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Everything posted by Nickfromwales
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SIPS or ICF
Nickfromwales replied to jimmy_stocks's topic in Energy Efficient & Sustainable Design Concepts
Then it will be a terrible benchmark and not apples for apples. Here people are mostly self / new building for themselves, developers cut any and every corner to make a fast buck. Even the "good" ones are not great. Premium is just the price the buyers paid for dwellings which were likely a load of shart. -
The only reason I'd fit a hybrid basically, otherwise it would be a correctly sized and appropriately installed HP
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Water Softener recs for maximising flow rate
Nickfromwales replied to Adam2's topic in General Plumbing
Twin cylinder just keep soft water flowing during regeneration, whereas a single will give hard water through to the house whilst regenerating. -
Yes, my thoughts exactly. Eg heat demand goes up to the point that CoP diminishes or flatlines, so it uses fossil to compensate. I'm just curious to know how comprehensive or 'clever' the controls are, where it stands with outdoor air temp vs internal demand and what-not. Time for some annoyingly long chats with the good people at Grant. Wish me luck.
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It's such a relief that we have a father figure on here. Keeps us on the straight and narrow
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MVHR ducting routes...
Nickfromwales replied to BartW's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
Ah, yes it is. You got me lol. Also, an example of answering your own question then? Yes. Get your M&E coordinator to design everything to fit into the fabric of the build, have the steels etc pre drilled...... On my current clients MBC PH build, the in-house designers and I, plus the SE, did all this in advance. 300mm posi joists met 252mm steels, so no gap for 92mm ducts to go under ( above the ground floor ceilings ). I asked for the grade of the steel to be beefed up, and the profile reduced to 202mm. Job done. We now have 98mm under the steels which a) gives free run throughout the ground floor, and b) negated having any holes made ( bar 1x 117mm FW hole in 1x UB ). Plumbing / electrics / mist system / MVHR / and FW+WW all in without a single boxing in. Hopefully your TF company can work with you to do the same -
MVHR ducting routes...
Nickfromwales replied to BartW's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
This is an example of folk not involving an M&E early on in the build process. All of my projects have the steels Pre-drilled for MVHR and FW/WW etc and permissions in place for drilling through glulams. Can you ( have you thought to ) petition the SE to ask if you could have the steels penetrations done retrospectively? In other projects I have reduced the 92mm ducts to 25mm x 225mm rectangular ducts to get up inside the service cavities of an MBC TF and that negated a lot of unsightly boxing in. Don’t know if that can help you out with some of the runs, or maybe going from round to ‘oval’ ducts and mechanical 90o bends etc. -
Very easy if you're dull enough to put it straight down onto a dry floor and to not put it where the lowest point is and systematically work the layers back up towards the high point. @BrianCork94 Tell this guy to put more leveller down and to do half the fall starting at the lowest point. 6mm or so over ~3m should not be noticeable.
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Can a slab be too thick to have UFH pipes in it?
Nickfromwales replied to Thorfun's topic in Underfloor Heating
To protect it against EVERYTHING lol. Including the unknown. -
Can a slab be too thick to have UFH pipes in it?
Nickfromwales replied to Thorfun's topic in Underfloor Heating
Make yourself a box out of OSB / PLY, fill the inside with bubble wrap, and slide that over the manifold to keep it in one piece. -
2-pipe or 4-pipe connection to buffer tank?
Nickfromwales replied to Mr Blobby's topic in Other Heating Systems
He's a man after my own heart. I would deffo divert to a small buffer or LLH when in 'cooling mode' instead of having a big cold buffer. Should help to control potential condensation issues. I am looking at using 2x 3-port diverter valves to switch between devices per 'mode'. -
2-pipe or 4-pipe connection to buffer tank?
Nickfromwales replied to Mr Blobby's topic in Other Heating Systems
Defrost cycle simply fires up the HP pump. only, and the water from the buffer is used "in reverse" eg it is then the HP which is 'heated' by the warmed water in the buffer. Pump flow ( direction ) stays the same, as confirmed above. -
The use of hybrid HP's is to get you warm. I'm not talking about regular HP's so the argument / situations would be very different. The idea being you'd only be using the absolute minimum amount of fossil as possible, but have the opportunity to employ a HP for the shoulder months. When it gets baltic and a typical HP would then 'max out' without providing enough heat input, you employ a hybrid to get the best of both worlds; electricity based heating to a point where the SCoP is still sensible, and then fossil for when it is unavoidable. That gets homes off fossil only heating, so the CO2e will be minimised as much as is practical.
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The controls / weather comp / when the oil or gas kicks in etc is one of the main topics I wish to discuss with their Tech Support guys, ( when I get 5 mins spare!! ). Hoping for a degree of synergy on that front. In terms of when the hybrid kicks in, that will be nothing to do with prices of energy? That will be decided for you eg when the house is cold and the HP cannot get the house temp up so the burner will kick in to supplement / take over. Cost will be what whatever they will be, as you will simply need it to do whatever it needs to do, whenever it needs to do it, in order to maintain the desired internal room temps. You won't really be able to able to strategize that much tbh, so probably important to oversize the HP to make sure it does as much as it can before burning any fuel.
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I've been fitting their oil boilers for decades, never had a single failure. Very robust bits of kit. Am currently looking into their hybrid LPG and oil ASHP's for some clients builds which 'aren't quite there' in terms of airtightness / thermal detailing etc.
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2-pipe or 4-pipe connection to buffer tank?
Nickfromwales replied to Mr Blobby's topic in Other Heating Systems
The tee is "equal" so flow from the HP pump can go to either the buffer, the UFH or both at differing potentials without any issue at all. A typical CH system h as multiple tee's all the wat through the arrangement, and no problems there that a bit of balancing doesn't put to bed. -
2-pipe or 4-pipe connection to buffer tank?
Nickfromwales replied to Mr Blobby's topic in Other Heating Systems
With the 2 pipe buffer you can usually get away without the secondary circulation pump that would be required to get flow to the manifold pump. Less components and a more simplified install. I typically go 4 pipe with LLH’s and 2 pipe with buffer tanks. The arrangement you show offers both hydraulic separation and energy buffering, so I would run with exactly what you’ve drawn above. For the defrost, afaik, the check valve will not cause issue as I don’t believe the pump reverses flow for that (?) Anybody? -
Just remember to sleeve the pipe when passing through structures with a cavity, sealing the open ends of the sleeve on the side which would allow any accumulated gas in the sleeve ( in the event of damage ) to escape to atmosphere or the ventilated space.
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If it’s a ventilated void, just pull a copper pipe through and it’s perfectly fine as is.
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Underfloor Heating, how should they be filled? Biocide?
Nickfromwales replied to revelation's topic in Underfloor Heating
In that case just purge with cold mains after the manifold is fitted, as per the normal commissioning requirements, and treat with inhibitor via the magnetic filter when it has all had a 48hs leak test. The only time biocides are ever used is in GSHP slinky’s when they’ve been down for some time, and that is to stop the decay of the glycol from any possible contaminates that have ‘taken up residence’. Relax, you’re fine with a cold mains flush -
Can a slab be too thick to have UFH pipes in it?
Nickfromwales replied to Thorfun's topic in Underfloor Heating
Less stressed is best -
Can a slab be too thick to have UFH pipes in it?
Nickfromwales replied to Thorfun's topic in Underfloor Heating
JTM sell them too Carry on as you are, and this is what I did when I wanted to fill and test at slab level. I didn’t want to fit the manifold in that instance as I feared it getting damaged. If you think you can mitigate then buy the manifold now and fit it, saving the loss of the cost of the fittings -
MVHR Supply and install
Nickfromwales replied to SBMS's topic in Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR)
Each member has a profile. As do you In that profile there is a field which you can use to state your location. Buildhub CANNOT broadcast or publish members locations, or any other info they’ve decided to keep private, as that is a breach of their individual rights. If a member discloses their location, it’s at their own discretion, and NOT the discretion of Buildhub. -
Where is the kWh price heading in 2022?
Nickfromwales replied to epsilonGreedy's topic in General Self Build & DIY Discussion
‘We’ve’ had very “strong indications” regarding the near future of this market from some quite robust industry sources. We are now discounting any ToU considerations from any new ( holistic ) enquiries due to the gestation periods involved. Eg from time of enquiry to time of install is where we absolutely need to focus our diligence, so what we offer now still “does what is says on the tin” when the time of installation and commissioning arrives . -
I’ll pm you.
