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Nick, the Oxy Time for bed, I think!!

I was also bidding on the 2x ashp's on ebay, never got it either.

Seem to be a few about:

Right so your issue is there - heat curves will be rubbish and the temperature for rads is just too high for standard sized ones. The Grant oil boiler will tick all the boxes however you may want to be careful as they prefer a long burn so the tank controls may need to be tweaked. If you keep the rads then it will mean living with lower heat pump performance or going with oil - I would probably go with the latter.

Welcome Ivon. I strongly suspect that the problems are as you say, poor installation and clueless setting up by Kingspan. The default settings on these units are hopeless for the UK climate, but the units themselves are very good indeed, when properly installed and set up. I have an identical unit, badged Glowworm, and it took a fair bit of work to get it set up properly. Both Kingspan and Glowworm had near-zero technical understanding of the Carrier ASHPs they were buying in, and consequently both pulled out of the market after a number of problems they incurred. The major failing is that, by default, these units are set with a barking mad weather compensation curve, and a hot water capability that simply doesn't work well in the UK climate. The default settings mean that the ASHP will go into defrost mode two or three times an hour, with the compressor and 4 way valve working overtime to try and keep the thing running. If set up correctly, and if set to not produce very hot water, they are fine, very quiet, efficient and reliable. If set to try and deliver hot water at 55 deg C (the default DHW setting) the efficiency will be dire, and the unit will run flat out for long periods to try and get that hot. In general, most single stage monoblock ASHPs like this don't work very well when trying to deliver hot water, they work far better when only delivering lower flow tempratures.

You can programme the slope of the flow temperature versus ambient temperature with a bit of faffing about via the command unit, but I've found that just setting it for a flat 40 deg C seems to work OK. The relays I used were 12V ones, that plug in to DIN rail mount sockets, and have additional LED modules to show which relay is on. The DIN rail socket fits into a small consumer unit type box (I bought a cheap one with a clear cover so I could see the LEDs). I powered the relays via a 12V Meanwell DIN rail mount power supply. The relays I used were standard 12V DIN rail mount sockets type ones, with the LED indicator modules, like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RELAY-MODULE-2CO-12VDC-/172741730264?hash=item2838359fd8:g:r4cAAOSwgv5ZSlRh The diodes were cheap 1N4001's soldered together with leads to wire up to the relay modules. To allow easy connection of the external thermostat wiring I used DIN rail terminal blocks, like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5MM-12-PIECE-DIN-TERM-PACK-/172750888899?hash=item2838c15fc3:g:s5IAAOSw8GtZUmeF these fitted behind areas of the consumer unit box where I hadn't punched out the front covers, to hide the terminals. The Meanwell 12V power supply I used was one of these:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mean-Well-DR-15-12-12V-15W-Step-Shape-Din-Rail-PSU-/132076460496?hash=item1ec05ed9d0:g:anMAAOSwnHZYifqK (it needs to be the step shaped one to fit a consumer unit type housing, I think, and keep the terminals protected) IIRC, I used a 9 module DIN housing, just a bare consumer unit type unit with no switches etc fitted, like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Consumer-Unit-enclosure-MCB-Fuses-box-coffret-electrique-5-9-13-18-26-module-way-/251353151094?var=&hash=item0 I can check tomorrow to be sure whether it's a 9 or 13 module box.

Something like this. Steel has some surface rust but not too bad. Thinking to just wire brush / flap disc it and chuck it in the concrete without any paint or rust treatment etc. After all the mesh is a tad rusty. The whole area will be tanked anyway. One slight worry is concrete "slump" that might leave the angle iron edges slightly proud:

@jack - I think you might have got the doors I was initially considering and the idea of the fibreboard to softwood visible junction made me nervous so I bailed out.

Terminate the pipe about 35mm below the slab FFL. Wrap it in DPM, and duct tape that on. The get some 25mm EPS and stick it to the top and sides of the DPM - it may look ugly..... Wrap this in either plastic or cling film. Mark the datums carefully.... When you pour, the EPS will support the concrete enough to allow you to powerfloat over the top. When its gone green, remark the pipe centres from the previous datums and then go for a pint... When its gone off more, a sharp tap with a hammer will crack the concrete over the EPS. Clear the concrete off carefully, then break out the EPS from around the pipe. When you've put your connectors on and sorted the soil stacks, fill the gaps around the pipes with concrete. Job done..

Hey, folks. Recently I bought a nice little house for my daughter and her husband. Now, we agreed that I'd let them plan and execute the entire renovation process. However, I just can not sit by idly while they are doing it. So I offered to help them with choosing a flooring for their bedroom. Now, my wife and I have a wonderful hardwood flooring in our house ( a beautiful oak in a warm tone ), but I am really debating over whether or not this is the best choice. I mean, it looks good, but is it really the perfect bedroom flooring ? Some advice on whether I should propose the same to them, or offer them a different flooring, will be much appreciated.

My experience (which may not be typical) is that market value is, at least at the moment, negatively impacted by over-emphasising the low energy usage of a house. When we had our house valued a couple of years ago, the valuer knocked 5% of the value because, in his words, it was an eco house and that made it of limited marketability. Given this, and the relatively high cost of Passivhaus certification (at least £2k, probably more when you add in the premium that every supplier is going to chuck on for providing the additional information) then I don't think it makes sense, unless you really want to proudly display the plastic plaque you get from the PHI. Far better, in my view, to design the house to meet the same sort of performance level, and then keep the energy bills. That way, when you come to sell (if you ever do) you can just make copies of the bills to show any prospective buyer the running cost. I'm inclined to think that the low energy classification systems, be they AECB, SAP or Passivhaus, just aren't on the radar for most buyers, and some may well be put off by what they see as odd or complex features, like well-sealed windows, MVHR, minimal heating system provision etc. Far better, I think, to just have a note on the sales particulars that says "this house costs £XX to run every year, and the vendor can provide bills as evidence".

My wife says she should have had me certified before we started!

Looking at Port Macquarie just a bit up from Forster. Sydney was quickly discarded on the house prices, the move is to have more family time and a less stressful lifestyle, Sydney would be the opposite, even if that was the Northern Beaches where my wife has lived before.

Its you you donut