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Designing my new build detached garage in SketchUp was easy. Finding someone to convert my fantasy garage into something that Building Control would be happy with was more difficult. I wanted the detached garage to be well insulated, and I may well have got a bit carried away. I wanted to use Geocell Foamglass for the foundation topped off with a concrete slab. I then wanted single skin blockwork clad with external insulation that married up with the Foamglass so that the slab and block work where inside the thermal envelope. I also wanted a warm flat roof. On top of this the garage was to be trapezoidal in plan to make the most of our odd shaped plot and big enough at the front to take a 5m garage door and finally I wanted a thermal break at the door between the slab and the outside world I contacted a local Structural Engineer who came round for a site visit. There more I spoke the more bewildered he looked. He'd never heard of Foamglass, not necessarily an issue but he didn't seem even vaguely interested in finding out more about it and its utilisation. I rapidly came to the conclusion that I couldn't work with him so I pondered my next move and decided to get in touch with a (well known on here) Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer who happens to live at the other end of the country. I wondered if he'd be able to help me out or steer me in the right direction. It turned out that he could. More than that, he took on board all the odd things I wanted to do and worked with me brilliantly. He's an absolute mine of information and had lots of great input with which to finesse my design and he clearly knew what he was talking about which is so reassuring. A site visit wasn't necessary, I provided a site survey and soil survey from the house build and then photos and Google Earth filled in any blanks. I probably drove him nuts, every drawing he sent I added to my SketchUp design because I really wanted (needed) to understand how it was going to go together and didn't want the standard "the builder will know what to do". There was a great deal of detail in the drawings: The upshot of this long story is that working with a Structural Engineer/House Designer who I'd never met and who never visited the site was a great experience and I'm glad I looked further afield than the local offerings and would recommend the same approach to anyone else looking for an SE/Architectural Designer. You’ll find him here:@Gus Potter and if you’re looking for a Structural Engineer/Architectural Designer I would heartily recommend you get in touch 👍🏻

..and the European Commission is proposing a ban from 2027 on refrigerants with gwp >150 in split systems, which includes R32. I am not sure if the ban extends to monoblocs, but which manufacturer wants two different designs unnecessarily. It looks like it's on its way out. They will imho need to get more realistic about the 'exclusion zone' for R290. I still don't understand why I can have 13 kg of propane more or less inside a boat or caravan, but < 2kg outside a house is considered a serious hazard.

Standard hormann insulated sectional! It dropped to 4 degrees last night, and is 8.9 degrees outside now, and we've been away since Friday but garage is still sat at 15.7 degrees according to the thermostat in there.

Because bounce is noticeable and should show up in thorough surveys. The solution may not be too drastic.. select from... 1. Insert additional joists. 2. Screw timbers to the sides 3. Screw plywood to the sides 4. Build floor and/or ceiling in plywood. I did 4, where I had very limited depth to match an ancient skinny, bouncy floor. Plywood on top with lots of fixings satisfied bco and performed well. (it transforms the joists into T beams with very strong top flanges.)

Had it tested a couple of weeks back, it’s not AIB just asbestos cement board, non licensed, however I am still getting someone in to do it as I don’t want to. Some things are best left to the pros.

sounds simple to me its their wall so send them a letter outlining what you know that it is on their ground and if it collapses your solicitor will be sending them the bill to remove the remains from your property by a contractor of your choosing that should do it and spend no nore and wait for the reply ,assuming you can pove what you have just said in your post

I can't be of much help. Clearly newer versions of the LG heat pumps are very different to my old one that started the thread. Mine cannot adjust the flow rate in the software and cannot even read what it actually is, and if the flow rate is not sufficient (simple flow switch) it trips with the CH14 error requiring a power cycle to reset it.

I still don't have a TV, or a 'sound system' I got rid of the TV in 1994. If it was a modern one that has a 1 W standby power draw, then I have saved about 300 kWh.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Also a bit of a hijack, but I have a similar issue. Happy to repost as a new thread if deemed appropriate. I have a 12 kW LG unit, fitted spring 2022. Turns out it's probably slightly oversized for my house, I think I would have been fine with the 9kW, which may have also helped my short cycling and occasional low-flow warning issues. But anyway, I've noticed some CH14 errors which don't seem to be of much consequence to the operation of my unit, but this forum seemed like a good place to discuss and try to resolve. See below. i was checking the control unit box looking at energy use and on-off records, to try and understand short cycling behaviour of the unit, and noticed I had some CH14 fault codes from that day. I generally have no operational issues with the unit, so this was a surprise. Knowing this is linked to low flow, and having read around, was monitoring the flow rate by looking at the display, and saw the flow rate drop from around 30 to 15 L/min, and then threw a CH14 error in front of me. So it seems like it was triggered by the system reducing the flow rate to provide the heat requirement, below a min acceptable level. Playing around trying to understand this, I realized that you can specify the water flow control method, which was set to either optimal or fixed delta T. But I experimented and changed this to pump capacity mode and set 80% and 100%. No additional CH14 errors have since been thrown. I presume the flow rate was being reduced to an optimal level for the heat requirement, but gets to a certain level which is too low and then throws the error. So it seems like the control software allows too low a flow rate. I'm not sure of the effect on the unit's behaviour if I specify the water flow by the pump capacity. I presume if I set it to 100% it will short-cyle more when there is a low heat requirement. And in cooler weather, I'd be artificially limiting the heat delivered. I'm unsure what else can be modulated in the unit to produce less heat . I'm also not sure of if throwing CH14 errors is of much consequence in my case, if the system seems to reinitialise and continue operating successfully. I did notice very occasionally the hot water hadn't operated and tank was cold, but unsure if that's related. If throwing a CH14 error isn't of much consequence if the system continues to operate, I may as well leave it and have optimal flow behaviour with some CH14 errors, rather than a manually applied x% flow capacity defined and inefficient operation. Michael_S, I presume this is all not relevant for you as you have a different control box?

Hello all, I've been a member here for a while, trying to learn as much as I can from reading any mildly relevant thread. We recently purchased a 5 acre plot of land in open countryside, on the land is a barn which has approval for conversion under Class Q (expires April 26). The ideal scenario would be to build an efficient timber frame house on a passive slab, after demolishing the existing portal steel frame (current barn does not have a concrete floor). We put in a pre-app to demolish the steel frame (keeping to the original footprint of the barn), and were told the local plan has policy that Class Q approval is not considered a fallback for a new-build dwelling, as such, it would not be supported (although this policy does not appear in the new emerging local plan!). Our architect spoke with the planning officer, and discussed the idea of wrapping the existing steel frame within the timber frame (means extending beyond the original footprint by ~350mm), and apparently was told that this would be supported via a full planning application. So here we are, finalising details of our full planning application, which now needs to include the full BNG calculations and report. The deadline for needing to start implementing the existing Class Q is fast approaching, and if we're knocked back with this full planning application, we'll need to resubmit for Class Q (under the old regulations, before May 25) which should restart the 3 year clock. I have been an engineer myself for nearly twenty years, technically leading projects in the automotive, formula one and aerospace industries. My background was originally in numerical simulation of combustion thermodynamics (CFD), but now work on a fairly broad range of topics related to high voltage systems, battery thermal systems, controls and algorithms. Don't ask me anything about a domestic heat-pump control system though! Nice to meet you all, I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to embark on what we're doing without the invaluable expertise and experiences I've read about on this forum.

I am having a look at things at the moment. Different data sets, Gridwatch and ONS system prices, which is sadly just daily prices.

If that's the case for you then I grant a battery may help. However most people reputedly use a battery to minimise cost and, in the absence of a good correlation between cost and carbon intensity then that's not the same as minimising carbon. We could really do with some solid information on this, nothing would please me more than to find evidence that domestic batteries do minimise carbon as it would make the case for me to simplify my energy management! That said it may well be that consumer batteries are needed to reduce the infrastructure costs of a decarbonised grid to acceptable levels. Without a doubt electrification places strains on the grid which will require expensive infrastructure upgrades. These can be mitigated in part by load management. Whether we need batteries to do this or alternatively the combination of the management of car charging and using houses to store heat energy by managing heat pumps, I don't know. I'm not even sure that the industry has yet reached a position on this. My understanding is that, until recently, they were focussed on grid reinforcement (at our considerable expense) not demand management. I also understand that this may change now that NESO has been brought into public ownership.

According to the text, starting in 2027 there would be a full ban on small (<12kW) monobloc heat pumps and air conditioning containing F-gases with a GWP of at least 150, with a complete phase-out in 2032. But that would be only new equipment and those needing to be regassed I assume. Not sure how industry would get on. But other than that R32 or R290 in decently designed system makes no difference. Same CoP, same running costs, R32 generally cheaper to buy, where R290 should be cheaper to produce as it runs at a lower pressure. Go figure why you have to pay so much fur an R290 unit.

Actually I have a feeling that the problem in the UK may be absence of regs. When I did a bit of research a few months ago, it seemed pretty conclusive that there were no regs and the current situation arises from risk aversion by the manufacturers. I may be wrong of course but if I'm not then the introduction of regs may be necessary to deal with the problem you identify. The problem isn't helped by the conventional drawings that appear in most manufacturers instructions, which don't make it clear that it's ok (afaik) to put an r290 heat pump underneath a window. Some installers seem to interpret the regs as prohibiting this. Samsung (I think it's Samsung) have a variant of the most commonly seen diagram that makes it clear that the exclusion zone does not extend above the case of the unit.

Sales persons think the simple sale will be the quickest sale. Simples. These people have overheads to cover so cannot go a month with no sales caused by their integrity.

Banning R32 seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut, because there are well established processes to recover the miniscule amounts of refrigerant. I worry that it will screw the already fragile UK heat pump market unless the site location regs for R290 are relaxed.

This is true although I would recommend heating the upstairs bathroom floor with an electric mat.

And I don't think it has been mentioned in this thread yet, that with a well insulated air tight house with mvhr, you will not need heating upstairs even up here in the cold north.

A few years ago I tested the temperature at various points on the amp and the heat sinks peaked at 47°C and the core components in the case averaged around 37°C. I’ve also got a tube amp and the tubes get much hotter than that. My surround sound system has 13 speakers and a sub-woofer. Getting back to the original question. Heating a high performing house is generally the easy bit. Cooling them is a bit harder and needs more thought.

I often wonder why "true hifi" amps get so hot (and waste so much power) You will probably cringe when I describe my "poor mans" surround sound system. It's a Sony DVD player with built in surround sound. The DVD player never gets used, I don't even know if it still works but it takes Audio in from the tv and decodes the surround sound and drives the 5.1 speakers while running as cool as a cool thing thus not wasting much power. We actually have 2 such systems, the one in the other room is Panasonic, that too runs very cool. Both seem to produce good sound.

The GWP is low at 3. As it is propane, no F Gas certificate is needed.

The TV has a FALD backlight screen (full array local dimming) which tends to get warm. The Musical Fidelity amp has a large heat sink on either side of the case and they get very hot, almost too hot to touch.

Sounds like you have some expensive panel heaters disguised as a TV and amplifiers. Just check our TV it's been on for the last hour and it's almost cold to touch.

I like that level of complexity. I’ll have one of those please!

In our downstairs wetroom we were tight for space and I used a short, straight WC connector into a 90 degree bend with a 50mm AAV vertically off the bend.

Mine couldn't be more easy, its the default setting on the ASHP when doing WC. When compressor is off it just drops to 12L/min.

We're all doomed to be in your Shadow mate. Doomed

We have a well Insulated large double garage, though no insulation in the floor... Even in coldest of days it still doesn't drop below mid/low teens, and this time of year is around 18 degrees. Door gets opened twice a day, and it's a big opening... 5.5 x 2.7m. I do plan on hard plumbing a small dehumidifier just to help speed up wet cars drying in there.

Good question, I got a bit carried away and it is over the top I guess but I wanted a warm dry garage. No heating and the door does open and close as required to get stuff in and out. The other night it was 3 degrees down here, the garage was at 18 degrees the day before and 17 degrees the following morning. It gains heat from a warm car getting put in there and/or charging up a hybrid car overnight. No ventilation requirements, at least none that I could find and it’s been signed off by building control so I guess they weren’t aware of any either. No, no secondary door or windows but the electric sectional door can be opened from inside or outside in the event of a power failure.

And I like that idea, but I want to keep the automation to v simple, off the shelf bits of kit only.

It looks great, well done.

Don’t even think of using the old crap. go and buy a full arm with valve and all parts new, will take longer to drive to the shop than to fit it, messing with old scaled up crap will only mean you end up doing the job again in a years time when another bit of it scales up.

I currently let my ASHP circulation pump run all the time, it takes heat from the house and via a fan coil keeps our summer house warm all year. Even taking 21/22 Deg floor temp it seems to keep the summer house above 18/19. Plus any solar gains get balanced out.

How do you make that happen? It sounds like a really good idea.

I am a mechanical engineer with intrest in solar generation in the northern latatude 60deg and further where low light intensity and shade. I'm instrested in micro inverters and there special qualities.

Not that I remember. We only used Jackoboard in the wet zones and the tiler applied a painted product as a sealer. Don’t recall scrim tape being used at all.

Go old school and use a 17mm box spanner.

You could lay top and bottom plates and build a stud wall detaches from the stone entirely. Something like 63mm CLS timber is probably the thinnest thing you would have a chance of getting. To stay straight. Insert 70mm or 75mm batts then. The mineral wool will take up the gaps. It's air currents carrying moisture rather than diffusion through materials that causes issues. An excellent airtight of a well done parge coat, the elimination of any gaps behind the plasterboard with the flexible insulation and the good drying ability or the materials will prevent any buildup of moisture.

Ratchet handle "closed". Have the slot which the strap goes through in the position you can see through it (may need to ratchet it round before closing the ratchet.) Feed the fly end, or the loose end, of the strap from the bottom of the slot up towards you - you should be able to see it coming through if the slot is lined up nicely as above. Pull the loose end through as much as you can to take up the slack. Holing the loose end hand tight, now start ratcheting. Tie off any spare strap

The tank should not be full to the overflow otherwise any expansion as it gets hot just spills out of the overflow pipe. So 2 problems to fix, firstly the overflow connection so it does not leak next time, then the ball valve so make it shut off at the correct level. Chances are the ball valve can be fixed just by dismantling and turning the washer over, unless someone has done that before in which case it will need a new washer. Or may be simpler to get a new fill valve.

Run the horizontal batten the full way around the house, not just little bits, you can add a batten front to back as well.

Spiders and bees sometimes block overflow pipes

If the ext walls, floor, roof do genuinely have a U-value of 0.1 then that is pretty much an order of magnitude better then interior wall so treating floors as a single zone and ignoring interior walls is a good simplification. Don't forget airtightness and go for 0.5 ACH + MVHR. so no weep vents. I circulate my UFH loops for 15 min every 3 hours so I can use the manifold return temp to take the average slab temp and this also spreads any solar gain across the whole slab.

My experience for passivhaus (N=4 now) is 1/ never plan for "no heating" - seen this in one, the regret (and cost and disruption) of not laying UFH pipes is real. (I advised they should but by the time I was formally employed, the floor was already poured) 2/ a building wide model (e.g. PHPP) is just fine for heating - so long as the heat emitters are sensibly distributed through the area 3/ room by room is more necessary for cooling requirements than heating requirements - especially bedrooms

😂 maybe not but I was listening to Miles Davis earlier on vinyl which is a good use of electricity. Music and heat. I also have a valve guitar amp. That just produces heat 😂

It would be a noisy world when the temps to sub zero - what CoP do you get?

@Kelvin - are you suggesting we should all drop UFH in favour of big-arsed HIFI systems?

I’ve finally got around to installing my Hi-Fi amp and AVC surround sound amp. Both are very meaty amps so get hot when running. The Musical Fidelity amp runs hot all the time and Denon AVC amp really only gets hot when pushed. The TV also gets hot plus there are several other devices in the rack all generating a little bit of heat. It’s more than enough to heat the TV room which is 4m x 5m. Opening the doors and it will add a little bit of heat to the rest of the house. Add in two people and two dogs and it’ll be unusable in the summer. 😂

My favourite bit was where they tried to create some drama about a 5mm discrepancy and then sorted it with a quick plane shave!

For anybody who cares, it's: Silicone: the rubbery stuff. Silicon: the hard crystalline semiconducting element. Silicone is made up of silicon, oxygen and other chemicals in much the way rubber is made of carbon, oxygen and other chemicals. Sand is also made up of mostly silicon and oxygen though with less other chemicals and in a rather different structure. So it's silicon chips but silicone tits. A few years ago I bought some 3M “silicone carbide” sandpaper from a box store. Only noticed when I got home but happened to have a beer that evening with a recently retired fairly senior 3M manager so mentioned this, wondering if it was counterfeit or whatever. He popped off an email to his ex-colleague, the head of consumer products, who checked up and found that, yes, embarrassingly 3M had got the spelling wrong themselves.