Leaderboard

This has the makings of a good / timely discussion. My wife describes me as the master of access panels but not in the sense that they look any good but rather that they are everywhere! I have this drive to ensure I can get at everything that might need or facilitate servicing, upgrade, the back of the bath / shower valve top and bottom of risers and these all appear in the walls - and she hates them all. On the build I am doing all I can to get them into places where they don't show in the room EG into Wardrobes, behind vanity units, covered by removable panelling. So any other ideas will be gratefully accepted round here.

That 5” flue isn’t useable - it’s sealed with duct tape, makes me think it was put in for ventilation not a stove. Whole of the top of that stack needs coming off including neighbours side - it looks loose and will have been leaking for a while. You also need to get someone who understands how these stacks were built to look at that opening brickwork - blocks look new and very odd ..! Don’t forget your stove also needs a minimum 250mm all round so the sizes need to be checked.

I have been painting for nearly 20 years, started out with a cheap gun and some white Hammerite to see what I could do and slowly progressed from there. In the early days a very friendly, former painter turned paint salesman gave me a lot of guidance on paints and how to work with them and the actual painting bit was just time and practise. The first thing is prep, doesn’t matter what I am going to paint I always clean the whole lot with thinners/panel prep (thinners is better unless over 1K paints, but by that stage you shouldn’t be needing to degrease). Ban all silicone procuts from the area, even silicone sealant when off-gassing can contaminate a panel and cause it to fish-eye. After that I sand, if you sand greasy or contaminated substrates you are only spreading the contamination and pushing it into the scores created by the sanding. Scotch pads are fine for giving a generally good condition item, painted or not a rub down. The rest of the time I would use a combination of what is needed for the surface could be bad, 80 grit then 120 then 240 etc. Maybe just a light 400. Once clean degrease with clean lint-free cloths and thinners – keep using clean bits until you can see the panel is actually clean. You will be surprised. For Something like a kitchen door I would hit with a 240 grit random orbital for a nice keyed flat finish, I might go up to 400 but doubt it. Gun setup is a skill in itself, a gravity fed cup gun would be best, there are quite a few settings. First thing I do is wind the air control in until it is very low, then wind it out till I get what I know to be right, difficult to explain, but you want it to carry the paint in a fine mist, but not so much air that you create a dust cloud, you can actually paint with low air volume but it’s not great for the finish as the mist is not fine enough. The other setting is paint volume, you need to wind this in quite a bit so that when you pull the trigger 100% you don’t just shoot heaps or paint, I use trigger control to initially do my light mist blow in, then more trigger for the final coats. You also have a pattern control, narrow is great for very lightly blowing in an awkward bit or an edge but must be used carefully so I advise any novice painter not to. Go for about a 4-6” pattern. You can also control the pattern angle by rotating the front air cap, I always set my gun up with the spray pattern fan sitting vertical, so as I hold the gun naturally and pass over a panel side to side the paint is hitting the panel wide, if you set it the other way and go side to side you will cause runs and is only really good for painting tall things you cannot move so you are going up and down. As you move the gun keep it back about a foot from the panel and when you move keep the gun at the same distance to the panel, people often swing the gun resulting in the mid-point being close to the panel and the outer of the swing being further back which changes so many variables as you go that you will notice it on the paint. Start painting furthest away from you, this means if anything falls from your overall-clothes you get the chance to blow it off (pull the trigger enough to get air, but no paint). For paint volumes for an average kitchen door, depending on paint, you would want about 30-40ml – for your first rodeo have a little extra to allow for some waste, but don’t be tempted to get it all on the door, its paint not plaster! A thin film of well adhered paint is all you need as long as you cannot see any shadowing or bleed through from primer which is why it is a good idea to use the right primer for the job, for light colours, like white, I like an offwhite or beige primer, white primer for white topcoat is bad because you cannot always see what is primer and what is topcoat and may miss bits. I would then use a 1k primer or filler primer for these doors, I would however need to check adhesion of the primer on the melamine because you might need to use a plastic primer or get a direct adhesion primer. Do some tests, I’d use a dab of primer from the can onto the door and leave it for min. 36 hours, then use your fingernail to see how well it adhered, do not panic if fresh paint just comes off, the chemical adhesion is not good until full cure which is why new paint is so delicate. The primer is the easiest to work with because it tends to lay down nicely and has good coverage so your not tempted to overpaint it. I use a 1.2mm nozzle for primer and mist it on finely to get the initial bond, round the edges or any tricky bits first, then the top (face of door), cross the panel across the shorter length and keep the paint flowing as you start and finish on the panel, overlay it a little, then lay it on in 2 slightly heavier coats after that tacks up and flashes off. If the primer starts to look quite glossy while you’re putting it on, you are putting on too much too soon, it should only ever look sort of satin/med gloss which is about right, matt is even better but that is very thin fast flash off territory. You can leave primer for a while if you want, but once primer appears dry you can move on, depends what I am doing will depend if I flatten it, if the prep was good then the primer will look good and so will the next coat(s). I use IR lamps to speed things up but the garage door open on a summer days with air moving will have it touch dry within 20-40minutes. I am assuming you will use a solid 2K colour, if not, apply basecoat with similar technique to primer, then treat your 2k lacquer as the following. If the primer is perfect, I just move on. 2K paint is almost always 2 paint to 1 hardner and then I use about 10% thinners, if painting the doors on the flat I would paint them with 10-15% thinners. I use a 1.2mm or 1.4mm nozzle for 2K. Hit the doors edges first quickly with a light coat, then proceed across the door, same as primer really, let that tack, you should still be able to see primer after this coat, it is just a mist, then come across with the gun flowing at a higher volume of paint (I use trigger control but you can wind the pin in or out to control volume) keep the spray pattern wide for a novice as less chances of runs. After the first coast back off and wait, look across the garden or think about something else, even be tempted to hang the gun up, walk away, take your mask off and just look at something else for 1-2 minutes because human nature is to keep blasting on paint, there really is no rush. Now add another coat. Once the panel is basically fully covered and looks “done” tip your paint back into your mixing cup and add a dash more thinners, swirl that up and tip back into your gun, on a high volume spray and wide pattern, mist the whole panel with over lap briskly (but not too fast) from side to side, the extra thinned paint will land on the existing coats, the solvent will help to level the paint and you should, if you get it right, be left with a really really smooth and if gloss paint, really really glossy finish. However, be very careful, too narrow a spray pattern or too slow and you will cause a run at this stage. If when you think you are done the panel looks dry or matt, its not “wet” enough. You need more paint on it, that will dry as orange peel. I have intentionally created a textured or “dry” finish before and that is lots of paint, wide pattern, lots of air and too far back, result can be almost chalky with the right paint, not good for kitchen cabinets! If it looks dry, get another pass on it with higher paint flow, even if you have run out of paint, go quickly mix up enough for 1 more pass and you will be fine. Have a bright light or torch handy, when you’re done, shine it over the panel looking for dry bits or bits that are a bit thin, quickly just mist over that whole bit again once the last coat has tacked a bit, 2-3 minutes. Now, screw ups. If you make a mistake on primer, don’t worry, it just means you will need to flatten it, let it cure well (too soon it will bog down and clog the paper or peel/rub off), and then 1200 it to remove specks or runs, flatten it and blend it all, you should not need to blow in more primer if you are careful. If you make a mistake on 2k, don’t panic either. Just leave it, do not even think about trying to rectify it at this stage. Walk away and clean your gun. After about 12 hours you can take water and 1200 or 2400 grit to 2k no bother, dampen it down, little block and sand out any runs or imperfections, always use a block or your fingers might cause the paper to rub through the paint. Once the defect has gone you can use Farecla rubbing compound (basically like a very fine sand paper) followed by Farecla finishing compound (Halfords do their own version in little tubes too) OR you can lightly rubdown the whole panel/door etc. and hit with a very fine, 20-25% thinned 2K and just mist it on to refinish the door. H&S – 2k paint hardener contains isocyanides and 2K will set like jelly, if you breath it in you end up with that in your lungs, you may fall over and end up in a very bad way, some people cannot cope with it at all. So, you need to take care. They recommend you wear an airfed mask, but I use a full face cover 2M mask with FPP3 filters over organic/inorganic gas and vapour filters which will cover all the nasties. When wearing the mask, I cannot even smell the paint. Make sure you spec your mask up with the right filters. Not sure what you mean by radioactive style, radioactive protection is just dust protection so you don’t breath in radioactive particles, for painting 2K you actually need higher protection believe it or not. I would also consider painting outside on a slightly breezy day, this does bring with it issues though, but I quite often paint outside, I painted outside at the weekend and didn’t get a single bit of dust or anything stuck in the paint, if outside conditions are not good I paint in my garage, I raise the door about 2 feet and have plywood boards with huge car fans mounted in them, then get jammed in to extract from floor level, I then open the side door, with the fans running I can sand and paint in the garage and there is not even so much as a hint of a haze in the garage, I still of course wear the mask. Also wear gloves at all times and ideally lint-free long sleeves because the paint landing on your skin can be absorbed. These H&S tips are not perfect, but it works for me. I would get your gun setup with some cheap thinned emulsion and practise, practise the spray pattern adjustment, practise the air volume and the paint volume (pin) control. Anything else, key to your painting, just ask.

If your plot is LOWER than the road, beware. Our previous house was like that, and we had a gravel drive. It was constantly suffering from rainwater run off from the road down the drive, bringing road silt with it and clogging the gravel. IF you are going to do that, fit an ACCO drain across the entire width of the road opening right by the road, to catch any run off and pipe it away. This time, similar situation, we are having tarmac that will be more robust and easier to clean of any run off.

Might be better to plant it with a fast growing timber crop. That way it will store up the sun's energy for you during the summer so you can burn it the following winter. Cheapest battery I know of that actually does work. Worth the few years it'll shave off your life burning stuff in the home? Given the alternative of freezing or starving to death (not what will actually show on the death certificate but the ultimate cause nonetheless) then yes, I think so.

Ouch. Talking to a New York based expat today, and he is expecting a 6k energy bill that he is paying out of the rent for his house in London. If you are paying the bills, then I'd say that you should keep the £400 and the £150, to count against a bit of the blank cheque in possession of your tenants. But ranting heads (ie TV company correspondents) on the TV are saying watch out for dodgy landlords who pay the bills trying to keep the refund. All of them - planks. The only defence is an ultra-efficient house.

Would this be a Victorian age house, or slightly later. They were surprisingly standard whoever built them, and so the chimneys are very predictable and , yes, the 2 pots on your side are yours. I agree with all said. Repair chimney and keep the rain out. Change the flue, which is the cheapest part of the work. In the upstairs rooms, are there still chimney breasts or have they been removed? Often they are knocked out and not supported.

I currently have 2 1500W panel sets feeding 2 SMA SB1200's, all the inverter data is pulled every 10 secs and is held on a Solar-log. This shows on a summer sunny day I get MPPT-peak, eg 1150 to 1200W, messages from 10am to 2pm from both inverters. I get a lot more MPPT-peak messages from the wall mounted array at an adjustable angle and no shading. I can also create a graph laying the daily output by minute by inverter, this confirms what I already knew, ie the first array is set too steep an angle and past 5pm it suffers from shading. In Sept that set of panels will be joining the wall mounted set and should match the better performance, first days figures will tell me. In the last 2 months best days total production was 15KWh, worst was 1.4KWh 2 days ago.

Make a frame using 2"x2". Cut 2 lengths at 290mm and 2 at 360mm. Fix the longer pieces to the ends of the shorter ones with 80mm screws. Offset the frame with a couple of blocks and pour the grout slowly into the offset bit until you can see it coming out all round. Take the frame off the next day. Should look like this:

I think it makes sense to add another vent. One roofer also recommended to put an air-vent tile in the loft so there is some airflow for the chimney to dry out. The black marks and white residue indicates penetrating water from inside to outside. These two things would help with the ventilation on both sides of the brick.

NE Scotland, 3.1kW with optimisers, 45 degs and SSW direction. Have seen a little over 3kW being generated a couple of weeks ago. But I don't monitor all the time, just happened to at the inverter so took a look

No . The light well is outside the building . That window you can see is triple glazed . Council wanted it like this . So the light well isn’t even fixed to the main house .

Yes, this annoys me no end. They must start to learn to work in percentages - but that wouldn't give them the scare tactic headline. Ejits. My monthly bills were no where near the national average before the hikes and are still less than £100 a month for gas and electric, so even if my bills went up to £200 (over double current prices), I would be on £2400 a year - so telling me bills "could" be £4200 really doesn't help me.

Thanks @PeterW. I guess option 1 gives a cold roof and option 2 gives a warm roof? if I were to turn it into a green roof at the same time would option 2 be better?

You would need to cut back the wall edge and provide cross ventilation above the insulation and below the deck - min 50mm to be safe. Then VCL on inside of insulation and then board /skim. Alternate option is just put it over the felt, bonded on with any glue of choice, top with 9mm OSB and 150mm screws and washers into the deck and joists below. Extend the fascia’s up to the new level and EDPM over the whole lot.

Given the work needed up top I'd get the flue replaced while they are up there.

The usual way to measure a PV installation is to divide the output over a time period by the installed capacity i.e. 950 kWh/kWp. Suppose you could do something similar with the nominal inverter capacity.

We have 8.5 kW (peak) installed, but our panel orientation is a long way from ideaI, and I don't recall ever seeing more than 6.6 kW (~78% of nominal peak output). We regularly hit 6.1-6.3 kW during June, and usually exceed 6 kW at least every few days across the whole of summer.

Wireless RS485 is easily done, I use the EW11 and link 2 SMA inverters to a Solar-log which can now sit anywhere in wifi range without risk of a lightening strike on the inverter taking it out via a cable running outside. My panels are wall mounted in an old sillage pit so well away from the house but no shading and angle can be changed monthly if needed.

It would be a good plan to remove the plasterboard from the inside so you can see what you have there. I imagine there are several load bearing studs between the small openings plus either end. You will also need to see how the top has been designed. Once you have opened this up you can get an engineer to do the design and calcs. Bear in mind the timber frame may be taking the roof and first floor loadings.

Gas! Holy crap 🙈

If relying on the sale of a property to finance it, I would sell the bloody thing before I even started the new build.

Yup. Middle of the livingroom and middle of the front room. Yeah, this is a worry of mine too. Well, share your ideas first - pictures! Descriptions! Interpretive dance? At the end of the day, you have to factor in how often you expect to use a given hatch. If it truly is a once in a lifetime emergency then just painting them closed with a few quick hints and docs where it 'used to be'/is is fine. If you need a daily service, then no. I'm hoping a FCU will need servicing about once every 4 years, which would then warrant a ceiling repaint?

We will once fitted 3.5 Wp of modules to a 3 kW SMA inverter. The instantaneous display showed over 3 kW every now and again. The cooling fan was at full chat. If under sizing the inverter, fit it where it can draw in lots of air, so not a loft or cupboard.

It is actually fairly common to add more panels than the inverter rating, the idea being that say 20% more panel peak capacity than the inverter can handle will mean that when you see 80% peak generation on the panels you sort of end up at the full rated output... I seem to see about 83% of peak panel power as a norm during this current sunny weather.

SE8000H, no storedge interface, SolarEdge Battery Bank (the big heavy bugger), Eastron SDM-230 meter being fitted this week (couldn't fit today as we need metal box apparently). The Eastron SDM-230 is not compatible directly with SolarEdge inverters so I will be using a bit of software (https://github.com/nmakel/solaredge_meterproxy) to convert the values. This doesn't bother me as I have to use a wireless Modbus TCP gateway anyway because running an RS-485 cable from inverter to meter would be harder. This runs on a Raspberry Pi with USB RS-485. I couldn't find a meter that directly fitted my requirements for a reasonable price: 1. Compatible with SolarEdge (ideally without any proxies, not just SolarEdge branded stuff other stuff works). 2. Direct connect not CT clamps. 3. 100A single phase. 4. Modbus TCP (we need to send this wirelessly as running a cable would be hard) I have the Raspberry Pi in the shed with the inverter anyway for monitoring purposed so I figured the SM-230 with a DIN mounted Wi-Fi Modbus TCP proxy would nearly tick all of the above boxes. The Raspberry Pi simply connects to the inverted via RS-485 and the meter via Modbus TCP. The non solar edge hardware I'm using in full: 1. Eastron SDM-230 (£50 online) 2. Waveshare RS485 to WIFI/Ethernet,Ethernet to WIFI Converter Module,Rail-Mount RS485 Serial Server, Modbus MQTT Gateway (£40 online) 3. Raspberry Pi (cost me £30 but can vary these days, it might be possible to use an Arduino with MicroPython which would be cheaper and use less power) 4. Waveshare Industrial USB to RS485 Converter with original FT232RL Built in Embedded Protection Circuits (£17) All told about £140 worth of hardware but in return I get: 1. Very accurate power monitoring, fully local, fed into wider home automation system by Home Assistant. No cloud crap, no smart meter that can be remotely disabled. Dumb meter. 2. The system can be set not to export (my meter currently charges me for export as if it were import) and the battery can know when to charge / discharge. 3. Regular (15 second or less intervals) and complete information about all the components in the system e.g. battery, inverter, panels. All fed into Grafana. 4. Hopefully I will get control of when the battery is charging or its various discharge modes without being on the SetApp Wifi. Remember the metering part of this still a work in progress, I cannot confirm this will work until I have the meter fitted Please do not consider me an expert with any of this I'm just trying to make this work. I welcome any questions, suggestions or constructive feedback. Anything you do is at your own risk of course. Good luck.

That mask looks reasonable enough, but I think those filter caps are just a dust filter, it would stop the paint particles but not the vapours and gases from the various solvents and chemicals in the paint. Check with the manufacturers datasheets and see what filter it is and what cartridges are available. If unopened and not suitable I’d keep it for general dusty work on your house, or flog on eBay and get a 3M full face mask as you should really protect your eyes too but not critical if you paint outside or in well ventilated areas – I used a ½ face 3M mask like that for years before I upgraded to the full face. The paint looks fine, it will be good tough paint for sure, my only comment would be don’t use 2k primer going forward, you have it now, fine, just use it, but 1k primer is easier to use, you can literally just thin some, tip it in the gun in any quantity etc. no need to mix up properly. It also means you are reducing your exposure to isocyanide products. If clean you can also tip spare back into the can as it won’t harden in a sealed tin, catalysed 2K will begin to cure immediately.

Yes I know that, just saying I didn’t realise that a wall existed where that black line was. Just found this from a solicitor on a different forum. I think you need to wait and see how the council react to what you have done so far. Planning classifications are normally not dependent upon who owns the land. SO it is quite possible to privately own public open space and that private owner would be bound by that classification. The local authority's land charges department will have the details alongside the planning department.

One of the wonderful things about buildhub is the ability to discuss different viewpoints and ideas without constently bitching at each other. (Politicians please note!) IMHO the grid has 2 main problems: what it uses to produce electricity and what it needs to supply our peak power demand. More renewables will help, however peak demand is the killer. All the renewable power sources in the country will not produce enough power in the winter to forfill our demand. So in winter we use other types of energy producers to meet this demand which sit idling during non peak demand. This is a costly problem! Just Drax's carbon capture plant for example, is going to cost about £30billion - that's £500 per household, and at some point it will already have to sit idle sometime during the year due to excess production from renewables. If I have it right, we already reached the point that we produced as much as we used from renewables at one stage so we're already getting towards over production. As for the power generation and use, my utopian way would be self sufficiency which presently I/we cannot achieve due to financial restraints. However my aim is to work towards this. The main stumbling blocks for us are: Cost and size of electricity storage on site and lack of power production during winter. Peak demands from home equipment. The lack of power production during winter is the biggest problem because by default the cost of storing the power and size of storage would be extreme for an individual home. We have worked on our home appliances but reliance on ovens, toasters, kettles and the like really require a change of habits. So as I see it, the cost of peak production is what we will have to pay for, less any renewable energy available at that time, which judging by my winter exporting would be sweet F.A. (By the way the only predictable source of winter renewable energy I know of not being used and presently available is tidal!) So I expect that the power companies know all this and aim to protect their profits by introducing a way to charge more for power used during winter and or peak demand. (Ho ho! Any guesses how this will happen???) So I for one will be looking at ways to reduce my winter demand and increase my winter supply and storage capability. Good luck to you all. M

This is the sort of thing to hire an engineer for. Free advice is worth what you pay for it... Few issues to be aware of... A single leaf lintel would normally work but from your description I think you are removing all of the wall entirely between the two perpendicular side walls? If you are doing that you will be bearing into the 100mm thick side walls, and you won't be able to get the 150mm bearing length required for lintels. So a steel beam is a better option as 100mm bearing is fine for them. Secondly, has the timber frame been designed to span 2.7m at that location? You can't just take out the inner timber frame and hope it doesn't deflect (especially if you would use a timber frame lintel). This is Part A Building Regulations work so a BCO will need to sign it off, they may want structural engineer calculations.

Feedback time. Thanks for the info, which was used in further research and contacts. I am very pleased to report that the local, friendly, non-national, builders merchant came out best by a bit. they beat the online specialists by a bit, and delivery their standard £15 instead of £100 or more. National BM prices silly. The published price was very much higher, but I suppose is reasonable for a single board. Always worth giving the locals a try.

Fair enough. Have you already got this pre-plumbed cylinder? If so my thought now is run it with the simplest heating-only design you can, per LA3222, and if come next summer you have issues requiring active cooling do it properly and install a2a unit(s) upstairs. They're very plausible to retrofit

Google and download the GSE Configurator tool - I have it here but cannot attach to the post. Find your panel size, then use the GSE configurator to produce a full spec/shopping list. Very good and makes it dead simple. I used it for spec'ing my in-roof system.

If you're part time I would manage the build myself, especially passive block build where the details are very important right from the off. Specifically the continuity of insulation, mortar droppings on cavity ties, airtightness at first floor level, thermal bridging at thresholds and window openings. If you don't have an excellent contractor here you'll struggle to convey the message to the tradespeople and end up doubling your work to rectify it. Alternatively if you can find a supplier/builder who can guarantee passive standards in writing I'd happily use them to watertight. As you are part time I'd put a padlock on the gate of the site any day you're not there. The quality and care of the work can deteriorate rapidly if there's no site supervision present as most trades assume that speed trumps quality in my experience. Our build took 21 months and I'd estimate that there was about 20 man hours per week done. Easily covered in 2 days per week for 2 people. Get a reputation for paying promptly and well. Finally concentrate on doing the management not the jobbing where you can avoid it. You'll burn out otherwise. Good luck!

CoP depends on outside temp and flow temp. In your last post I asked your flow temp but you never replied? It also makes a big difference if the heat pump starts and stops, so how the house is zoned makes a difference.

Or - always get 3ph on self builds and install 11 kW worth of PV / 11 kW worth of EV charge - install a load more than 3.7 kW and export limit; then reprogramme to fill export the minute their back is turned Part of the reason that they double dip is metering capabilities. Precious few can even get basic billing right; let alone the half hourly settlement that would be needed not to double dip using the current metering tech. (the meters report gross in / gross out and it's up to the reader to work out the net import/export...and guess this in the event they meter falls to communicate for any period) Hence the suggestion that unit rate should be identical both ways. Force the swines to fix their technical capabilities else find themselves unable to price differentially.

This info relates to a DIY rainwater harvesting system, not a commercial system, and therefore the water must not be drunk! You should be careful using rainwater not to mix it with mains (Potable) Water as it is not suitable to drink and you could poison your house supply! To be clear birds poo on your roof and then it rains. However there are ways to elevate the problem in a DIY system so there is no smell or colour problems but it still cannot be drunk! You should not use the recycled rainwater for cooking, bathing or showering. SHMBO will not allow it to be used for clothes washing either. The main uses are for garden watering and toilets, and some people use it for car washing and some for clothes washing (we do not have enough storage). How much rainwater are you going to use on loos? Rough estimates suggest that you use about 70 litres a day flushing loos for 2 people. That's about 25m3 a year. More people more flushes more water... How much rainwater are you going to use in your garden? Well that's a good question and trying to work that out is basically a waste of your time because when its raining you won't need to water the garden. Is it going to rain when you need it is the impossible question to answer. so we used a pessimistic view. Our calculation about storage volume went like this: The averages on the isle of Wight where we are suggest typically 4 rainy days in each month from April through to September, however the actual events over a year are much more uneven. In 2 months, it was assumed no rain for 6 weeks: So 2 people 70 litres a day for a 6 week drought = about 3000 litres or 3 cubic meters. and Garden 200 litres a day for a 6 week drought = about 4200 litres or 4.2 cubic meters. (This was based on 200 drippers supplying plants (no lawns) 0.5 litres a day each) Total requirement about 8m3 Well, we don't have room to store that amount of rainwater so for us it came down to what we did have room for which was about 4.5 cubic meters. If we had the room I would have gone for 10 cubic meters. So this is what our loo water looks like after 4 years: No smell, no clogging up valves no discolouration. and the garden: Yes we run out of rain water, and have a backup from the mains. Based on the volume of water used and the cost of, our DIY installation, we will not save money doing this for many years, however it will reduce our bills going forward for as long as it works and we prefer to use rainwater on the garden. Good luck M

The.. climate change prepper in me is thinking I might want to sink 10m3 concrete tank in my foundation while I have the chance. For one, in the netherlands, it is now legally required to have rainwater harvesting. In short, they say renovating or building any house lager than 80m2 you need at least 5000L. Also the expectation is that water is going to be 20% more costly in the coming years, and the full cost schedule is here: https://www.livios.be/nl/bouwinformatie/technieken/sanitair/waterbehandeling/45708/wat-kost-een-regenwaterinstallatie-we-rekenen-het-voor-je-uit/ -> 4650 eur for 10,000L concrete tank including install and all plumbing. Seems cheap? Direct link: https://www.hln.be/woon/regenwaterput-vanaf-2023-verplicht-bij-grondige-verbouwingen-hoeveel-kost-dat-en-wat-als-je-tuin-te-klein-is~aa1b7976/ Google translate below - Rainwater tank mandatory from 2023 for major renovations: how much will that cost? And what if your garden is too small? LIVIOS Rainwater wells were already mandatory for new-build homes, but are now also required for thorough renovation projects. What does that mean for those who have planned a renovation? How are rainwater wells installed in an existing home? And what price tag is attached to that? Construction site Livios will figure it out for you. By Jaron Bogaert, in collaboration with Bouwsite Livios 03-08-22, 10:20 Last update: 03-08-22, 11:46 Source: Livios Our summers are only getting drier and drinking water will become up to 20 percent more expensive in the coming years. With a rainwater well you keep a water buffer on hand and you need to use less drinking water. At the request of Minister of Environment Zuhal Demir, a new Rainwater Ordinance was approved. It was already compulsory to install a rainwater tank of 5,000 liters in new-build homes, but the rules are now being tightened up. Certain renovation projects will also have to follow the new rules. If you are renovating a house with a roof larger than 80 m2, you must add a rainwater tank of at least 7,500 liters from 2023. For roofs larger than 120 m², the volume must be at least 10,000 litres. If the roof is less than 80 m², a 5000 liter rainwater tank is still sufficient. Also read: Larger rainwater wells on the rise: “Go immediately for a 10,000 liter well” In addition to a rainwater well, you must also have a quarter of your garden or driveway permeable from next year. You do not necessarily have to provide grass or greenery, water-permeable paving is also possible. In the past, smaller areas of less than 40 ² received an exception. Not anymore. The new regulations must first go through a consultation round and a public inquiry, after which a final approval will follow. Water-permeable paving offers many advantages. You no longer have to install gutters and burying pipes is also a lot easier. In addition, your garden gains because the rainwater infiltrates into the soil. Water-permeable paving offers many advantages. You no longer have to install gutters and burying pipes is also a lot easier. In addition, your garden gains because the rainwater infiltrates into the soil. © Ebema For which renovations are you obliged to install a rain gutter? If you are working on drainage or expanding an existing building during a renovation and you are carrying out work on the water system, you must install a rainwater tank and possibly expand the infiltration facilities. It therefore only concerns renovations that work on the water system of your home. Are you planning to insulate your roof or install a new facade? Then you are not obliged to also install a rainwater tank. The new rules regarding the larger infiltration surfaces only apply when you re-lay hardening in your garden or driveway and also replace the foundation layer. Smaller maintenance works escape the new Rainwater Regulation. Also read: 5 tips for maintaining a rainwater well And what if I can't install a rainwater tank in my garden? For those who are renovating a terraced house with a compact garden and also do not have a driveway, it is a lot more difficult to hide a rainwater well. If for practical reasons no rainwater tank or infiltration facility can be installed, then you do not have to do that. The new Rainwater Regulation provides for exceptional measures for such homes. How much does it cost to install a rainwater well How much it costs to install a rainwater tank depends, among other things, on the size of the rainwater tank. You can get a concrete rainwater tank of 5000 liters from about 1,000 euros. A rainwater tank of 7,500 liters quickly costs 1,250 euros and for a large rainwater tank of 10,000 liters you put down about 1,500 euros. In addition, VAT and transport costs are added. You can view the full cost schedule here. Thanks to a rainwater tank, you use up to half as much tap water. You will therefore save a lot on your water bill, so that the rain well will eventually pay for itself. Read here how quickly you can earn back a rainwater well. Moreover, most municipalities give a subsidy when you invest in a rainwater installation. Use the premium link to find out exactly which subsidies you can apply for for a rainwater well. Another important thing: when you install a rainwater tank, the water installation must also be (re)inspected. Keep that in mind.

Time for a bit of 'direct action' perhaps? For self builders that can self install PV for no more than the cost of the equipment, I'd say there's a definite case to be made for adding redundant capacity to extend the generation seasons into winter. What you do with it in the summer, once all the batteries are full, HW max'd out is... just switch it off. If the politicians can't make reasonable or sensible policies that address our energy needs then perhaps those that can should just get on with it.

A new leader of country will fix it - not!

And no one wants to pay to upgrade it either.

Amen to that. Why do we never seem to see any media coverage of yet another sickening extortion perpetrated by the energy sector? I would have thought it was quite a juicy story.

For sure 1 kWh (extracted) is not the same as 1 kWh (delivered) for north sea gas. Highlighting that it's even worse for LNG was the purpose of that multiplier. Using 1 kWh of PV generation to immersion heat hot water, instead of using 1.25 kWh of gas to heat hot water, will increase overall natural gas use and carbon emissions. That's because to avoid burning 1.25 kWh of gas yourself, you just took 1 kWh of electricity away from the grid, and more than 1.25 kWh of gas will need to be burned to generate that 1 kWh of electricity. The only time this stops being true is when there are so many renewables that we are burning zero gas on the grid. We are not there yet. Diverting PV is economically the right thing to be doing but it is also the environmentally wrong thing to be doing.

Not sure North sea gas is 1kWh = 1kWh. Firstly offshore they use gas compression to push pressure up to get it onshore, then when onshore it is further cleaned, re-compressed to get into the distribution network, on it way to England could be re-compressed a couple of times. 1kWh is 1kWh +++. Also LNG, uses huge amounts of energy, plenty of gas compression and refrigeration to get it from its gaseous state to the liquid state. If you heat your water with gas, using PV via an immersion directly displaces gas use from the grid.

Efficiency: Gas? If it's all from the north sea 1 kWh = 1 kWh. If we're importing LNG then say 1 kWh actually = 1.1 kWh (due to cost of getting it here) and it's the LNG imports that would reduce if you use less. Generation? Yes CCGT operating under perfect baseload conditions is 60% efficient. But in practice it's the peaker plants / part loaded plants that would be turned down if you were to use less. They're not as efficient. Say 40%. Distribution? This isn't without loss. On average it might be around 8% but this is grossly distorted by lots of large loads that are served relatively efficiently at high voltages. The losses en route to LV domestic customers will be higher. Say 20%. So 1 kWh used = 1.25 kWh supplied (80% efficient) = 3.125 kWh burned (40% efficient) = 3.4 kWh imported (allowing for LNG faffery?) It's not as great as you might first think. Suppliers: Suppliers need to "settle the bill for what they have purchased" This is settled on a half hourly basis. If in that settlement window you import 3 kWh and export 2 kWh then the suppliers will only need to buy 1 kWh. To charge you for 3 kWh, then pay you a pittance for 1 kWh, is a joke. It is a legitimate argument, if you use 0 kWh and export 2 kWh, to say that they should pay you wholesale rate for that 2 kWh. They absolutely shouldn't be double dipping by charging retail rates for the gross import though. Only for the net import. That absolutely encourages socially / environmentally stupid behaviour. But I'd counter that argument by saving that actually, most of the cost of each kWh (in a normal time) is recovering fixed overheads (fixed cost of dealing with a consumer, fixed cost of distribution network) not the cost of the kWh. And the way that you deal with this incentive to (mis)use your own rather than export the electricity is to shift those fixed costs onto the standing charge (look, it's £500 per connection per year, ok, because that's what it actually costs to have the cable there and ready to use) then the import rate per kWh could be much closer to the export rate per kWh. In Sweden the distribution and generation were separated on your bill. Distribution cost more than generation by some margin for low (domestic) consumers. Heat pumps? Please. Funny that.

It's not a criticism of what you're doing @Marvin - that is logical given the rules of the game - it's a criticism of the rules! We would like people to "use electricity when it is available" so to speak. We already have this tool called the electricity grid. Within reason we can each draw 23 kW peak (230 VAC / 100A) whilst using an average of 350W over the course of a year (3,000 kWh). That's very useful. Thanks to this grid that spreads out the peaks in demand we don't need as much infrastructure. What can we do with PV? The "smart" thing to do would be to use the grid. Did you consume some electricity? Did you generate some electricity? Ok. Then your net consumption / generation was X. That's what you pay for (or get paid for). You can't average this out over a year or even a day because the electricity that you used (in the nighttime, in winter) might be worth a lot more than the electricity that you generated (in the daytime, in summer) The UK has an "import tariff and an export tariff" today. You pay (a lot) for anything imported. You get paid (almost nothing) for anything exported. This is dumb. It is encouraging people to waste electricity. Say there is 2.5 kWh of PV available. - (1) One could use 1 kWh of electricity to put 2.5 kWh into the hot water tank (run the heat pump) AND sending the other 1.5 kWh out to the grid so that we burn 4.5 kWh less gas to generate that 1.5 kWh. - (2) One could also export the entire 2.5 kWh of electricity (so that we burn 7.5 kWh less gas to generate that 2.5 kWh) and burn 1.25 kWh of gas in an 80% efficient combi boiler to make the hot water. That would...actually be better for the world as it stands today. - (3) Or one could spend money on a diverter to throw all 2.5 kWh using an immersion into the hot water tank, leaving the grid to burn 4.5 kWh of gas to supply 1.5 kW of electricity elsewhere. This is the worst possible outcome for the world...but the one that the rules of the game make you play. One could also spend money on a battery to store that excess then return 80-90% of it back to yourself later. This is much less bad for the world than (3) but it's still not as good as (2) or even (1). Net metering can also be dumb. Lithuania has net metering. You pay (a lot) for anything imported. You get paid (a lot) for anything exported. They do this on an annual basis. This encourages people to generate as much as possible in the summer (when it is easiest / cheapest to generate with PV) and does nothing to discourage consumption in spring / autumn (when the electricity is most expensive to generate from gas). It isn't as ridiculous as ti could be because electricity actually gets a bit cheaper in winter...because they are using the heat from the power plant to heat the cities / need the heat from the power plant to heat the cities. But it's not ideal either. Perfection? 1) Let suppliers charge whatever they like for import and export but force them to do "net metering" on a half hourly basis. Yes, you can put the kettle on at 3 kW for the minute or two it takes to make tea, even if your PV is only generating 1 kW for the other 28-29 minutes in that half hour, and you would be charged £0 for net import and paid £X for the net export. This way you don't need fancy diverters tracking minuscule buckets as @Radian is trying to do and you don't need heat pumps that can turn down to virtually nothing. You just need a basic forecast of what the PV will generate in the next half hour and a way to tell your discretionary appliances to "please, if you could, randomly use 0.5 kWh in the next 30 minutes to do your thing" so that the net import/export is near zero. (that's a much easier technical problem to solve) It maximises value from the grid that we already have. It avoids sending money to China or Elon for batteries that are totally pointless except for playing an accounting game at the expense of those who can't afford batteries. What this wouldn't do is encourage you to export the (high value) electricity and burn (low value) gas to make your hot water if this is the best thing for the world right now. That's because of the difference between import and export. 2) Force the suppliers to charge the same for import kWh as they pay for export kWh...and let them choose the timescale down to some regulatory minimum (e.g. half hourly). Those that have the technology will probably choose the shortest timescales to avoid needing to supply electricity at night at the same price as they are having to pay for it during the daytime. Those that don't...won't be competitive for anybody with self generation. This would give a clearer signal about when it is better to export the (high value) electricity and burn (low value) gas to make your hot water if this is the best thing for the world right now. 1&2 are not mutually exclusive. You could do both.

these photos didn't come through, not to me anyway. As TBC says, Read. Read buildhub and search back to older discussions as most of it is on here somewhere. Read up about other projects near you, and look over their hedges. Read the Building Regulations...(in stages) : builders mostly don't. I have been in construction 45 years and am learning from BH and as the project proceeds. Every project is different.

Hmm, needs some evidence that one, otherwise he's relying on 'she'll be right, mate' levels of advice...

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-plastic-push-fit-adapting-male-coupler-15mm-x-/5970F?kpid=5970F&ds_kid=92700055281954514&ds_rl=1249404&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvdOO8-DB-AIVkmDmCh2yTQeaEAQYASABEgL_uPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds