LA3222

Think what he is getting at is if the joist under the floor deck is slightly concave then the floor deck is only in contact with the joists either side of the the affected joist. You then have a situation where the span between joists that support the floor deck is a minimum of 800mm assuming the joist centres are 400mm. Max centres for 22mm floor deck is 600mm so upgrading the floor deck to 22mm will not solve the issue.

You seem to be trying to find reasons to justify using a SunAmp setup. A better way to approach this may be to step back from the SunAmp and ask the question as to what may be the best way to skin this cat. You can use up all the PV for a far better return via an ASHP. The ASHP can heat your DHW and your CH load. If you have a PV diverter then the DHW can be heated to 60 odd degrees. Use a buffer tank for your UFH and get this up to 40 odd degrees which should heat your house up to 23 degrees easy enough if that's the temp you want. I'm not saying this is the optimal solution for you, just another approach to consider.

Use the calculator on this page: Fabric and ventilation heat loss calculator - Heat Insulation - BuildHub.org.uk You need to be very familiar with your build to use it as lots of information is required.

As expected, an email from Wolesley to say they don't have it and can't get it. Why sell me one online then? Had another look at Midsummer Wholesale, thought their pricing was steep when i had a quick look previously but what i hadn't done was log into my 'trade' account! Logged in today and found the price is better than anywhere else I could find so i have now ordered an 8.5kW Ecodan ASHP & 300l pre plumbed cylinder at about £4900 before tax which I didn't think is too shabby. Wait time - 84 days! If anyone wants to use Ecodan ASHP I suggest you get your orders in sooner rather than later.

?Nah, more of a medium sized town. Defo room for more nogs in there?

The one at Wolesley is the only one I need?‍♂️

Nah, part of the reason I decided on getting the pre plumbed cylinder is that alot of the stuff is already on it and connected up to the FTC too. A lot less for me to think about. If I'd bought all the parts separately I don't doubt that I could do it, I just felt the cost saving that way wasn't worth all the extra hours I'd have to put in with reading pams etc to get it right.

26mm for 5.5m is roughly 2.65l 16mm for 5.5m is roughly 1.11l So your total dead leg is approx. 3.76l ( assuming my maths is correct!) That would tie in with your 4l, so it looks like ypu are simply pulling the dead leg through at 8.89l per minute flow rate. No issue with the TMV or balancing, just the distance from the tank to the tap causing the issue.

With the best will in the world things may go wrong with the timescale. Have you got a main contractor taking on the job with a team of subbies then? Ecology is 4.19%, a residential mortgage is knocking around the 1.5% mark at the minute. So, 2.7% difference, around £140 for every £100k borrowed. For it to make thousands of pounds of difference you must have a small mortgage, if Buildstore makes sense financially I hope it all works out for you. Buildstore are a bit marmite, too many bad reviews and high fees for my liking but there are many that have used them without issue.

Yarp, got sick of looking. There does not seem to be many retailers selling them, most are your RHI companies and they can poke that where the sun don't shine! I could only really find Wolesley, SWAT and some eco store. Midsummer have started selling them now - I say 'selling', I mean ripping people off? Went with Wolesely, I'm just waiting for the obligatory 'we are out of stock' email on Monday morning. If they are, it's no drama as I won't be fitting it for a couple of months. But yeah, the market isn't very competitive for these?‍♂️

Well, I have got bored with searching and just bought one. I've just paid £5k + vat for an 11kW Ecodan plus 300l pre plumbed cylinder.

It always amazes me that people even take buildstore seriously. I cant praise Ecology enough, bloody easy to deal with and about £500 of fees all in iirc. No staged payments, I can draw the money whenever the hell I like. I just need to ask Ecology to get it valued. £120 later they will do a BACS transfer to my account whenever I ask, free of charge. Projected costings- just did my own on an excel spreadsheet which they were more than happy with. The main things they are interested in are, can you afford the mortgage, is the property worth sufficient against what you asking to borrow. After that, you can 80% of its 'current' valuation. Quick too.

To be fair, that broom looks like it has seen better days - you find it in a skip??

I would say not to worry - but I think all self builders do. I don't think there has been a stage yet where self doubt hasn't crept in - due to lack of experience, but I'm slowly learning to relax a bit and try to convince myself that what is done is done and it will be ok. I would say not to go OTT on the compaction as I believe that you can actually over compact the subbase and make it worse when you're trying to make it better. You seem to be exactly one year behind me - my frame wen up in April too. Be interesting to see if you catch up as I'm doing most of the work myself now which has slowed things right down. Missus has told me she is moving in this Christmas - hopefully she will have something more than a camping stove and a porta potty to move into!

Good god, why would you shine floodlights on that hideous facade?

Absolutely honking having to look at that garbage when chilling out in your garden. I feel for you, as much as its their responsibility I suspect they don't care. So to get rid of that hideous wall some clever hiding needs to be done. Fence panel with trellis and some climbers going up it?

As long as the cold feeds come after the control block then the system would be balanced. The issue as it stands is that cold is drawn to the manifold before the control block (I'm no pro - 'learnt' what little I know on here!).

Three valuations in the space of a year, including the 'off plans' initial valuation, all done by the same dude, this one £50k less. Its kind of annoyed me and I'm itching to question why but the rational part of me is saying leave well alone, it doesn't affect our borrowing and ultimately the 'true' value wont become apparent until everything is done and dusted. That is when it matters as I shift from self-build mortgage to a normal one. Still annoys me though.

Had the report come on our recent revaluation today and with the stroke of a pen the valuation dude has decided that the 'completed' value of the property is now nearly 10% less than when it was first estimated in Jan 20. That's £50k. Comments on report included delights such as the work has been completed to an 'adequate' standard. McScuse me! Its annoyed me somewhat even though it makes no material difference to life as we are still well within the mortgage limits for what we want to borrow. What an absolute creature!

Bit of a shitty thing to do to a potential buyer imo. A bit like flogging a car with a fault you know about - not cool.

As soon as I saw £11k I thought bloody hell - Dick Turpins on the loose! £11k...really. As Dave says, as soon as the word Grant appears it is code for 'tax payer subsidy' to whichever charlatan attends a 4 hour course to become an 'accredited' installer of whatever bullshite they are peddling this time. Kingspan is £45/sh for 100mm inc VAT --> 30 sheets is £1350 with free delivery. You can probably get cheaper, Celotex or something - its all the same stuff. £11k - its digusting that they can be allowed to legally rip unsuspecting customers off like this. If it wasn't a 'Grant' scheme they would be on Cowboy traders - legalised criminality.

@JamesP how do you find a 300l UVC? If you could go back and increase the capacity would you, or is 300l working out ok with four adults using DHW?

So about £600 of electricity then for heating and hot water in a house that size and with your occupancy looks like good value to me.

I'm positive I have seen it referred to on here before as 'snake oil'. If you do a search of Actis various bits pop up.

I am fixed on Ecodan in my head, no logical rhyme or reason other than I have spent a lot of spare time reading pams, installation manuals etc and have mentally committed myself there. I think I will go for the 11kW version with the 300l tank. I assume the benefit of higher power output would be reduced reheat times for DHW which can't be a bad thing. I will have a quick look at the Panasonic though!