Susie

Are you worried about heavy plant damaging the area or them developing a right of way? Will any services pass the area? we have a right of way over our neighbours drive as it was all old farm buildings, at the end of the build we have said we will make good to better than it is now, old stone and potholes, and our neighbour is happy. our water supply will enter down the drive parallel to 4 other water supplies, this will be very inconvenient, but we all get on.

I think it is just the quiet period e.g. there are offers on triple glazing for the price of double. do you already have the PV because the VAT incentive has changed you can get the batteries with a separate installation at 0 VAT until 2027 @JohnMo this may bring the cost of the batteries down, but my crystal ball is not working, but I hope they do come down. Are you self installing battery as that’s included in the VAT incentive. you could calculate how much your giving back to the grid now, how much you could save in interest at the bank not buying the battery, would waiting 5 months and be ready for the summer excess you generate make a difference.

No plans for ASHP our plan is make the most of solar with diverters to a cylinder, our business and a battery. Out of the 11kW system none will go back to the grid. husband could do the UVC course but have to face facts neither of us are getting any younger so I want something simple. Twenty five years ago he made a control panel for the UFH it had simple controls for me to use but I feel sorry for who moved into the house after us as they would need an engineer to make program alterations. He is under instructions that I need to be able to do most future maintenance my self or at least direct son in law what to do. Time spent on the UVC course and travelling 3hr round trip minimum has a knock on effect on income as we are both self employed. Constantly thinking what we earn p.h. v what we would pay a contractor. It’s often better for us to work, not necessarily the same in 10 years if we do retire though. Would hate to need a g20 qualified person here (north Cornwall) as we have a shortage of most trades. Can you set the temperature on heat exchangers 45 degree for domestic hot water sounds high as its probably mixed down at the taps. Hoping we won’t need the UFH just putting the pipes in just in case, would consider a Willis heater for the UFH.

What in your opinion @JohnMo makes the UVC better, why more usable water? my thoughts are that UVC need safety checking annually and could invalidate home insurance if not done and the insurance companies could play difficult in the event of a claim. We could self install the thermal store. Was your thermal store and UVC on a similar set up or in different houses. I am hoping to have lots of solar, 11kW or better 30 panels fit, with spare for our business. I am hoping the thermal store will provide hot water and some UFH if needed. I’m hoping the 350l model will be large enough for the two of us, and we are going to be very good insulation pre built SAP 96A. wood burner in lounge and electric heated towel rail in bathroom might be all we need making the UFH a back up. Start foundations next year so could still have a UVC if it would be better.

They seem to be adding the battery on to what has already been set in place, 2022 for 5 years to 2027 then it reverts to 5%. so it has to be an installation not a diy purchase only. it will hopefully through supply and demand make the batteries cheaper to purchase.

Have you checked your gutters are empty no blockages. We have a lot of trees near us the wind either empties the gutters or fills them with leaves. also check neighbors are not splashing your way.

Have you looked at open vented thermal stores no annual tests required and with 2 electric immersion elements. Provides main’s pressure water and heating. https://www.gledhill.net/products/alternative-energy/torrent-stainless-ov/

Welcome to the forum @DRM do have a plot? lots of great advice on the forum.

Do insurance companies ask if your pipes are copper or plastic?

Welcome lots to soak up here. Do you have a plot yet?

I read this in my morning email also. one accountant points out how will they access the portal. more government gateways. If it’s still expected to be entered line by line rather than type of expense then I imagine for some of the people who make filing these claims there business it won’t be any quicker as I’m sure they know their own spreadsheet so well it’s quick to enter the details once it’s online it slows everything down. So they may increase their costs to cover this or will they think more of us will do it for ourselves. I had to move accounting package from desktop SAGE to QuickBooks online and two years later I’m not as quick as I was on SAGE.

Have you looked at part O yet, it’s the ventilation one and window size and location are big considerations in Part O

Is THTC different to Economy 7 on economy 7 you have one meter with one mpan number for one supply. one meter number with two counters one for day use one for night. I think with THTC you have two mpan numbers for 2 supplies is this correct? Is that also two standing charges? if so then the RTS switch is controlling a single supply on or off and what a THTC user needs to do is cancel one supply and add a new circuit on to the other supply which has the storage heaters on it. Presumably it is then not just a minor works certification and it could involve the upgrading of the CU to RCBO’s etc an extra cost and inconvenience rather than somebody on economy 7 who most likely already has the storage heaters on one circuit on one CU Am I right, nearly right or totally wrong? trying to learn how the RTS switch effects us all?

I haven’t needed them to do anything other than supply and bill so far. im not bothered if it’s not smart so long as I get economy 7. Most of the house is electric so need to offset high charges with eco 7 by heating, washing machine, dishwasher even bread maker works through the night.

I rang EDF today and they have put me on the list for technician to come out and fit a smart meter. I think a year or so ago maybe longer there was a shortage of three phase smart meters hopefully things have changed. I presume they have SIM cards in and that’s also going to be the problem as the signal near the meter cupboard’ is rubbish. I don’t know what THTC is. My storage heaters are on a separate circuit so in theory I think I could put a Shelly switch or something similar on the circuit at the CU. My hot water cylinder is on a time clock so that should still work ok. I can’t remember the make but I know it’s not obvious the time clock. On the outside you see the boost and a 24 hr dial marked at two points for summer winter time difference on 1 hr. You remove this front panel and inside is where you program your off peak hours. Your local elec board decides when the off peak hours are but most are not a straight 7 hours they are split e.g, 1 hr and 6hrs or 2 and 5 depending on where you are in the country and when they think the lowest use is. For Cornwall that’s 12 to 1 and 2 till 8 summer and winter. If you have the old switch you can possibly hear a clunck when the circuit is live. The meter cupboard is in the room below my bedroom and as it’s so quiet where I am in the country I often here one at night (12 or 1 or 2) and the one at 8am. If I hear all three at night I’m finding it very hard to get to sleep planning things in my head. I will update this when EDF visit.

Are you still at the residence if so when it starts to go through you will get an another notice to display at the road side. you can also register an account with your planning council online so that for any matching postcode you get an alert. This may be different for different councils. other than that diarise that you manually check every week with the online planning of your council.

hi @ColinG if your on single phase the links below will help but if your 3 phase then I’m not sure if it’s possible yet but as the date is now getting closer I will check. It was supposed to happen years back but the date got changed as they couldn’t do it on time. EDF by the way have not contacted me yet. Who is your supplier? https://www.edfenergy.com/energywise/RTS-planned-shutdown https://www.edfenergy.com/large-business/talk-power/blogs/radio-teleswitch-service-shutdown

I’m not sure you can take the power from one barn to a new build house. we have a barn with 3 phase that used to provide power to the barn we have knocked down. We will reinstate temporary power from barn to new build but the new build will eventually require its own separate 3 phase supply. We will have solar on the new build and it will need its own supply for local electric board. not sure what the rules are in Scotland does the existing 3 phase only supply one barn and do you have any high pulling fixtures ie mills, lifts or compressors anything that your suppose to tell electric supply about that might cause a surge. Our 3 phase enters existing house then goes to barn(s) that’s ok and a few buildings are earthed. You need to think where it goes first and that only one home is on each connection. The second house needed it’s own supply. if we get spare solar power rather than a battery we can send it to a barn. 3 phase needs careful balancing if your not sure it’s always best to get advice from a qualified electrician, industrial or commercial electricians tend to know more about 3 phase than domestic electricians, unless your in an area everyone has 3 phase. You can search here for a good electrician https://niceic.com it’s like corgi or gas safe but for electricians.

For existing house. After the tanking when fitting the tray we used this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mira-tile-upstand-strip-white-3-6m/5361x before we tiled I can’t remember who told me about it but two years later I’m happy. For the niche I’m choosing pre formed but haven’t needed to choose which make yet as not out of ground yet.

Is that a normal depth stud wall or have you doubled up so it’s still stud behind shelf back. Often wondered how tough it is at this point I wouldn’t want anyone punching a hole through.

I plan on putting an induction hob on my peninsula, they cool down quickly so great for kids and when I pan is finished with it can safely just go back on the hob. I plan to have seating like you at the peninsula but with the worktop slightly higher than the hob. That way if using sauces or condiments you have a surface to push back against and don’t risk pushing them right over the edge. Also another electric socket for my in the small uprise. how are you extracting from hob area ie downdraft or from ceiling? I wonder if you need all the wall cupboards around the window. Sometimes handy to have worktop with nothing above e.g opening air fryers.

Did this all go to plan @wozza? I am in similar position a bungalow with concrete slab and insulation above then screed. I am thinking I need the shower and sink waste (white) in the insulation like you but joining a branch that then joins up to the terracotta waste in the hardcore with two boses one for toilet and one for sink and shower (white pvc) branch. On paper the inspection chamber has been swopped for a rodding point sending all waste to external stack on opposite wall.

I’m thinking of linking the soil pipe for the en-suite under and across to the North side and joining the inspection chamber there, where the plans show an inspection chamber on the south side that could now be a rodding point . @Iceverge we’re not on a septic tank we will join the main sewer as it passes through our field. Interestingly the sewer was created in the 70’s for the school higher up but I only just found our that some of our neighbors below school but higher than us are not connected to it and are on a septic tank, they in turn didn’t know we were on the main sewer. Our new build will be directly connected so we fall in the 1-4 houses that means every third house has to have a external SVP as we are only 1 house I have read both that we should have a SVP and that we can just have AAV so have decided that one pipe on a rear wall I will hardly ever stop and look at doesn’t matter much. I’m sure it’s been mentioned on here but it’s also come up in my own browsing research, that the cold bridge is not a big problem I’ve also read that condensation on boxed in internal pipes can also be a slight problem.

@joe90 is that rodding access in the house or outside at the chambers.

My architect has put two SVP on the building regs drawing (already passed), one for the Ensuite on the South and one for the Shower room on the North wall. I have recently discovered soil stacks are no longer put outside the build and can be inside with AAV. I'm looking for advice on what's is best. The garden and main space is to the South of the build if I can avoid an outside soil stack that would be great. The ensuite has a vaulted ceiling though so no space for AAV to vent into without (option 1) creating a false ceiling, or (option 2) boxing the stack in but allowing for air to enter when AAV needs it. or (option 3) moving the stack into the plant room which has a lower ceiling for access to MVHR pipe runs etc but I don't want to swap the toilet with the sink, or (option 4) plumbing under slab straight across to the North side where the shower room toilet is and just having one stack on the outside wall. Is it a possible to have pipes buried in the slab, apx whole width of home 8.3m? Is it a risk in anyway? It would also remove a 12m stretch of external soil pipe in the ground on the south side, saving in cost of pipe but not trench as rainwater to soakaway still in same area. Nothing is started yet so anything can change at the moment.