MikeSharp01

PS you might be able spot the UVC running down fast and get behind it with both immersion heaters and bring the ASHP up to support the heaters when it's warmed up. In our place I think I only need a 5kW ASHP so two immersion would better it.

Perhaps all you need is enough data from the variety of sources and maybe some sort AI could do it although the variety of sources might need to be quite diverse. IE what history and confluence of circumstances last caused the UVC to empty?

Yes I agree it's a challenge and I already have a watchdog based, opto isolated and intelligent, interface card for that I designed in 1995 for some work in Petrol Chemicals. So that will deal with safe shut down and I have about 5 spares so they should see me out. I may even update it as it is only 8 channels and is 8 bit based micro (8052) based and has battery backed Ram which could be much better handled today. CONTROLLING the ASHP on / off by soft means is the way I would go for normal operations but as they will still have the standby current I think a controlled mechanical isolation from the mains makes sense. When you don't need it and I guess the choice of UVC, SunAmp and the amount of Solar available will have an effect on how often and how long that will be. If it is software controlled we can even look ahead of the weather and turn it on with enough warm up time when we see demand coming.

Hmmmmm. @MikeSharp01 responds It's a bit of a mine field. I have a deep aversion to anything that buys me into a technology win by any single supplier so I won't be buying anything like Loxone that won't work with everything else if I can avoid it. I think the open source stuff that is here to stay (MQTT, RPi, Node Red, ifttt) is a better route and will be less of a single point of failure if a single supplier goes out of business and they teach python to 7th graders now who could probably maintain a neatly documented code setup. I have just finished pulling 1500m of CAT6 cable all over out build to support POE building automation and although all the light switches are traditionally wired once they get back to the panel it's another world I could have run the whole lot as 24V but decided to go 240v and feed them all into suitably isolated inputs to the RPi. Realy just so a normal sparky could pull them off there and wire them directly if push came to shove. As it is the outputs are some relays and whitewing dmx control of 240V led lights everywhere. From a high current 240v controlling point of view I am not sure I want contactors banging about in the power control panel which is in our Utility room - neither would I want to force cool the panel or have it produce heat I don't need in a very well insulated house. I guess I could put the contactor for the ASHP in its panel outside. Inside the house the number of 13A loads is limited to immersion heaters which are not the most corrosive of loads for a decent relay. I guess I tend to align with @joth on when to use SSRs. I have also fallen to thinking that I don't need to control sockets because the devices plugged into them are or will be smart so can look after themselves. We have Zigbee and Z-wave hubs planned so if it won't talk to one of those or vanilla wifi we won't be buying that brand of fridge/ cooker etc.

Cripes yes - let's hope so.

So what is the highest order learning here - are the multifoil blanket insulation products looking like they are all they are cracked up to be?

Hmmm I think that may be an offence in the UK. We have just put ours exactly as you have on the Caberdeck glued down and sealed everywhere.

Think it does support all the connectivity you need on the ECO B models - best to call their technical help line - great advice and the unit is made in the UK I think.

Have just read this whole thread - very interesting and some excellent academic work cited and deployed. No real consensus on 'Thermal Mass's existence as a 'thing' although thinking deeper it must exist as a thing or we would not be talking about it. Boy do we talk about it - 526 mentions in various threads since BH was started! I do agree in some ways with @SteamyTea about not getting the units, and terms EG Mass, confused as it makes life difficult but on the other hand if an idea is easy to conceive of for people less used to 'units' then the challenge is to get the same conception in everybody's head so we are all talking about the same thing. After all not everything can be expressed in SI units - if you want an example try 'Love' - a word bandied about universally which everybody sort of understands but is devoid of units. I am, however, not yet sure we have got to the bottom of the OP in the comfort area. I am in my study at Millstone manor in Sevenoaks, it is 15.2 deg in here but I am comfortable reading and typing away. I will have to go and light a fire downstairs shortly so the core of house, currently at 18.5 will stay around that. I dimly recall attending a 'comfort' seminar with the Passive House Trust which, IIRCC, intimated, in the end, that comfort is, in a range, what you get used to. All of which gets @Gone West not much further. Still a great thread though.

I was thinking just yesterday about how to provide foundation for our lean too shed on the garden room for batteries, the solar panels are on the roof of the garden room. My analysis was that the whole decision came down to permanency and how much and material I would need, there seemed like three options. Slab, Post and Concrete beams with topping of screed, Post and Wooden Beam (which I assume is what you are considering - but I may have that wrong). In the end I decided to go for the concrete slab approach as it is only a small area (1m2) and will give me a simple install but I can wheel barrow the concrete in, albeit with difficulty. The alternative concrete beam approach was expensive and complex for such a small space and the wooden approach, although the simplest was not the most enduring. So I am going for concrete slab but with your bigger space and difficult access I would go for the wooden post & beam approach and make sure you have good ventilation below to keep it as dry as you can.

Sounds like you have convinced yourself to have a go at plan B. Your capping idea seems like the most reliable but your idea of finding out if it will work before you part with the money is sound. I think I might make a simple structure with battens that sits, is clamped to, on the wall and is covered by a membrane which would allow the wall to breath but not allow water on top of it. Essentially this is a plastic model of the eventual capping.

Where did the cabinet come from, I have not found slim one like yours?

@Adsibob I don't have much experience of employing professionals personally. To fix the issue on the building I spoke of, we employed an investigator from a very well known consulting firm and the multinational construction company who built the place picked up the tab. They found the leak as I described it but to this day I have no idea what it cost for them to find and fix it. Personally I like to know almost as much as the professional before I call them in, so I can spot a dud, I would do a heap of my own research so I had a good idea of what was going on before I go out for a professional. In your case because your detail has slopes you will need to cover up as far as the watershed to eliminate water running down under the cover.

I would just use some of the builders plastic, you don't need it to last just to confirm what is going on. This should do it: https://www.screwfix.com/p/capital-valley-plastics-ltd-heavy-duty-polythene-sheet-clear-620ga-4m-x-3m/20738

Looking at pic though might make it tough.

Is there any way you can pop a tarp over the suspect area and see if that sorts it. At least then you know the area of ingress. I once had a leak in a building which was found to be travelling 5 meters horizontally from the place of ingress.

It is not a euro barrel (Yale like) so changing may be slightly more difficult. Take the plate off and see how it is accessed. As for the stressing I would frame it as a 'cost' of having house sitters, get a new lock but keep the old one so you have a spare. I agree not telling you is a bit of a let down but some people may see it as just leaving it as they found it albeit with new keys - without thinking that the loss does put your home at risk.

One guesses that this is what the word vernacular was invented for - but it also tells you that much of the learning is transferable IE the Scottish insulation research mentioned above.

Just been looking through this again. I like the basic plan. I worry about the external insulation, in fact the insulation in general. Doing it on the outside means extending the roofing out to cover the top. On the inside you loose room volume and combination of inner and outer is challenging on the cold bridge front. How is your thinking on this front @lookseehear?

OK so that all makes perfect sense now looks like a good location with good outlooks. I will give it all some more thought now I get your objectives.

Looks like a great project can we ask a couple more questions: 1. Does moving the living space upstairs bring anything else to the party - EG better views, neater connection with the garden, and what are the downsides - is this your forever home or just a stepping stone on the path to it, have you worked out the long term implications of life one floor up - should you include a lift? 2. Do you have any planning / structural implications for all this work EG - change of external material, building footprint (extending too much), foundations able to take the additional load of second story.

Sound like there is a gap in the market for competitive products who can better the price point. Its only electronics after all but perhaps they need to avoid the complications of the Home Assistants - I wanted to integrate them into my home brew system but decided that the 988 page standards doc was better left alone and to stick with If This Then That only would be simpler.

Yes I see the cooled cases are not yet available so I will await one before stretching it.

Didn't bag one of the first batch but ordered this back in October, so very happy to see it arrive just now. This will be the core of the HA system for the house alongside an array of RPi PICO Ws that will run all the remote sensors and any actuators we feel we need. Lets see if I can squeeze enough time this afternoon to get it up and running and put it through its paces.

Not sure anybody with any sort of leadership charisma has either. If they had (both Charisma and thought it through) they would probably have risen to the top and we would be following them down the road of really solving the problem. As it is we follow the leaders we have more from a sense of bemused curiosity about what great big; blunders, errors, failures, cock ups and wrong turns they are going to make next than anything else. It's our fault though because as Jefferson said: “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” So to somewhat massage a phrase from classical antiquity 'we are sheep led by donkeys.' Time to become more like the lions and start snacking on the donkeys perhaps.