MJNewton

My 1000th post! (And to think here I am: Saturday night doing trigonometry on the subject of laser levels. Is this what my life's come to?)

Aha, but does it? With the camera angle such as it is it's not really possible to determine whether it is level front-to-back for the reasons I was covering. Time to get the level out @Nickfromwales!

Leaving the maths where it belongs and bringing my input back to something more constructive, a vertical 'trim' adjustment like @Nickfromwales's level has *is* one thing I do wish I had on mine. Whilst not essential given you can introduce a measured offset like @SteamyTeashows, my OCD does mean I am far more comfortable having the laser line on exactly my mark/hole/whatever and so I end up making minor tweaks to my clamp which is often far from ideal... Up a bit, down a bit, back up a bit, damn slipped beyond the max angle start again, type of thing.

Yes, absolutely. And of course that method would work if the level is on the floor in my pictures scenario but you'd be measuring 1.47m (assuming the laser sits 3cm above its base) up from that skirting-level mark which then likely introduces other issues!

I never did get one as a kid. Yes, absolutely. But as you say what you're doing there is adjusting its vertical height but without changing the angle... However, *this* was the suggestion/desire being stated (apologies @Temp, this isn't personal - what you said would indeed be a great feature if it could work!): If the level is on the floor then it's going to be quite some rack-and-pinion mechanism to lift it up, say, 1.5m in my picture scenario! To get it that high up you'd need to change the beam angle which, as I illustrated, has knock-on consequences hence why no such feature exists.

It sounds like you are talking about something different. We were discussing about the desire to be able to set a laser level on the floor and have some form of 'beam adjustment' to adjust its projected height so as not to have to raise/clamp the level itself at the desired height. You can't do this, or at least not without accepting the consequences (or breaking the laws of physics).

Absolutely yup.. 🙂 You can't project a horizontal line with a non-zero vertical inclination. Probably easiest to illustrate with a diagram, but quicker with trigonometry: Let's say you want to hang perfectly level pictures 1.5m up on a chimney breast and in an adjacent alcove, 0.5m set back. With your laser level clamped to step ladders at 1.5m up, 2m from the chimney breast and vertical inclination at self-level of 0° then according to trigonometry vertical delta = distance from wall x tanAngle = 2 x tan0 = 2 x 0 =0. Keeping the level where it is, the vertical delta for the alcove = (2 + 0.5) x tan0 = 2.5 x 0 = 0. Both the same. Now put your level on the floor, 2m from the chimney breast again and adjust its 'beam adjustment' (if it had one, which it won't! ;-)) to point up to the 1.5m point up on the chimney breast. The vertical inclination is tan-1(1.5 / 2) = 37°. That same line, projected into the alcove, will sit at a height of (2 + 0.5) x tan37 = 1.88m thus 38cm higher than on the chimney breast. Sure, you can mitigate the offset by moving the level further away, but even 5m away if you're keeping it on the floor then the lines will still have a 15cm difference in height. (Saturday night's eh? Rock and roll!) Edit: Figures updated since initial reply.

I had a cheap one from Aldi which seemed to work fine, until I checked it against a 2m spirit level! Got my money back on that one. Ended up going for a Magnusson one at Screwfix (I think it was £40 at the time) and have been really pleased with it. I use it often, but am only a DIYer so it's only occasional and it's not being thrown around daily etc so can't comment on rough-usage longevity. Five year guarantee which was reassuring too. Our quartz worktop fitters were singing my praises when they came to measure up with their fancy gizmo saying it was rare how spot on the units and island were in 3D, and the laser level made it pretty straightforward to achieve that. It's one of those tools that when in use make you look like you know what you're doing too, for what that's worth! Only downside is it attracts toddlers and cats.

...and I do wonder if sometimes I make such trips on purpose to get out of doing 'real' work! I've found myself increasingly buying some things from Amazon with free next day delivery when that still suits as my nearest SF/TS is a nearly-30 mile round trip.

It wouldn't be much of a level if the laser was emitted at a non-zero inclination - the projected line would be at different heights for surfaces at different distances.

Is it mould? Ours is a few years old now and there's no sign of anything inside - no dust, mould or anything. The filters get pretty filthy though! The semi-rigid radial ducting I used (Airflow Airflex Pro) is advertised as anti-static and anti-bacterial which I never thought much about, but perhaps it really does mean something?

I doubled up on all the seals for my connections - gave me some reassurance and only cost a few quid.

I wouldn't be too concerned on the noise front. I designed/fitted my own system and aside from following 'good practice' along the lines that JohnMo touched on (I'd add isolation mounting for the unit) and didn't put any extra effort on the noise side and the result is silent. Not just 'silent' like a dishwasher or fridge manufacturer might say when they actually mean 'quite enough' or 'quieter than others' I mean, literally, you can't hear it. Sure, when boosting you can hear air flow but only if you tune into it and it's not something I would wish being any different (and certainly not something I'd be willing to pay any money for reducing further). Edit: I only fitted a silencer on the supply side but I do recall at least one other saying they ended up fitting one on the extract too and it gave a beneficial effect. Not sure why we didn't have any requirement for mitigation their whereas they didn't, particularly noting I've got a very short run for one of the extracts and so wouldn't have been too surprised if I had heard fan noise through that one.

Thanks @joth, I'll keep any eye out for them!

I’ve been meaning to replace my PC-based CCTV, which must be pulling a constant 100W+, with something lower power. Was looking to see if a Pi 4 would be up to the job but availability has been all but non-existent for a while now. Do you know if an EdgTPU can be plugged into a Pi to support a Frigate-based system? I’m sure it wouldn’t take long to pay for itself..

Yes, likewise! I also thought about buying a second one as a spare but decided to chance it!

It's how I bought mind (different make) - it was one of many fitted to an estate but turns out to have not met the contracted spec (too small) so was pulled out, replaced with the next size up and sold on for less than half the retail price. It's been running a few years now so the warranty concern has diminished, but even at the beginning I was hopeful that the serial number/date would've aided any claim that I might needed to have made. I've done that with a few things now without issue - perhaps many people don't keep receipts any more?

..and is that pipe insulation providing some separation? If so, and of a thickness that'd prevent you been scalded if you put your hand on it then the heat transfer is relatively insignificant.

I'd go with what the manufacturer says. Their instructions tend to trump all generic regs and rules etc and so can be regarded as gospel.

Thanks for that, always on the look out for new bulbs. I ended up going with some dim-to-warm CRI95 GU10s from ‘well lit’ and they’ve been superb but you’d expect so at £13 a go! (These are similar but I’m sure mine are 6W versions, not the 9W as per the link) They give a 365 day money back guarantee so I figured I had nothing to lose but straight away I knew they were exactly what we were after. If they don’t last beyond the 3yr guarantee I doubt I’d be comfortable replacing them like-for-like given the cost so will save your link (Edit: I see Amazon have got them for £4.16 with free delivery). Re Hue bulb specs I must admit I didn’t go too far researching as I never expected wanting too many smart bulbs and if I did I didn’t fancy the costs which soon add up (he says having spent £13 on one (well, five!) and generally preferred the idea of using ‘dumb’ bulbs with separate smart controls that I could replace/upgrade if/as required.

I never tip them either. I do tend to put some effort into making things as easy as possible for them though in terms of ensuring sufficient space for them to unload, helping them reverse back out etc and that always seems to go down well. I just try to be a 'nice/good/appreciative customer', but not in a gifting sort of way. I remember as a kid when my Dad used to deliver oil to all sorts of places from houses to warships he'd often come back with all sorts of gifts e.g. crates of beer, trays of Pot Noodles, bottles of spirits etc. Not sure if it was more of a Christmas thing though, and I might be misremembering (and exaggerating) the regularity of such occasions.

Be careful posing the question in terms of what other people's energy bills - in terms of £ cost - are like as we're all on different tariffs and energy types and it can become futile drawing any conclusions. Try and focus instead on energy usage - in terms of kWh - which you can then make much more meaningful comparisons between different house types, sizes, occupancy levels etc. You can still convert that into monetary values based on whatever options are available to you. I would also split out gas from electricity otherwise again you're going to get very misleading figures being bandied around, particularly given that your main area of interest is presumably heating costs (as that's all that I'd expect to differ in a Passivhaus to any other) and energy type can become really significant then given the difference in gas vs electricity costs. For what it's worth, in our 125m2 2007-built gas-boiler heated developer box our average annual consumption is a fairly stable 8500kWH gas (~£400/yr at current rates) and 3500kWh electricity (~£740/yr). There are two adults home all day and a 4yr old, and we have a set temperature of 20C from 0700-2200. From what I gather from others here with highly efficient self-builds I'd expect our gas consumption to be just a fraction of this if we were in such a place, primarily to cover the base load of hot water heating which we seem to use <5kWh/day for judging by the summer gas consumption rates?

No advice to offer, but posting just to say we reused our conservatory footings for its replacement extension. Like you the BCO just wanted some inspection pits dug so he/we could check they were okay.

You only have to do that with a turntable microwave if you've removed the turntable. So-called 'flatbed' microwaves that dispense with the turntable altogether have a rotating antenna instead.

It looks to me that you're in a very fortunate position - a black plume management kit would be barely visible against your dark cladding. It might be difficult to predict exactly the minimum viable option, but a 'snorkel' type of extension to raise the height of the exhaust gases really ought to work.