Nickfromwales

Looking at specifying BeamShield EPS ( which replaces the breeze blocks ) so a discernible risk of rapid fire spread if anything got 'under'. As it's a clients build, I have to be belt n braces on diligence. I wonder if terminating into an up-turned fire box would be an OK solution, eg so the air is sucked up like a hoover and anything ejected would sit under it. Maybe over-thinking this, so perhaps just a piece of duct 1200mm long would be more than suffice as anything problematic would just sit in the 'rest' bend.

Seriously unimpressed with their detailing for the seals on the double ( aka french ) doors. Sliders appear OK, windows too.

Back to under-slung it is then Lets discuss!!

Can you not do dog-legs with this system. The one I'm reviewing for a client needs 2x change of direction to get away from the PV array on the ( nigh-on whole of the ) rear roof elevation.

EH? You wouldn't want the battery to export, and nor will it as the software prevents it iirc? Moot discussion. Er, that's how they come delivered..... You have what you've asked for, I just don't think you realise it Some of this often gets lost in translation. Eg, your PV inverter can still export.

Thanks. Is that a coaxial / split chimney pipe? Does in increase diameter much? What kW appliance and what size flue pipe did you end up with?

OK. Another for the ducted air under the suspended floor. I take it the regs require a continuous pipe / air duct from outside the foundation / house perimeter? So, are you not allowed to just drop a dip pipe under a cold-ventilated block and beam foundation? @saveasteading ? @ProDave ?

Sorry, what did you say? Something about man......wants....rest? OK, I'm off back to bed

https://images.app.goo.gl/7HfZPexstUmTtesp9 Click on the top link to see how they should be fitted. As above, that is a "Hatchet Harry" job, fitted just after Harry found out his wife was having and affair....... Whilst hungover. Needs completely re-doing ASAP as rain will be hammering down into that void and will get into the house. Do NOT accept any bullshit about filling it with mortar. Show Harry the images and send him to the merchants. Biggest issue is if that's the crap he's left on show then what is covered up?

CT1 Multi-solve is very good for this. Yes to removing the majority with mechanical methods ( and patience ) but the Multi-solve chemically breaks remnants of silicone down and is neutral / non-aggressive, so will not tarnish most common adjoining materials.

What are the definitions of primary and secondary?

Thanks for this. A consideration for one new client so was going to be asking about this in due course. No time like the present lol. So, my question is around the risk from fire / flames going back down the air intake? Are there regs for this? Is it even a problem / consideration? If the air intake is this piddly flexi hose, how is it that this can be connected directly to the WBS and there not be a certain length of more robust flue-like pipe connected immediately? All thoughts / wisdom welcome. For my client it will be a double-sided appliance, shared between two rooms, so assume a bottom connection vs rear entry. Better maybe?

800mm in front of the unit. All other clearances are as per MI’s eg 300mm rear for fresh energy-rich air to get to the unit without issue. This particular one will have 15x200mm tanalised planks mounted vertically at 30 degrees off perpendicular, set out around 150-200mm apart. Basically a balustrade standing 1200mm high, encompassing the HP’s all 3 sides round, and set out so when viewed from the most common angle all (3) heat pumps cannot be seen, ( unless you stand more-or-less in front of them ). As far as what the HP ‘sees’ there is almost zero resistance or impact of airflow as the ‘blades’ of the timber ‘baffles’ are near perpendicular to the direction of airflow. I would not do the hit n miss ‘fence’ as the timbers will offer direct resistance and a lot of that air will get buffered back causing noise and reducing flow / affect performance of thr HP.

Looks to be just coming from the fitting, not the ‘loop’ ( pipe ). Has anyone tried simply pinching ( gently tightening ) the nut on the fitting(s) ?

Hi. Well your engineer is starting the journey on the right foot(ing) there +1 for twin-wall timber frame. A large number of my clients have built with this system and I am seriously impressed with the performance, AND how quiet the house is, eg almost void of external influences. I would like to see anyone blindfolded who could tell me they were in a brick & block ( masonry ) / ICF / Twin-walled TF built dwelling as the twin-wall system is very very solid indeed. I recommend to all my clients that they install the posi-joists at 400mm centres and not at 600mm as per most knee-jerk designers like to install at. Even with BRegs levels of allowed deflection, 600mm centres is still too "bouncy" IMHO.

For air to be extracted, the equal amount of infiltration must be allowed ( inputted ). Either from your house being a colander like mine, or through strategically positioned trickle vents ( eg in each room ).

Having just installed one for a client, I can confirm that they are VERY quiet indeed. When commissioning it I was getting frustrated with the controller as I couldn't get the thing to kick into life. Stuck my head out the front door, nothing, back and forth and so on for a good couple of hours. Then the client said "but Nick, the pipes are all hot?" I walked up to it and was met with a breeze of Baltic cold air coming from the fan, and a very faint whirr. It was indeed up and running, and had been for some time, I just genuinely couldn't hear it running from the front door. Unit was the opposite corner of the driveway at the front of the property. Client and neighbour able to have a polite conversation whilst it was running under their noses, with no mention of nuisance noise from the neighbour. Design and foresight is paramount to success here, but it would be fair to say that was in a 'low energy-highly insulated' dwelling vs what we have here. That said, it would be realistic to assume any heat pump for this ( @gdal's ) application would not be anywhere near as quiet when the depths of winter descend, so some serious thought needs to go into this decision for sure. For my current clients I have designed a "fence" which is a) a visual barrier, and b) an effective acoustic baffle, plus that promotes near-free airflow ( my design has been accepted by the manufacturer so the warranty is still good, even though it is closer to the front of the HP than the MI's would suggest is permissible ) so indeed this is a good option to 'direct' any identified nuisance sound to where it is not going to be problematic. For another, I have suggested a galv 'cage' with planters at the base, which will then become a living acoustic barrier, spaced accordingly so it can be maintained from both sides for trimming. The noisy ones have just been installed in ignorance AFAIC, and some just shouldn't have been an option at all, eg as they were simply unsuitable due to the ( expected ) unacceptable levels of noise pollution. This isn't just a client consideration, as most do not want to piss their neighbours off either. Measure twice......

Get a much smaller oil tank and a hybrid ASHP Best of both worlds. Grant Vortexair

Cleaning and preparation is the key to success. YouTube should show a few examples.

You cant, otherwise your house will turn into one of dampness, stank and mould

Put permanently-open trickle vents in the windows. Leave a letter with the tenant stating they must not be found to be closed off / blocked.

With Persimmon, you do NOT have to wait years to discover how big a sack-o-shit the house you've just bought actually is. My mate paid £300k for a 5 bed PPoS ( persimmon pile of shit ) and asked me to tile the entire ground flor for him, he was a chippy. I walked around and got to the back garden which was a swamp with some grotty soil and bricks etc mixed in. I asked why it looked like a derelict allotment and he said "turf is an optional extra.....". I chuckled and got my gear out. I went to mix up and no outside tap. I asked where it was so I could get some water....."that's an optional extra too, can you fit one for me and use that please?......." I then ran my laser throughout. The liquid screed had not been 'scrubbed' to remove the laitence, the floor in the kitchen was 13mm off from centre one way ( from the big nasty expansion joint disc'd into the floor ) and 9mm the other way ( this was the kitchen and about 5.5m wide!!!!! ). In comes the screed layers to put it right with self levelling compound, lots of it too......( mates mate did it, and NOT paid for by Persimmon btw!!! ). I get on and get done, and about halfway through a sales rep walks past and asks why I'm using the outside tap of the house next door ( that has not yet sold ). I said I just needed water as the house I was working on did not have one. She shot off, got her keys, let herself into the house next door and shut off the stopcock. I shit you not. My mate told me that the house had not sold, so each week something on the 'optional extras' list got added by Persimmon to try to make it sell. It had turf ( and an outside tap lol ). FFS. When he was bullied into giving the deposit with no notice, he was on holiday. He tried to pay over the phone / BACS etc but they told him he had to sign for the property or risk losing it. He flew home, minus his family, and asked to go into the house. The sales lady was hesitant and he had to insist. She let him in and to his horror the kitchen was in bits and loads of it missing AFTER he had paid for extra units, particular appliances etc to get their own 'tailored kitchen' installed ( which had been done and was finished ). Turns out the house directly opposite had sold, the people wouldn't close the deal if they couldn't move in by a certain date, so Persimmon raped my mates house as a donor so thy could complete the other house. Bathrooms had tiles just where water would splash, and paint everywhere else. The standard of the bathrooms was horrific. Tiles cut past where the tiler should have stopped the cut, grouted to hide it. Trims cut horridly badly, the list just went on, and on, and on, and on etc etc etc. Total and utter bell-ends, paying bad trades next to nothing to turn out sub-standard, over-priced heaps of crap. Stay well clear.

This is going to be a loooooooong night. Time for another beer

Linear wetroom tray Look at the floor, and then the grout line centre of the drain. Grout lines are rising on both axis, so he's done 1000% what I would have done. When grouted there would be very little visual reference to say that back wall was 'off-set'. Job is Tres Bien. Customer is being a dick.

A lack of abundance of any particular trade does not endorse just grabbing the nearest one and 'promoting him'. Some people know just enough to be dangerous, choose well.