Ralph

We're verging on being pathological about not having clutter or stuff, so that's pretty much how we live. Not for everyone I know.

That's nice of you to say so, thanks. Unlike the person on the paper's Instagram post who said it was "another featureless laboratory" followed by a crying angry face emoji. 😃

Our architect asked if we would talk to a journalist in the local paper for a bit of publicity. I said yes as they have been very good and I was happy to do them a favour. It turned into a full feature with photos and much more quotes from me than I anticipated. I cringe a bit reading it but if you are interested it's here https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/property/3974146/inside-black-fox-barn-a-stunning-new-build-woodland-home-in-angus/ There is a paywall wall but just hit the blue x on the bottom banner and you can access it.

I can relate to this. Every time there is an odd noise I'm convinced it's something catastrophic and start cursing someone who's worked on the house before I've even looked.

I'm always surprised how many people only have a very basic first aid kit with some plasters and out of date paracetamol. Especial at the moment when even without the strikes your going to waiting a long time for an ambulance to arrive.

That seems like a hell of a lot of zones for a start unless your house is absolutely massive. My house is not particularly airtight and we do notice the ASHP uses a bit more power on windy days. It sounds like you have some significant air leaks so getting someone in for an interim test is probably money well spent. A wood burner going all day in a modern house, even one just meeting building standards, should have the house too warm if anything.

I've had almost as many "air tightness is bollocks" "houses need to breath" "you'll get damp" comments as I've had "ASHP is bollocks and will cost you a fortune" Having said that I've also had a few "you'll heat that house with a candle" comments.

Yes that's my point, it's about the house not the heating system. When were installing ours I heard from quite a few doom mongers that we would be ripping it out in 12 months because there seemed to be quite few installations locally where ASHP was stuck in old house without the required insulation.

I think this key issue with them. By utility bills for my 160m2 house are less than I was for a 70m2 flat with a gas boiler that was built in the 80s. It's about the house as a whole not just the heating system

I don't think it looks horrendous but It would be useful if you could separate out your ASHP usage and check your flow temps and weather compensation. That has made a difference to mine. I have noticed that there is big difference in KWh usage for the ASHP when the outside temp gets below freezing. I think my ASHP burned an extra 10KWh on a -5oC day compared to when it was 5oC. The weather compensation ups the flow temp on those days and you do notice it. As a very rough comparison I've divided my total usage into the seasons and averaged the usage per day. Winter is based on the last week when it's been -8oC so I'm hoping it will work out much less than the below. I work from home and we keep it pretty warm in the house. Season Average KWh Per Day Winter 40 Spring 11 Summer 10 Autumn 16

I'm pretty sure that will get smashed in the next few hours and I'll be dropping the the flow temp to 40.

I think cold weather is probably the best time to try and set the weather compensation. I'm playing about with ours now. It's -7°C here and I have the Thermostat set to 23°C to act almost as a limiter and the weather compensation is set as below. It could be that the flow temp is a bit high so I'll bring it down over the next few days, depending on how it performs. Currently the house is at 22°C and I've burned 1KWh on heating since midnight. If I had a log burner it would be going when it's this cold for sure.

We went for an flush aluminium RK Door u= 6.7. It was quite expensive but looks good. The back door is a Rationel Auraplus flush door it's a good bit cheaper but does not look so good the u=0.63.

I bought a one of these fan heaters so we could have a quick blast of heat on cold evenings (stove going in next year). It's quite a gentle fan but really makes a difference. I fell asleep for an hour with it going last night, about 5 meters from me and it felt like my eyes had been sandpapered and my throat was very dry.

Have you actually stood beside a a unit while it's on? We live out in the country and it's very quiet so any noise is very noticeable. Our Daikin is supposed to run at 38 dBA and I never notice it and it's below our bedroom window.

I'm currently working with large automotive manufactures in north america. They are all betting heavily on EV being pretty much the only game in town. When I chat with these guys privately they advise me to make sure I have a none EV vehicle in the garage, being Americans it's normally a pickup. This is not because the don't believe in EVs or don't like them. They don't believe the infrastructure is ready to cope with them, particularly in the rural areas of the US. There has been such an under investment in infrastructure here and in the US that I don't think we are going to meet our targets for EV use. The national grid were considering triggering their emergency plans to cut usage and it's not even that cold yet.

If you don't mind, can you tell me what sort of prices you are getting for that kind of work?

The burn actually comes over further along, not on our land then floods the field next to us which then eventually floods us. I do have a piece of land between the house and the garage that we try and divert the flood to, it's lowerwith banked sides and it almost managed the water.

Back into the stream but further down, once it's passed the house. By that point it's flooded across the fields on the opposite bank.

It's a fair point, I might be better getting some sandbags until we can raise the bund.

We came within a whisker of being flooded on Friday when our stream burst it's banks and it came over our bund. I'm going to be doing some flood prevention ground work but it's going to take time. I think a pump wood have made a difference so I'm looking at something like this Clarke one. Any recommendations? https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-pw80a-3-petrol-powered-water-pump/

Stage % of Final Excavations completed 27.50% Completion of foundations 32.50% Completion of wall plate 37.50% Completion of wind and watertight 62.50% Completion of first fix 75.00% Completion of second fix 100.00%

Can't help you with the spreadsheet but in 2020 Rationel Auraplus triple were about £380 per m2 for me. I have seen some articles about prices having gone up 30% since then and more.

I'm being slightly facetious regarding not having any children and my own carbon footprint although I do think population is absolutely a factor when it comes to emissions and resources. If all 8 billion of us lived a low emission, low consuming life then the problem would not be as severe as it now seems to be. But we don't. Even in developing countries, where people don't consume like an American on a bender in Vegas, they have a massive impact on local resources.

We don't have any children, have not been on an aeroplane for years and don't commute. We could probably heat the house by burning pandas and have less impact on the environment than someone who has kids. That's not to say I'm not going to do my best to reduce my impact further but I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not knitting my own tofu.