Jeremy Harris

Me too, and I think that's where the post savers come in. If you happen to have some left over flashband and primer, then I reckon that will work as well as a post saver, for a bit more hassle. I have two left over rolls of flashband and a tin of primer that I decided not to use, and plan on priming our next batch of fence posts around the ground level area, then wrapping them with flashband, then giving them a run over with the hot air gun to melt the bitumen on the flashband. I shall report back on how well it works. No cost saving over postsavers I suspect, but in my case it will get rid of a couple of rolls of left over flashband.

Odd how different countries within the EU have very different passport requirements - I thought the idea was to promote free travel, one of the much vaunted four freedoms... To become an Irish citizen and hold an Irish passport you simply have to show that one of your grandparents was born in Ireland and you then apply to be put on the register. One this is done you're officially Irish by descent and can apply for an Irish passport. In my case I had to travel to Longford, find some family graves, locate a local church that had the record of my Grandmother's birth in 1900, near Ballymacormick . That record then allowed me to do two things, I found a whole load of relatives that I never knew I had and it also allowed me to apply to go on the register and become an Irish citizen I did this in person in Dublin, and I think it helped that I had enough Irish Gaelic to get by during the process.

When we lived in Scotland there was a local sawmill that had their own timber treatment chamber (this was back in the bad old days of CCA, which in reality turned out to be not as toxic as some thought, but that didn't stop the EU clamping down on it's use). They were really helpful people, and being curious by nature I asked them loads of questions whenever I was over there picking up timber. From what I could gather, the process was quite involved. First they had to kiln dry the timber to a really low moisture contact, then they loaded the timber into a pressure chamber, that looked like a massive tubular boiler. This was then sealed up, the air pumped out and the CCA solution allowed in and pumped up to a high pressure. IIRC, there was a rule of thumb they used for penetration depth with time, the longer the timber stayed in the chamber the deeper the preservative penetrated. This was reflected in the price, large diameter fence posts were more expensive than rails or boards, because they took a lot longer to treat. Nothing you can paint or spray on will penetrate very deeply; a mm or two at most. You can set up a dip tank if you have the patience. This is how telephone and power poles were conventionally treated. They were just left for months in large pits filled with creosote, which penetrated very deeply into the timber and worked as a very effective preservative. Despite its smell, I still think there's little to beat creosote soaked well into nice, dry, timber.

Not true, I'm afraid. The UFH flow rate in heating mode (not in cooling mode) is way lower than that from the ASHP pump, well under half the ASHP flow rate. If the ASHP flow rate is turned down then there isn't enough flow to keep the unit running and it trips on a low flow condition. Having the buffer allows the full flow from the ASHP to be absorbed, without the restriction of the UFH, and also allows the flow temperature to be higher, keeping the heat pump operating in it's most optimal range most of the time. There will be differences between different models of heat pump, but trying to extrapolate from the dry air test data isn't easy, as RH has a big impact on COP, for two main reasons. Firstly, humidity has a significant impact on air heat capacity, so more humid air has a higher heat capacity for a given temperature than dry air. Secondly, humidity has a massive impact on defrost cycling when the air temperature gets down to around 4 deg C or so. Cold, dry air is fine, cool moist air is a PITA as far as frost build up goes, and none of the data given from the standard tests includes defrosting impact. I modelled our house to death before we built it, and was convinced I understood how it would behave thermally. I freely admit that I got a heck of a lot wrong, both because I didn't recognise the impact of some local conditions, I didn't understand the nuances around the way heat pumps really work (as distinct from the semi-pretend data the manufacturers supply) and I couldn't easily model the heat transfer function from the UFH flow to the slab surface. All these had a major impact on how our heating/cooling system really operated. As proof of that it's now working well, but on about the fifth or sixth iteration of the temperature control system. As an aside, and just for completeness, a buffer isn't needed in cooling mode, as the ASHP doesn't going into short cycling mode when it's cooling, it just runs as cool as it can, within limits. As there cannot be any defrost risk in cooling mode, the unit will just happily run at it's lowest modulated power with only the UFH supplying heat to the heat pump. The heat flow rate from the slab to the UFH is a great deal higher in cooling mode, because of the very much higher Δt, and that's more than enough to make up for the lack of the buffer.

We had to deal with RWH not being permitted as a suitable means of complying with SuDS. The question asked was "What happens when there has been a prolonged period of rain and your RWH tanks are full?" The only answer in our case was to fit a SuDS compliant drainage system and forget about using RWH, as the cost of both was just far too high. We're on clay and the cost of our surge storage and slow drainage system was pretty high, even though I managed to buy twenty Aquacell crates for next to nothing. IIRC, we still ended up paying around £2k for the drainage solution, not including the more expensive permeable paving we had to use for the drive. Had I paid full price for the Aquacell creates then the prices would have been at least £1k more, I think. It was one of those things that cost more because I didn't think about it during the initial ground works stage. If I had then it would have been a lot easier to fit the tanks etc then, rather than later, after the house was built and we had building control on the case.

Exactly. The only advantage of a heat pump is it's ability to cool, and we find that extremely beneficial (like right now when the house is at 21.5 and it's approaching 30 deg C outside).

All I'm saying is that it very definitely doesn't work for our 130m² house. Turn the buffer off and the heat pump short cycles. Turn the buffer on and it works perfectly. Our heat pump will modulate down to about 1 kW to 1.5 kW minimum output, and that is just way more heat than the slab can absorb at the set UFH flow temperature. If I turn the UFH flow temperature up, to increase the heat flow rate, then we get a massive room temperature over-shoot. Turning the heat pump flow temperature down makes the problem massively worse, as the pump just shuts down within a couple of minutes of starting up, then stays shut down for around 20 mins. Theory is great, but I've found that practical experience and experiment is a hell of a lot more accurate.

The problem you run into is that there are no small (as in 2 to 3 kW output) ASHPs around, and even the smallest ones can't modulate down to the 200 to 500W heating requirement that's the typical average needed in winter for a well insulated and airtight house. The rate of heat flow from a low temperature UFH system into the slab is just far too slow for the heat pump to deal with. As a consequence, the heat pump gets the UFH up to temperature in a few minutes, then has to shut off. Most have an in-built anti-short cycling feature; in our case ours only allows three starts per hour. The heat capacity of the water in the UFH system is small, due to the low volume, so it quickly gives up it's heat to the slab, whilst the ASHP stays turned off until the end of the anti-short cycle timer. Having a buffer completely fixes this. Our 70 litre buffer sits at around 40 deg C, and the UFH runs at around 23 deg C. The ASHP can charge the buffer and then shut down for a couple of hours whilst the buffer feeds the UFH demand. This completely removes the short cycling problem, and also means that the ASHP should last longer, as it's the starts and stops that limit life more than the total hours run, I believe.

I applied for it before the referendum, really because I was entitled to it and the previous restriction on me not holding dual nationality was removed when I retired, that's all. FWIW, I don't currently hold a UK passport, as I can't see the point in having two. I've yet to find a downside to holding an Irish passport, TBH, other than using it for non-travel ID, where it invariable starts a long conversation. I've got into the habit of using my UK driving licence for ID just to get around that.

Strictly speaking I think the full title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but you're right, I should have used GB & NI

Two glasses of a rather pleasant Pinot Grigio down so far, then hot chocolate, a choccy biccy and bed...

FWIW, I hold Irish citizenship now, and have an Irish passport, so I'm officially a dual national too. All the time I was working I was prohibited from holding dual nationality, mainly because the USA have tough rules on not sharing info outside the US/UK special relationship, but now, although I'm still constrained by the OSA, they can't stop me from holding an Irish passport. I have to say it's a great deal easier travelling with an Irish passport than it was with a UK one - it seems you get a smile from every immigration officer who sees it.

If I get some spare time in the next week or two I'll have a look at knocking something up. Won't be for a while though, as we've found ourselves in the midst of a few conflicting activities, like selling our old house, officially moving to the new one (at long last) and dealing with my late mother's estate (and all the associated family conflicts that's creating).

Our chap was really laid back and didn't give me a list of stages, but agreed after each inspection when he'd want to come out next. I got the feeling that he was making it up as he went along, but that may well have been because our build didn't follow the standard format of digging trenches, filling them with concrete and build brick/block walls! I did find taking him to one side at the end of each inspection and going through everything we were going to do before the next inspection was very useful, as it at least got it clear in my head as to how far we could go before calling him again.

Most of us are European, I think. Apart from the UK and NI members, we have members from Poland, RoI, and one or two other European states I think.

Out of interest, which thread was this? I've been trying to find it without much success, really to try and see if there was a way it could be resurrected and used as a basis for realistic costing.

@Onoff tested the 6A receiver (part number QUR303) with the dimming 2 gang switch (part number QUD12W) and found that it worked and got around the switch changing up/down sense after a power cut. Today I received a couple of the same QUD12W 2 gang dimmer switches but, because I'm switching switched mode low voltage power supplies for our LED lights, that probably have a high turn on surge current, I opted to buy the 16A non-dimming receivers, (part number QUR305). I've just done an ad hoc test and these work fine together, with a pretty long range as far as I've been able to test so far. I'll get them installed this week, to replace the pretty useless Byron/Homeeasy units I have fitted at the moment and see how they go. Thanks to @Onoff for finding out that the dimming switches work fine with the non-dimming receivers, as that makes things a lot simpler.

It's human nature, look at the Purple Bricks adverts on TV, that are all about making people feel bad about having paid loads of commission to estate agents, for example. The flip side is that, bizarre lot that we are, we also tend to enjoy telling people when we've paid loads of money for something. Cars are one product that seems to attract this sort of behaviour, but kitchens and bathrooms aren't immune from it, either! I tend to be a bit pragmatic about costs now, although I will freely admit to spending hours trying to save money online. An example, our landscaping chap is coming around in a couple of weeks to put up the last of the fencing (I hope). I'd already agreed to get the posts, boards, rails etc, really because it was just easier for me to get them from the local sawmill, people I know and trust. I asked him if he also wanted me to get some postcrete, mainly as I needed to get a bag to fix our new house name post. He said no, as he could get it at £5 a bag. I did a quick check, and I can buy a dozen bags at £3.80 bag (blue circle stuff), as there was an offer in Wickes for three bags or more, plus the 10% discount I get there anyway. The question is really whether it's worth me driving an extra 6 or 7 miles, just to save £14.40. Logically I doubt that it is, given the time taken, the fuel used and the hassle of humping a dozen bags into the back of my car...

Makes sense, as the return line on a GSHP will often run at around -4 to -6 deg C, so ordinary water would definitely freeze. I've often wondered whether adding one of the "water wetter" additives, as used in motor sport cooling systems, might improve heat transfer effectiveness. I remember using it on the (very marginal) cooling system on my Imp Sport engined Clan Crusader and it made a very significant difference. The stuff works by reducing surface tension, I believe, so allowing the liquid to make more intimate contact with the pipes etc.

Here's some data: Fresh water: Thermal conductivity = 0.609 W.m-1.K-1 Heat capacity = 4.1813 J.g-1.K-1 Ethylene Glycol: Thermal conductivity = 0.258 W.m-1.K-1 Heat capacity = 2.74 J.g-1.K-1 Note this sentence from the Engineering Toolbox site about cooling systems that use ethylene glycol: The problem with GSHP systems isn't the ground freezing, it's the pipes above ground and the PHE that might freeze, especially if the GSHP is mounted outside, as is often the case to reduce noise in the house.

What a bunch of plonkers. Try this experiment. Stick a bit of duct tape to a bit of membrane and leave it out so it gets hot from the sun. A bet that within a week or so the adhesive will have dried and failed. Duct tape seems totally useless when used outside. We had ants trailing up our newly planted trees in their thousands (since learned they don't really do any harm). I read an online suggestion to wrap duct tape around the trunks, sticky side out. The sticky side stayed sticky for at most two days before it dried out and went crumbly.

Not sure about this. Gycol is a fair bit poorer at transferring heat than plain water, as Rolls Royce found out when trying to get the cooling system on the Merlin to work - that ran initially on 100% glycol to give the protection needed, but they ended up creating a mix that had less glycol in order to allow the engine to cool more efficiently. The antifreeze/inhibitor I used in our ASHP was a standard product, can't remember whether it was Sentinel or Fernox branded, but did give the required protection down to -15 deg C at the dilution I used. Expensive stuff, and I was glad I didn't have a direct buffer tank to fill with the stuff. Our ASHP primary circuit is the ASHP, the UFH and the indirect coil in the buffer tank, so I only needed one 5 litre can of concentrate (it's expensive stuff).

Our ASHP requires antifreeze that can protect the external pipework and PHE down to at least -15 deg C, so it uses a combined inhibitor/glycol mixture.

I lined the large planter that I've put some trees in with heavy duty DPM. It seems to work pretty well. I left it open at the bottom, with plenty of drainage.

It's cheap enough to buy, and a bit of a pain to prep, as it involves growing a culture and then purifying it. I prefer simple bucket chemistry where you can just make stuff without the complication of growing cultures of stuff like aspergillus. The ebay above links look reasonable to me.