Nickfromwales

I would have assumed that 'good' groundworkers would be able to pour that split-level slab with a 4-500mm step in it, in one hit, by managing slump and shuttering it to suit. Have you spoken to any preferred contractors about this yet? Has your architect dealt with the sloping floor of the garage, to cope with fuel spills, or another method such as a bund (reduced floor level) to meet compliance at the wall party to the residence? Any part that is subterranean will need to be waterproof concrete and tanked externally, but 4-500mm is not a huge issue. Are you using ICF? That would make this a lot easier to do tbh.

The pump should be PWM and be controlled by the heat pump to match duty. It should come on at higher output when the return temp is low, and start to dial down as demand gets lower / return temp increases. I know that with Stiebel Eltron (external pump and controls) you need to set this during commissioning. One we installed hadn’t been commissioned properly (agent missed a setting by mistake) and this meant the main circulation pump was just going flat out; this didn’t allow an opportunity for any heat to amass and then the HP locked out after 10 mins or so (assuming compressor failure). I’m not familiar with all HP’s (so just FYI) so you can ask the question.

If they’re exposed then yes, but if they’re enclosed by a layer of standard plasterboard (which has been plastered) then they need zero extra protection. If you can ‘see’ a steel so can an open flame, that is what you protect a 1 or 2-storey dwelling against, 3-storey will come with its own prescribed methodology by your various professionals. A “single compartment dwelling” has even fewer requirements, no need for FR spots or other usual stuff; SCD’s have open-plan hall / stairs / landing, and usually the architect will have specified escape windows to all FF habitable rooms. Pointless for a steel beam to be in tip top condition when everyone in the building has already either died from smoke inhalation or been roasted, FR are there primarily for preservation of life not property. 3-storey dwellings do require the property to remain structurally intact for rescue to be made, hence the extended timescales for fire resistance / protection of the build fabric, plus fire doors etc. This also assumes jumping from a 3rd storey window wouldn’t be practical.

Yup. lol. One of those “measure twice” moments. 😜. Could be worse, so not the end of the world 😊

Let them fit the 28mm throughout, as even a 300L cylinder has 1” BSP to 28mm connections so why not use them and have full use of the coil? It’ll perform better so where’s the harm. If it’s a smaller cylinder with factory 3/4” / 22mm connections then I’d challenge.

Yup. Switch off the OCD if you want this type of floor, and it’ll all pan out just fine. Did about 45m2 for my next door neighbour (reclaimed) and once sanded, then filled with PVA and the sawdust as a filler, and then treated, it looked really good (and as it should). Not perfect, but perfectly acceptable. If you’re an OCD freak, use something else. Did my brain in tbh, so I just switched off and cracked on.

lol. Let’s all stay up and fight 😁.

Long story short; PV is a no brainier, matched to export as little as possible (get near to 100% self consumption), and batteries need thought and effort for them to be decided upon as ‘beneficial’. Each case is unique, so no copy / cut / paste.

My ICF chap travels wherever, the caveat is you have to pay the expenses / accommodation costs but they’re a good bunch and are very proficient with raft / ICF / modern build methods so most agree it’s a “hidden value” which they accept. They do the groundwork’s for me too if I ask nicely lol. 🍻

Yup, sounds like the pump is on full wallop and hasn’t been commissioned to dial it back to a lower speed setting.

Yes, sorry, when I said drain down I just meant turn off mains, open all taps fully until nothing comes out, then you’re ’drained down’. Cylinder will remain full.

Can be the case, aka commissioning debris. If you search on YouTube you should see how to strip / clean / reassemble the PRedV. Quick and easy, just unscrew the body from the valve to expose the gauze filter. Note, turning the water off and draining down via a tap would be ‘advantageous’ in terms of staying dry. Have an old beach towel to hand to deal with a bit of residual water in the local pipe and valve itself.

Yup. Near to zero issue in real life with a decent performance house and a decent slab / emitter. Any movement we’ve anticipated has been mitigated with flexible tile adhesives, but still 1mm or so max over same distances, or less. As the slab and coverings heat up over time they tend to live together too, more relevant for porcelain / ceramics etc, so we don’t even put expansion / relief joints in any more. Very different for thinner screeds as these are a bit more on/off ‘able and will perform differently I expect. How much more differently is down to flow temp and circumstances tbh. We usually do 25-50mm PIR up stands plus the crappy expansion skirting; fitted only really to cover my arse as I work for 3rd parties.

Interesting! I was really put off by the MI’s, and frustrating to hear as my electric meter glows in the dark during winter…… Maybe I’ll review again, thanks for the feedback.

So, if you allowed another £3k for an installer (overheads and profit), assuming the client supplies scaffold, then you’re still in single digits. £6-7k for a ~4kwp system (commercially installed) seems about the average. People forget that with batteries, if you can’t empty them every 24 hrs then they’re oversized. You don’t bank electricity over days you should generate / shift / consume every 24 hrs.

I looked at these a lot, but, according to each manufacturers literature, the drying times were massively elongated vs a regular one, so I didn’t buy a HP one. We’re a busy family of 6 so I can’t have a large load taking 4-6 hours to dry, we’d all be walking around in the buff at that point 😝

It’s not sales talk though, or a guesstimate, it’s all done on MCS software and ROI is calculated using and export value 50% lower than you would actually get; this means (has meant) that all clients to date have reported that the systems are performing better than they anticipated thus further narrowing the time to get to break even. At 20 years break even I doubt we’d have sold a single system tbh!

New Solarwatt inverter for 1ph can be loaded up at 80-100% of it's design capacity, so bags of headroom there to add later. A few different configs, so needs the nose in the book obvs!

Oh, and good luck with the next one!!

I can PM you the details of the chap / company I just used. Was an ICF build, basement, swimming pool etc and a very complex arrangement which he dealt with very well. Ping me a PM if so.

Best advice ever.

I've been doing solar surveys for my clients for each self build, and not one of them has had a payback (breakeven / ROI) that has been more than 11 years, most are in single digits now as it's becoming a buyers market. Recently priced a big system for a hotel and they'd breakeven in year 3.9, so insane value for money.

Last 2 Panasonics I fitted were virtually inaudible tbf, and the 2 Stiebel Eltrons we did even more so. Design is paramount so these aren't running flat out, ever, so measure twice install once (and nice & quietly!). 1x S.E. client could hear the neighbours combi flue (30m away) over the unit on full chat, when heating the house for the first time and stood right next to it. 1x Panasonic client had his backing on to the neighbours waffle fence (dwarf one) and on test the neighbour asked the client if they'd hear the unit....he said "It's going full chat right now!".....she said "I can't hear it".....client replied "yup!". Happy days. There are cheap nasty ASHP's out there, and instances where they should not have been installed, so these are out there as poor examples which people fear. Minds are changing with each 'better' install, just gonna take time I guess.

If you have a local metal fabricator then you could take the brackets to them and ask them to attach (stud-weld) some 6 or 8mm studs to them, one 40mm down from the top, and one 30mm up from the bottom. Then use barrel nuts to screw onto the studs, then threaded bar (300mm long?) into those barrels to give you some length for purchase in the concrete. A good deal of type 1 or other haunching outside will hold everything in place curbing the pour, but that will require a lot of thought and preparation for prevention of any movement, and baby sitting to prevent the “oh, it’ll be fine” attitude of others who won’t realise that a few mm out is disastrous.

Yup. After 45m iirc, and if further away you must provision for the appliance to be able to drive in, in a forward gear, turn a full circle, and leave in a forward gear. If our bin man can reverse the refuse truck half a mile whilst swigging a coffe then you have to ask WTF here tbh 🤷‍♂️.