Nickfromwales

My opinion of late, is fcuk the DNO and the indignity of going on bender knee to them to “ask permission” to put a wedge of PV on my ( or your own ) home. They can bite my shiny metal ass afaic. I am going with hybrid inverters, ( plural ), zero export, non MCS ( as the payments are an insult ), and going nuts with battery storage. G100 compliant equipment has been chosen of course, so at the most I need the DNO to come visit to do a “witness visit” to confirm that my equipment does NOT export anything whatsoever. Their choice, not mine. I’m fitting panels everywhere so I can get as close to zero import as is possible. I don’t have to worry about how many kWp I’m fitting, as I do not ( will not ) need permission with everything loaded on the D/C side plus zero export limitation. Anyone worrying over what the current or future export payment value is / will be has seriously lost track of what they set out to do. Who cares about what the export value is, as you should be reducing that to a minuscule amount or less.

I wanted to both ‘thank’ and ‘like’ your post, but could only choose one lol. Cheers. My apologies. I am often trying to post in the few sporadic pockets between the chaos of running a business and bring a dad to 4 sprogs. Often I lack total clarity. So; 4kWp in the winter will produce 25% of that ( so 1kWp ) OR LESS, during winter, all the way down to zilch. I have prospective clients who ask about running central heating during winter by pushing PV output into an ASHP. I ask them what they see when they go outside snd look upwards in December and January. They say “oh, yes, grey clouds” eg zero sun, zero ( excess grade ) solar revenue from the ( fictitious ) man upstairs. I am stating that you WON’T get as much as 25%

If you have a steady hand you could easily cut it out. Multi tool online for £40 odd and upwards. Do you have a handyman? We could talk you through what needs doing no probs and it’s not rocket science.

Do you have / can you get spare tiles? You can cut the tile tight to the chrome, TC blade in a multi tool and no beer the night before, and insert a new tile and reseal the vertical with silicone. Easy enough. The integrity of the plasterboard will decide if it turns into a pig of a job or not, as the tile may wish to take the plasterboard with it. Mr.Magic iirc specialises in these types of cosmetic repairs, but whatever you do to repair it will need to be robust as water will suck into that crack like fury.

I do it. As long as you’re not blasting the stuff over riven tiles / porous substrates where cleaning it back is a bitch, then you’ll be fine. I vary rarely use silicone these days.

I would only rebate if it was into solid wood. The engineered composite, veneered tops may be ok as the core is usually a cheaper sacrificial wood block, but solid wood that is treated is way more resilient and would be the better outcome afaic. I install for clients, so always go a bit more belt and braces.

Tacking down wayward slates most probably. Often get those few stubborn bastards which refuse to play nicely.

The ever build Stixall is the only adhesive / sealant that Mermaid would let me use with their shower panels, for both bonding and sealing. That stays perfect.

Absolutely forget routing that into a chipboard / laminate worktop….suicide mission. Would work with a wood top, but don’t router so deep is my opinion, just keep skimming and trying the fit until it’s 1-2mm under flush. Then seal it in.

This is the same stuff as is in the CT1 tube, I’m sure of it.

Solarwatt are stating 12 - 18 months atm from the last 'newsflash'. At least their honest!!

I did start to investigate what a pair of 7.5kW solar thermal arrays would do for the client I mentioned above ( uncovered outdoor used prob 9 months of the year ) but I think a load of solar PV into a HP, plus overnight top-up on a cheap rate ToU tariff would be the most maintenance free, universal and efficient solution. They were burning through £6k of gas a year 6 years or more ago for the pool and a relatively modest house ( with huge grounds ).

The reality is closer to 12-15, and for some they'll likely just be told at the 9 month anniversary that the order cant be fulfilled and drop them altogether.

50mm of screed is very little if this is to be a low energy dwelling. To take advantage of different types of energy consumption and to maximise efficiencies, I am always an advocate of a bigger slab so you can store slow release heat energy in it. I would dial back the type 1 to 150mm depending on how much you 'need', reduce the sand blinding layer to 20-30mm, install a sacrificial 25mm EPS layer atop the sand, and then the DPM. That would allow you to get closer to 80-90mm of screed which will then act more like a storage heater than a radiator. In absolute honesty, I would flip the whole lot on its head if it were my place, and have the 150mm of concrete as my heated ( and cooled ) slab with the insulation atop the type 1.

Yup. JG Speedfit is just too flawed and multi-faceted in is installation to make anyone who knows about the alternatives to want to use it. B&Q posse love it lol.

Yup. A sizeable investment would be required for this instance, and would still likely be the best of compromises. It will work, just not as efficiently ( cost effectively ) as conventional radiators.

Yes. My ramblings are based on your wish to add to the system. So, as per my previous ( and that of others ) timing appliances to run strategically ( most washing machines and dishwashers have delay timers these days ) and utilising the existing array to the max would be the way forward for getting all the export dialled down. Also seriously consider the installation of an UVC for DHW ( direct to bathing or as pre-heated water to the combi inlet ) which would be a good option for you to get the hot water for free for a lot of the year, dropping you on demand gas consumption for one, but also, dependant on the size of the cylinder, would provide you with somewhere you could install a second immersion to act as an energy dump when the batteries are full. I've yet to get answers to questions about possibly using a FiT systems export to power a battery charger for the batteries on the hybrid side via an diversion controller. One of my wackier ideas, but I'm always thinking what can be done that hasn't been done before.

In addition to, not in place of Compliance, as in you are using a recognised piece of equipment that the manufacturer has indicated can be G99 ( G100 ) registered / recognised / compliant. Not done this myself, yet, but as I have just ordered a load of my own kit for my zero-export install I have been power reading all of the solar / off-griddy forums where the inverter I want to use is mentioned, and has been accepted by the DNO repeatedly in the exact same circumstances. I wouldn't state things here if they couldn't be done.

Sorry, but not my experience directly. Simply what I saw, heard and witnessed directly whilst on a clients build. The issues with Velox run way further, and the builders who were tasked with this build were some of the most skilled and competent builders and joiners I've had the pleasure of working with for quite some time. They were constantly suffering with, and engineering solutions to the problems with that product / system. Even boards braced down to as little as 400 OC were breaking and blowing out. Maybe OK for someone building with it time after time, but a one-off would be an expensive baptism....

No need to go crazy. Assuming you have a 110m AAV or an SVP for the rising foul stack, the 2 anti-vac basin traps will be all you need here. The horizontal breaks in the run, coupled with the 50mm pipe, will be all the air break you'll need. Trust me, I'm a pipe doctor

They're a way off for availability atm anyways.

23.5 total on 1ph! You were lucky there me thinks

A combi cannot deliver heating and hot water at the same time. It has an internal diverter which chooses either one. DHW ( domestic hot water ) takes priority, so if you turn the heating on at 07:00 and get up, and 3 people take a 10 min shower each, the heating will be off, and the house remain cold, for that 30 plus minute period. As you'll already be inside the 'insulated envelope', you wont need the insulation on the 1st floor, quite the opposite. A product with largely bogus claims. Every mass builder would be going for this if it was any good. Pile of crap i'm afraid.

OK, obviously my advice is for when you go for the service alteration, assuming you then wouldn't want both. TBH if you use the old hoover technique and some fishing line you can suck yourself a new draw wire in with ease.

Not quite, more a statement of compliance as at that stage you'll be non MCS ( so no export payment eligibility ) and setting the hybrid inverter / declaring ZERO export At the most the DNO will ask a representative to attend and witness the zero export limitation in practice and sign you off. What you do after that will be of ( ahem ) zero interest to them. You could have 50kWp of solar and 50kWh of battery, they would not care one jot as it would all be on the D/C side.