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Dreadnaught last won the day on November 25 2019
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About Me
Currently building in Cambridge. The build is screw piles, insulated concrete raft foundation, factory-made timber frame, sedum green flat roof with roof windows, slips-brick skin, triple-glazed windows, ASHP, UFH and MVHR. The works.
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Cambridge
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Farmstead renovation Dumfries and Galloway
Dreadnaught replied to Nump'ead's topic in Introduce Yourself
I might suggest you need a bit of airtightness tape but other than that it looks ready to me Lovely location! -
Best looking MVHR valves?
Dreadnaught replied to Alan Ambrose's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
"petrol station toilet ones" Those are the one's I'm having, on the basis of ↓ I noticed that many of the nicer looking ones don't allow for flow control at the valve (unlike the "petrol station toilet ones", which do). May not be an issue but worth considering. -
It's a good question and I don't know the answer. Just to mention there is an Arotherm-Plus setting that could be helpful. A setting which caps compressor speed by an amount and during a time-period set by the user. And I have used this setting to cap the compressor speed during the morning period, when CoP is less favourable. The setting is in the heat-pump controller (not the VRC720): Installer Level > Configuration > "Compr. noise reduct." Range: 40 to 60%; default 40%. The cap is 100% minus the setting value, so, for example, a value of 40% caps the compressor rate at 60%. Once the cap is set, the time period of its application is defined in the VRC720. Obviously the purpose of the setting is limit noise but it can be just as well used to cap the compressor speed for reasons of efficiency.
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Late to the game and after the boss has spoken… 😄 "B" here too. Got it down to a fine art now. A few tips… RB1, even not from BG, is a standard width. But I did notice some companies selling narrower resilient bar, which I avoid. I mount the RB1 such that the first board going up is on the lefthand side as in your "B" image. This minimises the risk of the RB1 pushing away as you fix. On that first board going up, the screws can be close to the board edge, risking cracking. To avoid this, I pilot drill those holes as I go (pilot drill in one hand, driver in the other). Got it down to a fine art now.
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Hello from South Cambridgeshire
Dreadnaught replied to darrenjbrooks69's topic in Introduce Yourself
Welcome to the forum. I am self building in Cambridge, currently at first fix. -
Vaillant arotherm plus - losing water pressure in cooling
Dreadnaught replied to ndl's topic in Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP)
Same here - as another data point. -
Wait until early-ish 2026 and Ikea (and probably quite a few others) are releasing a large range of devices using "Matter Over Thread" across many categories. They should prove cheap and reliable – as is typical for Ikea.
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As with @MikeSharp01, for my self-build I have a Ubbink Vigor W325 (same as the Brink Flair 325) with Ubbink ducting for a total cost of about £3.5k all in. I installed all the ducting and the unit myself, solo. I'm at first fix but the MVHR has been running since May 2024. Wouldn't be without it. One of the best parts of my build. And MVHR will be top of my wish list for my next self-build.
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Good point about the audible gurgling noise with a combined trap. However, one advantage of a combined trap is the washing-machine liquid keeps the sink trap nice and clean. Sink traps are especially prone to drain-gunk build-up over long periods. If the gurgling can be tolerated in, say a closed-door utility room, I wonder if this benefit outweighs the downside?
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I plan to make my own. As @temp did, I have quotsd to have a mirror made to my size requirements. And with two frosted sections for LED linear profiles which I have built in to the wall. Those LED lights are wired back to the main light switch. I will also add de-mister pads. The result should be a thin mirror tight to the wall similar to the design you seek but without the bluetooth music.
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Yes, mostly solo here. Am at first fix. Only trades … Screw piles Concrete raft pouring Timber frame Roofing (for the guarantee) Heat pump fitter (for grant, could have done it myself) Tiling (large format bathroom wall tiles. Plastering And had some help with … groundworks labourer UFH pipe a small amount of labouring with brick slips cladding a small amount of first fix carpentry (to show me a few things) a small amount of tacking (to speed me up with the rooflight reveals) All else me. For second fix, I expect to use these trades … Electrician - sign-off only (I am pulling all cabling) LVT flooring fitter Decorator Paver (for drive)
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Beware the bending radius's of fat python-like insulated double pipes! If I had my time again, I'd probably go with a pair of insulated single pipes because of it.
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I am following this with interest as was thinking to have a photowall mural in my study. Anyone have a photowall mural without these problems I wonder?
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Wireless Access Points or Mesh?
Dreadnaught replied to YorkieSelfBuild's topic in Networks, AV, Security & Automation
I used to 20mm flexible conduit to snake through my open-web joists and then down inside wall cavities (MF walls). For the longest runs (about 15m) it was a devil to get the cable through but persevered and succeeded in the end after trying every method I could think of. Short runs were easy. Still worth it I thought because to replace the cable would be a process of attaching the new cable to the old and pulling backwards through the conduit, which should be easier than what I just did. I am terminating each cable to an ethernet euro-module wall socket mounted in a back box at each end. And have bought a bunch of short cat-6 patch cables from China for then connecting those sockets to the switches, etc. In terms of topology, I decided not to have a single "data cabinet" with a single patch panel. Instead I am running trunk cabling around the house to three different locations, there to have an 8x port switch (2.5 Gbps, passive, fan-less) in a discreet location. Three 8-port switches in total: one in my Plant Room, one in the coat cupboard in my living room, and one in a wardrobe in Bedroom 2. This gives me the number of ports I need. In each location I have a pair of double ethernet euro-sockets mounted in the wall, matched with a double power outlet for powering the switch and a spare power outlet. Personally I like this distributed mini-patch-panel approach – simpler, less cable. And with this approach there is no termination to RJ45s. Instead just push-down in to Euro modules – fiddly but easy. And buying pre-made patch cables for reliability.
