DamonHD

Just because it's interesting I'm sharing this, not because I have any axe to grind etc. The glazing company is as ever being super helpful and efficiently replacing everything for free under warranty. In 2012 we upgraded all our yucky old double glazing to triple: http://www.earth.org.uk/triple-glazing-3G.html Since then we've now had four windows' outer panes sponaneously explode on cold-ish nights, the latest a few days ago: http://www.earth.org.uk/triple-glazing-3G.html#Failures (I'll be adding some pics of the latest one today or tomorrow.) Rgds Damon

Well, some unexpected excitement today... I was installing some Radbots today for our ECO3 work and realised that I was right outside Harvey's HQ, so popped in for a few minutes to look at one of the units! Size might be an issue given the space we have where it might go, but it was good to see it in the flesh. (We also hit Radbot's primary fundraising target on Seedrs, so a good day in several ways!) Rgds Damon

OK, interesting. The Combimate is within my current budget (money and probably space), and yearly maintenance seems reasonable. I think I'd likely leave the kitchen cold tap come straight from the mains but route everything else through the softener/doser. Rgds Damon

Thanks again! Any environmental issues with dropping phosphates into the (waste) water? I thought that that was now considered a BadThing(TM)? Rgds Damon

Thanks! We don't seem to need to soften for any other reason, so that's £900+ and another half cupboard lost that I wasn't anticipating. Do we really need one? Rgds Damon

So what might be a sensible alternative, with some science behind it? Rgds Damon

Another question... I am told that "Sunamp recommend a quality limescale inhibitor as a must and advise using a Hydroflow h38 (see https://theintergasshop.co.uk/scale-inhibitors/1130-hydropath-hydroflow-hs38-electronic-water-conditioner-hs38a.html)." According to the Thames Water tool for our postcode, we are in area "KINGSTON SOUTH" and our water is in fact hard at 257ppm of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3). The HS38 seems a little 'magical' to me. It seems unlikely that anything using 1W and on the outside of a decent copper pipe can do anything meaningful to what is in that pipe, and I'm not seeing linked reports on the product page that would make me change my mind! So, is the HS38 legit? If not, do I actually need anything installed (I'm expecting the entire house to be pulled down in ~7Y), and if I do, what would actually be useful? Rgds Damon

The initial implementation was LDR + resistor, measured with an ADC. Because of RoHS we picked a new photosensor, also roughly same spectral response as the human eye. Rgds Damon

Light is an uncalibrated non-linear 0 to 255 reading, but is very very roughly lux. (Radbot learns the typical patterns for its location, so absolutes are less important.) Occupancy is 'active' occupancy of the zone around it (ie someone is up and may be moving around) and is critical to OpenTRV/Radbot energy saving. We're actually pretty good (eg as an F1 score), but always working on improving the algorithm. You can see the OpenTRV reference code in GitHub. The number isn't a count, but basically a live probability from 100% humans about down to 0% probably no one home but us chickens. But OpenTRV/Radbot also uses its memory of recent behaviour to get a room warm if it thinks that you're usually around at this time, or likely to be soon.

Monitoring power per circuit can make sense. Helps pinpoint where things have been left on in error, etc. Interrupting power, well, you have a CU for that. Rgds Damon

As with @SteamyTea in the past I've played around a fair amount with some of this kit (I have a small X-10 graveyard somewhere) and lost interest. For gathering sensor data I use my OpenTRV / Radbot gear which is out of the way on each rad and does the (in this view) bonus job of saving a pile of carbon emissions. My profile pic and the attached an example of the kind of data I collect (temperature, light, RH%, occupancy, ..) up to a sample per 2 minutes.

I believe that there have already been rumblings from misuse of such data. All large orgs with lots of personal data are problems waiting to happen. Those may be outweighed by the good, but things happen. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/08/29/apple_says_sorry_for_siri_slurping_voice_commands_of_unsuspecteding_users/

Hello Mr M! My supersize LB mug has recently been home to some warming noodles you'll be pleased to hear. But "Where vision got bilked" morelike! Yes, would consider switching over during winter months to fully charge in small hours and/or or opportunistically driven by ToU tariffs and/or on demand to eliminate need for gas entirely for DHW. Lack of status from SA would make that more tricky (access to the 5%/50%/95% outputs would help a lot). Rgds Damon

Ah, as a user of O365 I was rather looking forward to it working entirely properly and intuitively one whole day in each 4 years... Darn...

Hi, Those of you who remember me from another place (no, the other other place) will know that I've have been keen on Sunamp's tech for a while but I have historically NOT been keen on diversion to DHW from FiT-subsidised PV as a scandalous waste of very expensive exergy and of someone else's potential avoided carbon emissions if that electricity had been spilled to grid. Outside winter, GB grid carbon intensity is now around or below that of burning gas directly for heat (and still falling) so the last point is going away. Cleverer diversion schemes where the heat storage does not waste the energy through leakage (I don't want excess heat leaking into the living space from a hot tank in summer!) and can play nicely alongside electrical battery schemes (and thus divert only after self-consumption and the battery have had their fill) seem to be making use of some of that exergy, and reduce flows on both electricity and gas grids. So, here is my work in progress to take 75% of my DHW use off grid, so that I'll only use gas at all in winter in normal situations: http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html I may (with permission) pick up comments from here and fold some in to my piece. It's meant to help people trying to decide whether/how to do something similar. Maddeningly the funds I was going to use to do this may have evaporated again, but I'm still aiming for February 2020 for installation! Rgds Damon

OK, will try to start a plumbing thread. Be gentle on me. @SteamyTea I've tried to improve those words a bit, thanks for the feedback. Rgds Damon

Last question on this thread, and I don't want to be wading in with my big muddy boots where I shouldn't... Where would be the best place to start a thread on this: http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-solar-DHW-for-16WW-UniQ-and-PV-diversion.html which @Nickfromwales amongst others has been helping me with quietly? Note that I'm concentrating on just the DHW part for now. Rgds Damon

British management "peerless"? Two problems with that (a) I'm sorta kinda parta British management these days, so help us all and (b) I believe I know several peers of the realm with management roles... %^> Rgds Damon

Also degreedays.net. Rgds Damon

Hadn't seen the former, will consult! At first glance it appears as I'd expect it to. Rgds Damon

BTW, where does one ask for sage advice on matters of forum etiquette here? Is there a magic email for example, that I should use? (I think that we've established that the route that was obvious to me has a large effective latency!) All who know me already know about my pet carbon-cutting project (nearly an overnight success after ~7 years!) and that yes we have that fundraising on, but also I may be able to gently make coupons available for people here for the current product, blah blah blah. And keen though I am, I also don't much like being marketed at... Please admins delete this posting at whim. It's a tricky one. Rgds Damon

I don't think I'd call that a glitch since I tried many (3, 5, 7?) times over several years to get in, eg by communicating the route that you eventually responded to Jeremy! More like a minor rend in the fabric of space time... Auditors leaking through and all that... B^> But I didn't help myself by apparently mistypxiung my email address when trying to sign up, did I? Rgds Damon

Hi Nick - I've survived, somehow!

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04727143 20 Nov 2019 SOAS(A) Voluntary strike-off action has been suspended

Biscuit factory is already being redeveloped, separately, and Arrow Plastics is long since closed though the building still stands. Rgds Damon