Dreadnaught

@Declan52, thanks. Every days a school day! All new to me. Really great!

Could you cut off an inch or two of gutter brush and stuff it up the downpipe?

Thanks @Temp. Very valid point. Yes the unadopted road is needed for access. Fortunately, the unadopted road continues past my entrance to a gate that is in constant use by some other neighbours (rowing clubs) on private land beyond. Fortunately, if the road were blocked by anyone then they would be up-in-arms well before me. On rubbish collection, another good point. In my case, the planning permission requires me to wheel my bin 40m to the corner of the next road, which is a normal adopted road. Thats fine by me.

By the way, admins, could this be the official moto of BH? Do we have a coat-of-arms? What's that translated into latin?

Superb. I look forward to reading that. Every day is a school day.

@Stones I wonder, what did you decide, or actually do, as a result of your deliberations? I'm interested. What setup will you use or recommend? I thinking about my system to be. I am pondering having two unconnected ducting systems, one for MVHR and one for an ASHP for heating and cooling. (An electric Sunamp for DHW. I don't have a slab for UFH. No gas or boiler. Passive House.) I have changed my mind 3x times so far and might again

Thanks @Nickfromwales. A soakaway could be squeezed in but the site is small and tight. But I am hopeful it wont be needed. There is good surface water sewer (diameter 300mm) in the road right next to the foul drain. I think it drains straight in to the river about 40m away.

Am no expert. I would think that going from a plot without service connections to one with them would add a lot of value, at least from the perspective of the plot's retail value. On groundworks, if that included civil engineering works, such as retaining walls, then again I would think that could potentially add retail value. I do not know if either is the case in your situation.

Thanks all. That's helpful! (BH dodgy humour included ). Should I be worried about the capacity of the foul sewer to take the new connection? The foul sewer is 100 mm diameter. As I mentioned, one SE who has looked at the sewer said in passing that he couldn't see a problem. But obviously the consequences if I did need to lay a new sewer would be large. Low-probability high-severity issue worth investigating? Or barking-up-the-wrong-tree?

What to do about a sewer than Anglian Water knows nothing about? Outside my plot is an un-adopted concrete road used by me and about four neighbours . Depsite all parties checking on multiple occasions, no owner of the road has ever been found. Underneath the road are two sewers, recently mapped by a neighbour in preparation for a rebuild that they will do. One sewer is easy. The surface drain sewer is on Anglian Water's maps. But the other sewer, the foul sewer, is a mystery. Its not on their maps and they have no other records of it. Multiple neighbours are connected to the foul sewer, we think from the 1960's. The foul sewer, after leaving the unadopted road, then disappears to follow a private road which is part of a neighbouring small estate of private flats, eventually one assumes to join the main sewer on the other side. A local SE has advised me informally there should be no problem with the capacity of this mysterious foul sewer for me to connect to it. I am in touch with Anglian Water (a friendly Drainage Support Technician). So far he said he can't find any information on the sewer and is metaphorically shrugging his shoulders. What to do? Could I ask for foul sewer to be mapped? If so how? Should I explore adoption? If so how? Might I just ignore the problem for now and connect to it when the time comes, no further questions asked. (I am at the stage of buying my plot but have been looking a services to see if there are any price shocks down the line). Any advice gratefully received.

So @SteamyTea, if understand you correctly, you are suggesting that the difference in CoP in @MrMagic's example are to be explained by physical factors (humidity), not engineering. That's really interesting. That would suggest that my statement "that heat pumps are optimised for one direction, either heating or cooling, and quite majorly so" is actually not true. Did I understand you correctly?

@jack brilliant link. Thank you. What a handsome object:

Thanks @JSHarris. Four-port reversing valve the magic words that makes it all make sense. Does anyone know of the relative efficiency in each of the two directions, heating and cooling. I have read somewhere that heat pumps are optimised for one direction, either heating or cooling, and quite majorly so.

Beginner's question. How does a heat pump reverse to both heat and cool? Is the following correct? Simply put, a split heat pump comprises: outside: a heat-exchanger coil and a fan, which is connected to… gas piping, with a compressor, which is connected to… Inside: if it is air-to-air, another heat-exchanger coil and fan if it is air-to-water, a plate heat exchanger which is connected to liquid piping and a one-way valve, which is connected to (1) above to close-the-loop (Circulating from outside to inside is not water but refrigerant.) From Wikipedia: So far so good. For cooling it makes sense. But how does the system go in reverse to heat the inside? It would seem to me you would need to physically swap the circuit around. I am sure this is just a problem of over simplification but is there someone who can explain it in simple terms?

Beware, west-facing windows can still be a problem for overheating because the sun is lower when it is in the West and so the sunlight penetrates more deeply into the thermal envelope. Westerly (early evening) sun is also more of a problem than easterly (morning) sun because by the evening the building is already hotter. (I learnt this by reading about shading affects for passive houses and modelling my own build in PHPP.) On the subject of 3G vs 2G, for me its a philosophical decision of whether to adopt the principle of a fabric-first approach. Fabric-first prizes comfort above all, as does 3G.

That's a shame. Surface rust on tools can generally be restored. In the right hands of course. My father, as a minor hobby, buys boxes full of rusty tools and takes pride in restoring them to as-new condition.

Would the use of such solutions for boats and RVs meet Building Regulations and electrical safety standards required for UK buildings?

Adding to this, the original innovator was Toyota and the Toyota Production System (TPS) in the 1960s. For those interested, this Wikipedia page lists the principles that emerged, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System, the main headings for which are: Continuous improvement Respect for people Long-term philosophy The right process will produce the right results Add value to the organisation by developing your people and partners Continuously solving root problems drives organisational learning Of these six, I suspect that the UK building culture follows none of them. Culture in organisations and industries is a fascinating subject. Culture is hard to change. Jeffery Liker's classic book called The Toyota Way does the whole subject justice. (Out of interest, the TPS directly led to the advent of both the agile software-development approach and the lean (just-in-time) production approach, both of which are now widely adopted across many fields. I am part of a company that follows the agile software-development approach.)

On the subject of doors, @lizzie you've also got those rather lovely magnetic door latches. I liked those. Nothing protrudes from the door.

@richi Could you spell out those abbreviations for the uninitiated?

Out of interest, what might those typically be?

I was under the impression that the use of backup batteries during a power cut was prohibited to protect power-line workers. Has the situation changed? Or would your system be isolated from the grid? Or perhaps I was just mistaken.

What are the all PV fitters, used as they are to grabbing the FIT benefit from the customer, now to do?

Welcome, what part of the country is your house?

Congratulations! Lovely plot. Perhaps a spot of rewilding? Native broadleaf? Beaver? Perhaps even lynx?