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Anyone here using split A2A heat pumps for heating? Or in combination with an existing gas boiler or air to water heat pump. They seem tempting as a relatively simple solution, especially for Spring and Autumn heating loads. With the added benefit of cooling being an option for scorching weather. For example we've a 3 storey - 200m2 house. My non-detailed calcs would put the total winter heat demand around 13kW max. Our front hall, stairs and landing are all quite open plan up to the loft landing. The existing radiator in the hall does a lot of the work in heating the whole house. I've been looking at single 5kW to 7kW A2A systems, to install in just the hall (without considering other rooms at this stage). This would be 4-5 times the output of the hall radiator. My theory is that the hot air may circulate enough from this one device to sufficiently warm the whole house on Spring and Autumn days (or even cold June days like this morning!). We tend to have our bedrooms fairly cool anyway. For example this 6.0kW Daikin unit is about £1k - Even with "F-Gas" installation I'd imagine around £2k fully installed - Probably less than a days work for the installer and no need to touch the existing boiler or pipework. https://www.airconditioningworld.co.uk/daikin-ftxf60c-rxf60b-6-0kw- A full A2W upgrade of an existing hydronic system would of course be much more expensive and more disruptive as most of our radiators would have to be changed. I'm leaning towards getting a single A2A unit this year and testing how it performs this Autumn (and winter alongside gas). Then next year either go A2W heat pump or add additional A2A units to phase out gas. If we ended up with an air to water heat pump the Daikin in the hall could be additional, backup or just there in case we ever needed cooling. Am I missing any serious down-sides to my plan?

Got one (Well similar) and thought I would have a dig around the amplification of the IF stage to make it read with arduino / EPS. Anyway found this video - some of this chaps gear will make you jealous I think the Keysight MXA is around $80K. Insightful video.

It depends on the way it's all put together. Hopefully there's a DC path between the PV module array and batteries without going via the inverter's AC output in which case the full power of the array would be available for battery charging - minus any load on the AC output of course.

It depends on the app, but I believe the solaredge app shows the inverter output not the DC input, so it is clipped if the panes exceed the inverter W capacity. If you have SE optimisers you can also see the DC generation (Wh per day) as the sum of all the optimisers.

Standard frame, packers (5mm) and then some beading around that. We do this kind of stuff often, customers just wanting glass to go into preformed openings with oak frame building's for example and not wanting the frames of the windows.

I don't pussy foot about with half hearted weed killers. I use Glyphosate based weed killer, currently Gallup XL but every time I need to buy some they have changed the name.

Two christmases have passed since I wrote the last entry here and we’re well into another year. The last few weeks have seen us discussing the possibility of another build and I decided to reread this blog in the hope of putting myself off the idea! The land next to us which has planning for 5 houses is beginning to move and the first house will be going up soon, I spent half an hour a couple of weeks ago chatting to the chap who’s going to be building and could feel the excitement brewing in me. We will have to make a move sometime in the next 3 years as retirement looms and this was never going to be our retirement home so who knows what will happen, I’m a great believer in fate and at the end of the day we never intended to build this house but the plot just fell into our hands. There’s no hurry but I just can’t see myself settling for a ready made house and the determination to finally build one that doesn’t give us any grief throughout the build is strong so watch this space!🙄😩

If it has been there for more than 4 years (I think it is four years) then you can get a lawful development certificate anyway so maybe that's what they will be asking you to do and nothing more.

Well that's exciting...not. Rubbing blackfly off the bean stalks and leaves then spraying with a few drops of peppermint oil in a plant sprayer full of water. Seem to have cleared a lot though.

why does everything on this forum have to be about payback period? how about doing something not for financial gain/benefit but just because you want to? even if it was about payback then after 10 years @pocster is getting free electricity for the rest of the lifetime of the panels and batteries! sounds brilliant to me and if I get that I'd be very happy. but I didn't do my solar PV and batteries for any kind of payback but to reduce my reliance on the grid. but each to their own I guess. I know that not everyone is in the fortunate position to be able to afford to do stuff just because they want to or for another reason that isn't financial. anyway, @pocster is still the absolute b*llocks, as his signature reminds us.

Whatever tools necessary, I would use a router.

For what it's worth I've been using a duct-mounted DHT22 humidity sensor to detect a >5% rate-of-rise in humidity (over five minutes, measured across the whole house extraction) and in the few years we've had it running not observed a single false positive or negative. The 5% was intended just to be a starting point but it's turned out to be perfect. You can see from the graphs how prominent the spikes are (the first three are showers, the fourth a pan of boiling water) and so quite easy to detect without being triggered by more gradual variations:

Having fitted many kitchens I concur that fitting the sink can be a tricky one, no one answer for all circumstances, may be best to get a chippie in that’s done this before.

Seems reasonable. I plead guilty for my early contribution to the apparently high power draw. My house was using around 7kWh per day back in April while I was away with no heating or DHW left on. One reason was a very inefficient 30 year old fridge/freezer which has been replaced saving around 2kWh a day. The other reason is the 1.4kWh per day of power consumed by all the "idling" devices in my house - TV/box standby, internet router, land line phones, power line adaptors etc, some of which will be culled as a result. All in all a useful learning curve! "Idling" Appliances W hrs/day kWh/day Router 12 24 0.288 Power line adaptor 3 24 0.072 Phone/base station 2 24 0.048 Night light 9 8 0.072 TV standby 11 24 0.264 BT box 7 24 0.168 Power line adaptor 3 24 0.072 Kitchen phone 2 24 0.048 Study phone/printer 2 24 0.048 Bedroom phone 2 14 0.028 Landing night light 12 8 0.096 Spare PLA (now disconnected) 3 24 0.072 Aerial amplifier (loft) 5 24 0.12 1.396 Fridge/Freezer (saved 2kWh/day) 35 24 0.85 2.246 Heat Pump Idle max 45 24 1.08 (PDF data guess) min 37 24 0.888 TOTAL IDLE max 3.326 min 3.134

WBS is an expensive and inconvenient solution in a building with such low heat demand. Your heating load will almost certainty be less than a 2kW resistance heater. I dragged one home from the dump for free and it heats out passive house just fine. A stove would cost £1000 minimum and wouldn't be as healthy or safe or convenient. A cheap electric shower and an undersink water heater for the hot taps.

Toilets normally have a quite high flow rate from MVHR in terms of air changes per hour, unless you have a huge toilet. Any smells are gone in minutes without boost. If really concerned, put a manual boost switch outside the door by the light switch. So if anyone feeling guilty about the smells they can hit a boost switch.

I had this issue - planners said my fence wasn't permitted (it's probably two meters back from the pavement/highway). They kicked up a fuss until I pointed out that I had planted a hornbeam hedge and therefore it isn't adjacent to the road. Eventually they backed down after I threatened to send them dozens of similar examples locally to investigate for enforcement.

Fitting 2x icon in mine shortly. Next to no throughput / backdraft / ventilation heat loss with these. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/ADICON15ECO.html?source=adwords&ad_position=&ad_id=415703895099&placement=&kw=&network=u&matchtype=&ad_type=&product_id=ADICON15ECO&product_partition_id=940253955038&campaign=shopping_excluded&version=finalurl_v3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6PaI5P7q9wIVlJftCh3esgHUEAQYASABEgLh9vD_BwE

An air pollution device that prematurely ends millions of peoples lives every year. WBS = Will be Buried Soon.