Roger440

You have indeed. Given the costs in that link being a decade old, and the costy of the kits posted by the OP, it probably not much to be gained doing it entirely yourself. No wood used in them either, just plastic,glass and aluminimum. So should be good long term. However, id like to see how it compares to a diy flat panel in terms of output. I like it though. Now what to use it for.

Cost? V woodfibre that is.

No. I used seciltek adhere. Alledgedly a bit breathable. Usual lime suspects sell it. Just done my floor with it with limstone tiles on limecrete floor.

Mechanically, no, it hasnt changed much. Electronically, its a huge leap. Which has left a lot of them behind. And, to be completely honest, me to a certain extent. I ran an automotive workshop for 13 years. Even in that space of time, the developments were significant. Your traditional automotive technician are mostly just guessing at problems. Usually at the customers expense. You say its releatively easy with diagnostics. Well, it would be if you have a grasp of how the car works. But they invariably dont. A really easy example. Car wont start and run. Diagnostic says crank sensor. So they change the sensor. Oddly, that doesnt fix it. So then they say, it must be the ECU. If allowed, they change that too. Of course, it was just the wiring to the sensor. But they simply cant grasp that the ecu is looking for a signal. If the loop isnt completed it falls over. Because the diagnostic says sensor, they change it. Zero comprehension. I would say more than 75% of sensor faults, were not the sensors. MAF sensor faults. I reckon 99% are air leaks. Hole in the pipe. If i had a pound for every sensor changed in the UK in a year i would be a millionaire. Of course, there are people that do understand it. But you wont find them working in a cold draughty shed covered in oil and dirt. They will have a "proper" job. I did manage to employ someone who was good at this, but his mechanical skills were hopeless. Problem was, i just didnt, nor ever would have, enough of that type work to justify such a person. In reality, most of the garages locally, when faced with a problem they didnt understand would take it to the one bloke locally who did. The guy is a legend, and has no doubt forgotton more than ill ever know. The mass of equipment he has is something else too! But he is one guy. He cant do everything. The lack of any actual solution to dealing with it is one of the reasons we closed the business in the end. There just isnt the people out there that understand. Accepted that im in the south east, and that makes the situation worse. But thats where a lot of people live. I see ASHP and related as much the same. You have traditional plumbers, who all of a sudden now need to understand a whole new area/technology. There will be smart ones who can and want to learn, and do. They will be very succesful. But they will be a small percentage. Thats not going to be enough to install these systems at any meaningful scale. But they will still be installed. Badly. By people who dont understand. I dont suggest i have the answers. Just an observation.

Looking a bit like the car industry. Technology has galloped along leaving all but a few of the smarter individuals in its wake. I'll sit it out for few years and come back to it when its matured a bit and theres a lot more practical experience.

Nothing useful to add, just jealous......................... Looks to be an awesome sized building.

Thats exactly how i did my garage foundation. I cant say it was difficult. An adjustable square and a saw with adjustable angle blade was all i needed. Any slight inaccuracies i filled with foam afterwards. The most difficult bit was getting the sand on the 45 degree slopes right. Im no groundworker, though when the concrete guys turned up, they asked who did it as it was the best insulated raft prep they had ever seen! I gather the standard approach is not to worry too much on the accuracy of whats under the unsulation as it cant be seen. To my mind, thats a nonsense. If there are voids under it, that might cause long term trouble. If i recall the insulation called for a +/- of 10mm per meter accuracy.

Use a needle scaler. What i did to clean the bricks back to actual brick. Sure, it degrades the faces, but so does chipping off the plaster if its stuck and the bricks are soft. Good base for lime plaster though.

Thanks

Are you able to link to this please for those of us not on the inside loop?

Likewise here.

If you are going run a generator, you want batteries too. Then, when it runs, it runs at full load, its peak efficency. Without batteries, then yes, its hoplessly inefficent. I did look at an off grid property. This looked helpful. Full turnkey solution. https://www.energy-solutions.co.uk/residential For the OP, if you have to be off grid, and you are spending the money anyway, just make more electricity and bin the wood burning and just use the ASHP. The marginal cost cant be much more assuming it resonably well insulated.

This^^^^ For the most part the whole building control process is a joke, a bad one at that. They are only there to ensure that minumum requirements are met. In reality they dont even manage that. System is broken. Needs fixing. Wont get fixed.

You are easily offended! However, you did fail to mention some of those key details!

The principle is, water doesnt leave your property any faster AFTER you have built than it did before. Even rain landing on a sloping field will take time to get to the river, what doesnt soak into the ground. If its a field the top surface will be absorbent to some degree. If you just pipe it from your roof to the river, it will get there much quicker and contribute more to a flood condition than if your house wasnt there. I'll admit to it being a subject closer to me than most as i have a river in my garden, which has paid me a visit. What really frustrates me is that often, compliance is simply not there. Even when it is, ridiculous ideas like permable paving, which EVERYONE involved knows wont stay working without reguatly being dug up, get implemented. Box ticked, job done. But its not really. Just a handy get out. Meanwhile, the risk of flooding just keeps going up. Because people keep allowing run off into streets rivers etc. Rant over. You need an attenuation system. If you get away with less in your situation, you have simply worked round the requirements and contributed to the problem.

This ^^^^ Except if on clay, its an attenuation chamber you need.

Why would the mass flow rate be the same?

Good work Surely, aside from changing the buckets, just double or quadruple or whatever the number of wheels? If you have 6, then it will generate 6 x more power. Plus effiecency improvements from new buckets and a better geberator.

Im struggling with the absolutely silient bit. So, middle of the night, on a still night, you cant tell the difference with it on or off?

Be sure to keep us updated. The appeal of ST is that its DIY-able more easily. And hence much cheaper. The actual level of efficency is rather unimportant if it gets the job done in a cost effectve manner. Computers and software are something i reallk dont want involved if at all possible. Partly because i struggle with them, and partly because they are invariably more unreliable than what they are managing, and always unsupported 5 mins after you bought them. Of course, you do need space for large tanks.

This ^^^^^. Or even the ones that you fill di-ionised water. If all you want is the ambience, then either of these will do it. Beats deliberately trying to kill yourself. We removed wood burner. When i actually finish the room, one of the water ones will go in . Something like this. https://www.dimplex.co.uk/optimyst If you are as well insulated as you suggest, an actual log burner is a bit bonkers, just from a heat perspective.

Very much so. Cash flow is always a problem, but right now, its about being on the ball enough to know which of your input costs are going up and adjusting what you charge accordingly. If you are too slow, you will get caught out as your margins will erode. Fast. The days of once or twice a year price increase is gone. Stick with that and you will almost certainly be in trouble. Easy to say, less easy to do. In our case, its a several day excercise to update the various systems and websites with new pricing, advising trade accounts, doing price lists etc.

Thanks. You are braver than me. It would worry me forever more.

Can i ask what you used?

Wishful thinking when you consider that 99% of houses with a decent EPC will be hideous boxes crammed on in estates. And still poorly built. If you want to live in something "nice" its likely to be old. In circa 6 years of looking at potential houses for my final move, ive not seen a single "newer" house that ticked most of the boxes. The only viable alternative is to build one. Which of course is why we are here.