Jeremy Harris

We looked hard at using NuLok, as they looked good and the chap on their stand at the Swindon centre was very helpful. The planners were also just about OK with them, too. In the end we didn't simply because the UK agent seemed to just disappear at the time we were looking to place an order. Looks like there's another UK agent now. The system itself impressed me, and I doubt there is any problem at all with the quality of the product, it just seems to be poorly represented in the UK for some reason.

We're also on a private supply, but rather than have a vented storage tank (lots of good reasons why these aren't a great idea) we have two 300 litre pressure vessels. That way the water system is sealed, bugs can't get in, so there's no potential risk from a large volume of water being stored that could become a breeding ground for bugs in summer. The pressure vessels also provide a near-constant pressure supply with the pump off, at a far greater pressure than from a loft tank. The problem with one tap interfering with another can be eliminated by using two manifolds, one for hot, one for cold. This not only removes the pressure drop problem, but it makes the plumbing a lot simpler and provides the ability to turn off the supply to a room from a central point.

Concrete is a reasonably good conductor of heat, close to that of water for a typical medium density concrete. Here's a quick example of the thermal conductivity for a few materials: Water - thermal conductivity ~ 0.6 W/m.k Concrete ~ 0.4 to 1.2 W/m.k (denser concrete has the higher thermal conductivity) Softwood ~ 0.12 W/m.k Hardwood ~ 0.16 W/m.k

You probably want to look at restoring the colour first, using one of the teak deck colour restoring treatments. Anything that works on teak generally works fine on iroko. This stuff works well at restoring the original colour: http://www.teakcleaner.co.uk/

Stains don't work that well with iroko, in my experience, as it's very like teak; naturally oily and very close grained, so stuff doesn't soak into it at all well. There are yacht deck treatments, like Deks Olje, that work well. Not cheap though.

Some treatment plants need a ground anchor kit in order to be able to concrete them in, I believe, and some don't. Ours (a Biopure) had two options for installation in a high water table position; one was to use their ground anchor kit (essentially some galvanised chains and angle iron) the other was to cast a concrete ring around the base. The tank had moulded lugs around the lower part that could be embedded in concrete to make sure it stayed down. Unlike a pumped system, a treatment plant will usually sit full of effluent, so having them float up is only a problem when they are empty, when being initially lowered into the hole and when having the sludge pumped out every two or three years.

That may well have been the error I made a few days ago, as I used URL tags and assumed they had worked when they hadn't. Be interesting to find out why URL tags don't work, though.

I fitted a Wilo pump to pump warm water from the buffer tank through the DHW pre-heat plate heat exchanger, switched by a flow switch in the DHW feed. It's so quiet that I can't hear it running, and I'm thinking of adding an on indicator light, just to be able to check. The Wilo is definitely quieter than the low energy Grundfos we have as the UFH circulating pump, although the Grunfos is by no means noisy, you can hear that it's running.

My understanding is that the 63mm ID, 75mm OD duct was originally designed by HB+ and then licenced to several manufacturers, who in turn have marketed it under many different brand names. It's made more complex by the fact that some suppliers give this ducting their own name. Back when I first looked at using it there were only two UK versions being offered, Domus (originally a PolyPipe brand) and HB+, but now there seem to be lots of suppliers offering the same, or very similar, stuff.

In my lengthy battle with the tom cat from next door, I tried several approaches. The first was to rig up a camera, so I could see which cat it was that was taking a dump on the drive, and where it was coming from. The next was to fit an ultrasonic sounder that was supposed to scare off cats. It didn't, the cat wandered over to it and looked at it before going for it's morning dump. I then tried filling empty 2 litre clear plastic bottles with water, as someone at work suggested that cats didn't like the distorted reflection from them. That had no effect at all. I then tried putting out some cat food with chilli powder in, and although (according to my neighbour) the cat had a dose of the runs (luckily in their garden) there was no lasting deterrent. I'd tried a Super Soaker water gun, which scared the cat off, but didn't have a lasting effect, and was no use at dawn which was the normal time for this cat to have a dump. The effect of the super soaker led to the PIR triggered sprinkler, which was very effective, but had to be powered on all the time, as the cat would quickly learn whn it was powered off and resume its antisocial behaviour. The low electric fence was the final solution, and worked well, with no real side effects, other than being a nuisance when working on the flower beds. Overall, the water sprinkler is the safest and simplest solution, as long as it's not going to spray water on anyone by accident.

TN-C-S is pretty much what used to be called PME (the two aren't exactly the same) and is the most common earth system for new builds, except in very rural areas, perhaps. In essence, the DNO provide a combined earth and neutral (CEN) at their termination, so that there no need to have a separate earth rod etc. TT is an earth system that doesn't have a CEN available from the DNO, just a line and neutral conductor. The protective earth is provided by a local earth rod or plate. In general, few new installations use TT, usually only places that are at the end of a long supply cable, where the earth impedance of the DNO cable is too high. TT is still used for the TBS, though, so you need to make sure there's an earth rod properly installed and terminated to provide the protective earth for the TBS.

The electric fence was only around the edge of the drive, running along next to a flower bed, and only about 8" high, so not easy to accidentally touch. It did cover the only route the cat could use to get to the gravel on the drive, though. The thing I learned during the time I was doing battle with this cat was that cats aren't like dogs. A dog will remember having had a nasty experience and not go there again, whereas cats seem to forget about it after a while and become repeat offenders. I found that the fence had to be on every day, as the cat would quickly find out if the fence was off and resume his behaviour on the drive. I should add that this was around 20 years ago, when we were living down in West Sussex. The only "animals using the garden as a toilet" problems we have in the new house are ducks that sleep and crap on the front doorstep and an otter that periodically wanders up from the stream and marks his/her territory with spraint around the outer edges of the lawn.

Yes, but it's easy to get around this, by fitting a DP fused switch (like this: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CGFS100.html) in the meter box. You can then run 25mm² SWA from the fused switch to the house. I fitted an 80 A fuse to ours, so that in the event of a major fault that will blow before the 100 A company fuse. The advantage of fitting the isolator is that the meter tails only have to connect to it, leaving you free to be able to make wiring changes downstream as required later on, without having to break the seal and remove the (live) company fuse, although some makes of meter do now have a built in isolator, operated via a screwdriver slot on the front. You need the fuse in the isolator switch to provide protection for the long supply cable to the house consumer unit. For the TBS you can fit a weatherproof consumer unit connected to a weatherproof socket, close to the meter box. I used a caravan supply weatherproof consumer unit, fed from a small garage consumer unit tucked in at the right hand side bottom of the meter box (to provide cable overload protection for the short weatherproof consumer unit cable).

You should be OK, as the DNO don't care about it as far as their part of the supply is concerned, it's the supplier that comes to fit the meter that will distinguish between the TBS and the domestic supply. Be aware that even if you do as some of us have done and have a permanent meter box mounted remotely from the house, when it's connected as a TBS it will have to be wired with an earth rod using a TT earthing system. They won't allow you to run the TBS as TN-C-S, using the combined earth and neutral on the incomer, but are OK with you switching the earth to the connection on the head and removing the earth rod as soon as the house electrical system has been signed off.

I can vouch for the fact that an electric fence wire, set about 8" above ground level, and energised by an old motorcycle ignition coil, run from a 12V power supply and timing relay, will VERY effectively "dissuade" cats. After the incident with the sprinkler and the postman, SWMBO was not impressed with the sprinkler system, so I rigged up a bare copper wire, fitted to short lengths of plastic conduit as stakes, around the edge of the drive. The most impressive thing about this cat deterrent was that it gave satisfying feedback. The first time the tom cat from next door tried to take his early morning dump on our drive after I'd fitted it, we were both woken by a very loud "yowl", presumably as his nose touched the wire at around 15,000 volts.

The gizmo I made was a bit Heath Robinson, and as such I'll give a note of caution. Mains electricity and water are not a good mix at all, so I'd not copy what I did without being aware of the risk. What I did was use what I had to hand, which was a spare passive infrared (PIR) outdoor light switch, set so that it would operate in daylight (just turn the light sensitivity to minimum). This had an adjustable timer built in. I used that to provide mains power to a solenoid water valve that had been salvaged from one we'd scrapped some years earlier. The solenoid valve was connected inline with the water supply from the outside tap to the hose feeding the sprinkler, which was easy to do as the valve I used had a threaded fitting to accept a standard washing machine hose, and that hose also had a threaded fitting on the other end that screwed straight on to the outside tap. The outlet side of the solenoid valve had a hose connection that took a normal size garden hose, with a jubilee clip to secure it. The sensor was fitted to a post at the side of the drive, low down, so it would be triggered by the cat. The cable from that ran to the solenoid valve, which I fitted inside a plastic box to protect the electrical connections. The hose ran to a rotating garden sprinkler, set in the centre of the gravel drive. With the tap turned on the sprinkler wouldn't operate, but when the PIR sensor was triggered, it then turned on the solenoid valve which turned on the water supply to the sprinkler. |I had the time set to keep the sprinkler on for around 30 seconds, as that was more than enough to scare the cat away. If doing it again, then I think I would opt to use 12 VDC, from a suitable isolated power supply, or perhaps a battery. There are plenty of 12 VDC PIR sensors and 12 VDC water solenoid valves available cheaply on ebay, and a 12 VDC system wouldn't present any electric shock risk.

The DNO really work in terms of kVA, kilovolt amps. The reason is to do with power factor and cable sizing, in that they need to size the cables for the maximum current, not the maximum power. If the power factor is unity (1) then kVA and kW are the same thing, but if the power factor is less than 1 (in either sense) then the current can be greater than the power would indicate, so either the DNO need to increase the capacity available or limit the demand from the consumer. The core problem is that for a power factor of less than unity (in either sense) the voltage and current aren't in phase with each other, and that causes problems with the network. In reality, domestic loads will rarely have a unity power factor, the assumption the DNO will make is that the power factor will be around 0.8. For that reason they will usually define a domestic supply as being about 18 kW, even though they are providing a 23 kVA supply (23 kVA x 0.8 power factor = 18.4 kW). VAC is just an abbreviation for Volts Alternating Current, as distinct from VDC, which is Volts Direct Current. Household supplies are 230 VAC nominal in the UK (in reality they are close to 240 VAC, because of the tolerance fudge) and something like a car electrical system may usually be 12 VDC. It's not essential to use the "AC" and "DC" suffix after "V", but it does avoid any doubt, especially where both AC and DC supplies may be close to each other in the same system (for example, aircraft often have a 28 VDC bus and a 400 VAC bus in close proximity to each other). I'm in the habit of using "VAC" from years of having to be explicit at work.

I had a chat with SSE about this ( @Russdl we're in the same DNO area) and the chap who came out on site to do the preliminary site survey, before we put in the application, was pretty helpful and said they would install an 18 kVA supply. In practice they've fitted a 23 kVA supply, 100A company fuse at 230 VAC. Worth talking to them about local distribution network capacity, as @ProDave mentioned, if you ask for more than the local network can supply they can hit you with network upgrade costs. I found the chap that came out to do the preliminary site check was very helpful; he told me that there was lots of spare capacity as there was only one other property connected to the 90mm² three phase cable that was already running under our plot, and that we could have three phase if we wanted it. If you stick something like 12 kW to 18 kW on the form they will almost certainly just give you a 23 kVA supply, which in reality will be around 24 kW, because it's rare for the supply voltage to drop as low as the fudged nominal of 230 VAC (the tolerance is +10%, -6%, a fudge to make the EU accept that we'd harmonised at 230 VAC, when in reality we've stuck to the pre-EU 240 VAC...)

One way to dissuade cats is to hook up a water sprinkler on the area where the thing crosses, hooked up to a solenoid valve powered by a passive infra red sensor. I made a gizmo like this to stop cats using our gravel drive as a toilet, and it worked very well (until I forgot to turn it off one morning and it soaked the postman...).

I find it interesting is that my wife's family still have the anglicised version of his name, Glendower, as a family name. Her great aunt still lives in the family castle. Although it's now owned by the National Trust, the family still have an apartment there, and they are all buried in the crypt in the attached chapel, going back to around 1080 something, IIRC.

That fits with the sectional drawings that were dug out shortly after the fire, before the companies involved started trying to cleanse the internet of any of them. There were clear gaps shown where fire escaping from a window opening could directly access the void between the rainscreen cladding and the insulation in this drawing you posted back then, @Temp:

My former colleague moved to Aberporth in the middle of that, about 1988/89 IIRC. As a bit of pointless information, my wife's related to Owain Glyndŵr, as a consequence of a strategic marriage between her family (who still live in the same castle on the border) and the family of Glyndŵr, which was almost certainly aimed at maintaining the peace along that stretch of the Welsh Marches.

If they are selling the house, then there are a some things you might want to consider. Their sale will, to some extent, depend on your goodwill over the tree dispute, as you could choose to tell their estate agent that you're in dispute with them. The agent would be obliged to pass this on to any potential purchaser, I believe. Using this as a bargaining chip when trying to negotiate with the neighbour might be an option, especially if they really do wish to sell. Another point is their apparent adverse possession of the unregistered strip of land. Your land and that unregistered strip will almost certainly have riparian ownership rights and responsibilities for the watercourse, usually each side has responsibility to the centre, even for very small streams. How are they planning to represent the ownership of that strip of land in their sale particulars, I wonder? It's another point that might give you some negotiating ammunition. Riparian ownership does give landowners some significant responsibilities, so there may be a way to use those as another lever. You have a responsibility as your land has a boundary with the stream, and you may be able to use the legal obligations that riparian ownership places on you as leverage. There's some information on riparian rights and obligations here: https://www.walkermorris.co.uk/publications/in-brief-march-2015/and-on-the-river-flows-riparian-rights-and-responsibilities/ Waiting until the neighbours have sold and moved is another option, but there's no way of knowing whether the new owners will be any more accommodating. The comment that @jack made in his last paragraph above does, sadly, reflect the situation is some areas. A former colleague of mine was posted to Aberporth from Farnborough, and bought a house nearby. His children were bullied at school, their neighbours were rude and offensive and both their house and cars were vandalised with anti-English slogans. He ended up requesting a new posting on compassionate grounds, as his wife and family just couldn't take it any more, and he ended up working with me in Scotland.

How did the flies get past the filters? Might be worth looking at how well the filters fit, as it's preferable to clean those than have to clean the heat exchanger I'd have thought. I took the heat exchanger out of our MVHR to check it last year, and found it was very clean, but it looked pretty delicate and had it had dirt and bugs in it I'm not sure it would have been that easy to clean.

Like @ProDave, I started my career working for UKAEA (as it was then), and have to say that the biggest single problem the nuclear power industry has is the irrational fear factor. That massively increases the cost of any nuclear project when compared to far more dangerous power projects. Gas, oil and coal kill and injure many, many more people every year than nuclear power does, yet none of those power generation methods cause anywhere near the level of public fear. My own view is that until we can develop large scale power storage in some form, we either have to rely on nuclear power generation or fossil fuel generation, just to satisfy the baseload and be able to meet our energy needs when renewables aren't generating. It's a bit like the choice the US had when electing a president last year, none of the options are good, but in my view nuclear is the one that will cause least harm.