Nickfromwales

It passed the 'Harris test' mate. What more do you want ? .

Spreader plates vs biscuit mix. So..... Plates give a super fast warm up, but also don't retain any heat. Not a problem if your not using the floor as a buffer. Biscuit mix has to be bought, mixed, bucketed around, laid and compacted, and won't be 100% in contact with the deck. Essentially your burying a storage heater. Why ? Plates = quick, clean, cheaper than shoplifting and at least as good as ( if not better ) an emitter. If it were alu plates filled with a biscuit core then I'd stop harping on, but c'mon dave, tell me why go for biscuit mix ?

You may just get that pint after all, just not single malt .

Good luck .

Your too kind dave. I'd have said 'sack-o-shite'. .

Yup Id just batten and plate as you don't need the extra insulation. In fact, do you need any insulation in this equation at all ? Even with the data, I'll be honest, my gut is telling me to use 200kpa sheets and cover with 22mm P5 and 6mm plywood as a binder. Oh, and porcelain tiles should outlive you. We're your old tiles ceramic ?

These have far more surface contact against the deck above. Tried and tested. I'm not a fan of the one you've shown as it appears to favour emissivity to the down side. Use the 11mm layer to support rockwool strips. Use the rockwool to make the plates sit slightly distended so your deck squeezes them back down ensuring excellent surface to surface contact, essential for good heat transfer characteristics. Just been to look at a job with the plates out of contact with the deck ( P5 ) and the entire flat refusing to achieve temp. Told them the floors all need to come back up and get a decent fitter back. Flow temp was set to 60oC when I arrived !!! The insulated panels get bonded down with a spray on contact adhesive. They then need another layer bonded over that to accept tiles ( HDF iirc ) or the 400kpa aluminium which will take a tile DIRECTLY. Link

Dave. Why the 11mm layer? To hold the biscuit mix ? Q2, why the biscuit mix ? Use the 11mm OSB to support proper plates ( not that plate shown in the pic above, never seen something so weird as that before TBH ) and then just plates over a 20mm batten and then your floor covering ( 22mm finished engineered board ). For areas where your tiling you'll need 18mm OSB or P5, overlaid with 9mm ply, then primer then adhesive then tile. Where is your 47-52 allowance taken from ? After the 11mm OSB ? If tight for height, lift the 11mm layer, batten the JJI's and drop the 11mm flush with the joist tops.

To go with the vibro-massage therapy bath, powered by a bastardised electric hardcore whacker. .

@JSHarris Bromide is causing the issue in the PCM88 ( not 58, a totally different compound ) and its the bromide in the 34 that's causing concern. Note the 34 isn't actually known to be suffering or to have failed, but the 88 has failed, catastrophically, so the 34 has been pulled temporarily as a precautionary measure.

"Damn you decimal place!" Wheres @SteamyTea when you need him. Should have added the disclaimer at the bottom of that post about my shit maths skills. Oh, and the point being......WOW! on the SA lifespan.

Ah, yes. I keep forgetting you have the 'pioneer' install with the preheat. Its deffo a worthwhile endeavour to preheat if you have an ASHP, as it reduces the size and cost of the SA units significantly.

38,000 deep cycles in on the PCM58 with around 3-4% degradation. Rough calculation : 10 years x 2 full charges per 24hrs ( for eg ) = 7300 cycles. 38,000 / 7300 = 5.2 years service 5.2 years of service vs < 4% degradation to date ( statistical info from SA from their bench test unit ) = the owner of the SA will typically die before the SA does. Immersions are covered for 10 years via SA warranty. No other "moving" parts. That laughs in the face of a HP and the cost of electric is offset by the maintenance and replacement costs over the lifetime. However, lol........ When youve finished digesting that lot, its still a no brainer to use a heat pump or gas in a larger dwelling unless youve got a ridiculously sized PV array and a bank of SA units to capture every glance of the sunlight that hits it.

Beware to separate what you need for immediate use, and what capacity you would require if 'charging' from PV or other 'short yield' energy sources like E10. Charging / storing is where the SA units excels, but as they're a substantial capital investment you really need to size accordingly. If you have an ASHP then why would you need to store anything for space heating, discounting DHW, plus a bit on top for DHW pre-heat? If this was all being charged off a huge PV array with short windows of yield then fair enough, but as you'll be able to match or exceed losses with the HP then the issue is greatly minimised. HP runs off PV so winner winner, and excess PV heats a PCM58 for DHW, with pre-heated water fed by the PCM34 buffer. Only problem is theres still no news on the PCM34 coming back to the market. @AndyT, any update ? The good news is that after a recent chat with AndyT, I can report that the 9kW SA units DHW capacity is boosted by over double when fed by preheated water at 38-40oC, so a HUGE increase in capacity plus the brunt of DHW can be provided by the buffer temp water from the ASHP. So when theres enough PV for DHW but perhaps not enough to charge both the 58 and 34 cells, the ASHP can deliver with excellent CoP. I would seriously have to look at why I was spending on an ASHP ( and then paying to babysit it forever ) and not on masses of DIY PV and going all electric, as then you have a near zero maintenance 30 year solution that operates by pressing a button.......occasionally.

Its being pumped underground to his rentals as drinking water to offset the rates

Agreed. The SA cooler units are, iirc, 6 / 9 / 12kW or thereabouts before the loss of the HP, so I think a freezer based design may be ok for a room, but whole of house will just inundate it and run it to an early grave. If you live near a recycling centre it may be ok as you'll have a good source of replacement freezers . Not the way I'd envisage a modern solution to look I wonder how much heat the unit would give off whilst 'cooling' ?

We fitted a laser cut aluminium roof on the back end of a cruise liner, and the steel / stainless and Aluminium were all kept 3mm apart with nylon or rubber bushings. That'll last decades now, but would have lasted a few years without such separation. This thread is of extreme value, as I, for one, didn't know about the anode !!! Thank you @RLightbown for your feedback, and a shame your in the situation you are. Have you any alternate solutions to escape the circle of maintenance / cost / repair ? @JSHarris, it seems utter madness to save the few £ with the Alu components given the cost of manufacturing the boss for the anode and the cost of the anode. This is a serious design FU and so easily avoidable. I shall now go and check the component makeup of the Genevex 185 as I am considering specifying one for an ongoing project. "It was all going so well...."

@AliG I like the way the light comes off that chandelier, you know, in a manly way of course. Keeps reminding you that spotlights are a second option.

Rainwater stuff is push together, you can glue if you really wanted to but if supported and clipped properly / sufficiently then shouldn't need it. Have the IC at the very end of the 4' ( 110mm ) run, then at the downpipes end you want a correctly coloured ( lets say black for eg, to match the colour scheme on show ) 110mm 90o bend to take you from horizontal to vertical, then an straight inspection coupling, and then a rainwater to 110mm connector. You can then rod from the downpipes side to clear obstructions there, and rod the 4" horizontal from the IC. You could do away with the IC the other end if you can get another 110mm inspection branch / coupling at the end of the run where it changes direction.

Wet board adhesive may promote early corrosion of the metal, even though it's galv. Foam for me

@BuildHub blog please.

Only ever going to be occupied by 2? In fairness I think they've allowed for the capacity of the house rather than your needs. What's the max ventilation and heat loss per day for -10oC outside ?

Is the condensate neutral? No issue with just a drip pipe to outside ?

Agree, that's a bargain. A shitty in-room one second hand was coming in at around £150 for anything half decent. Then you've got to vent the hot waste air to outside. Between 1 and 1.2kW electrical consumption whether heating or cooling. Thats a no brainer. Would there be an issue running this in a small attic room ? Super dry air etc ? I assume the fan speed is controllable to match the requirements of the room.

Sunamp are, I believe, going to release a unit with an integral mini heat pump which stores 'cold' rather than hot heat energy. I'm currently awaiting some further detail so I can recommend / integrate them, but if you've got PV and no ability to trench for geothermal loops or have an ASHP ( which I think is exactly @divorcingjack's situation ) then this seems a good product to look at. Basically when the suns shining your cooling, but the same can be said about a split air con unit. The only benefit of wet cooling via the UFH is no breeze and no stale air. Also I'm not sure about how MVHR and air con would live together. @JSHarris, could the air con unit feed to a heat exchanger in the MVHR ductwork as a pre / post cooler ?