Nickfromwales

When the garden needs watering, the tank will be empty. When the tanks full, it’s because it’s raining……on the garden. Same argument about using PV to run the heat pump for heating in the winter. Both = 👎. If you can fit a huge ( 10,000L ) tank to catch every single drop of rain then I’d say you’d be in with a chance, but a system that flushes the WC’s and washing machine will also have a cold mains fill valve to keep the head of water a minimum of 100mm above the pump inlet, so once you get down to 1000L in a 5000L tank you’ll be back to using fresh water eg a 5000L tank is a more closer to a 4000L useful capacity. When the pump snuffs it you’ll be back to a break even of 20+ years. Add to that the electricity to run the pump all the time your flushing loo’s / watering gardens / washing cars etc and the maths ( and longevity ) go negative. Spend the money on something that will give you enjoyment, like lots more solar PV, so you can wave a smug and satisfying 2 fingers at the big 6. ✌️

I heard the all sat near grandads tongue whilst he sucked an extra strong mint…..

As peter says, the C-clip collars need to be fitted to JG Speedfit to have a fully correct and warranty-able installation. No plumbers bother because most push fit kings are lazy bastards. I’ve seen the collars used in probably 5% of installs I’ve come across. Add to that the issue that a lot only part tighten the fittings and it’s a worry for sure. JG Speedfit made an exceptionally poor fitting with the huge flaw of it eventually untwisted all by itself. Hep2O is just night and day better, and just as available these days as screwfix and CPS carry stock. You absolutist must shadow these guys when on site opening this up. Do not leave their side, and tell them of your concerns before they start opening up to access the fault. Tell them you want a full and satisfactory answer for what has gone wrong. As a plumber of 30 years I can tell you I have had my share of issues / leaks etc, and any plumber who says they’ve never had a leak is a true bull-shitter. It’s sometimes down to a drip starting after you’ve left, or sometimes a faulty fitting. I recently had such an issue on one project. Was a failed o-ring in a Hep2o fitting, sorted in no time at all, at my expense, just one of those things. Fingers crossed this will be just a simple faux-pas and not negligence.

Move the bed 300mm closer to the desk. Give yourself some room at the side of the bath. It’s an ideal shape for a shower, but not ideal for a bath in honesty. If you must have the bath ( can’t you just give him a shower and he soaks in the master bathroom ?! ) then grab handles for getting in and out would be sensible. The risk of personal injury here is very high with your current layout. Or, rotator the bed 90 degrees across the window. Move desk over. Put bath opposite end, move that corner tight to the bed and put the WC at the end of where the bath is shown. Basin etc to best suit residual space. If you’re gaining the use of a second (?) WC by creating this room, just ask him to shower there, soak in master, and the family can use that new loo when the master is engaged. If this is under BRegs radar they may have issue with that room. You’d need to ask, or do the room ‘off the radar’ as many others have done / are doing.

Let them use the 6kW body drier you tight bastard.

Graven Hill is now just like shooting fish in a barrel. Almost mafia run now.

That, and also the pump not operating at full potential as the rotor is not fully immersed. That can also cause overheating ( kettling ) by water then spending too much time in the HeatEx. I would consider changing the overheat stat also, as it runs quite close to the normal max operational temp of the boiler. You should be able to get the as-new resistance reading from the manufacturer to allow you to compare what you have, eg before removal. A decent plumber is always a help when trouble finding. Found 2 young guns about to remove a perfectly good WB boiler in a pensioners flat as they failed to diagnose a £6 flow switch part had failed...... They had quoted £800 labour plus the new boiler costs. Jeez!

Are you absolutely sure you cannot go strip founds and infill between with insulated slabs, eg thus negating the B&B floor altogether?

AS we have extended periods of shitty winter weather, it is very much a good strategy to install ( over install ) for some decent revenue when the heating is running, based on an estimated max solar revenue of 25% of the installed kWp of solar panels. This 12kWp array would be a sub 3kWp array in the winter, a 4kWp less than 1000w. There is a lot of sense to this approach imho, and even more so if you have an EV which can trickle charge from an EV charger during the day as 'the battery'. Needs more thought and sense-checking, especially with the forecast of rapidly rising energy costs. PV and additional batteries for me, but I've decided to sell the battery system I had earmarked, due to an offer I couldn't refuse, and now I will go with an AGM setup instead, due to the much higher bang for the buck, and am awaiting conformation of delivery times for a 24kWh bank. AGM also reasonably unaffected by the Lithium issues of late, other than prices now creeping up in the background. Tesla Powerwalls will not reach new owners doorsteps for well over a year, and they will likely only fill 6 out of 10 orders.

Unless you had a decent size battery bank?

Could be the pump starting to fail, but not just stopping all together. Have you checked the automatic air vent is not blocked also, and that air is not getting trapped in the main HeatEx?

Why not heat the cylinder fully from a ToU tariff such as Octopus Go overnight, via the HP, and then pump any excess during the day into the immersion to hyper-inflate the energy storage capability of the UVC. Nighttime charge to 50oC then reduced by whatever was collected during the day, with the boost from the immersion going as high as 70-80oC. You will get the better CoP with running the HP, but only at the lower temp plus you'll be cycling the HP on and off with the pockets of solar gain, which it will NOT thank you for. Once you calculate the wear and tear on the HP, PLUS those attributed losse of getting all of the HP components up to temp for each event, same with all of the interconnecting pipework etc, eg before it collectively then delivers premium temp hot water to give the stated recovery times, .......then the immersion route soon becomes a more attractive choice afaic.

I wouldn't do it any other way. Check gumtree etc for damaged / seconds 8x4 plywood, OR cover in Egger and reclaim it for the 1st floor installation ( keeping them as tidy as you can of course by temporarily fitting them upside down ). Basically, I'd find any way to make this happen. It goes underneath the beams too. Check out the Youtube videos from the company. HUGE improvement on a regular B&B floor. The 150mm goes atop the then-insulated beams.

Read what the man wrote people!!!!! Yes, every damn thing needs attention. Miss a couple of pipes / leaky mortar joints / etc and you are still going to lose huge percentages of the significant benefits of installing MVHR. During an airtightness test you can even hear the air whistling through a hole made by a screw having been driven in and removed, so every minute detail need addressing......"in for a penny, in for a pound" I'm afraid. You'll need to take the house back to its skeletal form to do this as well as it'll need doing. If you can only get halfway done, don't bother starting is the blunt, but honest answer.

yes, there are a couple out there who profess to be "eco" / "green" etc, but sadly the more I see, the more I get frustrated.

AFAIC there is only a downside to NOT doing the Beamshield. Another member offered up a link to a similar product, but that one did not go underslung as well as infill in between the beams as the Beamshield product does. Utter no-brainer with B&B as it is a huge lift in spec / performance and the mechanical handling is vastly minimised. Why buy cold bridging blocks when you can replace it with insulation?!

2002 should have been under the BRegs radar, yes, but assume at your peril! I’ve done exactly as you’re doing for a client who did not want to pay for excavations / removals / new concrete. Apart from the losses of a possibly non / not very well insulated slab, it worked quite well. That section ( about 20m2 in that instance ) just took a bit longer to heat up than the new extended area. The advice will always be not to router them in to your floor, but in absolute real world honesty, and if you can accept a bit higher running costs, you can carry on and do this if it saves you a chunk of cash. Not ideal, but sometimes life isn’t ideal, so go make the best lemonade you can out of your wonky lemon lol.

CVC systems Ltd have supplied, and sometimes installed, for the majority of my M&E clients builds. Very good service and after sales support tbh.

I can’t believe how long it took him to jump on it 🤣.

I’ll get right onto it 😎.

It may feel like a pita now, but if those pipes rise during screening you’ll be in a totally irrecoverable world of pain. Trust us on this one Do you have a screed company organised? My guy is absolutely mustard and travels. When they’re done you can paint it green and get the snooker balls out. 👌. He’s laid floors for other folk here. If you want his details, send me a PM.

I’d rather not have all the air pockets / voids / weaker reduced qty of screed caused by the castellated trays. These are the last option reserved for true DIYers ( to ease the install ).

That you can carry on a pickup truck so less annoyance of the neighbours also, with not having to get so many palletised block deliveries in

If you’re stuck with B&B, then do yourself a HUGE favour and install Beamsheild / other instead of the concrete blocks!! B&B founds are the anti-Christ imo, and the last thing I’d ever want is a sub-zero hoolie blowing under my heated slab in the winter.

Screed will get under the pipes as it’s being laid, even with sand and cement “traditional” screeds, and they will lift to the surface. You have one single shot at getting this sorted and if you do not take it, more fool you I’m sorry. I’m with Russell, rip the lot out and staple down with a few thousand staples. If you do this strategically you can leave the pipe down and slide the trays out. Do it section by sections and it won’t get out of hand. If you do not want to remove the trays then you will need to go to 15-16mm nail clips with the nails pulled out and replaced with No.3.5x35mm screws AFAIC as the plastic staples will not push through the plastic trays. Is this Perez-al-pert pipe, or JG speedfit / Uponor / other non lay-flat pipe? Was it like a spring coming off the decoiler? Sort this NOW or you’ll live to regret it.