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Mine arent bolted down. Unit weighs 125kg so isnt going anywhere in a hurry!

Hi hive mind! I need a sanity check please! Just installing our Ecodan heat pump which I got with big rubber block anti vibration feet. The heat pump bolts to the metal channels in the feet, but there's no obvious way to secure the feet to the ground/concrete slab. Is it right that it just sits there on the feet? I have solid/flat area so it should be stable, I was just slightly surprised.

I'm with @Conor. These days you need to think about your comfort, and your bills. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

They are 3980mm x 580mm for a 4000x600 opening.

Condensing boiler.

I would heat trace the pipe that freezes. And insulate it will. Kits are available - this is the first I came across, look for similar and compare https://www.frostprotection.co.uk/pre-made-frost-protection-kits

Somethings to think about UFH will need a well insulated floor to perform well and at reasonable flow temps with a suspended floor, all doable but not a small amount of work. A simple overlay system will work also, but downwards heat losses could be pretty large, so may not be a cheap to run solution. Boiler efficiency - this comes from boiler return temperature below 54 degs. This promotes condensation of the flue gases which increases boiler efficiency. About condensation point boiler efficiency be mid 80, get a good low low temperature your efficiency jumps to mid 90s and higher. I would do a room by room heat loss, stick with radiators, design radiators to run as low a temp as practical. Install a boiler that either runs opentherm or weather compensation. Size boiler to house heat loss, not a big one because it's a big house. Look at boiler modulation and the minimum output, the lower the min output the better. Select a boiler that does priority domestic hot water, this will then flow one temp for cylinder heating and another for central heating. Install with a heat pump cylinder, this has a massive coil, gives boiler most efficient operation and fast reheats. Have one thermostat (ideally just the boiler controller), or just one battery powered opentherm one so you can move to best position. If running opentherm the boiler will be modulated based on measured temperature at the thermostat, weather compensation adjusts flow temperature based on outside temp, but a good boiler can do both at the same from the controller. On radiators use a flow setter instead of TRV and set flow rate based on heat loss calculation, something like these https://www.firepowerheating.co.uk/frv

You assume the role of PC. Just update your documentation etc.

Belt sanders can leave dips - although it's years since I've done this. You could use an eccentric sander - Festool are brilliant but expensive - you may be able to rent one. But as @Big Jimbo says it will take quite a while - but you'd get a better finish. You'd need a detail sander for the corners and edges obvs.

Thick carpet and underlay are your friends here. Job will be done and dusted this time next week and your house will be warmer for it.

What @Nestor is saying above is frankly, going to take you a lifetime. Belt sanders can be bought cheaply, and the use of them can be mastered in 10 minutes. Due to the age of the property, i expect that underneath the floorboards is ventilated. The biggest issue will be that a lot of your expensive heat is going to be going through all the small holes between your floorboard, and will be washed away under your house. It's a nice idea, but i think you might be dissapointed in the end. Not about the boards, but about the cold.

Close the flow valve fully, counting the number of turns. Then open the valve half that number. Leave it a day and if the room temperature is still too hot, or not hot enough, adjust the valve accordingly.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or advice please?

Hello everyone We are in the process of sympathetically renovating a large Edwardian three story semidetached house and we are considering underfloor heating for the ground floor. The property benefits from double glazing and an open plan area of approximately 70 m² consisting of a lounge area plan extension with bifold windows and an kitchen separated by a single wall. The property has a traditional suspended wooden floor and we are considering an overlay system such as those supplied by Wunda. The materials quotation has come back as favourable however I see complications running the 35 kW valent boiler with Custom iron radiators in the upper floor and underfloor heating on the ground floor. The idea for this is to reduce energy costs as well as comfort. The alternative is to run cast iron radiators downstairs and upstairs at Delta 40. I need some help with the best solution for our house as I have no experience within the floor heating let alone running a radiator system upstairs and an underfloor heating system downstairs. Any help and advice would be gratefully received? Is it going to be worth the cost and installation of underfloor heating over and above that of cast iron radiators. Will I be able to effectively run radiators and on the floor heating off the same boiler? It’s decision time now so any help gratefully appreciated. just to add that the rear of the property where the bifold windows are and the extension is has all been insulated in accordance with current building regulations the front half of the property and upstairs is traditionally built

Morning, I would avoid the large drum and belt sanders for the advice already given, noise, dust and knackered sheets if not fixed correctly. If you are prepared to spend a lot of time on your knees I would use good quality sheet sander and a detail sander for the corners and against the skirting. Do a test with different grade sanding sheets / rolls and then proceed. Good quality dust mask and extraction if possible. Lovely view from the window. Do this before others encourage you to rip it all out, fit UFH, ASHP and external wall insulation!! Enjoy the Forum.

Historically, in most cases people used 2-core SWA for single phase circuits, using the outer steel armour as the CPC (earth). This is often ok in principle although it does need to be checked/calculated as the resistance of the steel isn't always appropriate for the circuit. Many people (including me) these days prefer to use a copper core for the CPC even if we could theoretically use the armour. The resistance is better from day 1, less to check, and armour and its terminations often corrodes & degrades over time. The sheath still needs to be earthed at at least one end to protect the cable, but is not officially part of the circuit. 3-core SWA was traditionally used for balanced 3-phase loads e.g. motors, as these do not have a neutral. This is why the cores are coloured for the three live phases (brown, black, grey). You can use that cable for a single phase circuit if you sleeve the cores at both ends. However there are manufacturers now making it in the correct colours (brown,blue,green&yellow) and it would be better practice to use this - it's fairly easy to source. This all assumes that it is ok to export the supply earth to your outbuilding. That depends on a number of factors including distance, type of construction of the building, whether any other services are present etc. It may not be safe to use the house earth - if not then you would use a 2-core cable with the armour earthed at one end and then fit an earth spike. Bear in mind for cable sizing, voltage drop needs to be considered to the furthest point of your circuits (e.g. including the wiring within the man cave) and you also need to consider the Earth Fault Loop Impedance for the circuits to suit the type(s) of protective devices. I'd almost always go up a size for something like this: the extra cost is marginal and it buys you a lot of future-proofing. You only want the hassle of running the cable once. To be honest as you can maybe see there are a few site-specific things that need to be checked/calculated to do this safely. Terminating SWA properly also takes a bit of skill/experience. This is therefore quite an involved job to attempt without an electrician to advise - it's beyond the normal realm of DIY (and I think notifiable in England & Wales? Not sure as I'm in Scotland and our rules are different). If you are keen to do it yourself then you'll probably want to do more research on some of the things mentioned above, and you'll definitely want to buy extra cable to have a practice before you attempt to terminate the real thing.

Osma only seem to make plain ended pipes in their Underground range (OsmaDrain), so no socket ended pipes. Any idea why that is? Socket ended pipes would appear to be a lot easier to work with on longer runs. Also, for Floplast the cost uplift from P/E to S/S is minimal and certainly less than the cost of a coupler.

Hello, new user here looking for some advice. I am restoring an old cottage build in 1800s. Have removed ancient carpet in living room and hallway, discovered very old boards which so far I have just been cleaning as they were covered in dried plaster. Now looking for advice on what to do next once the clean is complete. There are different stains in different parts of the room, a couple of big gouges and splintering, but in general it seems to be in good condition and I'd like to keep it exposed with some rugs on top. I don't mind the different colours and I really love all the old scratches and marks as it shows the history of the building. But I think it does need some level of sanding and refinish to ensure there aren't any splinters. Looking for advice about how to proceed, pls bear in mind I have NEVER done this before, and also that I am not looking to achieve an "as new" finish, I want to preserve rather than strip it back completely. The boards are pretty uneven and from what I have read a drum sander will potentially be too aggressive (and also tricky for a beginner, especially in narrow hallway).

Yes that. And not a very bad thing as long as it is working. Brand new brick would allow seepage anyay. An older one will have cracks and I wouldn't repair it unless it was clearly causing problems. I had ours emptied once and there was a foot of sludge on the bottom. More importantly it had junk in it , dumped by cowboy roofers from the past, and most importantly the inlet and outlets were damaged and needed repair. You should assume that yours will need some such unpleasant work s a minimum. Eg 1. Suck out tank and the outlet pipe, rinse and repeat. 2. Check for internal damage ask thd tanker company for an overview. For this you must tell the company first or they will only allow a quick suck and leave. At some cost level you decide instead to build a new system.

Hi guys, First timer here so thank you for letting me join. I have a condensate boiler with an outside pipe for the waste water. For the last two winters either my outside pipe or the condensate trap under the boiler has frozen. I have double lagged the outside pipe and I have lagged the trap as well. I am still worried that if we get a weeks worth of really cold weather ( like the last two winters ) something will freeze and the heating wont work. We are away from home for 3 weeks in January ( if I was home I wouldn’t be so worried ) and want to know if I could do the following in the basement. There are air bricks and small holes around the room. Could I get a small heater and use it with a thermostat plug so that if the temp drops below 3c or 4c the heater would kick in ?? If this is an idea then what size heater would I need. The room is about 10’ x 8’ and about 7’ high. The heater could sit close to the condensate trap and direct any heat onto it. If this isnt a good idea does anyone have something that is.

V-tuf mini is decent, and it’s M class, so site compliant

Thanks for your response. With respect to what you mention about the brickwork already leaking do you mean; Partially broken down sewage is probably leaking into the ground around the tank through the brickwork? And if the answer to the above is yes then is this a good thing or a bad thing, I mean I guess it takes some pressure off the soakaway. Thoughts? Thanks

Henry are good, as are Numatic (which is the same but a bit cheaper). We got one of these for general cleaning at work, is good, but heavy and hard to push when on full suck. https://sharkclean.co.uk/product/shark-anti-hair-wrap-upright-vacuum-cleaner-with-lift-away-pet-model-black-nz691uktdb-zidNZ691UKTDB

At the bottom of my garden there is a man cave and playing with the online voltage drop calculators it seems I would be ok with 6mm but I may go for 10mm to be sure. What I can’t work out is if I need a two or three core cable. I’m finding it confusing as they don’t seem to have insulation colours that I would expect. What do I need?

Likely, yes. But the brickwork is probably already leaking significantly, but steadily and in semi treated form. it would probably be better and easier to extend the rubble soakaway rather than dig it out, then there will be new clean capacity and the old volume may rot away over time. OR you build a modern style soakaway using perforated pipes / drainage field.