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Where on earth has that 2 years vanished? So coming up on the 2 year installation of the inverter and single module battery, and as with most things these days, the gradual improvements to firmware over time have made a huge difference. So at the last update I'd managed to get the power leakage down through an offset, and the whole system was a lot more accurate, but nonetheless still had a small amount of leakage throughout the day which was averaging around 0.5-0.6kWh, certainly not insignificant. It turns out that not long after i bought this setup, Solis released a Version 2 of the inverter, which came with an external RS485 Meter, to connect the CT clamp to, and i believe this was done to improve accuracy, gutted i missed out on it, and theres no way of adding it without swapping the inverter, so thats a definite non-starter. I got back in touch with them to see if there was anything more they could do, and it was decided that I would move away from the firmware which supported the fixed offset (A1 branch), to the generally available firmware and ended up on version 17014, which was clearly much improved as now the leakage looks like this... At the end of september I decided to move over to Octopus Flux to take advantage of the cheaper rate during the night to charge the battery up. To compare both scenarios i have taken the same December - January Period (clearly at this time of year, solar input will be minimal), last year and then this year. Neither of these include any standing charge, this is purely for energy alone. 2022 Electricity 8th Dec. 2022 - 31st Dec. 2022 - Total amount after reimbursement from goverment £44.45 Energy Used 141.3 kWh @ 48.45p/kWh £68.47 Energy Price Guarantee 141.3 kWh @ 17.00p/kWh -£24.02 2023 Electricity 8th Dec. 2023 - 31st Dec. 2023 Energy Imported 15.15p/kWh 130.2 kWh £19.731 25.26p/kWh 17.8 kWh £4.491 35.36p/kWh 3.4 kWh £1.188 Total consumption 151.3kWh @ 16.79p/kWh (Average unit rate) £25.41 So taking into account the government reimbursement from last year, the energy pricing on standard variable tariff this year is around 4p cheaper than the same period last year. I've not included the amounts for export, as they are minimal at this time of year also. Otherwise the battery has saved me almost £20 in that single month, by being able to use cheaper electricity, and in effect shift my load. Maybe another month, or thereabouts and I should be able to stop charging from the grid again until autumn, and rely wholly on the excess Solar PV to run the property. The better months of the year for Solar should be really interesting, as at the peak i'll likely be able to totally drain the battery, and still charge it up enough after peak export period to keep me til the next morning, should be able to accrue a good amount of credit from export. I shall report back in the autumn!

They have removed the rights for roof extensions, i.e. additions to the roof. They have not withdrawn the rights to add rooflights. Stage 1: Commence, complete and receive BR sign off for the new dwelling. Stage 2: Submit a LDC and/or Building Regulation application for the loft conversion. Stage 3: Commence, complete and receive BR sign off for the loft conversion. There will obviously be other stages and approvals to deal with and your agent should be advising you on that.

As others have said your builder’s QS is only interested in his employer - not you. Get your own QS to look at EVERYTHING. He will charge you a few hundred pounds for the privilege but he will fight for every penny of your money and go through the “contract” with a fine toothed comb. Your contractor will have to justify all costs to your QS and will have to produce invoices.

Remove Type 1, get Type 3 with specified with no fines and lay on a non woven geotextile base as this stops mud and fines coming up through the fabric but allows water to drain away

A QS works in the interest of who is paying them.

^ that's not the Phosphate version, you're looking for the +P...

>>> Looks like they’re gonna get away with it No, they don't have to. The OP should at least (a) send them a firm 'final demand' kind of letter with a two week window for reply, (b) then file a simple county court case. If it can be reduced to a simple 'money claim' e.g. just claim a refund - then it can all be done online in 10 minutes. I don't recall that the OP mentioned a £ figure, but I guess it is in the £5K range? That generally means no legal costs ever awarded unless someone is being a complete idiot. A lot of suppliers will fold once they figure (a) they want to use a solicitor, (b) they will have to travel to the claimant's local county court, (c) they're risking their own legal costs. Of course, the direct cost of discarding a panel is only a fraction (30%?) of the customer invoice amount, so it's not such a big deal to write it off.

Maybe didn't explain myself well. When it's cold, the return temp is lower because more heat is dumped into the house. At least that's what I've found with an IR thermometer on the return pipe. So when it's milder, I find I need to turn down the boiler temp if I want the return temp low enough. Ie, manual weather comp. Not overly practical of course

Lots of opinions of them in this very recent thread. It depends on the heat loss profile of the house in question but tldr unless there's a very specific problem you're trying to solve that it's suited for, you're almost certainly going to save on both capital and running costs by using the ASHP manufacturer's proprietary controls on their own, per @JohnMo comment

Yeah, ain't no way you have made that roof light space bigger / smaller for shits and giggles from this point onwards, those doubled up joists ain't easy to mess with! The surveyor / supplier has got some explaining to do. On my project i have measured and ordered made to measure a large number of expensive things (insulated garage door, 4 flights of oak stairs, glass balustrades, external steel stairs), every time its very worrying until it actually arrives on site and fits (ish). I check, re check, have someone else check as i know people especially me make mistakes, and i made a fairly costly one early doors (two large lintels) which burnt me. However its me doing the measurements and its my fault if its wrong, to pay someone else to do the measurements (surveyor) its on them as you are paying extra to do the job and to take that risk away. I would still look at the wording of thing you signed to make sure that you don't have any liability there, but why would you want to double check or question a surveyor that is their job and has 30 years experience to your own?

Got it now, cheers.

You mentioned previously that your main priority is ROI so you need to work your own figures and do a load of research. Plenty of discussion on battery ROI and to me at least its not clear cut that batteries make financial sense. If you go down the battery route and are constrained now, then design your system for how you'd like it to be and ensure your design allows for expansion when funds allow. Have a look at Enphase for micro inverters and Tigo/SolarEdge for optimisers as they all explain the advantages over conventional string setups. Disadvantages are additional cost and access for replacement if they fail but that's only applicable to roof mounted systems and likely won't apply to your ground mounted system. You can avoid some of the extra cost by buying surplus kit online- Solaredge optimisers can be had for £20 new rather the usual £50-70 but don't rush into buying until you understand what you are buying.

Yep that makes sense, the controller just isn't set up for 2 zones, you could just put both sets of wires in IN1 if they can fit. Your very welcome

the +P version of the Solido Smart that we installed is a single tank solution with a built-in dosing system for Polyaluminium chloride https://www.premiertechaqua.com/en-gb/wastewater-treatment/solido-smart-p-phosphorus-removal#product-description

The joists are stabilising the wall that holds up the roof. Not high science, just the way traditional buildings work. I wouldn't dream of removing them.

That’s normal. All my M jaws press like that in my afp101

For posterity, please let us know how it is to fit and how well it solves the problem.

Be aware that many LA's and Approved Inspectors will require such a divergence from the Approved Document to be designed and argued for by a qualified Fire Engineer.

Got the blue key. £5 .

I was deliberately hiding the band somewhat so noone beat me to it selling DIY versions on ebay 😉 Nah. I read it as yellow-black-red-brown-brown. i.e. 4.02kΩ ±1%.

Jeremy who ?

We have discovered the work is of a very low quality (two builders came up to me on my last site visit to tell me this unprompted). Looking at £60,000 more in costs with them. We have agreed to take over the painting and decorating phase. They did have a QS and a PM.

A matter for another day perhaps. Industry contracts, esp JCT, are designed to be fair and equitable. From the quote above it looks as if the builder did not have authority for all of this, so isn't due all the money. You have a contract, so Lawyers can work with that.

Be thankful you got the right letters and in the correct order. It was the thought of another bollocking that reminded me to add the "h" but doing 1 fingered caps on a tablet is a few keystrokes too much