Dreadnaught

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?

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.

Rule of thumb: "no more than two rooms and two walls between access points". From here. I agree with everyone: PoE APs (ideally on ceiling) with ethernet wiring back to switch is the one to choose. For ethernet, I am choosing Cat-6 cable and 2.5 Gbps switches for a bit of future-proof-ing. I am also ducting the backbone cabling and the cables to the APs for the same reason.

Blum Legrabox on Movento Runners (the best) or just Blum Antaro on Tandem Runners?

As others have said, yes you can. But note that I think that it must be an MSC-certified installation… so for example a DIY-install is unlikely to be an option if you want the grant.

@NewbieJ, you may have misunderstood how (and why) and pre-heater works. A pre-heater is to ensure that the heat exchanger doesn't freeze up in the coldest weather. The heat generated does not however enter the house, the majority of it instead heads straight out of the exhaust port as that is how heat exchangers work. If your pre-heater was accidentally running when it shouldn't, it might possibly explain (at least part) of your overly high power consumption. But it would show not as warm air to the house but actually as surprisingly warm air at the exhaust port to the outside. A post-heater is different – that one heats the house.

Oh, please do!

No, that's all I have. Would suggest contacting them for more information. I have no link to the product. Just thought it might be interesting for some. I'd consider using it if I was doing another build with a raft foundation on screw piles.

Here is the PDF for those interested … Enviga Thermo Screw Pile™ Flyer (2025).pdf

@IanR, he sent me a PDF on it. If you're interested I am sure he'd send it to you too. There is an enquiry form on the (pretty minimalist) website.

My house is built on 26 screw piles. I was just chatting with my piles designer and he mentioned a new product he is offering: piping for a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) built-in to the screw piles used for a foundation. I thought it was be a nice solution. If you're planning to build a screw-piled raft foundation, you an add in GSHP loops for a low marginal extra cost. He is based in East Anglia. https://www.enviga.co.uk

Keep in mind that the Part M requirements are for "adequate provision" within the zone. In mine build I have some outside the zone where it is desirable but in each case put another socket nearby within the mandated zone. My electrician is fine with it.

I have a Vigor W325 MVHR (was Brink), a very nicely built unit. I run mine on its lowest speed setting too which is 50 m³/h and monitor CO₂ level. What's the lowest speed setting on yours? I wish mine could go even lower.

I have a refurbished "Atlantis AT350" softener and paid £275 inc. VAT for it, collected from their warehouse in Cambridgeshire. It's very economic with water, uses a tried-and-tested valve, and has a single tank. Very nice people to deal with and very knowledgable as they manufacturer them.

Correct, purest PIR.

I did indeed! Seems to be working fine. Tanners designed it to my specification. Strictly speaking, my concrete team installed the PIR not me. The only thing I would do differently next time: bump-up and improve the edge insulation.

@AartWessels, yes, my raft includes: 1) hot and cold plumbing (Hep2O, 15mm and 10mm depending on destination), installed in the PIR insulation layer below the concrete. 2) various big fat ducts for external pipes and cables (water, power, heat-pump control cable, fibreoptic, etc). 3) cable internal ducts for floor sockets in the living room (one of which I have decided not to use). 3) lots of reinforcement rebar. 4) UFH pipe (737m of 16mm PERT piping, 10x loops at 125 mm spacing) embedded in the concrete. This was the last item to be installed before the concrete pour. Private message sent about photos.

Here is the one from Ikea that is A-rated for "Grease Filtering Efficiency class" … https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/underverk-built-in-extractor-hood-stainless-steel-50392326/

It poses the question as to why 10º minimum exists. I have my MVHR unit within the thermal envelope of my house. I notice that condensation is huge in the winter. Warm moist air from the house hits the heat exchanger cooled by incoming air at say 0º. Huge amounts of water vapour condenses. Is the risk if the unit is below 10º that that condensate, if it were to freeze elsewhere within the unit away from the heat exchanger, and not drain, could cause problems? Just a guess as to why the 10º limit exists.

To be fair to Ovo Energy, they are now fixing the problems I reported with the "Heat Pump Plus" addon. And it appears that the underlying issue was not their fault (a component of my system had been swapped by Vaillant under warranty, which interrupted the connection to them). I will likely stay with Ovo Energy now as I think its the best tariff for my circumstance (no battery, no PV), at least until Octopus or someone else launches a tariff that integrates similarly with my Vaillant heat pump as rumours suggest they will.

Based on my past experience of Octopus Energy, I'd much rather swap back to them from Ovo Energy. Perhaps in due course I will.

Ovo Energy sent me an invitation to be part of their "Heat Pump Plus trial", where they will indeed control one's heat pump, aiming to heat the home when the grid is greenest. They don't control your heat pump with the vanilla 15p/kWh heat-pump add-on.

I moved to Ovo from Octopus in October and am having problems with the "Heat Pump Plus" addon. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt for now but am not very impressed so far. I hope they will fix things soon. My baseline tariff with Ovo is just their basic variable-rate one. No tie-ins. Given the problems thus far I am keen to be ready to depart at short notice.

Interestingly Ovo is also offering a trial* of an add-on that incentives users to shift consumption away from the peak period (4pm to 7pm). It's a monthly refund for such usage shifting and can be taken along with the "heat pump add on". I wonder if the "Heat Pump add on" might be eventually replaced by a new version that has the same low rate but excludes the peak period. A combination of the two. * called "Power Move" and it runs to at least December as an experiment.

Very interesting @scottishjohn.