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This guy is a legend! Designs them and gives it away for free. Currently printing this ... SWMBO WILL HATE IT! 🤣 https://www.instructables.com/Time-Slider/

I reckon the pot hole repairs round here last longer than the LED stuff (all makes) I've fitted. Green washing the lot of it.

I wish someone had told my electrician this! He fitted Saxby downlights. £10-12 each and they haven't lasted 18 months. I will systematically change them over time

At least you had the sense to fit light fittings where you can change the bulb. There is a growing trend for downlighters to have non replaceable bulbs. If anyone asks me to fit some (I would not buy them) I advise them to go and buy a box of spares, on the basis when one fails in a few years time, you probably won't be able to buy identical replacements.

Attached is the table of max outputs as a function of FT and OAT. If you felt like being adventurous you might just get away with the 5kW model which is actually just over 6kW at your design parameters. Unfortunately I don't have min outputs to hand (perhaps @sharpener (or someone else) does. Postscript, I found the detailed specs on another forum here https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/vaillant-arotherm-owners-thread/21891. They are in Czech, but the graphs are easy to read. arotherm-plus-spec-DB outside.pdf

I recall another reasonable quotation I had from kingdomecology.com - I would have gone with them had I not previously used WKS for my project. I think they operate in NW England.

We have one of these on our newly fitted T&T internorm windows - specified when bought. We had to fit it for Building Regs - needed it opened fully for Part O but not opening for Part K.

This company was recommended by my planning consultant, as he had had good experience with them - Rachel Hacking.

Put all my details into the spreadsheet for my gas boiler (last year's data) and the ASHP size comes out a little too small. To get that I had to put the actual lowest temperature we got , which was -7. I know the normal degree days don't work very well once well insulated, as I don't need to heat when average temp goes above 10 deg, not the normal 15 degs. Messing about with the degree days I altered the degree days location to Heathrow instead of Aberdeen (800 degree days less), I get about the right size Heat Pump output. Spreadsheet is ok for the more average house. A good enough ball park for a sense check.

I always like it when my Grandmother said "5 and twenty past" or "Five and 20 to".

There are some fantastic 3D printed clocks..

plumber coming Monday. I will report back. meanwhile if only we had an open fire. Ahhh we do, but I cleaned it out for end of season. It is all good reclaimed stuff. Mahogany from a demo, Garden cuttings. all very well seasoned.

Love it!

Heatpunk gives 7763W as the output at 53C flow and -2.3 OAT. So by choosing 53 not 45 as the flow temp it would still more than match the heat loss, and you might well need fewer radiator upgrades and maybe saving more in capital than you would lose in running costs. You will probably not find an MCS installer willing to do this though. When I lived in Hitchin there was snow on the ground for some weeks in I think the winter of 1968 - 69, but it was most unusual, I don't suppose you will see -2.3 very often nowadays.

Could be the pump on the way out, or a pipe which has become blocked over time.

The extra loft insulation is going to be worth 1kW or possibly more (somewhere you should be able to change the assumption about loft insulation!), which reduces your spreadsheet calculation to perhaps 6.6kW. Its about a 3.5C drop from 20.5 to 17. The average house temp in winter is thus very roughly 9*20.5 +15*(20.5-1.75) = 19.4C. The correction factor is therefore 20.5--2.3)(19.4--2.3), about 5% suggesting your design temperature load is about 5.8kW. You will need bigger than this if you plan to heat part time when its at its coldest. 5.8kW and 6.5kW are not that far apart! Based on this my guess, and it is only an (educated) guess, is that you would get away with a 6kW unit or an 8kW unit. The latter, unless it has a particularly good modulation depth, will likely cycle a bit at mild temperatures (when you are likely to be running at 2.5kW or thereabouts), but you are probably in practice going to continue turning it off at night anyway just for comfort, which will tend to counter that because you need to deliver more heat during the day to compensate for the energy lost from the fabric at night. I would be very wary of any suggestion from an installer that you need bigger than 8kW, and if you went for 6kW then you may need a bit of supplementary heating in an extended very cold spell, which happens rarely in Hertfordshire. Note sticker capacity and actual capacity at design conditions may differ, either way! Quite a few people argue, contrary to the practice of most installers, that mild undersizing is better than oversizing. From an efficiency perspective this is true and, if you are prepared to put up with occasionally needing a bit of supplementary heating it is likely a good way to go. Others will argue that you should always oversize if in doubt. Its a trade off of efficiency vs the inconvenience of occasionally needing supplementary heating. Note that some heat pumps have poor modulation capability (ration of max to min output). This includes some 'big names'. Some manufacturers produce fewer distinct hardware variants than the number of different models they advertise, basically 'range rating' them by clamping the max output in the firmware. The downside of this is that, in a 'clamped' variant, the min output is still the same as it was when the same hardware was not 'clamped', so the modulation ratio is degraded. The more transparent manufacturers don't do this and are more 'honest' about the number of distinct hardware variants they actually produce. Hope that helps.

The expensive ones are no better than the good quality ‘cheaper’ ones. No need to spend more than £2-3

If it is in a grass verge and there is no tarmac pavement involved I would have no hesitation digging it up to have a look. Just have some kind of barrier ready to place around the hole if it is going to be left open.

What boiler? assume gas or oil. You need to measure the flow temperature coming out of the boiler, it sounds like the boiler thermostat has failed and the burner is running continuously and overheating the water. Turn the boiler on and watch while measuring the flow temp, does the burner shut off after a while of just keep on going and going?

That's one of those "because I can" projects. We all know it would be a whole lot easier to drive four 7 segment LED displays from the Arduino........

A few questions is the house warm enough? Whats your heating pattern? is it a gas boiler, how old What does your EPC say your consumption is In the spreadsheet calculation, what are the assumptions about the fabric that you cant verify, particularly air changes per hour? Where in the country are you/whats the local design temperature Here are some facts about my house for you to compare. I use 18-20MWh/year and have monitored my smart meter readings for 2 years. I have a gas boiler which does space heating and DHW, and a gas hob. Never does the gas consumption go above 8.5kW (and this only happens for a couple of hours if I have turned the heating off at night, or if Im using all the gas rings) and most of the time its around 4kW. The house is warm and heated 24x7 in the very cold season, about 6am-11pm in the shoulder season. In the cold patch in late 2022, when it was -2 day and night for about 5 days, the consumption (I was watching it) was 7.5kW. Most of the time the smart meter reads 4kW. Its clear therefore that the actual demand at the design temp of -2 is about 7.5kW-8kW and I need a heat pump which does this but will modulate comfortably down to 4kW or preferably a bit less (unlike my hopelessly oversized (28kW) gas boiler which cycles a lot). To prove this to myself, this year I turned the gas boiler down to as low as it will go, 8.5kW, and it was never cold. Granted it was a fairly mild year, but note the measurements the previous year. The MCS spreadsheet gets to 10.5kW. Thats with default air change values and my best estimates of the construction (its a 1930s house with various fabric upgrades and some extension, so a very mixed fabric). However I can get it to 7.5kW if I assume 0.5 air changes per hour as opposed to the default of about 2.5. Two MCS surveyors, each after a 3 hr survey, have told me I need 16kW, which is obvious nonsense. They ignored the fabric upgrades that I made a special point of telling them about, double counted room to room losses and of course assumed ACH=2.5 per hour. Assuming a) I can get planning consent (don't ask) and b) I can persuade an MCS installer to cooperate I will be installing an 8kW ASHP, most likely the Vaillant badged as 7kW but actually good for over 8kW at 45C flow temp. Scaling my measurements to your 12MWh suggests you do indeed need about 5.5kW. You also need a heat pump that will comfortably modulate down to 3kW at say 10C OAT, preferably 2.5kW. Obviously this is subject to there not being surprises in the answers to the question above, and is not a recommendation just an observation. I wont be surprised if MCS installers recommend 10kW, which will most likely perform badly as it will probably be oversized.

No, it is in a down lighter, but the down lighter is surface mounted. There doesn’t seem to be any ventilation to the base of the down lighter. It’s basically this: https://www.commerciallightingbyrightlights.co.uk/one-light-12105mbbs-brushed-brass-gu10-10w-dark-light.html?utm_term=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT75xTxg5FDhWUFUgLOexHikOUfwUMHcnyLNH1MxIbpJOgs0kCf-4B-xoCMl0QAvD_BwE as you can see, that is designed for up to 10w GU10 bulb, and I was only using 6w. The replacement I fitted is only 4.3w, so let’s see if that lasts any longer. Just a bit pissed of because the original light bulb was quite expensive, £10 or so. Not all of the ones I’ve fitted are that expensive, but for some fittings we used what we thought were high end bulbs with high CRi index and particular beam angles (I a this one was 25 degrees, which is what bumped up the price).

Then they need to supply parts at a reasonable price. There are 2 headlights in a car (sometimes more) I simply do not believe at manufacture time they cost £1600 which would have been more than 5% of the cost of the car (possibly a lot more)

They have been saying that for years, and still we wait. Efficiency just means less surface area for a given kW output. New tech comes at a high price also. G98 requirements will change though. So same kW rating just a fraction smaller panels. Why wait?

Yes they can be retrofitted, you’ll lose the key. The fixing point is using the screw that holds the mechanism to the sash, you have a couple but generally only one supplies to space for it to work due to mushroom pin/keep locations. You can only use one screw (see above pic). I tend to cut the head of a screw put it in the other screw hole and fix with gorilla glue. The actual restrictor will fix into place easy enough. This option would be the easier and most cost effective option, as you can this yourself. A couple of quid per restrictor, then your time. Check warranty scenario though. We wouldn’t have any issue with you doing this but others might.

Ask your structural engineer, he would have to approve it anyway. Cost really changes hugely depending on who does the work and what finish you need to achieve and wind loading. And how you purchase materials. Same decking boards can be 3x the price from a local building merchant compared to online. Mine sits on a concrete block ledge which is part of the foundation and 225mm x 45 wooden structure anchored to the ledge. Outboard of that is a series of concrete pads with steel upstands to which the wooden framework is attached. Some photos, you would need to project upwards also.

Under the insulation is fine. It's when it is buried within the insulation you need to worry about derating cables.

No, 2.5mm And for the period it was an incomplete ring, the two ends were each fed from their own 16A MCB which was changed to a single 32A MCB when the ring was completed.

Yep. I disregarded all the built in bulb types and any downlights that are plastered in as nice as they are.

I would recommend doing it yourself. Very low risk, I did a section of cement board in my house, totalled 22kg and the local authority attached for Biffa to pick it up for £90 so long as it was credible and double wrapped in thick plastic bags.

I’ll probably do the same. I’ll fill it first and see how that works.

Thinking about it some more and looking at some you tube videos cellulose is a different beast. It comes in fairly compacted bags and needs the agitation of the blower to fluff it up properly unlike EPS beads. I think the blower hire would be better for this .

Well the old Tungsten bulbs were rated at a nominal 1,000 hours or about a year at 4 hrs / day. How many bulbs have you got? The weakness with these is that the cheap capacitors(s) in the voltage drop-down circuit can blow. Big Clive on Youtube did a teardown explaining the failure mode.

As above. It is cement base boards which is chrysotile/cement mixed which comes under non licensed works provided you wear the correct PPE etc. Spray the board around the bolts holes when removing with 50/50 mix of pva to minimise any fibre release and binds all the dust together when the pva is dry, try to remove them as a full board without breaking them. Double wrap and pay to be taken away , or pay between 700-1200 for a company to do it for you . Just bare in mind if you remove them yourself they are pretty heavy as a full board to take to the local household tip. You can buy a test kit and send a sample In to be analysed but the likely hood of it not containing a small amount of asbestos is very slim looking at the age of it .

I paid about £700 3 years ago for a roof a little larger than that. As @markc mentioned, you can do it yourself, but read up how to do it safely and how to dispose of the sheets. Especially take care not to break the sheets or cause any dust to be released. According to the HSE, over 5000 people die every year in the UK from asbestos related diseases.

Looks like asbestos cement so fairly low risk. Only needs taking off and wrapping in polythene or large bags (double wrapped) and taken to local waste site or into a covered skip - your local skip provider should be able to deal with it.

Yes Standard restrictors work but I can’t guarantee that the supplier will know how to fix them. They may say they don’t work but they do, they just need to understand what screw to remove on the mechanism and location. Which determines the finger restrictor position. I prefer side fixing but they can be fixed on the bottom.

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask

And this is why all old pubs mysteriously burn down.

Remember to position the steels in the room on the floor before you put the acros and needles in, once you have it all propped you sometimes cannot get the steels in. I have seen this a few times. if the celcons are not strong enough you might need to chop them back and build up in 7n lightweight concrete blocks. you can also change the cavity into one solid pier.

Hiya. I'm Scottish base and have family that live on one of the inner Hebrides and have lot's of experience dealing with BC on the Islands. Also I deal with Scottish Building Standards on a regular basis and have done so for the last 40 years. Some of the BC officers I know quite well, we have a chat on the phone about our careers and reminisce on how good the old times were. In other words they are folk just like us.. there is the odd exeption but that is life. In the round though BC officers actually do have your best interests at heart. It would be great to have a BC officer or two join BH! On the Islands there is a lot of politics. Some Island builders are really shite, cut corners in a big way, some are better / good. BC know who they are so maybe you are getting a heads up and not just seeing the wood for the trees about the work that has been done by others. Now you are doing a bit of work yourselves.. well how much and when did you start doing a lot yourselves? It is in your own interests to build your house right? There is always friction on the Islands... BC know this but are not corrupt at this level. There are loads of other Islanders and folk moving there that do DIY projects so you are not the first and last. @JWHIT "surely this is trespass" My advice.. get this right out your head now. If the BC officer can access your site then you have a Health and Safety issue and they can hammer you on that. The HSE law is quite clear on this all over the UK, if your site is accessible then you are on a hiding to nothing. Have a looked at your site security? Don't pursue this route as you will likely regret it. Too late for that, BC can hammer you much earlier. There is no argument in law for shoddy HSE by saying.. hey I'm insured. Insurance is for when you have tried to do your best and things still go wrong. If they can see bad things from outside the site boundary then surely.. you may be making a cock up? If you try and play hard ball with them then they will pull your trousers down and you won't get to pull them back up until they have run you ragged. Now you may feel that the BC officer has turned up with no appointment.. but they are allowed to do this under UK HSE law (not just Scottish law) .. part of their remit is pubic safety.. they can hammer you on this too! To lay it on a bit thicker they may start to ask if your project should fall under CDM regulations., just to give you the run around. In summary: 1/ Yes there is Island politics, don't worry too much about the main Island Contractor not getting the job. 2/ Phone the officer up and ask when they are next on the island and arrange to meet them in person. This is so imprortant. You are on an Island.. you must get to know folk.. the emails you get from BC only show a snap shot.. sometimes they write stuff that seems really daft / aggressive.. but they are pushed for time and under funded. Cut them some slack and cut yourself some slack too. Keep an open mind as while you see this as a personal opinion then they may be able to give you good advice? Also if you hit it off with them then later on when you apply for a completion certificate you'll probably find that part of the process much easier and not get hit with a load of things that don't conform. 3/ Build a rapport with the officer.. recognise that they may be trying to help you rather than hinder. You may have a young and inexperienced BC officer. Be very careful here not to bully as their boss will then give you the big stick! Listen to what they are saying.. put forward your ideas and have a bit of fun.. seriously they are just folk. To finish @Kelvin may be able to give you some advice about how you deal with BC when relocating to the north of the UK ( Scotland) 4/ Some of my family live on Tiree. Clocked this at the end! Well it does.. Some of the building regs are open to opinion / discussion / detailed design. BC officers often hold professional qualifications / have great experience. They are entitled to question. As before one big stick they do hold is the public safety issue (I do it too as an SE) . Lot's of folk on BH think that this is their house and they can do what they want. BC say and I.. that house has to last for 50 years at least and you may sell it to a family in a couple of years time. Our duty is not just to you but all the folk that come after. Just copied this right at the end. The above is misleading as if it is deemed to be a risk to public saftey then the LA can effect immediate access as what they do will call on the Fire service, the Police , gas board and me as an SE. You see.. who knows what building regs have been compromised? Is it just an extractor fan of a serious structural defect that could cause a gas leak? If push comes to shove and I'm acting for the local authority.. I'll find a legal way of getting into your property if I feel there is a safety issue. You are pissing in the the wind! If you have nothing to hide then you should be relaxed about all of this.

Romeo Done! IMG_2479 (online-video-cutter.com).mp4 IMG_2487 (online-video-cutter.com).mp4 IMG_2480 (online-video-cutter.com).mp4

can't you just use normal block and beam and put loads of insulation on top? 🤷‍♂️

If you have treated mains water into an unvented tank. there should be no bacteria in the incoming water and no way for any to get in, so several people have concluded it is pointless to heat it hotter once a week. Private water or vented cylinder, yes you do need to do it.

I have one in my boat as well, they work well for a small space but as above make sure they are installed properly.

If you use a 50 mil metal stud You will be about £18 m2 all in Upto a height of 2.4 for freestanding add 20% for any higher up-to 3000 freestanding

A stud wall will be less expensive. But lots of things to consider. Speed , availability of trade to build it, finish of wall, services on the wall , acoustic performance, is it load bearing etc

Are you talking about a vehicle heater? I've installed a couple of them in boats, they're good and powerful, for occasional use it might be a good idea. Main thing to watch out for is the exhaust which gets seriously hot and needs to be fed out of the building without touching anything flammable.

Old house sink on the island. New house, sink on the wall and hob on the island. Far better for many reasons. Less mess, more sociable when cooking, looks neater etc.

It did turn into a DIY demolition, as much by accident as design... We removed the roof tiles and slid them down scaffold planks that were laid on ladders, it worked very well, and they remain stored on site because we couldn't give them away. I"m sure we'll be able to use them to make some paths through the mud that is now EVERYWHERE on the site. The roof timbers were removed and are stored on site. I'll use them for various things, such as a frame for a shed etc. Then I started getting overtaken by events... A friend of mine owns a skip firm and, despite my protestations to the contrary, he was convinced that he would be able to get a 20 yard ro-ro skip up the VERY narrow lane to the site. He gave me a call a few weeks ago and told me one of his drivers would be round in a few minutes to have a look. Well, "have a look" actually meant squeezing his lorry up the lane, I had to climb up the back of the cab to lift a telegraph pole stay over the top of the ro-ro mechanism. He had inches to spare on each side but somehow he got to the end of the plot and completed a 98 point turn so he could drop the skip, the problem was that we had nowhere prepared for the skip to go so it just went straight on to the grass and after another 98 point turn he headed back out of the lane (with me lifting the telegraph pole stay again) so, after him "having a look" I had a chuffing great skip in my garden - I was somewhat bewildered but grateful. I then asked another friend who has a mini digger if he could come and lift some of the paths around the edge of the bungalow. He arrived and promptly started pushing the bungalow over, completely ignoring the footpaths! At this stage I realised that it was probably too late to worry too much about the Method Statement for the demolition which I still haven't submitted. We started loading the bungalow into the 20 yard skip and made a call to get the skip replaced. It was another nerve wracking creep up and down the lane for the skip lorry and, of course, since the first drop the weather had taken a turn for the worse and now there was much slipping and sliding of the lorry. The only solution I could see was to throw bits of bungalow under the skip lorry, which did the trick. We only had 20 minutes between the skip lorry departing full and returning to dump another empty skip during which time we threw loads more bungalow onto the grass to provide some hard standing for the skip and the lorry to manoeuvre. Yes, onto the grass, I should have called a halt. Stripped the top soil, then thrown the bungalow onto the garden and then got the skips back but I didn't, not until later, but by then the damage was done. Anyway the bungalow is now gone and the plot looks like Passchendaele.