Leaderboard

The manifolds are metal and virtually everything is Speedfit. It's a bit cramped but I've managed to squeeze everything in. We don't like the look of copper pipes so we've only used them for the D1 and D2 pipes. It'll all be hidden away in a cupboard eventually.

Agreed, which was why I was happy to take it for free from my parents in law when they got rid of it less than a year after moving into their new-build (they removed it to make room for a cupboard beside the fridge). Free is the best mark-up!

Nick, You could look at doing a version of what I did with our electrician, but with the client doing the heavy stuff and you imparting your knowledge. I'm pretty sure that one of the biggest problems many self-builders have when it comes to doing work themselves is a lack of confidence, as they are tackling something unknown. Just having someone around who has masses of knowledge and experience and who can help them tackle work they otherwise might not feel able to may well be something a fair few would appreciate, and pay for. In your case you may not have a properly working left arm for a while, but the rest of you still works OK, and the most important stuff is in your head, anyway. There has to be a way of using that to tide you over while your arm gets sorted out.

It should be set to G83, but TBH, it probably doesn't make a jot of difference with a 16 panel system, as I doubt the peak output exceeds the 16 A per phase limit of G83 anyway, even with the inverter set to G59. There's no practical difference between G83 and G59 in terms of how the inverter operates, or the safety provisions, and the chances are that the inverter may well be limiting the output to less than 16 A anyway, based on its rating. I'd not worry about it, if it were me.

The blue, red and hard to see white collars are the horseshoe shaped circlips that keep the JG stuff from undoing themselves. Nice touch having them all colour coded for hot cold and softened etc. ?

That is truly a thing of beauty. Puts me in mind of those amazing structured cable installations you sometimes see:

I have never had any such probs with compression fittings for normal house plumbing. The pastes work well, but I have found that they tend to set hard, so can be problematic if you every need to break the joint. And Peter, your installation counts as a piece of artwork!

Steer clear of the Beko's, White Knights, Hotpoints etc. Fire risk comes free with these products but the price to pay may be too high.

This is the stuff I have: https://www.plumbcenter.co.uk/product/center-center-jet-blue-plus-500-g/

Yep, well done Onwards and beyond...

I have just finished my pipework and gone hep, no joints except manifolds and end fittings so no potential to leak in hidden spaces or restricted flow round tight 90’ bends. ( yes there are a few non hep,s but these are going to be replaced as soon as I get replacements).

Result! Common sense for the win!

Well done chap. ?

Congratulations ..!! Really good news ..! Now the real hard work starts ...!

I bought 3 convector heaters from CPC for not a lot http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel00022/convector-heater/dp/HG0091607?ost=hg0091607&iscrfnonsku=false&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch I don't like fan heaters for unattended use. It's not pretty if the fan fails.

It's not how much you earn, it's what you want ( or don't want ) to spend it on.

I think what we need to do is de-mystify the whole low energy house building thing. I'm guilty of using science and technology here that helps some, but probably confuses and puts off others, and I'm not the only one. We've had step changes in house building many times over the centuries, from wood and mud huts, to stone houses, then, more recently the introduction of cavity walls and damp proof courses, and more recently still the incorporation of insulation in houses from new (our old house that was built in the late 70's early 80's had no insulation at all, for example). There's nothing magical about making a more energy efficient house, it's just that solving one problem tends to create a need to solve other problems that arise. This is no different to things like the introduction of cavity walls, they solved the problem of water penetration but created another problem - much higher heat loss than some thick solid walled houses. Our first cavity wall house was icy when compared to the several hundred year old stone cottages we'd lived in before, for example. We're still working through the solutions to the problems created by reducing heat loss, like needing to provide MVHR because we've improved airtightness to reduce unwanted ventilation heat loss, or needing to fit vapour control barriers on the inside of houses because we've improved the wall and roof insulation to the point where interstitial condensation can be a risk. Gradually, all these things will just naturally migrate into normal building practice, much as the fitting of central heating to houses has. I bet there were a lot of people who felt that central heating was complicated and unnecessary addition when it first came out.