Miek

Now all we need is for the government to have a forward thinking energy policy...

Thanks folks A 12v relay sounds a simple solution, I like that.

I think I get what you mean.. House 1 is used to power the boiler and pump as normal. House 2 uses its call for heat to switch a relay on house 1 pump and boiler wiring. So the relay provides electrical isolation of the two systems. Correct? Or, a wireless system such that either house 1 or 2 call for heat triggers the pump and boiler ON.

OK, that sounds simple enough for me to do. If all four valves are open and asking for heat, will it be necessary to balance the circuits in some way? Obviously pipework will have different resistance to flow. Maybe a non issue... Re : oil usage. That's for then to decide thankfully, I don't think metering the oil is workable or worthwhile. Seperating the wiring would be sensible, but the pump and boiler are usually fed from the wiring panel, so how do I separate the two if there are 2 wiring panel on the new system?

Hi Plumbers. I have a situation with 2 separate dwellings (one house split in two) one of which has a Y plan heating system running of an oil fired system boiler. I would like to use this boiler to run both dwellings if possible, so that means 2 DHW tanks, and 2 CH circuits. What's the best approach? The least complex the better as the house is inhabited by elderly technophobes. Thanks in advance Mike

One issue I believe is that the water pressure is based on the minimum guaranteed by your water company, not the static pressure measured at the premesis, so worth asking them if it is high enough to fulfill the standard. I'm on a long run 400m from my meter so I think a tank and pump system will be needed, IIRC the tank will need to be over 1000l. I'm hoping this can be underground somewhere and not in the house.

These are great screw for flooring, apart from the price. They really 'pull' the chipboard down tight and countersink nicely, used with glue you won't have any squeaks at all. Torx drive I'd say is the least likely to slip in the head of the screw (haven't tried square drive) but I personally just use pozi due to price, and it helps that they are more universal IMO

A full azimuth tracker could give around 30% more energy in the UK, but generally the cost of the tracker is too high to justify it. Better to spend the extra money on more PV point it south and have no moving parts. I've never seen a commercial setup using trackers. They all use fixed frames for a good reason I think.

Or don't have a 5mm gap and flush mount the architrave?

You must be able to get some oak edging and glue it on, but that makes the process a little more involved. Not sure what tools you have access to but you could rip some thin pieces from larger stock easy peasy with a table saw.

What about oak veneered birch ply? You could get an 18mm board for about £80 ish. Lovely to work with is birch ply. You could rip the lengths out of the sheet and hide the ply edge with the architrave . Not sure if you could find a 22mm thick board but its possibly available. ( that's about door lining thickness is it not?)

I've had exactly that issue with screw fix ball valves on circulation pumps. They are crap IMO..

I think I would aim for oil for all my heating requirements, and bottled propane for cooking. You could go for LPG throughout, and possibly use an LPG genny? Assuming a diesel genny, could you run this on heating oil? Possibly with additives for the fuel pump longevity? Seems annoying to have two separate tanks. Sounds like you have great potential for hydro

But we are talking OFF GRID, so any generation in mid winter is very valuable, even a few hundred watts if constant. Bigger schemes like a 5kW turbine would make far more sense with a grid connection IMO as the capital outlay is considerable and you could likely get some FIT payments (though I'm not sure on the current deal) for your export, which would likely be around 90% of your production.

That doesn't sound right surely? I'd expect the oil to flow freely once you bleed the air out.

Do pressure jet burners have posiitive displacement pumps capable of sucking air, or would they need priming in this instance?

Not entirely.. Even a 500w small hydro scheme will give you 12kWh per day which is enough for most domestic usage (assuming no heating loads) . If you had a 5kW system that would be great, no need for oil at all then since you could run a decent ASHP for space heating. What is your power budget? How many kWh/day in mid winter for electricity? You need this figure before deciding on a system. A map would certainly help.

+1, especially if its a brushed motor. This is the best way to cook your drill.

This would be highly advisable. Unless you are very familiar with plant then you could well end up with a crapomatic.... Hopefully the dealer is honest. Lol!

Depends where the UFH pipes are. If in the screed then no problem with this. DPM is usually below the concrete, then the insulation, then a polythene sheet to stop the insulation floating as the screed is poured.

Nothing to do with legionella since the water in the thermal store remains inside the store, it only provided heat via a heat exchanger of some sort. The higher temps are needed because as soon as heat is removed from the store to heat the DHW, it starts to cool down, so you want higher temps to maintain a consistent DHW temp for a long period before the store gets too cool to work.

I would ring the pipe manufacturer and ask them if any of their stockists hold the longer lengths.

Looks cool. Is the roof watertight? Like, between the panel gaps?

Aerobarrier I like the radweld analogy better be a LOT better than radweld though!

Are you chasing in your electrics on the thermalite? If so you want to do this before your air tight layer. You can use air tight paint here (blower proof for example). The parge coat as I understand it is nothing more than a cement (and sometimes sand) water slurry which you can brush on to the block surface. You can omit this step if you wet plaster the block work since wet plaster is considered air tight. Lightweight block is infamous for cracking, I would read up on best ways to mitigate this before you plaster.