Gill

Thanks - guess i'll need to clean the glass and hope for some good light and give the glass a good inspection.

We've just had the fitters in putting in our new windows. They were happy to have me contact them if I see any issues but as a novice, I'm not really sure what I should be checking for. While they were fitting I spotted a couple of the gaskets were short and those have been refitted. Spotted a few more today in the cold light of day so those will be getting sorted. The other area I was checking was the foaming. This has been done in some windows from inside and out and in others just from oustide. There's a couple where the foam hasn't made it into the gap properly in windows that have only been done from one side so those are added to the fix list. I'd prefer if they'd foam both inside and out where accessible so will ask if that's possible. The last issue I've spotted is that some window frames have small caps over small holes in the frames (at least one is cracked as in the picture). Others do not. I'm not sure exactly what these caps are for - we specific no trickle vents but these don't look like trickle vents to me. Any ideas? I'm thinking that they should all be capped. If anyone has a "window checklist" or any other suggestions of areas to inspect it would be appreciated. Thanks .

Three drinks and you're good to go...

Hmm - and I though condensation would get worse as we seal up the house. Maybe I'm confusing this with air quality. I was thinking that next up would be to sort out out bathrooms as our shower room has water ingress behind the tiles so will need to get stripped back. Plan was to rip that shower out and covert to WC and then add a shower into the other bathroom (which currently has none). I figured if I knew the ventilation strategy I could sort this at the same time as the bathrooms and avoid any rework. An alternative would be fix the shower room that will eventually be redundant - figured that would be an unnecessary expense. It would buy some more time to see how insulation and airtightness improvements affect the house and if i try to do it on a budget I guess I might learn how not to pasterboard and tile 🙂.

Without. Was one of the initial reasons I was looking at ventilation. We have plenty unwanted ventilation at the moment but will be addressing that as we slowly update the house.

Currently 2G wood frames (no trickles). 3G replacement getting fitted next month.

@Thedreamer thanks very much for all the info. I will work my way through it all (slowly as I'm still coming to grips with terminology). Your blog looks like a great resource too. Cracker of a house you've built. @Radian sounds like multiple units would be a better option. Hadn't realised they could be mounted off the ground. I have much to learn! Even if I maxed out airtightness & insulation, this will not be an issue for me. 🙂 I'm not tied to any solution - one small benifits of having no experience whatsoever in this domain. Key thing for me is the right system for our house. Maybe it will all become clear from reading more but how does fresh air get into the house with A2A or ESHP and how is condensation extracted? We have a condensation issue at the moment which I'm hoping new windows will help with but they won't have trickle vents.

Thanks @Thedreamer Would be great to get some general info on your system setup... refurb or new build, pv hook up, ongoing maintenance, what was involved in your installation (more relevant if a replacement system but I'll take any info on offer), happy with running costs? In general how's the system working for you - anything you'd change if you were doing it again? It's all very high level questions but hopefully I'll get a bit more time to read up and ask some more specific questions.

Thanks folks for all the input / advise. Some more questions and a few answers . Curious - Is ducted system the same as the multi split system? All new territory / terminology for me at the moment. So potentially a direct replacement for our immersion system and header tank ? We use a shower pump for pressure - I assume I could continue to use that with the UVC? Solid advice - no one likes ongoing maintenance costs ! I'm wondering how this will work as we improve the air tightness. The window replacements that will be fitted next month will have no trickle vents. If we were to achieve improved airtightness, would condensation become an issue ? Some interesting reading in there on COP in the colder months. The cupboard in the kitchen currently houses our immersion tank so that would tie in with existing plumbing. If i went A2A, are there any benefits to doing the ESHP at the same time? Would be good to phase improvements but not if it incurs additional cost. Positioning wise - is it one external to one internal ? Similar positioning advise to ASHP, then the more sheltered and the warmer the location the better the performance? The bedroom side of the house is south facing but is also close to neighbors with not a huge amount of space to the boundary - would need to have the units very close to the house in that area. The opposite side (living room external ) has a lot more space but is a bit more exposed and doesn't get nearly as much sunshine. Front external of the house doesn't get much light in the summer and frost can stay there all day.

Power of and took off the top of the unit and one of the wires was indeed lose. Tightened up the screw that clamps it. Shower running for 5 minutes without any tripping. Hopefully that's it sorted for the time being. Thank everyone for chipping in with suggestions. Far more comprehensive list than my googling gave me.

Nothing tripped in there. A fresh pair of eyes this morning tells me I'm an idiot. Turns out that Green on the RCD indicates off and not on 😳 . Who knew ? (probably everyone apart from me). So @SteamyTea was spot on with the tripped pointer. So - flip the switch to ON and test the shower. Comes on on with pressure and then the switch trips again. With the main wire into the unit appearing to have some kind of lose connection from previous failures, would this indicate time to replace? When I changed the fuse, used 5A fuse so like for like.

Yes - we have crawl space under there and got 150mm omnifit wool insulation put in there back in October. Not a job I fancied so left to the professionals. In and out in under a day and solid looking job to my untrained eye. Didn't board under the wool - that's one that I'll maybe reconsider down the line but with questions about potential plumbing changes down the line, wanted to leave things reasonably accessible for now. A new system enters the mix. 😀 I'll do some reading but meantime a few basic questions - I assume it should not be housed in a cold loft given it's recovering heat. Cost wise, it looks like a very attractive option. Does it partner up well with PV or would a 2nd system be required to act as a thermal store? Thanks - this is one that I've been struggling with. If I think about the currently problem areas... Kitchen has no heating and Kitchen to living room does not have a door. We put up a heavy curtain for winter as it was leaching all the heat from the living area. Ideally some heat in the kitchen would be good. Hall has no heating and suffers due to the porch being baltic and the internal door being a bit rubbish. We do have doors between hall and living room so can shut up shop to avoid the worst of the heat loss. I was thinking that a SH in the hall might be a good fit. Bed 1 - rarely heat. I'm thinking a backup wall mounted electric panel might do the job or if we went a2a and got the positioning correct, it would benefit. If they are quiet enough to run in a bedroom then maybe that's an option too Bed 2 - With this one being an occasional room, i'm not sure what the best solution is. The SH works pretty well here when it's used for WFH. Not so good for guests as as SH overnight bakes you in your sleep. Living area - Could potentially site something between the kitchen and the living room . The space nearest the kitchen is used as a dining area. The other option might be above the door at the end of the hall. Would be close to my working from home area but might benefit the bathroom / bedroom more I've have a read about multi-split systems. Thanks for all the input!

Nothing tripped in there. Will try tomorrow to check filters which google tells me on the inlet and outlet and if I can work out how to check flow senser, I'll give that a bash to. If I'm no further forward I'll get a new unit ordered. Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

Don't think so. I did try adjusting the shower pipe to see if any change. Would these be inside the unit? Starting to suspect its dead. Never seen RCD unit. There's one in the bathroom for the towel rail. Nothing outside. Pump is in the basement and wired to a socket down there. That's the one fuse I've changed. Just been powering off the whole house to be on the safe side. Cheers - that saves me starting a 'what replacement shower pump should I get' thread.

Only noise is from the tiny amount of water going through it. No noise to indicate its pumping or attempting to. What taps would that be? Something on the unit or just running the shower.

As I posted in another thread, I've been trying to understand the options I should be considering for space heating and DHW. We have a few small layout changes planned along with refurb our bathroom and shower room so deciding on heating and DHW system seems like the sensible first stage. Would appreciate any input into pros / cons of the various systems I'm thinking about and also any systems that I haven't listed that I should be thinking about. Limitations: No Gas supply Property : Two bed bungalow single storey (decline and die home) Current system : Storage heating (not high heat retention). Electric heaters used for top up. DHW through an immersion tank. Heat Loss : I've had a stab at completing the spreadsheet making assumptions about u values of windows, doors and Air Changes. The monthly figures are eyewatering. The highest actual daily usage we've hit in one day was 96kWh (which included DHW ). This was December when the temps between -3 and -9 consistently. That said, we don't maintain 18 degrees across the whole house. The hall and kitchen have no heating, the shower room has a towel rail we never use, the main bedroom only gets a blast of heat in the exceptionally cold weather. The second bedroom gets the storage heater overnight if WFH the following day. Improvements : I've not factored in up coming improvements on the spreadsheet. All windows will be replaced in the next month that should give approx U value of 1.1. Following on from that, we'll get the cavity walls insulated. I also plan to put in a MHRV system (in our cold roof). Have read mixed thoughts on this but I think i'm sold on the broader benefits of MHRV even homes that cannot achieve great airtightness. Solar seems like a no-brianer - we've got reasonable sized unobstructed south facing roof space and also a smaller south facing garage roof Some of my thinking so far.... Stick with Storage Heaters Pros No plumbing required - Minimal disruption. Economic with ECO 7 tariff Will perform better when we insulate Cons: Delivers heat when we dont need it. The house is empty daytime twice a week at least. May still require top up heating (at peak rate) High Heat Retention models don't come cheap and aside from user reviews on manufacturers web sites, haven't seen real world feedback from anyone that's upgraded to HHR. Bulky / Consuming wall space Require a separate solution for DHW ASHP & Oversized Rads Pros Heat when we want it Plenty info on how to size things correct and tweak for performance Can supply DHW Cons Disruption of installing a wet heating system Oversized Rads consuming wall space Don't see this working with with ECO 7 tarrif ASHP & Underfloor Heating Pros No radiators No cold patch at floor level Can supply hot water Cons Most Costly Option Requires wet heating system Efficiency concerns with suspended flooring Potential need to build up the flooring throughout the house Don't see this working with with ECO 7 tariff A2A Pros Cooling & Heating. Cooling would work well with solar. Placement frees up wall space Cons: No where near as much info available on A2A as ASHP so hard to get a good understanding of pros / cons / suitability Would MHRV system play nice with A2A? Require a separate solution for DHW Don't see this working with with ECO 7 tariff Heat loss calculator - Master.xlsx

Our shower pump has given up and we're now reduced to a slow trickle from the shower. It's thankfully still feeding in hot water. We'd had a issues previously where the water pressure dropped to a trickle and that seemed to relate to lose wire. I bit of a nudge to the main cable resolved. No such luck this time. No evidence of any leak. I killed the power as supposedly this triggers a reset on some models. Unfortunately ours doesn't have any light indicator so I can tell if there's any power coming in. Changed the fuse on the socket and still nothing. Haven't been able to find any manual online - it's a BOSS twin impeller, Model 10036501 Product Code AP229. Couple of pics attached showing - it was the larger wire at the top of the unit that was the lose connection culprit. Any simple things that are worth checking before I call in a plumber? Thanks

Measured over 3 days. Looking at last night, similar numbers of 52 units overnight, 11 day. So estimate 7 for DHW, 1 or 2 units unit for dishwasher, fridge... Probably 40 ish on the 3 SH each night. I'll check in with the supplier if I can ever reach them. I'm sure they quoted midnight to seven when I asked in the summer so if that is gmt the heating should be coming on at midnight at the moment unless it relates to the load balancing you mention.

A few days of meter reads has average of 50 units on the overnight and 8 day time. A few night units would be dishwasher which runs every other night and washing machine (once every 4 days ) . I'm estimating ~47 for heating and water ON. In the summer we'd be around 5 or 6 units on DHW. Not sure how much this would increase for colder water temps. My rough estimate of 32 for the two living room SH maybe a bit light. One other SH which is a 1.7kw running in the bathroom. Maybe more like 38 units for both living room SHs. One question regarding BST to GMT - how does this work? I've read radio signal but not clear if the supplier shifts the window or the radio magic is supposed to do this. Noticed last night at 11.30pm the SH was on so must be coming on an hour earlier than bst. Tarrif doesn't start till midnight - at least that's what the supplier confirmed when I asked over summer.

It's a sieve. Attic has a good 50cm. Have now insulated the hatch. Windows are wood frame DG but most panels blown and haven't been cared for maybe in the last 5 years. Frost on the inside in the kitchen in the cold snap. Uninsulated wood panelling below windows is rotting away in a couple of windows - I suspect the unheated kitchen is suffering there. No Kitchen door to living room so a heavy curtain installed to try to reduce living room heat loss as the kitchen hit 7 degrees daytime in December . No CWI but that'll be next after the windows. The optimistic take is at least there is massive room for improvement.

If I find myself awake at 5am, I'll check they are not doing any dirty business. 😃 We moved in June so no idea how they perform in April. We held our till late November before turning one, then the other on. Taking today as a mild day - the living room is still quite pleasant so I'm inclined to say it will perform well outside of extremes.

Thanks @ProDave Output we never increase. Even when they start to cool there's no noticeable difference when that changed. Could be too late in the day as if I'm not working at home, it's 8pm before I get home and they are already tepid. Across the grill the output seems OK and uniform until later in the day when the heat centralises. We have that floor level pool of cold air but thankfully the recent addition of underfloor insulation seems to have improved that from baltic air to cooler. Small steps... New windows (hopefully this month or early next) followed by CWI will hopefully improve further and I can start to get a handle on heat loss /heat requirements before I consider any change to heating system.

Bit of background - moved into a fixer-upper in June. Electric only and heating provided by storage heaters all of which are between 20 and 30 years old and I think are functioning OK. Was mentioned in another thread by @SteamyTea that there may be an issue with sizing or elements gone pop but i'm now curious about what performance is normal and if my SH have an issue or are just undersized for cold spells (in a poorly insulated property). Over the cold snap we needed to top up heat pretty early in the evening after running out of layers to put on as temps dropped down around 14 in the living room. Today with temps between 5 and 9 the living room is floating around the 18 degree mark at 9pm which is quite nice really. The two living room SHs are 3.4kw (24 brick models). With the input maxed and the output set to min, they're tepid by 6 / 7pm so looking at around 12 ish hours heat release when the temps aren't below 0. I have to say I assumed this was normal. 9am this morning (2 hours after the eco 7 clicked off), the top panel above the grill of both SHs was piping hot - too hot to touch. The outsides of the same top panel were hot but you could keep your hand on it. Again I thought it would be normal to lose heat from the outside 1st? One is mounted on an external facing wall so I assume it's doing a rare job of heating the empty cavity wall. The other is on a partition wall which warms the bedroom cupboard on the opposite side. I don't have hourly usage but comparing our late summer electricity use with winter and assuming our water tank is using more to heat from lower temps, I've come up with a bit of a rough estimate of 32 KwH each night for the two living room SH (room size 6.2mx5.9mx2.9xm). I'm thinking poor positioning and poor insulation is the reason they don't perform well in lower temps but I have nothing to back that up. Any insight from other SH users would be helpful.

Will need to check even temps in the morning. By early evening any remaining heat is comes from the center of the grill. No actuals for consumption - something I need to try to get a measure of. DHW and intermittent dishwasher /washing machine use on the night rate coupled with poor usage data breakdown from supplier app for eco 7 make it a little fiddly to work out. I'll drop something into a new thread when I've got some numbers.

Input set to max. Output set to low. By 6pm its tepid and changing output doesn't make any difference. 30 + year old ones just can't retain / release much past 10 hours. The more modern (maybe 20 year old) bathroom one manages a few more hours. If they didn't exist we'd have to pay a heafty bill for running heaters on peak pricing! Probably cheaper in a Premier Inn that running those over the recent cold snap. I'd probably have made a hasty uninformed decision to upgrade to high retention or ashp by now. For now they'll see us through till we get CWI and new windows and then I can reassess.