Nickfromwales

W plan hydraulically separates the flow from the heating and water. Eg when dhw is required the system takes that as number 1 priority. The 3-port diverter valve can ONLY supply one application at any given time ( on purpose / by design ) so the ashp can then toggle between low and high temp modes ( eg it knows it doing heating only so adjusts for that and vice versa for DHW ). The uvc will be heated to 50-55o ( user definable on the ashp ) so you'll not need to go much higher than that tbh with 500 Ltrs. The solar Pv will roof this to over 70o when generating so the ashp will only kick back in when the cyl stat calls for heat ( eg a bath drawn late evening ). Electric immersion can be manually set to stay off until boost is required ( then fed with grid electic ). The buffer is required to stave off short cycling and iirc also helps the ashp defrost by it pulling that water back through the ashp. More to follow when I get the last couple of 600x600 kitchen tiles down edited to add : the boost immersion would be immersion #2, with immersion #1 dedicated for Pv. Most Pv diverters will also have a boost button so in very adverse situations, you'll be able to push 6kw into dhw

No, none at all. I'd say you'd actually be better off with larger flow paths ( internal water ways ) as the valve should offer less resistance and therefore when being used the noise from the water flowing through should also be quieter. Another advantage is that if you're the only person using the hot water at the time, you should have a very pleasant, more powerful shower 'experience' so best of both worlds tbh. For the money it's a no-brainer. Long live Megabad.

Ok. Separate the dhw and space heating, using a small buffer for the heating, with an immersion as a failsafe ( designed to run off grid electric ) and an UVC for dhw. Tell your missus that your going out for some milk, then go buy a cheap ashp off eBay and bring it home. Lie and say it cost a fortune. Plumb for the ashp accordingly and use excess Pv to heat the UVC to target temp, say 65-70o and use the ashp to boost ( via the dedicated controls eg 55o flow for "hot water demand" only during the colder seasons where you get little or no solar gain. Trying to run heating and hot water off electric via immersions is just not going to be a viable option IMHO, as dhw is the killer. Why run around putting inline heaters everywhere when a single solution for hot water is easily achievable, if sized and fed accordingly. At the very least I'd say you should go for an electric system boiler. Space heating should be negligible so the real problem here will always be dhw. Taking both out of a TS fed from electric though is, IMO, not going to end well.

Pop that in the mod section mate.

Top of the morning to you

How are you heating the Ufh? this is where we miss EB. No ability to review members' content.

Yup. Welcome aboard.

Best to determine your max flow velocity through the PHE before deciding if it's worth the upgrade on the shower tbh. Out of curiosity, how much more would it cost to go for the bigger unit?

Yup direct is a no no if that's the case. TS does require an EV just the same. If you're just needing dhw then an uvc will suffice. Do you have Ufh?

What the others said

Hi Colin. Glad you're back on board.

What's your means of providing DHW?

I'm not so sure that they're as flexible tbh. Maybe a buy it and see moment? The wound metal / chrome ones do take quite a beating so maybe you just had a duff / cheap-n-nasty one. Buy a branded one off eBay and give it a whirl, but needless to say watch for floods as the one you've got is clearly on borrowed time. Doubt if you have the nerves left for a flood at this stage.

Yup. Use 22mm x3/4" tap connectors rather than flexis and you'll get a fuller bore. Convert from 15 to 22mm at the end of the push fit pipes using push fit reducers onto 15mm copper. You'll probably have naff flow rates even then as iirc you've got gravity hot water at the mo, so you'll only see the benefits when you convert to an uvc later on.

I think you're seriously over thinking the plumbing, and there's no one who over engineers things more than me, which is why I'm not rich. You could very easily get away with 3/4 x 22mm push fit tap connectors, then straight ( but plenty flexible ) pieces of pushfit going to fixed plumbing in the footprint of the bath 'framework' and no isolations. The likelihood of having to isolate the bath is nigh on never, and I'd really not want to try and engineer a removable tiled panel tbh, nor would I like to look at a non grouted section. The plumbing for the basin can have isolations on the actual tap connectors ( known as service valves ) so again no need for any access or other for that either. Am I seeing right that you've bought a two tap hole basin? You'd be better off with a mixer with kids, or do as I did and fit a blending valve to cap the max temp at the basin hot tap. Otherwise you'll be getting full range hot out of the hot tap with no means of cooling it down. Just tried squinting at the pic again, is that a hole in the middle for a mono block? If so I'll shut me mouth.

Just in case http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ladies-Beverley-Hills-Polo-Club-Suitcases-3-Large-1-Small-Summer-Holiday-/141987254139?hash=item210f198f7b:g:3ioAAOSwPpFXMLS7

Splash zones are best managed by good tiling and grouting tbh. Pointless tanking behind there IMO. Only worth tanking when a drip of water can follow the tanking / water tight layer and eventually get to a waste / drain. Other than that it'll just sit there and pool. In a TF house the one point that will let you down there will be the junction between the wall tiles and the floor tiles. That'll develop a hairline crack, which will open very slightly when the bath is full and you get in it, so make sure your tiler runs a bead of CLEAR CT 1 along that line after it's been grouted. Sealing the grout in that area will probably be beneficial too.

If you're going electric only then it's likely you'll want to roof the storage target temp right up to get the most gain and subsequent sustain so I'd oversize the EV by at least 30%. The expansion vessel can go in the attic above with zero issues. Make sure it's accessible for service / maintenance / replacement. Ensure that the EV is teed off the cold inlet NOT the hot outlet. Also make an anti-gravity / convection 'trap' in the ascending pipework so as to keep the EV pipework and EV as cool as possible. Your G3 qualified installer ( need one if you want the lifetime warranty with the UVC or the 10 year warranty with the UVC ) should know all this, and don't forget to get the annual inspection done on time each year ( or bin your warranty card ). Bingo.

Iirc the 500 is the same width but taller. I've literally just put the phone down to Trevor and he's confirmed the following for UVCs. DIRECT ( electric only so no coil ) 300 £460 400 £793 500 £834 prob double immersion INDIRECT ( wet heating coil plus immersion ) 300 £516 400 £822 500 £895 all inclusive of vat and delivery. Add £50 for NI. Trevor said to go on the website cylinders2go and all the dimensions should be on there. Take 2.5% off the listed prices and you should be in the ball park.

Sorry just easier to take screenshots and upload them direct. That's for the 400ltr TS I'm fitting next week, which Trevor at Cylinders2go delivered for me last Tuesday. £1095.00 including vat and delivery. I think it's circa £50 additional to get it to the land of the hot press. Go for the metal jacketed version with the higher performing insulation. I've yet to update the info surrounding Shell's 'confusion' surrounding her TS which was going on on EB, re thicker sprayed on insulation vs thinner insulation (but higher performance) and the metal jacket. I had a very long and well informed chat with Roger the head guy at Telford about that misunderstanding and I am now fully conversant with the reasons for and against both types of insulation. DJF, trust me on this for the moment, you need to go for the thinner insulation and the metal jacket option NOT the spray on. I'll elaborate a little later (as it'll be a long post), which I will link to in this thread, but I'll give it a thread of its own so as not to derail this one. The information in that thread will be quite fundamental so I don't want it lost in another thread. If you're going immersion only I'd not go less than 500ltr. Cost difference between a 300ltr (TS) and a 400 ltr is ~£100 the last 500 ltr TS I had was ~ £1250 iirc. Trevor can confirm these upon making an enquiry. Please mention the old forum, the new forum and my user name and I've already pre-empted that we (you lot) get the best price he can do I've just left him a message to come back to me for prices for UVCs at 300 / 400 and 500 ltrs. At the larger size I'd recommend going for dual immersion so you can have one on Pv and another on manual / guest boost for high demand.

For those that don't know, when we conceived this forum I made some comments about summat and Ian replied "if I wanted to hear a sparrow fart", and then he hacked my profile and applied this 'artwork'. Git

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smooth-1-5m-8mm-Shiny-PVC-Shower-Hose-Pipe-Long-Flexible-Brass-Connectors-/322042043197?nav=SEARCH these are quite good. No metal helicoil to split and untwist. give that a try.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Challenge-Replacement-Hose-and-Lance-to-fit-for-Xtreme-Extreme-Pressure-washer-/301922809226?nav=SEARCH sorted. youll have the cleanest arse in all the land.