SteamyTea

Measured after how long after turn off? At that temperature, I still don't need to heat the house. Usually start heating when the daily means is 9°C or less. 23°C IAT is a bit higher than my mean temperature, but not by much. Are you going to try DWH at different times if the day to see if there is any difference?

Right, the important times are October, November, December, January, February and March, with the really problematic months being December and January. So October you will get a mean generation, the kWh (not Kwh), of 191 kWh, November 126 kWh, December (the worst month) 85 kWh, January 98 kWh, February 162 kWh and finally March 274 kWh. Starting with heating hot water, it takes 4.2 kJ (kilojoules) or 0.00117 kWh, to heat 1 litre of water by 1 K (kelvin, which uses the capital K). One kelvin (uses lowercase first letter when used in science, except at the start of a sentence) is, in this case, the same as 1 °C. So in October, you have enough energy from the PV, on average, to heat up 4310 litres of water from 12 °C to 50 °C, which is 139 litres a day. Quite a useful amount. November would be 95 litres/day, December 62 litres/day (not much), January 71 litres/day, February 131 litres/day and March 199/day litres. Now I have no idea how much hot water you use, you will have to work this out (a measuring jug, thermometer and a stop watch). This does assume that all your PV production goes solely to heating hot water. In reality, with a diverter, you may only get 2/3rd diverted (depends what else is going on in the house at the time). If you diverted to a heat pump, when it is running, you may, with careful timing i.e. run it from 10 AM to 2 PM utilise half your production, but you will get about 3 times that electrical energy converted to thermal energy. So October you will get 208 litres/day, November 142 litres/day, December 93 litres/day, January 107 litres/day, February 196 litres/day and March 299 litres/day. Now as you will be importing energy at the day rate from your supplier, you may find that during these months there is not much difference in running costs, but from about mid March to Mid October, you will be saving, but you will have to have bought a heat pump and possibly a domestic hot water cylinder depending on what you have installed already. Now let us consider battery storage. There are energy losses during the charge/discharge cycle. These vary depending on the rate of charging and the amount of charge that is already in the battery. The fuller they are, the harder it is to charge them the final bit. 10% losses would be a reasonable starting point. So rather than look at what can be done heating water, we will look at how much PV energy can be stored and extracted per day. October 5.5 kWh/day, November 3.8 kWh/day, December 2.5 kWh/day, January 2.8 kWh/day, February 5.2 kWh/day and March 8 kWh/day. Now it should be possible to store most of your PV production into the batteries with some clever diversion, though it may be more sensible to work on 80% utilisation. So October 4.4 kWh/day, November 3 kWh/day, December 2 kWh/day, January 2.3 kWh/day, February 4.2 kWh/day and March 6.4 kWh/day. If we convert that to amounts of hot water. October 100 litres/day, November 68 litres/day, December 45 litres/day, January 51 litres/day, February 94 litres/day and March 144 litres/day. So less energy is directly put into the hot water than heating directly from the PV. Any shortfalls will need to be made up by imported energy at whatever rate you pay. But remember that if you fully charge your batteries during a cheap period, there may not be any spare capacity to store excess PV generation. You may find that doing some simple and cheap improvements to the fabric of your house will give a better saving overall. There are also behavioural changes that can make a huge difference (why half the time my house uses no energy at all). The biggest change you could probably make is to change your car, and use it less. In the last decade I have gone from a car that does 53 MPG to one that does 65 MPG on average. That is a 22% reduction, considering I drive 35k miles a year, that is 1050 kWh/year. With my house using about 3,000 kWh/year (down from 11,000 kWh/year when I moved in) I am now hard pushed to make any great savings without spending a fair bit of cash.

Get yourself on a laptop or desktop and try this link. Mobile phones are useless on their site. https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/ You should get a screen like this. Zoom in on the map and put a click/pin where you live, choose any of the solar radiation databases, they are all similar (at this stage). Change any angles if you need to, as well as the size of the system. Then click on Visualise Results. While this seems like a simple solution, the devil is in the detail. When your system cannot supply enough energy, you may be drawing from the grid at a much higher financial rate. Also these Time of Use tariffs are, generally, being trialled by suppliers, and may be withdrawn, which makes medium term decisions hard. Our electrical energy market is basically in turmoil and different political parties are using it to attract voters. So be wary.

Styrene Butadiene Rubber, which is SBR has quite a high melting point, so should be able to handle 100°C for quite a long times. If it is mixed in with a render, then thermal creep should not be a problem, if as a coating, then it may soften and move. Why has it been suggested that SBR is added, it is usually as a waterproofing agent. Always best to avoid combustion inside a building, so anyway you can ditch the burner.

What sort of heater is it? It is nearly always worth fitting PV as the energy is useful and easy to shift about.

Going to take a guess it is around 3 kWp capacity. Go to PVGIS here and see what sort of output you can expect. You should get something similar to this. As for best usage, that is probably best to divert excess to a heat pump and store some as hot water. That would probably cost about the same as some batteries. It all really depends on how and where you use your energy most, DHW, Space Heating, General Usage i.e. cooking, clothes washing, lighting, entertainment systems.

I am responsible for the waste at work. When I am not there, they soon slip back into old habits. As an example, we have 3 recycling bins, but our contact is only for 2 to be emptied. So I locked the lid, and put it well out the way, hidden behind 4 other bins. The dopey pillocks unburied it, forced the lid open and dumped a load of cans in it. The other two recycling bins, which were easier to get to, were both about half full. (expletive deleted)ing morons making hard work for themselves.

About 300kg. The size we want will be about 700kg.

We cast a bit of concrete couple of days ago. This is just a test piece. Do these bull floats get a really good finish on the surface?

So where has this 30 fold increase in price come from? Was it some recent legislation?

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” So get a woman to have a word with them.

It is, get your favourite friend to do it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20251008-truth-terminal-the-ai-bot-that-became-a-real-life-millionaire

Buy a 3D printer and make one. Oh, hang on. Would have made an interesting feature if it had been glazed over, may have needed some strong glazing. Walk on glazing would do it. Maybe an unwanted and unloved bit if spare.

Is brick cleaning acid now a notifiable chemical since that acid attack that blinded the local (to me) woman a few years back. I get a drain maintainer fluid, that is notifiable. So may need ID to purchase the good stuff. (Been playing with pH 13.5 alkalines today, which oddly is not notifiable)

I have varifocals and serious prisms in my glasses. When I walk down stairs I i like an old person who hangs into the banister.

https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/biofuels-globally-emit-more-co2-than-the-fossil-fuels-they-replace-study Biofuels globally emit more CO2 than the fossil fuels they replace - study October 9, 2025 Biofuel demand continues to grow worldwide despite being responsible for 16% more CO2 emissions globally than the fossil fuels they replace. Using just 3% of the same land for solar would produce the same amount of energy, new study shows 25% World's vegetable oil is burned for biofuels 3% Of the land currently used for biofuels could produce the same amount of energy with solar panels By 2030 biofuels crops will require land the size of France, which would make it the sixth largest country in terms of arable land use globally. Today, the equivalent of 100 million bottles of vegetable oil are burned in cars every day, meaning a fifth of all vegetable oil is never even used for food On average, 3,000 litres of water are needed to drive 100 km on biofuels. Just 3% of the land currently used for first-generation biofuels could produce the same amount of energy with solar panels. Global biofuels production emits 16% more CO2 than the fossil fuels it replaces, a new Cerulogy report on behalf of T&E shows. The same land could feed 1.3 billion people, while using just 3% of that land for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy. With demand set to rise by at least 40% by 2030, T&E calls for global leaders meeting in Brazil for COP30 to agree to limit the expansion of a climate solution that is doing more harm than good. Today, growing crops to be burned as fuel uses up 32 million hectares of land - roughly the size of Italy - to meet just 4% of global transport energy demand. By 2030 this is set to grow by 60% to 52 million hectares - the size of France. Biofuels are responsible globally for 16% more CO₂ emissions today than the fossil fuels they replace due to the indirect impacts of farming and deforestation. By 2030, biofuels are projected to emit 70 MtCO₂e more than the fossil fuels they replace, equivalent to the annual emissions of almost 30 million diesel cars. This is a massive waste of land, says T&E. Using just 3% of this land for solar would produce the same amount of energy. As electric vehicles are much more efficient than fossil fuel cars, that 3% of solar energy would be enough to power close to a third of the world’s current car fleet. Cian Delaney, biofuels campaigner at T&E: “Biofuels are a terrible climate solution and a staggering waste of land, food and millions in subsidies. Ensuring a sustainable balance between agriculture and nature is essential to tackling the climate crisis, and burning crops for fuel only pushes us further in the wrong direction. Using just 3% of the land we currently use for biofuels for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy. That would leave a lot more land for food and nature restoration. Governments around the world must prioritise renewables over crop biofuels. ” Despite advanced and waste biofuels being increasingly promoted as cleaner solutions, the analysis shows that 90% of global biofuel production still relies on food crops. In 2023, the biofuel industry consumed around 150 million tonnes of corn and 120 million tonnes of sugarcane and sugarbeet. In total, the equivalent of 100 million bottles of vegetable oil are burned in cars every day, meaning a fifth of all vegetable oil supply is never even used for food. The energy in all these feedstocks could meet the minimum calorific requirements of up to 1.3 billion people. T&E’s analysis shows that biofuel crops require significant amounts of freshwater. Driving a car 100 km on first generation biofuels would require on average close to 3,000 liters of water, while only twenty litres would be needed to run an electric car on solar electricity. As climate change puts increasing pressure on water supplies, this could be a disaster, warns T&E. Brazil is one of the fastest growing biofuels producers and is catching up with the US - the world’s biggest biofuels producer. The country recently decided to suspend its soy moratorium, which protects deforestation in the Amazon from soy cultivation. Canada and India are also among those set to massively increase their production. T&E’s analysis is based on existing government policies and strategies, however, demand for biofuels could also see a massive spike for use in shipping and aviation as part of their efforts to find alternatives to fossil fuels. lueSky “Brazil’s decision to lift its soy moratorium looks increasingly concerning in light of this biofuels expansion. As host of this year’s COP, we can expect Brazil to push for more renewable fuels, but biofuels should not be part of the discussion. Otherwise we risk doing more harm than good,” concluded Cian Delaney. T&E calls on governments to better safeguard against biofuels that contribute to land clearance and deforestation when making climate policies. Public funds should prioritise smart electrification, efficiency and truly sustainable alternatives, not false solutions, says the group.

We have all missed a trick here. Should have suggested that a normal glass cutter would have done it. Was the company called Poster's Glazing, based in Bristol, by chance.

Will that be one of the wars against AI.

My mother, who is 96, will agree with you there.

In the olden days of hotmail, I was trying to register my name, had no luck (very common name). I tried combinations, including middle name and so forth. Was taking a breather and was looking at my mug of tea, with steam coming off it. So for a laugh I tried steamytea@hotmail.com. It registered, and as they say, the rest is history (except the hotmail address as that seemed to die a few years back).

Not really. There is a story attached to my name.

Is it a Halloween video nasty. Shall look later.

Replied to your other post. What is the question.

I have probably made more steamrooms than anyone else in the UK. What is the question.

I must finish my floor, only started 18 years ago. Not the ones you have buried for me.