Nickfromwales

Ive been called worse

Cheers. Re the kids rooms, I have a much cheaper system where I shout up the stairs and tell them to turn the lights off. I wouldn't recommend that system tbh as it's quite unreliable and gets mixed results Best alert system for the kids, if the second shout for their food has gone unanswered, is to take their Cat5 cables out of the router . They come down like a fire drill then. Unless going fully automated with an intelligent system, I'd probably only go for this radial, single point wiring downstairs. @readiescards, are you going automated ( able to blackout the house from the front door upon exit etc etc ) ?

I can just see the spin-off thread of "how to retrofit Ufh pipes into cured concrete?" Couldn't resist, sorry.

For the benefit of the uninitiated ( and me ) can you elaborate a bit please ?

Flow rates can be much slower with cheaply ones, but tbh Dave, your argument is undeniably simplistic and exactly right. That's the reason I didn't buy a £300-500 equivalent of the valve I fitted. That 3-way valve was around £80 complete This one is over £300 and I can't really see a difference. I guess I'm an inside man so can determine what's shat and what's not but with something as easy to change as a bar mixer valve, Daves logic is spot on. @ProDave, have you considered something like this which still has the fixed 150mm centred pipework and can be changed just as quick as a normal bar mixer ? Having the rainfall / rose over head spray is great.

Also it's how all the more complex folk wire their intelligent lighting systems. All lights run back to one location and switched accordingly by a multi-channel dimmer / switching pack. . If there is a bedroom, with one light and one or two switches ( wall + bedside ) then maybe overkill for that but for multiple lights in a given area ( liv / dine combined open space ) then deffo a good idea imo.

No problem whatsoever. As long as the pipe runs are kept ~ 100m ( I've run 130m without issue in less than ideal jobs and they've still been ok ) then you'll be fine. Make sure there is an automatic air vent on each manifold rail ( one on flow and another on return ) and job done. No different to the ones I've done in 2-storey houses where I've put the manifold upstairs. . You need to Uber insulate the pipes between the slab and the manifold ( anywhere where it's not in screed basically ) so if it's ever heated the heat only goes where you want, and vice versa if you ever cool to stop condensation risk ).

There's pretty much nothing which is not serviced from the front / above so very little to worry about from that POV. Manufacturers want you to buy their expensive bury-able trinkets so they make them as owner friendly as possible. Spend some money on the shower valve as it's the thing that, in fairness, gets the most use in most homes. A good manufacturer, such as Mira / Triton and upwards, will have overhaul kits or complete new parts available for the foreseeable, but I decided to keep 6 tiles back so if mine ( £80 odd off eBay ) ever snuffs it I can whip 2 tiles off and change the whole thing in a weekend. I absolutely did not want a tap / spout on my bath so am happy to accept the possiblity of having to change it in 5 - 10 years, but tbh, I may just go back on eBay and buy another to keep so I have spares. Mine has had a pounding and is a temp + diverter + flow control 3-way jobbie, and is going strong after 2 years of hard use.

If you have the opportunity to come up from underneath in a straight line to the outlet, the. No.1 error here was bringing the pipes horizontally through such small battens. I'd avoid that like the plague and I can't see why that can't be avoided if youve got 1st fix going in to a new build. No.2 error was the plasterboard guys not marking the location of the pipe so as to avoid putting a screw through it. I mark the height from the floor to the pipes and write that on the batten with a sharpie, then take a photo on the phone. Very handy as a reference tool for fixing things later down the line eg after tiling etc when you can't remember where any pipes / cables are ?

Hi and welcome. Please keep the questions in the relevant topics where possible so folk can find comments / reply with ease .

In and out at the bottom is the most common tbh, so would work fine . Swept tees help but aren't vital. Flow in at the top was the old school way but is still commonplace in commercial jobs, but it is handy to have the TRV up where it's accessible, just not very pleasing on the eye imo. A TS would mean no buffer, and is a good partner for oil so good luck with negotiations. Plus it's better to have the heat loss downstairs too so win win.

Hi Gary. I think the feedback so far has spoken for itself, so good to have you on board as a contributor. If your at all unsure of the "do's and dont's" please feel free to PM one of the staff, but were certainly the better for new, genuine members Prepare to have your brain picked Nick.

Hi and welcome

You ideally want to be lower temp than the flow and return ( boiler flow ) so either tmv or manifold for the towel rad is best. Buffer can go in the airing cupboard . Two birds one stone.

Moretti from screw fix have to be the biggest POS's I've ever come across, for comparison. 3, all dead within a year to 18 months. Went down a storm as one was in the SiL's house 5 year warranty which wasn't worth a w**k. Mira, Bristan, Triton, and then upwards to the Grohe / HansGrohe stuff is the sliding scale on which I'd purchase. Vado seems very good for the money, and most models I've seen / fitted have a 12 Year warranty. These are my weapon of choice for budget / rental installs but they loom great, perform well and don't appear to break down according to my feedback. 5 years warranty backed by triton so that's your 4 year itch scratched and if you had to replace it after 5 years it's £70 This is vados offering for comparison

Nope. It's spot on. Hot goes in the top and as heat dissipates it gets cooler towards the bottom and the cooler water leaves via the lower valve. Have you thought about running a pair of pipes from the towel rad to the Ufh manifold and putting it on it's own zone? I can't remember if your planing a buffer for the Ufh or not, but if your on oil then I'd not recommend running any such 'short' circuit from the heating system as it'll short cycle like crazy. If no buffer then I'd only run all these in unison, eg rads, Ufh and towel rad all on together so as to compact short cycling. Dont run single pipe, just run two 15mm pipes up to the 1st floor and pick up off the heating ( flow and rerun ) for the interim and then jump to the manifold later on if required. There is no practical way to convert single pipe to F&R later down the line so forget that IMO. If you want to go super flashy, make a single circuit kit for the towel rad alone and then you can set the temp via a dedicated TMV . Just needs a pump and a TMV. Simples.

?

I didn't say don't go to one, more USE one . See the goodies, ask who makes it and what the names / styles are called and get them around to give you some ideas. Push your luck and get them working for you. Source the stuff directly if you can or at least ring around other suppliers for equivalent supply only prices. A lot of the high end kitchens are sold on to white van guys for fitting, so think twice about using their fitters / recommends fitters unless you can go see some happy customers. Last £30k kitchen I saw from Magnet was fitted horrifically with the icing on the cake being the gas hob fitted by a non gas registered fitter ?. I had to condem it and have my mate come around and isolate the gas supply immediately. Ask a LOT of questions and assume nothing. Any detail you don't cover will be your fault if its missed / overlooked / assumed otherwise.

Oh, and for everyone's benefit, you DO NOT test dry ( with air ) if there is an automatic air release on the manifold

If it's had free reign with the cold mains connected then you haven't got a leak upstairs unless you've got puddles downstairs. I never, ever, dry test. My philosophy is, if there's a leak, let's damn well see it. Every time there is one, and anyone who says they've never had a leak has never done any plumbing, connecting to the moans and just switching it on will find it in seconds. It will piss out everywhere if left for 30mins or so, so your half day stint is, IMO, the end of the chat. My opinion = No leak.

Cold water would expand slightly so deffo a normal,thing to see an increase. Check it at midnight and it'll be back down most prob. Its a very small volume of water, so small changes will show quite dramatically on a gauge.

I'm of the opinion that the sooner you can cut a showroom out of the picture the better. That is of course because I can design and fit it without assistance, but you may not be able to do the same. At that point you NEED the designer that the showroom provides so it's then down to putting a value on that service and negotiating as good a price as possible. Never accept the first quote, leave without purchasing and let them chase you with the best deal. . I do that with Howdens, and it's a few days max before they're on the phone chasing the sale......

Can you just fit a meter box and ask them to stick it in there and let them bugger off? Have a coupe of £20 notes on you and ask them to leave 50m of slack coiled up there with the socket made off to the end. If they won't, it's not the end of the world having a joint in the cable so just get them to do as little as possible and get them sent away ASAP.

You're supposed to close the air vents when pressure testing . If in any doubt, disconnect the manifold, remove it, and test each loop for a couple of hours at mains pressure. Use a non return valve for the inlet and cap the other side with the gauge. .