Nickfromwales

Now I’ve seen this, the architect is appearing to be another self-perpetuating over inflator, as this is just soooooo simple and straightforward. Local, reputable builder will do this with one eye closed. M&E??? “Where would you like the 3x switches and 3x sockets, sir?” 🤦‍♂️. Get a set of construction drawings, A3 for your reference, and laminated A2 for site / contractors use, and sit with the builder to go through every stitch of the detail (when vetting builders) and see what they spot, comment on, and how engaged they are. Then, when you’ve decided on ‘the one’ you need to go and see their previous work, in person, and possibly align so its the right time of day to speak to them face to face to see if it all went well etc.

Tell him to (expletive deleted) off. I think you need to remind him you're paying the bills and it’s your house. The tail doesn’t wag the dog!!! Agree to pay him the downtime as an extra, an hour or two at his 10hr day divided by 10 x 2hrs, and take control of how this gets laid. Will the replacement 20% be the same batch / variant? If not guaranteed, then they need throwing in here and there to camouflage them.

I could show some pics of installs, ducting like tumble drier hose, held up (strangled) with cable ties, and other such very 1st year apprentice stuff. Looked like fed up teenagers fitted it as part of community service. Just worse than bread & butter stuff, and failures of whole house systems which needed total gut out by replacement suppliers and installers. As said, avoid. Or don’t.

Note: At those depths WRAS regs would bother me a lot more; they want a duct so the pipes can be withdrawn / replaced. I’m happy running pipes above a constructional, uninsulated slab, in standard pipe insulation, but this is a bit extreme for installing domestic pipework, naked, imo.

Geothermal heat / mass doesn’t swing temps below ground like it does in the frost layer (0-300mm iirc) at ground level. That’s how GSHP’s can give heat out when there’s snow on the ground.

That’s mostly just down to using good quality thermostatic showers vs ‘manual’ mixers. Decent ones will work with quite erratic flows and temps, so I always advise my clients to spend some money on such daily drivers.

So never subject to / at risk from freezing at all. Did you sleeve them?

Bundle up these fees and use that to bolster your actual build budget with the best General Builder you can find. They'll have a good electrician and a good plumber, and you'll get a good enough "M&E" experience with those guys being promised the work. It's not rocket science to add a few circuits for electrics, and run some extra pipes off existing for plumbing, tbh. Builder should become Principal Contractor, and be responsible for CDM2015 (if it becomes applicable) and the architect can remain as PD and just provide hourly paid support in isolation, if so needed.

Was on a job where a Norrsken slider just went pop, months after it was installed. It was either the middle or outer pane iirc, but we were all the other end of the room chatting and it decided that was the day to “leave the chat”.

Yup. Or, there’s another (the primary) stopcock in the house that you aren’t aware of.

Yup. Stopcock is the boss of all hot and cold now most prob, meaning you don’t (shouldn’t) need to go outside to turn off the rising main. Turn the stopcock off, and open the kitchen hot and cold taps until they run dry. Then, go around opening and closing every other hot and cold outlet in the house, plus flush all toilets and check they’re not refilling, to prove the stopcock is your master water shut off. Give that a whizz and reply back here with the results.

? Erm, no. A £10-£15 switch which you press your finger against, very occasionally, to select ON or OFF, is the most simple, easy, cost effective solution. Smart switching very high current loads would require contactors and more kit / palaver.

Is this a gravity hot water system? Or have you had a combi boiler conversion?

That’s Donald Ducked….

Yes. Its potable water, typically coming from a stainless steel (ergo food grade) vessel. I often fill the kettle with hot water from my combi boiler, if I know it’s getting filled right up. Doubt it saves money but defo boils in less than half the time which is handy.