Gill

Thanks. I have very much manged to confuse buffer with thermal store. 😕 So any hot tank thank feeds off solar and then feeds your primary hot water supply vessel would be some form of thermal store? I would agree there. For us, makes more sense as we have much higher use. My maths agrees. So regardless of what the primary mechanism for heating water is, I believe a second tank that heats from solar and feeds primary tank would allow diverting any unused solar.

My thinking is thermal store gives us an alternative to battery which isn't currently cost effective. We're electric only with old storage heating hopefully soon to be phased out if A2A works out. My concern with ESHP is will it increase the draw of cold external air into the house from existing leaks? We're keen to seal up as much as is feasible (without going back to brick) to reduce space heating needs. We could potentially have a very minimal cost for water at least over the summer months using pv divert /eco 7.

Is that you're only water tank? For PV would you get a buffer tank ? I've crossed ESHP off the running list as I think it will work best with secondary heat supply such as stove. In the winter I don't think we want to be losing any internal heat for water heating purpose - we're economy 7 overnight water heating works well for us.

Thanks - I'll need to work out how that would play out with solar and a a buffer tank. Don't think we'd have space for two tanks in the current location. Some basic maths tells me battery is not cost effective yet.

Good point. We have a cold attic and unless we do a full replacement roof it's going to be cold for a while. If we did put anything up there I would be insulating tanks and pipes as much as feasible. If we do ever make a habital space I'd be looking into warm roofs. Our old immersion tank does give off a little warmth but it's position means I can't get at it to insulate it more. Think I'd be willing to sacrifice the minimal gains we're getting at the moment.

Having done a fair bit of reading since starting that thread, I'm in the process of sourcing some estimates for putting in A2A system. The published COP for Mitsubishi and Daiken models seem very appealing and I think will work well in our space and hopefully down the line when we look to solar, we can look to use the cooling capabilities too. We'll keep the storage heaters until we've made it through a winter and have some real world performance data at lower temps. If the A2A doesn't cut it, at least we'll have backup. Revisiting this thread as I turn my attention to hot water. I don't think i'm convinced on the ESHP for our particular situation. Primary reason is it will be taking heat from the house which is currently expensive to heat and will probably continue to be for the next couple of years as we slowly modernise and tackle the heat losses. We also have no alternative heat supply and no plans for stoves or wood burners which would seem to be a good match up for ESHP. As I mentioned back at the start, our current DHW through an immersion tank on the ground floor with two sizeable tanks in the attic. Originally everything apart from the kitchen tap and the outside tap was fed off these. Back when we moved in, I had both the toilets switched over to fill from mains which has rectified the slow and noisy fill . In an ideal world, i would like to get rid of of the attic water tanks and move any new system DHW system to the attic eves. This would give us potential to create a habitable space in the attic and free up the space currently housing the immersion tank downstairs. I'm trying to understand if unvented cylinders and buffer tank (storage for when we get solar) would meet our needs and allow us to get rid of the water tanks. I measured my water flow rate today from the outside tap (connected to mains) and we're getting 1 ltr every 2.5 seconds which I believe is considered good. Not quite sure how water pressure fits into the picture but I suspect i'll need to get a gauge and measure that. What other key things should I be taking into consideration ?

Good shout and a timely reminder to ensure the bathroom design includes somewhere reachable from the tub to put the beer 😁

Thanks - hadn't come across that first one. They do look like they fit the bill. Hopefully the positive reviews mentioning water up to the neck are not all from very short folk.

That's my concern. Need to try to find somewhere locally i can get a good look at one of these. Not fussed about lying out but the water level is below the shoulders that would bug me.

That's very very nice but my budget not going to get close to that. I won't be going true Japanese style (continually heated) as I wouldn't use regularly enough for that to make sense. Similarity unfortunately ends at depth and compact nature.

Considering a deep short (possibly seated) bath for our bathroom upgrade. We're adding a shower which I'd prefer not to be an over bath shower. To maximise space I thought a short deep bath might work. Our existing bath is already sunken so there's potentially less to do plumbing wise to sink any new tub below floor level. Any experiences positive or negative with this style of tub ? Omnitub seem to be keep popping up in my searches for UK suppliers. Any input on alternative suppliers would be appreciated.

We went mineral wool between the joists held in with netting. We have access so it could be done from below. Looks like you could get solid insulation between the joists from above - are you trying to avoid taking the floor boards up?

@IanMcP from my reading around here there is quite folks making their own home made blower test kit. I want to rig up one soon - bookmarked this thread that has some details : Edit - what @Jenkisaid above min before me. 😁

Miele cat n dog is good vacuum. That thing is the bees bits. Think it's about 8 years old now and hasn't degraded at all. Cheaper than other popular makes when we bought and solid guatentee. Couldn't bring myself to use it for DIY clean up although I don't doubt it would cope for a bit.

We've just started researching A2A as an option. I'm very much leaning towards this. We're electric only so this saves the disruption of plumbing /ASHP. Not quite the same use case as you but I like 'no rads' idea. If you stick with rads then A2A might be an option for the back. Would have loved ufh but with concerns about heat loss and suspended floor coupled with huge outlay put that idea in the bin early on.

Was supposed to pick up a Henry this morning from a local Facebook group but the seller went silent today so ended up with this karcher for 55 quid. https://www.diy.com/departments/karcher-wd-2-plus-1-628-002-0-corded-wet-dry-vacuum-12-00l/4054278653884_BQ.prd Has done a solid job cleaning up the mess from the plasterboard getting ripped off the windows. Other half forgot we have dust sheets! Cord could be longer that's my only minor niggle. Hose extension tubes are decent length so I could get right up to the top of the ceiling (3m). How long it'll last... Who knows. Would have gone this the screwfix one it's not something they hold in stock. At least I have plenty recommends if it packs in on us.

Think I might struggle to pick one up tomorrow 😂

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. Never thought about the auction route. Henry's do seem to have a good rep for handling abuse. Will see if I can find a 2nd hand one and check out the other options too. As usual we were unprepared and ploughed on regardless. Might have been an idea to sort the hoover last week before we stared ripping plaster board off walls. 🙄

Cheers. Never though about the middle isle. I'm usually not allowed as I return from Aldi with milk, bread and snow chains.

Any recommends for a vacuum decent lenght tube extension that can handle some abuse. Bagless would be ideal. Does such a thing exist? Don't want to wreck my day to day vacuum.

I like a toasty soak but I'll have to guess as our tub is too big and nukes the full tank for a half bath. 41 would be my guess. I'm sure we got warned visiting Japan about temps over 43 in the onsen. Those were too hot for a long dip. Reminds me... Need to lookup compact Japanese style short deep tubs for when I get round to sorting the bathroom in 2025.

Thanks @Sparrowhawk Will grab some Soudal locally and stock up on Illbruck for future.

I'm sure I read a thread recommending a particular foam that was easier to work with - can find it now. Any recommends? Window surrounds (brick, concrete) filling the current needs.

Thanks. I'll get that on the fix list along with replacing all the missing ones. At least I know to call then weep hole caps now instead of wee plastic thingies. Every days a school day 😁

So I should have those for every frame then. Hard to tell as the tape needs to stay till the windows have has mastic. Will check that though.