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Posts
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Everything posted by SteamyTea
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Remember that when speccing an ASHP, you need to oversize them.
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No Nonsense? Pha! Suck on this......
SteamyTea replied to ToughButterCup's topic in General Construction Issues
I tend to avoid the 'sticky stuff' these days, though I am always looking at houses and wonder why composites are not used more. Seems silly to me that we can make complicated shapes that are waterproof from cheap hand laminated GRP i.e. a fishpond, but we make walls and roofs of houses from small components with joints between them. And they tend to be put together by people with hangovers and little education in material science. -
No Nonsense? Pha! Suck on this......
SteamyTea replied to ToughButterCup's topic in General Construction Issues
Dichloromethane is better for Polyurethanes, it will dissolved them when they have cured. Not flammable either. Why we used it when I was moulding PUs. -
No Nonsense? Pha! Suck on this......
SteamyTea replied to ToughButterCup's topic in General Construction Issues
If it is acetone, you have the wrong stuff. -
The Optimum domestic hot water and heating system
SteamyTea replied to Triassic's topic in Other Heating Systems
That was a design that had a cold tank above the hot cylinder, and some pipes running up the side wasn't it. My cylinder is a bog standard E7 one of 220 lt. Cold in the bottom, hot out the top, top pipe bends 90° then a T. One side goes to the FE tank in loft and other side supplies hot water. Initially I had losses similar you @JSHarris, but by lining the cupboard with 100mm celotex and lagging the pipework I now have that down to very little. Less than 0.5 kWh/day and probably less. So don't dismiss an ordinary system on a standard heat loss assumption, it can be easily overcome. -
The Optimum domestic hot water and heating system
SteamyTea replied to Triassic's topic in Other Heating Systems
As usual, when talking about heating systems, there is a lot of bollocks spoken about the details. There are two basic ways to heat DHW. Directly when needed or heated and stored until needed. Directly heated when needed requires a large boiler, the more hot water needed, the larger the boiler. Stored until needed can use a much smaller output boiler, but it needs to run for longer to recharge the DHW cylinder. All the rest, that nonsense about vented or unvented, large cylinders or thermal stores, thermostatic valves, heat exchangers etc is just the detail bollocks. Similar with space heating in a way. You can heat the air directly or heat some water, then pump it around the place to radiators A radiator is really a convection heater, but an UFH systems is really just a large radiator. The theory is the same e.g. how much power will it deliver. All the rest is detail i.e. gas, oil, solid fuel, heat pumps, solar, PV. What it really comes down to is how easy it is to install and how well you can insulate the parts that need insulating and place the parts that are hot. One of the problems is that we have got used to combing and system gas boilers and most plumbers are only happy to use these. They are not really that efficient, just that natural gas is so cheap that it looks that way. But I think it is about time one of the plumbers did a few sketches of different wet heating systems and explained the differences between them. Trouble is that prejudiced comes into it and to the unwary that can cause problems and confusion. My view is keep it simple and split the space and DHW systems if possible. One size does not fit all. -
Is the whole area you live in without gas? That makes a difference to peoples attitudes as they may well be used to all electric.
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Comically enormous bath questions
SteamyTea replied to divorcingjack's topic in Bathrooms, Ensuites & Wetrooms
Part G of the building regs has it all. Page 36, 125 lt/person.day. Baths can never be big enough. -
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
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The connectors are sometimes really hard to get apart, this is why they can become broken. Too many people pull them bu the cables rather than release them properly. Also to repair one you would need a proper crimper and crimps to do a proper job. And remember that each panel can produce about 70V and 3 or 4 amps, so 5 modules in series could be 350V. Get a good wallop of that.
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RHI was really intended as a replacement for solid fuel/LPG/Oil in older properties. Wasn't really for new builds, they should be on gas if possible. None of government backed schemes are really intended for a new self build. Too many variables.
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Estate Car to carry house doors inside, flat
SteamyTea replied to Ferdinand's topic in General Self Build & DIY Discussion
Yes, like Lancias, they had had their full lifespan before the monthly payments had finished.- 77 replies
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Except the government told them to simplify the tariff structure. I am not sure how it is all going to work. When I work out my price per kWh, I look at the total price, so include VAT and meter rental. Since I have fixed my immersion heater and 'gone back to normal', my all in price works out at 17p/kWh, which is not too bad really. Sometimes, like two days ago, I only used 4 kWh, and only 59% of that at night. That makes it an all in price of 22p/kWh. Roll on winter and I will, on paper, get really low kWh price.
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Estate Car to carry house doors inside, flat
SteamyTea replied to Ferdinand's topic in General Self Build & DIY Discussion
Seriously, do you need all season tyres and 4 wheel drive in Nottinghamshire. I used to travel the length and breadths of the country in a Peugeot 309, sometimes I would tow a 21 foot spar-bath, on a much longer trailer. I really don't get this 'every eventuality must be covered' thing at all.- 77 replies
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Don't think Poundland have gone bust, that was Poundworld.
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£1 from Poundland
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Economy 10 electricity suppliers
SteamyTea replied to AndyT's topic in General Alternative Energy Issues
I thought my E7 meter rental at 23p/day was high, In the last 2 months I have only spent more than that per day on 16 occasions, and that includes taxes. -
You are playing with unearthed DC, so you become part of the earth circuit. Now this should not be a problem as each junction should be designed to be save to handle. But if one is broken and a wire exposed, even in fairly low light you can get a nasty shock, and you will be on a roof. So take great care in what you are doing.
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I seem to remember that you need to turn the invert off before you turn the DC side off, though should not matter if you are playing at night. It is not unusual to loose a string and in ever case I looked at it was always a connector that had loosened. Sometimes these are really hard to snap together, and even harder to unsnap. Pain in the arse if it is one under a module, they are usually hard to get to even with scaffolding. If it s a major job, then MCS are meant to step in and fix it if the company has stopped trading. But good luck with claiming via them.
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Welcome Bit of Es and Whizz and it will be done in no time. Have you thought of just renovating to a high standard? Seems a nice place to me, but then I live in a 1987 terrace. I know a guy who is currently building and ICF place, seems to be taking him forever (and he don't do much else). I teased him before he started about it and asked how he would get around the well know problems. 9 months on he is very sheepish about it all. Must go and have a look at it sometime soon.
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My MVHR ...
SteamyTea replied to newhome's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
That is a lot dirtier than mine was, mine was just a slightly darker colour. But do yours work when there is a poison attack by the Russians. I don't think my vacuum cleaner filter is that dirty. -
DIY Heat Exchanger
SteamyTea replied to Onoff's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
Yes, those ones. -
DIY Heat Exchanger
SteamyTea replied to Onoff's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
Yes, a couple of inline Monroe ones. They were dead cheap. -
DIY Heat Exchanger
SteamyTea replied to Onoff's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
It is activated by the light and has the usual overrun of a bathroom fan (because it uses two bathroom fans). -
DIY Heat Exchanger
SteamyTea replied to Onoff's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
Yes I did, think PVC sheet. I did a bit of rudimentary monitoring and had an efficiency of around 80%, but as this was a bathroom MVHR, so often on for a short time, and then off, the efficiency was all over the place. I keep meaning to get the unit down to show how it was made. Was pretty easy.
