SteamyTea

Are you going to use the ASHP for both space heating and DHW. If you are, remember that they do different things, at different times and at different temperatures.

I liked the language they use, there is something politically incorrect about phrases from 1987

Not sure what the BCO is really after, but there are Class 1 gelcoats, Crystic Fireguard 72PA is one.

I am going to have to reread all that a bit more, and then a bit more again. I had forgotten what was trying to be modelled, which makes a difference to how I will read it.

Which is having the greater impact on slab temperature homogenisation (is that a real term, slab temperature evenness) and would a different sized buffer tank make a difference, or would it be better to have more control over the heat source (or what ever sort).

What is happening at between 22.5 and 23 (I assume °C), the heating side (the left) looks right, but the cooling side (the right) should not have such a pronounced change in it. How does ambient air temperature affect it?

What was your family business, our paths may have crossed in the past. Not really as I have been out of the business for a while. You could look for local GRP companies and see if they know, or suppliers. Not the sort of business happens in town centres these days (hard to believe that we had 400 litres of acetone a few feet from the Chilterns Railway line you could smell the factory in Wycombe high street).

In the early 1980's we made some stone look alike pillars for the Heathrow Excelsior Hotel. I think they are still there. We also made a few GRP chimney surrounds for air condition units. They looked like brick. They can be made out of Class1 material no problem. As for longevity, if you remember the old building by the Elephant and Castle roundabout, the red cladding was GRP, was over 40 years old when they pulled it down. It had faded a bit, but then it was red in colour, which is a tricky pigment at the best of times. I am surprised that GRP is not used more in the UK. I is used a lot in the Middle East.

Transport fuel is my greatest single expense, but the fact that I did an discretionary journey to go walking and then anther one to have a coffee, shows it is really way too cheap.

Fuel poverty is really a social construct to highlight low wage and earning gaps. I am not saying it is not real, but we do have many other ways to combat it i.e. minimum wage, tax credits, family allowances, pensioner allowances, unemployment benefits[1], moving, cheap loans, FiT, RHI (not that I really like those subsidies). Part of the taxation to equalise fuel type prices could be used to pay for upgrades to property or wages. [1] I lived on a student loan for 4 years, which is a lower amount of money than a single persons unemployment benefits

Possibly is. You are in Scotland, a country that is try hard to install renewables, mainly windpower, with some new hydro and experimental tide/wave. The point about price is a valid one, if we put a price on emissions, and used it to equalise the kWh price for all fuels, while at the same time removing all subsidies, or in other words, pay the real price, then this sort of market and environmental skewing would not happen.

On your other points: I said (over at the other place) "I still fail to understand the argument that it is alright to burn timber in a low populations area. It is not acceptable to dump asbestos is a low population area, or kill a cat, or stop education of young people, so why should it be acceptable to allow a heating system to pollute the environment."

So that will be zero for both then

"Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you." Robert McNamara Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_mcnamara.html

Just for a laugh, but connected to a conversation over at the other place, if there was a tax introduced on domestic solid fuel burners, say something like the TV license i.e. fixed amount per household with them, how much should it be? There is an alternative, taxing the fuel at source, if so, how much should that be per kWh. This could be an assumed amount based on size of a home with a burner i.e. £/(kWh.m2). So if a house had a deemed usage of 50 kWh/(m2.y) and it was set at 2p/kWh and the house was 100 m2, then the annual tax would be: 50 kWh/(m2.y) x 2p/kWh x 100 m2 = £100/year. So think on it and give me two prices: Fixed fee Usage and Size price

Not quite that long ago there was an art installation at the Exchange Gallery that was 2p bits on the floor. I added some to it when no one was looking.

Oh, that looks useful, thanks.

I had thought of that, but I can get a relay for a tenner, and it should be pretty easy to wire in (not actually seen the pump yet). An alternative is a small PSU that can drop down to 3VDC and sense that voltage. Not sure how to wire it into the Raspberry Pi as it will not be the same as the unit powering the Raspberry Pi. Maybe connect all the neutrals together.

Does anyone know of a cheap way to do this with a Raspberry Pi. All I want to know is when a pump is on or off, I don't need to know the current or the voltage. I am thinking that I could use a contactor, wired in parallel with the pump, and just sense when it is closed with a GPIO ports/pin. It would be nicer to use a non-invasive method such as a CT clamp, but not too sure how to set that up as a simple detector. Thoughts anyone?

Bit in the Telegraph about air pollution in London being worse then Beijing. Wood burning stoves are partly to blame. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/24/air-pollution-london-passes-levels-beijingand-wood-burners-making/

There should be. The problems seem to stem from a change after the final design is agreed on. Take a kitchen extractor and MVHR. The two do not play nicely together, and both involve punching holes in the house. The same is true of a wood burner (not that these are recommended for so many reasons). If these are not agreed on at the very beginning, and space made to fit and maintain them, then some reshuffling can cause problems later. The last thing that you want to happen is that someone drills a hole through the vapour barrier, then decide that the pipe of cable would be better off 150mm to the left or right. It is also worth decide if you want a cold or warm roof at the very beginning.

" It looks as if it was put in by an Indian. " Prince Philip

Welcome This all depends on what experience you have in both areas. From what I have read on here, and my own experiences as both a project/production manager (different industries, but sometimes related), I would go for a project manager and a timber frame until made weather tight. Then organise your own subcontractors. Initial design is where you can save the money. Make it complicated and it will cost you, make it high tech and smart, it will cost a lot and probably not work. All a house is, is a thermally insulated, airtight box. Then you start to put 'holes' in it for things like doors and windows, heating and ventilation systems, wires and plumbing (and a cat flap). I often get the feeling that people start thinking about designing a house the wrong way around. The interior can become more important than the structure and this complicates things no end.

At least that is a start. There are only 6 houses where I am, we have 3 different meters, but only 1 DNO. This is something that the industry sort sort out, not exactly an anticompetitive move.

Why is it so messy in the DNO boxes. I would have thought by now that they would have come up with a nice neat design that incorporated a DP switch after the fuse and meter. Really is ridiculous that they have not moved on since the 1940's.