Nickfromwales

It is, but I’m not sure hydraulically how thermosyphon would work in a SA with the connections at the top and the HEx downward orientated. In theory it shouldn’t be a problem as that’s how some of the early top loaded immersion coils were configured, but I’d make sure there was sufficient pipe work between the two to properly promote circulation. I do zero with thermosyphon tbh and I’ve not done a gravity DHW install for over 15 years now so I’m a bit rusty on that, and the exact / relevant criteria. I very much fear any single means of controlling that heat and would imagine it’s not a setup that SA would endorse or warranty. You could, I suppose, jump that hoop by fitting a pipe stat and a zone valve, eg one that’s normally closed / energise to open.

It'll shine, and make the grout look dark / wet in some instances. You could try a section and see by all means, and my reply was more specific to @Onoff's situation where the white grout line may have an adverse appearance vs grey ( colour matched ) silicone.

Most of it can be solved here TBH. I'm having a training day up in Scotland on the 25th, so the last of the fog should lift then ( hopefully ). To be fair, I think the various companies now bragging up their ability to provide and install SA's will all be just ringing SA technical until their phone melts. Thats a bottleneck at the moment but that should soon be resolved. I've been told they ( SA ) have recruited more staff for various key positions to get some oil onto the cogs. . SA's will indeed service heating and hot water, but its a huge calculation on sizing and unit type selection. It would indeed be heated by a wet external heat source. The criteria would be that the heat of the input water never exceeded 80oC, with an absolute of 85oC. Im not exactly sure how controllable or reliable that would be with such a coarse means of heat delivery as typically I am specifying a pumped, thermostatically blended input to maintain flow and temperature control as accurately as possible. If you overheat one of these its in the bin with no warranty claim. This is where the 'issue' lays, eg you need to have someone sense check your ideas, ( by knowing what there talking about or cross referencing your idea with SA directly ), or you fly solo and take your chances by yourself ( if your a tinkerer ).

Hence the smallest gap possible. You really need to be grouting that joint, as I do for eg, by ramming the side loaded grout float against that gap and forcing the ground in and under / behind as much as possible. Thats where water will be sitting and actively seeking to get behind the tiles, so not a good idea IMO to be just relying on the silicone / other to seal there. My practice is to use the grout, then to scrape back the gout with a plastic item that has a perfect 90o corner on it so zero grout is proud, and rely on that as the main water barrier. The coloured silicone then goes atop as the primary water 'deflector' and that can then be easily and quickly removed and re-applied when it gets tired and grotty. If the silicone is under the tiles and in the grout lines / gaps then good luck getting that out afterwards. @Onoff I think you'd be better off there doing the grout and scraping back as per the above and leave it to dry. Clean off any residue etc and get it spotless, and then apply a thin bead of grey silicone to best match the tile. Not grey CT1 btw. Treat that as a 5 year solution where it may need redoing, but tbh my bath was sealed with a cream silicone, against a travertine tile, and is still holding up like day 1. It gets the black dots of mould on it under the shower wall caddy where soap tends to not get washed away thoroughly, but a squirt of bleach cleaner gets it back to immaculate every time. Regular light cleaning / rinsing down is your friend.

Twill be a ship that stays at sea Moving swiftly on.......

Yup

Nope. The fact that it’s upside down and wrong way round marks the scribe perfectly Even if the floor was at 45o to the wall tile the markings would cut for that scribe. Been doing it that way for over a decade after watching an ‘old legend’ do it that way These days I bang my £370 Bosch laser up and cut the bottom course of tiles in first. Same principal, turn the tile upside down and back to front and then mark the laser datum line onto the tile. Cut and flip over and hey presto. “Roberts ya muvva’s bruvva guvenor”. ?

But slightly at odds with the 'green initiative' ?

And therein lays the problem. The system needs to be able to cope with the most adverse month(s) of the year, so you have choices. Put in a system that caters for the average, and then fortify with auxiliary heaters eg oil filled electric radiators ( nice looking ones ) and just use those when they're needed to give a little boost, perhaps with those just in the bedrooms for eg. a) yes possibly, as the hydraulic resistance of the SA heat exchanger would dictate the temp and flow rate that it discharged. As you be at the very upper end of the PCM58's range you may have to slow the flow to maintain a high flow temp, or fit 2 units in parallel. FYI the eHeat units for space heating only ( typically ) have 2 x heat exchangers so can handle more flow by paralleling the input and output of the two exchangers ( therefore nearly doubling the flow rate ). b) not quite for flow, more to be able to input multiples of 3kW until you achieve equilibrium.

There is an easier way ( imo ). You just said it. Sit it on the floor facing the wall eg face edge not showing, then mark the top either side ( less the thickness of a grout line ), cut and try it in place.

I'll sort it for 8 cans of full strength lager. Simples. I constantly hear of MBC's willingness to just sort whatever issue(s) have arisen. Hats off to the teams, collectively, for removing any headaches this could have caused you. Onwards, and upwards!

Leave a gap about a credit card thickness or so, eg just enough to get some grout rammed under. The CT1 goes over the grout

Exactly. If you haven't done a w/m2 calculation to ascertain the floor temp required to keep the rooms at ~21oC then your cart is in front of the horse What thickness is the slab, and how much insulation is under it? These are all factors which will influence how the slab behaves. A pump and blender set like this one is what you'll need. Ask for the 20-60oC thermo head to be supplied with it. Pump option B or C. Forget the floor probe as your biggest worry should be where sunlight is directly concentrated onto the flooring on a sunny summers day. That will routinely see the floor temps get very high if the colour of the floor is mid to dark, however using the UFH pump to just circulate the UFH water around ( a-la @JSHarris setup and a few others ) on sunny days will help to control 'hot-spots'. Well worth checking out other glue types as stated above.

Hi and welcome. Any ideas on heating and hot water yet? Start a new thread for each of the many disciplines when your ready, or feel free to blow the dust off any existing threads that you find relevant. Get to work on your architect, and, if you get any friction, get a new architect

Looking good. Dont stand still for too long or they'll tie you into the slab Get some tape on the open ends of the UFH pipes asap, and slide down some 25mm wall 15mm pipe insulation so you have some wiggle room for when the manifold is to be connected. Have the insulation about 300mm below slab level and about 200mm left showing above.

Hi. You'll find all the dimensional details here. Scroll down until you get to 'rest bends'

Of course not. I will though, when my arse gets to meet my chair. ?

With a suitably sized SA unit you won’t need the pre heat tbh. You’ll only need the preheat if you go for a small SA unit. There is merit if you need a buffer anyhow but you could easily get 6kW of space heating from 2x SA units with a 3kW immersion in each. They could be beefed up to do both space heating and DHW with change from the ASHP + buffer etc option tbh but your driving off grid or Eco7/10 then ( unless you’ve got PV ). ASHP can be useful for cooling though so needs a lot of thought. ?

Leave it alone, and get the ST working for DHW through the summer and use the money saved to buy the first round ?

You’ll need to increase your donation then ?

I’ve just got off the phone with peter and he says he wants to donate the money to the Thirsty Welsh Plumbers Association. Heart of gold that guy ?

Yup. Pretty impressive units imo.

Send me a Pm if your still looking ? I will refrain from posting the names / manufacturers, instead I’ll leave you do that if / when your happy to do so

The SA dPV is now live, and is aimed exclusively for direct DC injection. The ( early ) figures showed around 13% increase in efficiency due to no inverter. Yes, it’s a design which is best specified if going off grid for eg. I’ve yet to look closely at it and am apprehensive as to its appeal right now. When I now more I shall update with pros / cons. For now, I can’t recommend enough producing 240v AC and using it wherever it’s needed. However, if you fit a DC system and go for SA plus battery storage you may lift your efficiency overall by up to 30%. As I said, it’s a design consideration with serious number crunching needing doing way in advance.

Exactly the ethos I’ve been applying to some installs, eg over size at the outset to take full advantage of PV when available and still have heat energy stored and available for when it’s not. This wouldn’t be possible with a traditional UVC or TS because the standing losses would be significantly higher. The PCM will probably outlive it’s owner tbh, given the data available.