of American software, and hardware, and have begun designing this out. That makes a lot of sense to me. I hope we do have the ability to up our UK skill level. If we need a lighter, or a box of matches to make fire. We are buggered. The reason he says that they are moving away from US components, is that worlds buyers no longer trust the US, and want weapons that do not rely on either the US or China. He says that he doubts that the US will ever get the trust back. I'm sure that will have implications for them in the coming years. As he said, when he was in a previous industry, they used to send stuff to China to be produced because it was cheap. They used to basically steal all the R and D and re-badge it as there own technology. We still to this day, educate there people in our universities, to allow them to go home, and have the skills to do exactly that. America, is heading in the same direction. Can't be trusted, and thought of in the same way as China in the future.

Are you building in Surrey? (your username could suggest otherwise). Regardless of what the climate change deniers say, you will have periods of 35° degree outside air temperatures, and the occasional sub -10°C winter temperatures. Cooling, via UFH pipework will work well at the moment, but in two decades will probably struggle. So fit the pipework now, use if necessary, and consider how you can fit AC later if it becomes necessary. Your build will be around longer than all of us here, so, for what is probably a tiny cost, will pay dividends later.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've found a few firms from nearby planning applications that look pragmatic, and have reached out. I figure it's a good sign when some of their reports show no need for further action -- and reports where bats were found offer a range of solutions to try and problem-solve. A trick I've learnt on this journey is that money can be saved by skipping the preliminary assessment (i.e. the "do I need an emergence survey?" survey) when the conclusions are obvious. In our case, we have a roof in very poor condition, so there's no way that it could be scored "Negligible roosting potential". It still needs to be documented, but this can be done on the same day as an emergence survey to save an extra trip. I've found it surprisingly hard to actually get estimates though. Some ecologists only want to quote for the preliminary survey and won't even discuss ballpark/estimate pricing for what the emergence surveys might be. Others are happy to discuss end-to-end costs in principle, but want to discuss on the phone but are always on fieldwork and never call back.

Nuclear has been holding back the UK electricity new build. There is a 'hope' that it will be cheaper and built faster. That hope is used against the renewables industry. We should, and can, deploy wind and solar at the megawatt scale today, and cheaper than nuclear. It is really our ludicrously slow planning system that is holding us up. I think I read about the Anglesea nuclear replacement being approved. There was a clause for a 95 year decommissioning period at the end of life. 95 years for (expletive deleted)s sake. What are people thinking.

Feels like every time I look the prices are lower and the offerings better. Though I read recently that the Chinese government is stepping in to control the market in China in an effort to stop companies competeing each other into the ground. Same as they did for solar. So thats likely to mean prices stabilise where they are/go up a bit barring significant breakthroughs with batteries (sodium-ion maybe?)

Going off vague memories here so worth double checking: I think the main advantage in your situation to a low voltage system is that mains voltage strips can seem flickery to some as they don't smooth the mains 50Hz cycles. This can be worse with dimming. That said, low voltage systems have varying dimming quality too so picking the right driver affects this (don't rely on mains dimming for low voltage, no choice but to use mains dimming with mains voltage system). If you wanted colour tunable strips I don't think these are available in mains voltage so thats another reason to consider low voltage. Mains voltage is likely quicker and cheaper to install (assuming you are paying an electrician) though you may end up paying for a more premium packaged and warrantied system that offsets/overrides that. (I would guess that you are stuck with that either way if you are asking the electrician to supply and install). If you were DIY installing or wanted to be able to replace in future then obviously low voltage has an advantage there but doesn't apply.

We had these on a building we converted into flats. They went front to back and I think helped strengthen some timber beams internally.

You can buy anti-static nozzles and pipes. But try an earthed metal adapter between the sander and the extractor. May work. Don't be tempted to earth your leg or aim, especially though your house wiring (was shown this on someone's Faceboom page).

Very subjective. I have some 240V strips for outside which look good but are way too bright and need dimmed so end up with a box anyway. It can be quite remote though. Internally I’ve gone all 24V. Kitchens/ bathrooms etc so seemed ‘safer’ with a remote T/X. Think each situation will need assessed. For the love of god, get COB strips so you don’t get ‘dots’ of light (unless that’s your look….)

Perhaps should have said "The Orange Clown (TOC) and the US Elite". There is a pattern of the US "invading" oil producing nations. It's just that TOC is prepared to make things happen irrespective of non-US points of view, and even of his own population (80% + against taking control of Greenland in a recent survey referenced on one of the satirical US shows). {Bunkering down}

Nope, not me. I do look wistfully at their site every couple months. It's utterly insane how much prices have come down over the last few years.

I can see some courses that could be used. eg at your picture 1, it would be pointless using the course just above the hand as you will need to get past a couple of big stones to have effect. But these rods bend. Alternatively you could use reinforcing bars of lower diameter and put into more courses. Your inner skin is probably about 200mm thick. You should try to get the rod close to the middle of this. If there is an area where the rods can't be placed, then that is where big plates become the solution, bolted into the structure and possibly to the return wall. But get on the phone and speak to local SEs to find expertise. FYI we Civil and Structural Engineers have strict codes of practice and don't just take on any job for the money. We must have expertise. In practice I've found that individuals think that way too: its not just words. AND a lot of this is available in texts. Another option is to speak directly to expert stonemasons who will have done this many times. Their expertise is the stone, not foundations and roof forces, but maybe they can recommend an SE.

I get this too with the same set up so would be interested to hear of any fix

Hi all. I'm doing a bit of drywall work and I'm using the Mirka Handy sander with dust extraction to fair it. I keep getting hefty electric shocks from the extractor hose that are really unpleasant. I presume its electrostatic building up in the hose but do you have any bright ideas how to avoid this? This is the tool and its plugged into a Henry https://www.mirka.com/en-gb/p/Hand-Sanding-Kit-HANDY-80x230mm/

This makes sense, but there's no 'courses' like there would be with brick/block, although actually looking at the picture of the crack, the mortar lines aren't as misaligned as they could be. How deep does this need to be to be effective? This house has been knocked around quite a lot in the past I think. It'd be very hard to establish beyond guesswork I think. Thanks for this - I'll look into it.

A planning inspector is not the same guy who will be the BCO and signing off the finished house. Just make sure they are okay before you start.

I wish I shared your optimism. Sadly, the UK is pretty rubbish at manufacturing things now. You only have to look at the pathetic attempts at getting two Calmac ferries built by a shipyard on the Clyde. It didn't used to be like that, and I am sure it can be like that again, but it won't happen quickly.

I suspect you give him too much credit for strategic thinking. But some of his courtiers are probably thinking along those lines.

We plan to add some LED strip lighting to "up-light" our vaulted ceiling. Total run will be about 40m but I think it would make sense to split this up and have several shorter runs that we can switch on/off. It will all be installed by an electrician, so should we go for mains voltage (which would do away with the need for transformers) or is lower voltage "better" in any way? Thanks all