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Along with others, I'm interested in using a SunampPV for my DHW. The units currently on offer contain 2 cells which equates (roughly) to 4.4kWh worth of energy storage. Having done my sums, I came to the conclusion that this wasn't going to meet our requirements and that I needed additional capacity. Having previously had discussion with Andrew @ Sunamp in respect of the Sunamp Stack, I asked if it would be possible for them to supply a larger (4 cell) SunampPV, which would give a capacity of circa 8.8kWh. He agreed that technically, there was no reason why a 4 cell unit wouldn't work, and indeed when Andrew got back to me after speaking to his technical team, advised that his chief engineer had unknown to him, been running a 4 cell system himself. However, to supply a finished and tested unit, he advised that further development work and testing would be required, and that he was unable to give any fixed timescale on how long this would all take. Fast forward a few weeks, and with no further news, I contacted Andrew on Friday evening and had a very productive conversation. He remains happy to offer SunampPV's on a buy one get the second half price offer as one way to get around the issue (until they have added a 4 cell unit to their product line). However, accepting that I (and others) don't require a doubling up of the charging capability, only the storage capacity, he is willing to offer forum members (being the pioneers we are) additional capacity in the form of 'spare parts' which we could add to a single SunampPV to increase its capacity. Sunamp would supply a case/cabinet, additional cells, and vacuum insulation panels, along with full instructions in respect of how they should be plumbed in. The cells in the existing SunampPV are plumbed in series. Andrew advised that any additional cells would be plumbed in series with each other, but would be plumbed in parallel to the main SunampPV unit. Two SunampPV cabinets, side by side, equates to a washing machine sized unit. The only issue in fashioning a larger capacity unit using this arrangement is one of pressure release. The cells in the existing SunampPV are plumbed to a PRV, and have a safety release via tundish to a drain. Andrew advised that if we decided to plumb in the cells without the additional work involved in putting in an additional PRV and safety release via tundish, we should be fully aware of the consequences of the very unlikely risk of cell a failing, and that we would be doing this at our own risk. Andrew said he would have a formal quote to me this week which I will update the forum with on receipt.

That wasn't an excuse. It was a reason. *straight face*

Nice doors.

As Natural England rejected our application to re-home the bats today I thought I'd update this thread by swearing and throwing a tantrum Oh alright then. How about a picture of the doors that I made at the weekend. Two sets (sorry only one set photographed), one set for the workshop and one for the store. Of course they're massively over engineered (when will I ever learn!). I didn't want flimsy tongue and groove boarding so instead machined up my own boards using 25mm stock and then bonded them together with a large number of biscuits! All the frames are loose tenon jointed. Everything glued, pinned and screwed for good measure. Seems a shame to paint them black but that's what the planners demand. All I need to do now is re-enforce the door frames to take the weight :D.

Is it not worth thinking about each item separately and treating them as such. Lighting Controls (I don't need dimming), some using switches, some with presence detection (toilets etc) That is really easy, just get a cheap outside light sensor and put it in a nicer box. Security integration with CCTV (Driving POE IP Cameras with PIRs), Smoke CO2 detection etc (ability to cut MHRV in the event of a fire) There are some systems designed for the DIYer already that do all that. A simple thermostat in the MVHR can be used to shut it down. Audio - to warn off trespassers in the back garden, provide internal alerts etc Easy to DIY again. MHRV / ASHP integration with temperature sensors, They tend to work in different ways, at different times and for different reasons. Data logging for Solar PV, air quality, temperature etc. Most inverters have that built in already. The rest can be done with a weather station. Visualization on a tablet / smartphone & remote access nice to have but not a requirement. Again freely available via the Linux community. I used to collect a lot of data, it was helpful at first, but now I have stopped logging as it was just another chore to do.

I dug a 2.5m deep x 1.2m diameter hole down to the running sand and then had a 47m deep borehole drilled. It started off as a deep bore soakaway but when the drill finally hit chalk we found that was water bearing as well so we ended up with a borehole. One day I'll install the pump and use it to water the garden. It cost me £3000 plus the cost of the pump, controller, etc for something I don't really need.

There's water pretty much everywhere underground, far, far more of it than many realise. Drill a hole anywhere in Southern England and you will find at least one, probably two or three, aquifers. The key is knowing how deep it is and whether it's likely to be drinkable without a lot of hassle. We're far more fussy about drinking water that we used to be, as we've learned about shallow wells being a source of things like e coli, so it's normal now to drill down to a clean aquifer and seal around the borehole to keep surface water out, so that the risk of contamination from faecal coliforms is reduced. Our cost of getting a mains water connection was around £23k+, so I opted for a borehole. It was a fair bit of hassle, and delayed our build by probably around 12 months overall, but still a lot cheaper than a mains connection. The cost for ours (all price ex-VAT, as this was a zero rated job for a new build) broke down as: Cost to mobilise drill rig to site: £950 Drilling cost per drilled metre: £47.50 Cost of screen, casing, glass filter media, bentonite grout, per drilled metre: £37.50 Cost of Mud Puppy and tanks (used for wet drilling with mud): £675 On top of that you have to add around £700 for a decent submersible pump, maybe £150 for a well head chamber, around £100 for MDPE pipe and fittings, plus the cost of whatever size pressure vessel you need, plus the pressure switch. You may also have to include a filtration system to remove stuff like iron, manganese, hydrogen sulphide etc from some ground water and if the water tests positive for even a single e coli per ml then you have to install a disinfection system. We have a UV tube system to disinfect ours, even though it tested OK, as it is very easy to accidentally contaminate a private supply. If you just want water for irrigation, then try using the US method for driving a small bore irrigation well. They use a spiked galvanised pipe with a conical screen on the end and either just impact drive it into the ground our use hydraulic or pneumatic drilling. The former is easy, you just connect a hose pipe to the drill pipe, fit a tee handle on the top and let the water do the drilling for you. You push down on the pipe and the water washes out the much as you go. There are YouTube videos showing how they do this, its a common procedure in some area, usually where there's a sand aquifer (these are sometimes called sand point wells). Sometimes they just pound these wells in using a hammer, or even road drill, threading extra sections of pipe on as needed.

Prior to deciding upon the SunampPV as my preferred means of providing DHW, I investigated the Sunamp Stack. http://sunamp.co.uk/...SunampStack.pdf The main attraction of this unit is the ability to store up to 60 kWh of useable heat energy. For low energy houses, this meets and probably vastly exceeds the total DHW and heating energy requirements. The following info is a summary of the information provided by Andrew @ Sunamp. The unit is currently progressing through testing, but should become available this year, 2016. As yet Sunamp do not have any heat loss data for the unit, but given that the casing will be made of the same vacuum panels as the Sunamp PV is made from, I think we can expect low losses (certainly lower than a suitably sized thermal store). The storage medium with the unit are the same PCM cells as the Sunamp PV. These are designed to have a 20 year lifespan, warranty for 10 years. Each PCM cell stores between 2.2 and 2.5kWh. Eventual output depends on unit configuration. The Sunamp Stack is a storage unit only. It would need to be paired with a heat source - electric flow boiler, high temp ASHP, although they are working on incorporating the charging system used in the SunampPV. Preferred output temp set for DHW to give maximum flexibility. This would mean blending down for UFH applications. The unit can be configured in several different ways, with full size units measuring approx 550mm x 550mm x 2100mm (16 cells) or 800mm x 550mm x 1600mm (18 cells). One interesting thread of our discussion was the option / possibility of buying a full sized housing, racking system and internal hydraulics, but only installing a limited number of cells, which could be added to later if total demand exceeded what was planned (for whatever reason). A full size unit would allow households to use E7 as their energy source. A smaller sized unit (i.e. limited number of cells) could be run off an E10 tariff, although E10 is somewhat more restrictive in that there are only a few energy suppliers which support that tariff. Cost wise, Andrew suggested a full size unit would be in the region of £5.5K to £6.5K. If someone wanted a smaller unit, he indicated that the casing/ racking/hydraulics would be £1K-£1.5K, and £250 - £300 per cell. As a tailored/bespoke item rather than a large production run item, individual units would be priced according to individual requirements. Installer training would be facilitated by Sunamp. Although designed to be used with a high temp ASHP, I think it has a lot of potential using direct electric (off peak) as the energy source in a low energy / passive type build.

Very good question. I have yet to cut the letterbox sized "flight path window" in the North East gable end. It then gets covered by a dummy bird box which is open at the bottom. It often rains sideways and upwards here so no doubt will make for a nice water ingress/damp issue! Liking the stencil idea! I may even do it just to wind up the ecologist!!

I see this then think of the time, money & effort I've wasted rebuilding a poxy 10'x8' shed that I got for free trying to make it into something it'll never be! No plan or forethought really, too small, in the wrong position in the garden & just made it up as I went along. Have ended up with something far too small with various issues. My only defence is that when I started it I hadn't discovered eBuild! But threads like this are a great incentive to get it right next time. I do think though it needs one of these stencilled on the gable end: Where btw do they get in?

Apart from the smoke, CO and CO2 I will only require one temp sensor Sensor cost - Approx £50,000 Sensor Value - Priceless SWMBO can sense temp variations of 0.01 degree and reacts to them within 0.1 of a second. Data logged (Forever) Aggregated Data (this house is freezing)

I'm considering installing Solar PV, but due to the recent cut in FITs, I am looking at a non MCS installation (to reduce capital outlay). To try and establish whether this was possible, I contacted my DNO, to find out what the procedure would be to connect to the grid. Sadly, the response was limited, advising that only MCS accredited installers could make a G83 connection. When pressed, they referred me to the ENA (Energy Network Association). Thankfully, the ENA knew what they were talking about and confirmed the following -"You will need to comply with the ER G83/2 a copy is attached. ER G83/2 is a qualifying standard to the GB Distribution Code. ENA_ER_G83_Issue_2_(2012).pdf 634.08K 0 downloadsFor a single generator below or equal to 3.68kW then you can connect this without the permission of the DNO but you must by law inform the DNO of the connection within 28 days of commissioning the generator.There is not a requirement to use MCS installers in G83 or D Code but you must use type tested equipment. A list of such equipment can be found here - http://www.ena-eng.o...peTestRegister/Where you decide to connect a inverter that is not on the list then you will need to comply with ER G59/3-2 as that equipment will be classed as non type tested.I would expect the installation to be installed by a competent registered electrician.To qualify as an electrician, you need an industry-recognised level 3 qualification, such as:*Level 3 (NVQ) Diploma in Electrotechnical Services (Electrical Maintenance) *Level 3 (NVQ) Diploma in Installing Electrotechnical Systems & Equipment (Buildings, Structures and the Environment)The competent electrician will also have to sign of the relevant installation forms as prescribed by the building regulations and the model forms can be found in the Wiring Regulations BS 7671. These forms must be made available to the owner and retained on the property and made available when required for inspection by the relevant authorities eg HSE.I would also advise compliance with Part 712 of BS7671 - Solar photovoltaic(PV) power supply systems.If you still wish to export to the grid then you will need to discuss this with your supplier. Not sure what there stance is with regards to non MCS installations. DNOs do not arrange or fit metering." So, for those considering this way of installing PV, it seems simple enough if you install type tested equipment, which the vast majority of self install PV kit currently available is, then all you need is a qualified electrician to do the final connection, and to inform the DNO of what you have done.