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Hello all, Have lurked for a while, absorpting some great information. Currently living in and, room by room, "extreme decorating" an old stone and earth cottage. Trying to allow breathability, seal unwanted draughts, plan for more mindful ventilation and, ultimately, EWI. If we ever get there. Also interested in renewables; most of the hot water and a good chunk of heating is supplied from excess generation from PV and a small wind turbine.

I haven't got around to accurately logging the power use against indoor/outdoor temperatures and known losses to check the published data. But honestly, from the power consumption alone (compared to the resistive heating I was previously using) it's still like a miracle to me that you can do comfortable space heating for so little energy input. But now I've been reminded I'll make it a priority logging task before the heating season is over.

Many GU10 LED bulbs and fittings come in a range of beam angles. The narrow beam bulbs (eg 28 degrees) create a "spot" effect, more shadows but less glare. The wider angle beams (90, 120+) create a more uniform light but more glare. With the old halogen bulbs the filament emits 360 degrees and the beam angle is controlled by the reflector and fitting. If she really hates glare I probably wouldn't fit spots at all. Fit larger fittings with diffusers or uplighters that bounce light off the ceiling so you cant see the bulb directly.

I do remember reading the PH principles of Thermal Comfort, and avoiding drafts through differential temps, but iirc that was with regards to convection currents caused by any of the inner surface of the thermal envelope being more than a few degrees lower than ambient (3.5°C is the delta I remember). As I remember the cooling air drops to the floor and moves away from the exterior wall, causing a draft. For a delta under 3.5°C the drafts should be imperceptible. I believe it's a key part of the PH Certification of windows, ie. not just their U values, but also the thermal bridge Psi values for the frame. I don't believe rooms at different temps would cause the same issue, at least, not once temps are stable.

It’s not up yet. Groundsworks start on Wednesday. Garage being delivered mid-March. House being delivered week commencing 17 April. All very exciting.

Not if we can help it lol. You've just made me notice that the copper pipe atop is not protected / taped to stop corrosion. Why the feck has that been put there instead of on the wall?!!? Needs moving!!! The wheels are starting to fall off here.

Wasn't sure where to post this but here's our observations after storm Eunice passed through. Initially we watched the storm gather, we could see that that the wind was strong but from inside there was no indication, no sound, no draughts. As the wind picked up something we were not expecting happened, we could hear and feel a draught. We have two fairly large sliders and at the peak of the storm, the wind was pushing against the slider so much that there was airflow between the slider and the fixed pane. Not much and not continuous but it was definitely happening. Our air test was done to passive standards (positive and negative pressure) so we're fairly certain there is no problem with the sliders because if there was then the negative pressure test would have exposed that. Anyone have a contradictory view? A short time later we had a power cut , that doesn't matter. The house is warm, the Sunamp is fully charged (minus two showers), what could go wrong? Well, we're fully electric so there was no cup of tea to sup whilst watching the storm play out. Information gleaned is that the power will be out for over 48hrs And of course there's no heating. But what does that matter because the house is toasty warm at about 21.5° and we've not had any heating on for days. And the house is almost airtight, apart from the few blasts that squeezed through the sliders. Thanks to @Adrian Walker's advice we have a CO2 monitor, well we bought a couple. It was quite amazing how quickly the CO2 PPM started to increase after the power cut. Obviously the MVHR was having a bit of "quiet time", so now we had a toasty warm passive house that was not working as planned. As night drew in it got worse because lots of candles were lit. The only solution was to open some windows and get some airflow. Out of interest, it was only the monitors that informed us of the poor air quality, it wasn't something we sensed. So, we have a toasty warm passive house but with no airflow so a couple of the 'tilt and turn' windows on opposite sides of the house were tilted. That fixed things, air quality wise, very quickly but it also meant the passive house was now going to cool down more rapidly than planned. There are no heating options, apart from the bio-ethanol fire) so we were getting ready to break out the cold weather gear. Fortunately power was restored about 12 hours after the cut. We have a fair amount of PV, and it was quite a sunny storm but of course the PV trips off in a power cut. We were meant to have a battery system but the that didn't happen. The M&E individual who specced that (and didn't provide) had wired in an emergency power supply from which we could run the fridge and freezer in the event of a power outage, which was a pretty smart idea, shame it never happened, but actually my advise to anyone building to passive standards, if they have a battery system then make sure that the MVHR will run off the batteries. That's the main thing we've learned. If you have built to passive standard and have a battery system, make sure your MVHR can run from the batteries in the event of a power cut, I suspect most battery systems will power an MVHR unit for ages. Without that, you're not in a passive house anymore. Oh, and we had the first BBQ of the season this evening. Bit nippy!

Hi hopefully, I can add a bit to the pot and hopefully learn a bit. I am looking to buy some land and build my own house if the land ever becomes available! Experience wise I was in the building industry and now the plumbing and heating industry so quite diverse. I am based near Bude, Cornwall.

One of the most common posts from new members focuses on peoples opinion : what do others think of what we want to build? The answer is derived almost exclusively from the opinions a series of people all of whom - one way or another - visit the site of your proposed build. They either have a statutory duty to attend your site, or are interested locals, some deliver stuff, yet others simply stop and chew the fat. Not all are sympathetic - and decide one way or another to let you know how they feel. In person, or by anonymous comment in the Planning Process. So I thought I'd give an overview of our experience. Reading many of the other posts, it seems that our experience is remarkably similar to most. The Councillors We've been 'at it' now for about 8 years now. There's nowt like a house-build it seems for turning otherwise normal folk into Nosey Parkers. We live on a one lane road - it's also an official cycle track, so loads of folk drive, walk shuffle or ride by most days. I wrote a few years ago about passers-by: the white van driver, forearm on the steering wheel, driving as slowly as he could - chin straining to get low enough to see as much of the site and house as possible; the little boy wondering aloud to his mum whether it was Darth Vader behind the shield while I was welding the container roof; the retired doddery old builder walking past slowly, wife proudly on one arm - his broad wink and grin always makes me smile. In twenty or more years I've never spoken to him. Ever. But what about those who make the effort to stop and chat, or - as some have - sneer? Visits to the site by others begin before Planning Permission is given. And make no mistake, those before Planning Permission visits tend to be high-stakes. We lived next to our site: lucky in some ways, others not . Read on. The doorbell goes and the unmistakeable profile of the Chair of The Parish Council peers through the faux glass whorls in the door. "Just passing " was the introductory lie. He had the grace faintly to wince when he heard himself say that. His real agenda was to protest at the design we wanted. Sharp Scandi, clad to look like the old local barns which litter the countryside here. In a previous life, I used to run Conflict Resolution Courses but - when it comes to my own conflicts…. managing the irritation flushing rapidly into my cheeks was difficult. The technique runs loosely like this …..Repeat the question, rephrased if helpful, show you understand the problem, offer some sympathy for the challenger's situation. Stuff that mate. This is my place, my house my build my… my… my …. And up yours if you don't like it. It is very lucky that I am married to a consummate diplomat. Lucky also for me that a local builder had - using PD rights - just erected a wooden barn within sight of our build. (see image below) I swivelled on my heel and waved my hand in the direction of his beautifully clad barn 50 meters away. Same size as our proposed house. I swear the Parish Councillor nearly swallowed his tongue. I couldn't resist it: "You mean you don't like that either ?" Further waffle only dug him into a deeper hole, and instead of being kind, I continued "Our current chocolate box house is built of stone isn't it?" Nods sagely. "And we are proposing a timber build, but you want ours built in stone." More sage nods. "How long Councillor, does it take to create stone? A few million years? And how long does it take to create wood? " "Well we (the Parish Council) are all agreed you should be building in stone" came the -now- tart response. "Our whole design philosophy focusses on sustainability. I'll use the material that only needs a few hundred years to reproduce over a material which takes a few million to recycle itself anytime." Managing the local politics of a potential newbuild is a nightmare. At the time, I'd had not made time to think about how to manage this issue of the build. Learning fast though. We parted on the worst of terms. A significant error on my part. Other Councillors came and went. One even told us that our newbuild would spoil her Sunday morning run. Five years later, that same Councillor obtained Planning Permission for her own garden and built four executive houses on the land. At the same time, she had the effrontery to campaign for 'starter houses' in the area. At least , once she had sold the newbuilds and her own house, she had the decency to move out of the area. I'm looking forward to meeting her one day. Can't wait. And then last week : on another matter, I had the singular displeasure of a knock on the door from another hissy weasel of a Parish Councillor. One who had shared her ex-colleague's opinion: we should have built in stone. She wanted to tell me wonderfully our new house was blending in to the countryside : you can hardly see it from the canal-side. (see image below) Mountains sometimes do pole vault to Mohamed. Conclusion? Tolerate - but only just and for just long enough.

Not convinced mine can be considered new with the amount of time I've been at it. 😉

A fine tooth panel saw is easier to get a straight cut.

Yes I believe the way forward is to halt the job, meet with your BC inspector yourself without the builder present to intimidate you, go round all the points this thread has highlighted with him and get him to evaluate them, and then provide you with a list of things that need correcting before the job progresses. Your builder won't be able to argue with that.

Radiator

I still think it is wise to use a vacuum pump. Otherwise you would dilute the gas with the air in the pipe? Also chance of adding moisture at the same time. Or am I missing something ? I only installed the heat pumps about 2 months ago and I used the vacuum pump. Not got any data yet on the electriQ models yet.

I contacted a lot, and a lot didn't get back to me🤔. In the end I've opted for PolySteel. I prefer the metal webs holding it all together. Yes there is some more cold bridge, but less chance of bursts. In addition they prepared the structural calcs and rebar schedule in the price. The standard blocks are not efficient enough so you need either IWI or EWI. @Iceverge did some thermal calcs and EWI wins. My project is just shy of 90SqM With around 140sqm of blocks including 1 row underground. Around 9k plus vat and delivery incl EWI to get 0.16U.

Tanner Structural Design

Just looking at our figures so this pretty accurate - about 94m2 wall Nudura - £12,500 Rebar - £2,000 Concrete + pump - £4200 I put up the Nudura + rebar with 1 days assistance/teaching from the supplier. Concrete poured by others 🙂 So, about £200/m2

We used to make saunas similar to that. May be worth looking up Log/Garden Saunas. They were generally easier to make than panel saunas and only sold at a higher price because of the perceived added value.

Aim to go APE It worth considering all the AIM and APE elements before making decisions. That is Airtightness, Insulation, Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery OR Heat pump Ventilation, and Air Source Heat Pump, Photovoltaics and Electric Vehicle. Some of these will not work properly without the others, and some will complement others: A MVHR will not work properly without Airtightness. An Air Source Heat Pump will have to compensate for the lack of Airtightness and/or Insulation to the degree that the benefits become questionable, especially during winter, without them. An ASHP uses electricity and Photovoltaics can supply a little during winter and a lot during summer when cooling can be a problem and an ASHP can supply cooling. PV can supply a little to an Electric Vehicle during winter and plenty during summer if your vehicle is at home during sunny days. Extending a property and only doing AIM works to the extension will be no good, you have to do all the property within the thermal envelope. And thinking of running costs: a) Airtightness and Insulation should have no running costs and last (Well, loft insulation lasts over 40 years, in our experience) with the exception of UPVC units for windows and doors, but that being said it will last 30 years? b) Our MVHR unit servicing 100m2 floor sized home uses about 260kWh a year; far far less than would be used to heat incoming cold fresh air in winter, and we clean the filters twice a year. c) ASHPs are, in my opinion, still in their infancy but we are now in the second year of use here. We were very careful to follow best practice in the design and installation of our system, did a lot of bespoke tweaking, and we now have an upgraded 1970’s timber framed bungalow that uses less than 25kWh per year per m2 of floor for heating. d) PV would be a lot less attractive if there is no ASHP or EV (or battery backup) or diverter to the hot water immersion. In my humble opinion, if you have a suitable roof you should install as much a physically possible. Electricity production costs (cost per kWh) are difficult to evaluate because it depends how much is used and how much is supplied to the grid. We decided to go with the PV cost divided by 7 years, which for us works out at £1.60ish per day. Yesterday the PV produced 12kWh all of which we used. Remember, 5kW of PV panels will not produce 5kW because you would have to have: i. No shadowing of any of the panels during sunlight hours (like trees, buildings or chimneys. ii. All the solar panels face exactly the right angle in relation to the summer solstice midday sun for their position on the planet. (Perfect angle facing south and perfect slope) iii. solar panels completely clean iv. the sun is completely unobscured v. the Inverter is 100% efficient vi. all the other losses due to cables, and equipment, and so on. e) Knowing the above PV limitations professional installers often add extra panels to make up for these losses. (Our inverter allows us to add roughly 28% more panels than its kW rating) f) PV panel installations will produce about one sixth of the power in the winter compared with what is produced in the height of summer. g) The electric vehicle and charging from the PV only really works if you can have the vehicle plugged in during the day and supply over 3kW from your PV (or a large proportion of that). This is why we went for the biggest PV that would fit on the roof. We then installed a system which only charges the when the PV is on and generating over 2kW in winter and 3kW in summer. (we have a 13amp charging system). So, if finances cause you to have to consider only a few in my humble opinion AIM first and go APE later. (But prepare the property for the APE works as much as you can). Best of Luck Marvin

Calculate the power output and divide by the floor area to get the W/m².

I am concerned that they are a relatively new, and small, company. Heat pumps are mature technology, so nothing game changing is going to happen. The problems will come with the control systems and inexperienced installers.

Why people buy new builds is beyond me.

Cut off about 60% of the length of each blade. Job done.

just to counter all the negativity we had an, overall, positive experience on this subject. obviously I put our planning woes on our blog but they, in the end, came around to the proposal and approved it. our parish council approved the plans but put a note that the flat roofs weren't in the local policies (or words to such effect). we attended the meeting ready to answer/counter questions/concerns/complaints but there weren't any. All our neighbours have been brilliant throughout the process. all positive and taking an interest (probably helped by the state of the existing bungalow and them looking forward to not having to look at that for much longer!) and any walkers/passers by that I've noticed looking through the heras while I've been working on the house and I've popped out to say hi have all been positive and say it's a great looking house etc. so, as with most things on the internet, you mostly read the negatives but I thought I'd just give a positive spin and not everyone has awful neighbours or bypassers!

So have i. My house has not started build yet so had to get creative with the answers.

The 3 year old PCM58 failed in our farm's holiday cottage, spitting out its salt, a couple of weeks back. Called up Sunamp Ltd and within 10 days had a new one delivered, installed and working Steven McElhinney fully understood the need and actioned a response, working within my time frame so hot water ready for the next holiday cottage guests Very pleased.

That's tracpipe....

A common worry. But is that not better in the long term than a home full of prolems and risks? What if he leaves? You have a delay. What if he carries on in the same manner? Firm but diplomatic is the way.

Hi, there is a portal frame, I believe BC have been.

Thank you to everyone! I'm no plumber as you can no doubt tell but I'm picking up snippets v. slowly! I'm going to meet the builder today to share these worries and ask him to get a different plumber to look at the work and redo it properly. The yellow pipe is solid, not your typical plastic pipe. It runs around the back of the tank and pops out by the front door. Hopefully this will be dug in to the ground and not left in view under the door step! I'm going to remove the ufh from the store room as it's not needed. Give a little more space for the cold water pipe too. I dont know however how he's going to get the mains from the island (black pipe) in to the store room without going in screed, but if it has to be done, I'll state it must be a single length pipe going in the screed away from the hot water pipes with joints OUT of the screed. I'll also ask him to ensure the copper pipe that's going to end up in the screed is protected from corrosion or redone so it goes against the wall. The comments re the tundish for me are very complicated,.so unsure of how to relay them as no doubt the builder will have no idea. Ill need to have a word with the plumber directly and literally show these posts! I'll get BC in too and ask them to check things generally. My worry is that the builder will just throw the towel in. The build started in April last year and had delays for about 4 months due to issues with neighbours. The builder's working pretty much on his own so work is taking a long time, but has stuck with it. I understand however that this all must be done safely by a competent plumber, at the v least! I will send further pics and updates later today. Thank you all.

id just felt over it, or build it out of flash band.

Yes I know it well, just North of Bude. My builder lives in Kilk (as it’s known around here).

I’ve never had an issue with compression onto plastic, using the correct inserts. I’ve also never had an issue with compression onto mlcp using euro ones. Nick has had lots of issues with them coming undone or blowing off, hence his recommendation to not use this method. YMMV….

that’s not true - local parish councils are now a proving ground for a lot of SPADs and county councillors who are looking to progress into mainstream politics. They have moved on a long way from Maureen and Dennis who want to complain about the state of the bus shelter …

My other half chaired the Littlebury Parish Council for a year. It’s a hellish job. She made it clear than none of her fellow councillors were experts in planning and that opinions aren’t the same as facts or policy. A lot of the parish councillors are decent people with the right intentions. Just as many aren’t and have their own agendas. But it’s local politics so best to stay clear of it.

Interesting point made recently was the air flow through the intake and up the flue, when the fire isn't lit. It will take room heat from the stove. So I am thinking we need a seasonal external cap on the intake. On a positive, a stove can provide stack ventilation in the summer for quick air changes (flue door open). I agree that insulating the intake pipe is a good idea, but you can simply stuff the void with leftover mineral wool.

He meant IEC cabling. It’s the 3 pin kettle plugs that you might have for your computer equipment or hifi type equipment etc There are three models 360W, 600W, and 1200W

I think this wide mortar joint idea needs to be canned. It was presented to me as a way to achieve and 'old' look. Too much potential to go wrong.

@Dave Jones, you and @saveasteading are saying the same thing. Just different words, and in a different order. (All the right notes in the wrong order : Andre Previn should have sued 🤪) If a material Consideration is raised, then it doesn't matter who says it. It mut be considered You are right, Parish Councillors are often less than helpful. But it is a scandal that Parish Councillors receive so little support in terms of training to do the job they are asked to do. And , by their behaviour, many bring themselves into disrepute (see above .... ' spoil my Sunday morning run' ) . Parish Councils let off steam - just like Social Media. Doesn't last long, but scalds when touched. And even if scalded, the burn soon heals.

£269 the cheapest I’ve seen so far, so an expensive solution to a rare problem but it’s not a one trick pony which is what tempts me.

For ~£300 it will give you comfort during power cuts and I’m sure you will find other uses for it during the year and yes the numbers work.

256 [Wh] / 23 [W] The watts cancel out leaving the hours. 256 / 23 = 11 [h] Yes How much is it?

Yes my electric car. Technically meets the definition of a portable power station. I powered a 1600W concrete breaker from it on and off for 9 hours for several days. We also have a portable induction hob we use for camping. We had some builders at the farm in the summer and there was a power cut. I ran an extension cord for them to let them power their concrete mixer and charge their batteries. So yes your battery pack will work fine. The main thing is to keep it charged and to actually use it occasionally. Power cuts are infrequent after all.

You can probably just use any standard insulation. The air inlet pipe will likely be nowhere near the flue once it exits the plasterboard. There's no heat anywhere near the air inlet pipe on ours.

50mm sounds small. My pipe going into the stove is aluminium. You can wrap in rockwool if you want. Rockwool doesn't burn

Hi @pyros and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on the impending arrival - you've got a well-positioned new office planned to ensure the noise won't disturb you! I am surprised no one has picked your post up as you've provided good detail. I suspect because of the forum you've asked in, but let's see if this 'bump' to the top gets you some feedback. I am very amateur and still working through my udnerstanding of what BC require for retrofits. My only comment is about your planned layout. Why put the bathroom at the far end of your office, rather than the end where you have planned french doors? My thinking is that having it there, with a corridor past the bathroom and then an entrance into your office makes the bathroom more accessible from the rest of the house. Yes it messes around with where the garage door replacement needs to go, but in terms of living with the finished house it seems more practical.

I could, but working on a load of more interesting data ATM. The main thing is to make sure air and water does not reach the pipes. Polystyrene is a pretty good insulator, just make sure that you dig the trench large enough to separate the pipes by at least 100 mm. Make the separators of polystyrene. If you open an account with a 'bead expander' there are a few on here that will buy extras off you, seems the only way to get them is to 'be in the trade'.

OK. So, for a potential project I am considering what could be a good idea, or it could also be the 'other kind' of idea.... @SteamyTea / others, sharpen your best pencils please. I would like to install ~50m of 4x 25mm 'cores' pre-insulated pipe EXAMPLE in a trench of X depth ( assuming 750mm-1000mm atm ) carrying central heating flow and return and DHW + DHW/HRC. This would be to supply services to an single residential annex from a centralised, remote plant room. Assume bags of available heated water from a remote but local ~1000L buffer tank fed from a large oil boiler. No room in the annex for any kind of cylinder / tank etc, so ideally I wanted to pipe the ( already available ) significantly sized services via an umbilical aka district type arrangement as that seems the obvious route atm. I've ruled out a PHE due to the much higher flow temps that would be required to go a-la 'full district' setup; eg via a 2-pipe umbilical pipe arrangement + PHE for DHW, and the fact that the buffer would need to be heated all year round just to give the annex DHW. Summer ideally wants to see the oil boiler and its buffer tank hibernating, ergo the full district setup seems unsuitable / non-cost-effective. The large plant UVC will be kept hot 24/7/365 from an oil boiler + strategic electrical injection via immersion(s) on TOU + Solar PV excess being used to offset DHW running costs; standing losses of UVC plus losses from umbilical. ( 4kWp of existing solar, likely to be upscaled to 8 or 12 if 3ph becomes available ). Annex ( relatively small ) will be lived in all year round ( retired occupants ). Crappy retrofit UFH to GF and brand new convector rads FF. Old stone cottage with OK 2G doors / windows, it is what it is. Will be improved over time, I'm told. I will need to convey; CH flow and return - flow temp assume 65oC . DHW + HRC - 'flow' temp assume 55oC ( will be a fair bit higher in summer I expect, with the source UVC boosted by PV divert ). 30 year proposal / running costs to meet. Q; I am specifically after a bit of help understanding the expected heat losses from the umbilical insulated pipe, please. Options would be; stick with the pre-insulated pipe, burying it in the ground in a 300mm wrap of sharp sand, as is. stick with the pre-insulated pipe, boxing it ( 4 sides around ) inside an EPS 'trunking' ( 100mm thickness or more ) with subsequent air gaps foamed, eg to further reduce losses as best practicable. ditch the uber expensive pipe, do these runs in Hepworth aka Hep2o, insulate them manually with 25mm wall Armaflex, and box them inside 200mm thick EPS trunking + foam open to other better / more cost-effective methods etc lend of a scientific calculator plus simplified instructions for use........ Silence in the room please, the exam has now started.

yeah. us too. luckily we will be able close the balcony slider and admire from the safety of the filtered MVHR house. 😁

My understanding is the internal temp sensor some how creeps away from the heater element, so eventually causing too much heat to enter boiling the salty stuff.