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At the annual BuildHub summer party, I vote for these two to be the two captains for the tug-of-war

Just bear in mind that there are times of the year when Solar Gain is good to have. Blocking 70% all year round may reduce the chance of overheating but also means you may need to have heating on when it wouldn't otherwise be necessary.

Guys, can we please tone it down a notch?

Yes. The discipline in our case wasn't the engineer, it was the ecologist. And the consequences cost us £6000. How to deal with it? Fulminate, swear a huge amount, get pissed. Calm down. Move on. When I see an opportunity for revenge appropriately professional feedback, I might just take it

Could the space under the floor not be filled with insulation, with the vents closed off? The other thing that puzzles me is that a ground bearing slab places far less load on the underlying ground than strip foundations, so on weak ground I can't quite understand why something that's the foundation equivalent of stiletto heels, in terms of the point loads applied to the underlying ground, can be viewed as being better. I can understand the flood risk concern, but that's just a matter of setting the finished floor level above the flood risk level (something we were obliged to do as a planning condition, with our slab).

And mention of T*****l M**s

We do little and often (half a tank) with the oil club when the rate looks ok. We have a 1200l capacity which will pretty much run all year depending how much you trust the watchman gauge. In terms of flow that’s a bit variable, but we have decent head. There is the ruin of a 17th century mill in the back garden and we have an easy 40-60ft drop available. The flow isn’t huge, but come winter there’s no way your going to stand up in it even though it’s only a foot deep or so and three feet wide. Attached picture shows the cotton/corn mill pre ruination in the 1900’s i don’t know how much power it takes to run a cotton mill but I’d hazard its a couple of hundred watts minimum ?

My worst adventure with explosives (wasn't my idea, it was another club member's) was when the septic tank at the caving club filled up. Usually when this happened, the duty officer for that weekend would round up some "volunteers", and dig the thing out (not nice, as it was almost always one giant, smelly, fatberg). Digging it out meant donning wetsuits and wellies, lifting off the concrete railway sleepers that formed the lid, and climbing down into the semi-solid goo to shovel it out into barrows. This particular weekend, the tank overflowed, the truck was called to suck it out and quickly discovered that the contents were too solid, so needed loosening up. Hoses had been tried, to no avail, so an enterprising member (from Wolverhampton, who, by coincidence, was called Roger) came up with the idea of using a bit of bang to loosen up the contents. A small charge (around 4ozs of plastic blasting gel) was poked into the bottom of a pipe, together with an electric det. The pipe was pushed down to the bottom of the morass, everyone moved away and Roger connected his exploder and blew the charge. There was a satisfying bang, followed very quickly with what looked like a geyser, extending upwards for a couple of hundred feet. Needless to say, this was a **it geyser, and what goes up, must come down. Unfortunately, there was a stiff breeze blowing, so the area where it came down was the car park, where there were around 30 or so members cars... Worst of all, the bang hadn't had the desired effect at all, all it did was blow a hole a couple of feet wide in the middle, so members had to spend the rest of the day hand digging out the pit, then hosing down all the cars.

We are talking about the low temperature version of the sun amp here, where the temperature range is within limits for an ASHP to charge it. So why would you not use that with a COP of say 3, and instead choose to use direct electricity? Jeremy charges his high temperature sun amp with direct electricity because the temperature is too high for an ASHP so there is no alternative. I am in the camp that things there is not much benefit to a heating buffer tank, and my ASHP feeds the UFH directly.

Thanks all. My BCO is generally very relaxed, perhaps a little too much on this occasion. Will get some more PB in!

How much water is there in a transformer then, eh?

It’s as Dave says Two layers of 15 mil FL Joints taped and perimeter Gyp sealed

what the insul hub man +and durisol rep told me was to brace corners with 8x4 osb cut in half and then any other area that seems a bit weak only need for rebar in isotex is around door opening and window openings otherwise not need for uk --but fit if you like no downside. maybe if you live next the fracking fields .LOL we are not earthquake prone like Italy and other parts of europe

My point is that if you are correct regarding durisol. The information I was given on the course I attended is incorrect. Which is a cause of concern. I am aware of why they do the courses and what they cost. I’m just saying be aware the trainers are salespeople. Double check everything you are told. I managed banking advisors for a big bank for a while. It’s amazing how many people think that their local banks, banking advisor (or bank in general) is there as a free, public service. Rather than a salesperson with strict targets. The general consensus was. If they are asking you what they should do with their money, they haven’t got a clue. I think durisol and isotex are both good products. It’s the conflicting information on different courses which is worrying me.

The security of the mobile phone network as such ought not to be too relevant as the data sent in each direction between the meter and the control centre is encrypted and signed. GCHQ intervened in the design process to fix some loopholes in that protocol because they were worried about the potential national infrastructure vulnerabilities. Whether the data centres will be kept adequately secure in the long run is a different question, though. If they ever leak the private keys needed to control peoples' meters things will get interesting.

I also saw that and it has or will be corrected in uk documentation as th uk blocks are not same spec as italian either-speak to them

I always believe it needed to be 2 sheets of the 15mm fireline plasterboard, with the joints in the second layer staggered from the first layer. At least that is what I have done. As to finish, taped and filled and then painted.

As long as it can get a mobile data signal it will work OK. All the meter does is transmit usage data back to Smart DCC and receive data from Smart DCC that can be used to signal tariff changes, or remotely turn the supply off. You can ask for a monitor to be fitted to your connection if you think you're getting voltages above +10% or lower than -6% of the nominal 230 VAC. We often get long periods with the supply at the upper limit, 253 VAC, in summer, and never get lower than about 242 VAC, even when demand is high, so I suspect that the DNO could take the local transformer down one tap and bring our supply back within a better range. I'm not sure why we have such a high local voltage, but suspect that it may be down to us having relatively new supply cables, of a larger section than required for our leg from the transformer (two, relatively new, fairly low energy, houses fed from a three phase 95mm² Wavecon that runs ~200m to the transformer, with no other loads). Persuading the DNO to reduce a tap on the transformer isn't easy, though, I've been at them for over a year now with no luck.

can only pass comment on what i have seen --and i believe its to do with local sub station as we are over 1 mile from it ,as they said they would adjust it when they saw the graph

My view is that you need to look at why we are being encouraged to fit "smart" meters, and who stands to benefit most. The primary reason for fitting "smart" meters (which are really pretty dumb; they are only remote reading and control devices) is to allow better utilisation of the grid. Right now, the biggest problem the grid has is the very wide demand range, which goes from there being, in effect, a surfeit of generation at off-peak times (so much so that generators can be paid to not generate, and wholesale spot market prices drop towards zero) to there only being just enough generation and import capacity at peak times. This creates a lot of problems for the grid, for generators and for suppliers. The latter buy electricity on a half hourly spot market, yet sell electricity at pretty fixed retail prices. Suppliers would like to try to reduce the risk they carry, so would very much like to shift to a retail model that allows variable pricing, perhaps down to the same sort of granularity as the half hourly wholesale market they buy from. Clearly, being able to make the retail price track the wholesale price is a really good thing for suppliers, as they can pretty much remove much of their business risk. When the wholesale price changes they can just change the retail price, so that their profit element remains the same. This sounds OK on the face of it, but it presents some potential problems. The major one is that the peak rate price could (at today's rates) be around 30p/kWh, and the off peak price could be down around 3 or 4p/kWh. Anyone who has to use electricity during the peak periods could end up paying more. The real concern I have is that comparing value between suppliers will be even harder than it is now. With retail tariffs tracking the wholesale spot market from hour to hour through the day, how will consumers be able to assess which supplier offers the best deal? The above scenario isn't yet being discussed, and the granularity of the data collected by Smart DCC at this moment doesn't allow half hourly billing for domestic customers, but the capability exists to roll this out, once "smart" meters become widespread. Another concern that I have is over the security and robustness of the communications and control network. "Smart" meters have the ability to disconnect the supply to the house remotely. Right now, the official statement is that this facility won't be used. One has to ask why the capability has been designed and built in to the meters if there is no intention to ever use it. My personal view is that I just don't trust those in control of the system to either only do as they are saying they will do at the moment, or make the system sufficiently robust such that there is no chance of a system problem, or a hacker, being able to just switch off supplies remotely. The track record of the utilities in general doesn't fill me with confidence, neither does the track record of IT projects rolled out by the government.

If you look at SAP, then you can either put in the assessed value for psi (by calculation of the actual thermal bridges or from advanced details) or you can accept the default value. SAP uses a way of determining the total impact of thermal bridging, by assigning it a value called Y. The Y value has the advantage that it can be compared with the U value for fabric elements, but that's pretty much the only thing it has going for it (IMHO, I'm not a fan of it). The 32% figure you've quoted is a bit extreme, as I believe it most probably comes from the default value in SAP. In reality, any sensibly designed new build will have significantly lower heat loss from thermal bridging, for the simple reason that it can be challenging to get the FEE down without moving away from the default psi values and either using those from the advanced details (bit of a fiddle, IMHO) or doing a proper analysis based on the designed structure (far and away the best method, and not hard to do). FWIW, designing out all thermal bridges, including geometric bridges at angled external wall/roof/floor corners, isn't hard to do. There are standard details for reducing thermal bridging to negligible levels available, anyway, so it's a bit of a mystery as to why they are neither more widely used nor more widely understood, especially as thermal bridging can present a slight condensation risk, especially in a very well insulated house, by creating cold spots.

Welcome. First of all you need to check whether the property has had its permitted development rights removed or restricted or not. If not you can build certain things without needing PP but you will still need to go through Building Control if building an extension. The other complication is that current permitted development regs expire in May 2019 and it's not clear whether they will just be extended or amended afaik. It depends where you are too. Here is the portal for England. Permitted Development Portal - England

There's no way that you can just make an assumption that a house of a given date and size will have any particular energy usage; the whole concept of trying to use just those two parameters alone is deeply flawed, for several reasons. Heat loss doesn't vary linearly with house size, as there there is a surface area to volume ratio effect that creates non-linearity (the elephant versus mouse effect). One of the most significant causes of heat loss in houses is airtightness, or lack of. A house with open fireplaces and sash windows will lose a lot more heat than the same size house with no fireplaces and casement windows, for example. Shape and number of storeys has a significant impact on heat loss. Long, thin houses lose more heat than square houses. Single storey houses lose more heat than multiple storey houses. Detached houses tend to lose more heat than semi-detached or terraced houses. Window size dominates fabric heat loss, so a house with large areas of glazing may lose many times more heat than the same size of house with smaller areas of glazing. There are many other variables, too, but the above alone will cause very large errors if only trying to use age and floor area to predict heat loss.

Come do my next house @temp

True, but not as significant as you might think.

good luck with getting that temp drop across a stelrad tsd unit got very anal about this when i had std heating in house spent many hours with 2 thermo couples on the in+out to rads and played about with pump speeds +boiler temps + adjusting flow valves to balance whole system best i could ever get was 12c drop across the rads for upstairs in modern house --maybe electrical heating mats are the way for the small time you will use them ?

Appears different manufacturers use different flow/return/room temperatures when they spec their output powers.... Stelrad 70/55/20 AEL 80/60/20

Our last house had a low temperature radiator / heat pump system, flow temp of 33C at 0C ambient. Worked perfectly well. The radiators were sized between 3 and 4 times larger than they would have been in a conventional CH system. Dividing the stated output by that multiple would therefore give you a rough idea of what you will get output wise at UFH flow temps.

How much heating does your house require? A single 1.5 kW output radiator would be enough to heat our whole 130m² house in very cold weather. Like others, we've found that we definitely don't need heating upstairs, if anything we could do with a bit more cooling up there.

You do know you don't have to have the supply moved. You could do as many of us have, and leave the meter there, and just run your own cable from that box into the house. At those prices it will probably save you a lot of money.

I usually flush at least twice depends on how fast the cistern fills and on how marked the pan is...just saying

not any more they don't ? Your complaint–Fischer FutureThankyou for your patience in what we acknowledge has been a lengthy investigation. We received a considerable amount of evidence from Fischer Future in support of the claims in the ad. Our assessment of the evidence raised a number of concerns and Fischer Future has agreed to remove the comparative elements of the ad (claims comparingFischer heaters and conventional storage heaters). We consider that this will resolve the complaint without referring the matter to the ASA Council, and will consequently be closing our file.In a formal investigation, if the ASA Council decides that an ad is in breach of the Code, the advertisers are told to withdraw or amend it. Because Fischer has already assured us that the advertising you complained about will be amended, we consider there is little to be gained from continuing with a formal investigation, which would achieve that same outcome.Although we will not publish full details of your complaint on our website, www.asa.org.uk, basic information including the advertisers' name and where the ad appeared will appear on Wednesday 30thJanuary.

Quite normal It will be external finishing Ours is next to a listed building Widows doors barge boards porch Style materials Mainly the front elevation They didn’t seem to interested around the back I wouldn’t make to big of a deal of it Even though it is a pain A other hoop that will quickly be ticked off

internal as well as external? not normally a condition to that level. samples of finish is usually sufficient.

Hubby uses the laser a lot, marks the floor where the electric boxes are so that he can cut out acurately where the back boxes are in the plasterboard, seems to work Ok.. We are all really looking forward to this build now, it's been a long slog....I'm still waiting for permission for a basement, will know at the end of this month. It took 161 days for the silo's to be refused first time around....ridiculous! Today I drew up a new Tractor shed on Auto Cad....who hoo....it looks OK, had a temporary scaffolding system with a tin roof and were told "you have to have planning for that" errr why, it's temporary...but NO...SO...I'm going for the jugular...serves em right!

In my proposal on MVHR a duct cooler has been specified - well it is sold as a heater : https://www.bpcventilation.com/hot-water-duct-heater-range?gclid=CjwKCAjwndvlBRANEiwABrR32AYX25XU3baX6tcuGKne9hKegBRxmoPRO44n3Nje7XIHpUcwrr1PjRoCLCAQAvD_BwE though presumably will heat or cool depending on the liquid temp you run through it. BPC are working on the design at the moment but hopefully I can run this with a circuit from the ASHP but given the low flow rates this probably means insulating most of the out-flows to avoid temp losses en-route. Don't think I'd want this to be used for heating so would need to build that logic in somehow.

The course will show you it is equally as DIY friendly if not more so. It also has the pass block which reduces the number of blocks you need to cut (it took my head a while to get around how that worked).

I've got a previous version of this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Salus-RT510RF/dp/B072KL746L/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=52787712865&hvadid=259071927018&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046536&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=18112310960691005442&hvtargid=aud-613328383199%3Akwd-296995634591&keywords=salus+rt500rf&qid=1554979521&s=gateway&sr=8-1 The thermostat sits about 10m from the receiver with walls and doors in between. It's worked fine for quite a few years. This could solve part of your problem. I think there's quite a few other makers of wireless thermostats. If you have the installers' instructions for your boiler, or can find them online, they might show you how to control the heating and hot water separately. I have no plumbing experience and next-to-no electrical knowledge, but I managed to wire up my Salus without any problems.

that single lass has got some bottle. Its a lot to take on when you're on your own - I often come home at the end of an evenings graft / whole days graft and its good that the missus is here - cheers me up, who did she rely on for some emotional help? Hats off to her.

Got to love women! ? A weekend I won't forget in a hurry. Friday night I get home and SWMBO decides "the sink would look better where the shower is"! Just the small matter of moving the window and a bit of re-tiling...Just glad I used screws not nails!

I had to ask, is that a basin or a urinal?

update to this. ISOTEX are now going to make a UKspec block,which will have 120mm concrete core ,which they say will be fine for up to 3 storey building ,with some rebar ,over the 140mm of italian spec -which will save 15%ish in concrete costs -so all the paperwork is being reworked to reflect that . and the main man confirmed to me when he rang back yesterday that the uk spec will say up to 2m height in one pour and no need for any serious type support system,just brace the corners with plywood sheeting to be super sure --that will be a big saving --£2-300 a week for bracing hire +delivery and return transport costs to their base . he also says that delivery of blocks from order will be 1week I will wait to see all this writing in due course