SteamyTea

Follow the money, that is the usual way.

There must be a project manager. Back in the 1980s I knew someone that was the site secretary when they refurbished The Octagon in High Wycombe. Her job was basically to collate all the paperwork and get it sent to Head Office. I think it was Laing Construction that managed the project and she had a single point of contact there who signed for everything. If he was not available, she had to hang onto the paperwork until he was about. Be different now as it can all be emailed, but the trail is there.

It is kWh (energy), not kW (power). The first is how full the shed of coal is, the second is how quickly you empty it with the shovel.

Are you trying to mitre cut? I would make a jig up. But then I like to use a jig if I am drilling more than I hole.

When they 'buy in', there is a hole left to be filled. It Is better to just use the industry averages for energy intensity. Or work out the marginal difference when excess generation is brought on line i.e not enough RE, fire up another gas plant, even if it is only supplying 20% of its capacity.

Anthracite is between 26 and 33 MJ/kg. So around 7.2 to 9.2 kWh/kg. So you use about 25 MWh/year. A fair slice of that will be lost to inefficiencies 'up the chimney'. But say you get 18 MWh/year, with 60% of that used in the 4 or 5 winter months. That is not an excessive amount of energy.

The EPC is a very basic survey. What was the other report, a full SAP?

You can get a solar film retrofitted if there is a problem.

Welcome. As Gus says, do a basic heat loss analysis, and if you know how much coal you have been using, and when, the amount of energy that supplies can be estimated. I would be very surprised if Octopus actually supply 100% renewable energy, I don't think they have the generation capacity, more a case of trading with REGOs and double counting their generation capacity. They have a habit of buying existing generation capacity or partnering with other companies (Tesla being one of them, which boosted their share value). I am starting to think they are not very moral.

Have you read the work of John Richard Gott III. He claims to know when things will end. Gotts_Doomsday_Argument.pdf

Now I am home can show you mine. Going into bedroom now as been away 10 days. House is at 16⁰C, so not too cold.

That is my whole point, it is not the materials, per sec, it is the techniques that out them all together. Within 2 miles of home, need milk.

This 'letting buildings breath', where is the moisture coming from? A brick, or block, or even a bit of stone laid in the same fashion as sometime in the past, will have the same problems. As far as I can see, it don't matter what sort of concrete, render or mortar us used, if the damp us getting into the structure, stop the damp. Usually good, controlled, ventilation is all that is needed. Re the windows. My windows are old (34 years), I just changed the glass to ones that had 16mm gap instead of 4mm gaps. Just about to drive 300 miles home, so shall ponder more on the way.

Welcome. Your current DHW setup, and lifestyle are similar to mine. I have an E7, 200lt cylinder, but most of the time I could get away with 100lt. Now I very really need to top up my cylinder because it runs out of hot water. And I only heat mine to around 45⁰C. If I do top up, because I have friends staying, I just turn the top element on. 30 minutes and the job is done. So I would wire the PV diverter into the bottom element, and out the top element on the E7, but with a secondary timer set for the last hour I.e. 6AM to 7AM. I use a pumped shower, it works well. Cost 100 quid for the pump, and not much for the tap with a shower takeoff. With the RCD and pipe and stuff, less that 200 quid. That was 15 years ago. Spend all your money on insulation and airtightness improvements. The only bit of hi tech you need is an energy monitor and logger.

Was more a general comment for all jobs. Molegrips as well.

I think the idea is that they are under the scrutiny of the correct organisations. One of the problems is that the product may then be used incorrectly. What we don't want is a system that take decades to develope and approve all new products. Medical licencing is like that. But it is all irrelevant as we will be lowering most standards now that we are not shackled by the EU.

Angle grinder and a cutting disk. The only other tools you need are a hammer and a screwdriver.

@Iceverge I have to agree with you in this. What I did and in my second year halved my energy bills. Starts to get harder after that, but down to about a third of what I used to use. But. If changing a DHW system anyway, worth looking at something like an Ecocent, especially if it can be fitted in, in part, with the MVHR i.e. take some if the exhaust air and pull the energy our of it (why don't we already have MVHR systems that do this, we have them with cooling HPs in them). There does come a point where energy scavenging just becomes that, scavenging. A Cornishman is just like a Yorkshireman, but with all the generosity squeezed out.

Short of hydrogen replacing all mains gas, and that would cost about twice the electrical price per kWh, we are phasing out gas. Just design your house to use an ASHP from the start. If your architect and builder disagree, asked them to do some long term projections on energy and technology prices, or tell them to stick to drawing and placing bricks in place.

How easy is it it to make an isolator that will stop power going back up the line? In small circuits Zennor Diodes are used, is there a larger scale equivalent? The trick is to still allow incoming at the same time as discharging the home grown.

I can ponder for decades.

Can't you plumb something into the CH circuit. A store and a plate heat exchanger.

Why not fit one. Probably a lot easier to fit, and cheaper, than batteries.

Yes, and if it starts discharging though the export side of the meter, you would probably be breaking the terms of your FiTs. The Spanish had a habit of running diesel generators though the export meter at night to claim extra cash. It does all depend on the set up though. But if you are already exporting 75%, get some diverters.