Crofter

So just to conclude this, I finally made a decision. Went with the DHP490 drill and DTD153 impact, both a decent upgrade from the base models. Plus the 186 recip saw. Only added a single 3Ah battery, because once my tools are all reunited I'll have plenty of batteries. Powertoolmate won out in overall cost, there were only a few quid in it. If I'd wanted to, I could have split the order between two or three different places to get the absolute lowest prices, but I'd have lost out any savings in additional delivery charges. Looking forward to my new toys

I believe so, but it would get pretty frustrating waiting on them.

It's possible you ended up with the 'SD' charger, which looks similar, but has no fan.

This is the one I'm looking at, same as I already have. Definitely has a fan. https://cnspowertools.co.uk/makita-dc18rc-18v-lxt-li-ion-charger.html

Yup. I can get the Makita fast charger for as little as £14 if I shop around. The double charger is nearly £100!

Ok just about to click the button, but before I do, does anybody have a discount code they could share?

I would start by looking at all the background heat you expect to be generating in there- two humans, a fridge, some cooking. Then do a basic heat loss calculation based on notional insulation values and the surface area of the hut. This will be dependent on outside temperature- do you want to use this all year round, or summer only? Just to give you a data point, my little place needs no heating for about nine months of the year. The fridge, hot water tank, and a bit of solar gain seem to be enough. I've got u values of between 0.1 and 0.15, with the windows at about 1.0.

I've been using a corded electric chainsaw for my log pile, and I *thought* I was keeping the chain sharp enough. Recently switched to a brand new chain and what a difference... knife through butter. It only cost about £8 as well. Worth every penny!

Fair enough. I wish I had a note of what my first pair were, as they were perfectly good.

Haha, I'd already looked at that one! I'll probably just buy new though. These things just don't depreciate at all- that one is about 75% of the new price!

Out of all of these tools, the recip saw is one that will likely see limited use. I'm about to replace some windows, and I thought the recip would be good to slice through the screws. Last time I was doing this I tried using a multi tool, but the blades are insanely expensive and I was averaging about two nails per blade. And I didn't really have the depth of cut required anyway. For very occasional use, maybe I should be considering a Fakita recip? The best price I can get on the real one is £83.

That's a very good deal, well spotted. My only slight reservation is that both the driver and drill are a bit on the weedy side. The kit includes more battery than I strictly need. I'll not regret that in the long run, just I wonder if I should be looking for a slightly more beefy impact driver (that ones is 140nM max).

I'm very wary of knock off batteries. But I have only owned two. The first was supposed to be 3Ah but it's so light that I don't think it's even 1Ah. It also behaves differently to my other, genuine, batteries: it will grind down slower and slower and eventually stop. The others will start to dip and then cut off abruptly. This means that the genuine ones have some sort of circuitry inside them, presumably a BMS, which prevents deep discharge. The cheap one is likely just a pack of cells. My worry is that, without any sort of BMS, the cheap battery is unsafe and could fail to detect any problems. I never leave it charging unattended. The other knock off battery I have is the one that started smoking after a dead short, as described earlier. I'm an absolute cheapskate but I draw the line at fake batteries now.

Yes I've just realised that. Could have made a bit of a mistake there! The 18RC fast charger is about £17 in some places, worth the extra if it saves me buying an extra battery.

PassivHaus is all about energy/m², rather than total energy. Which I think is wrong and drives up house sizes. We don't measure cars in mpg per ton of vehicle. Also, it's very difficult to meet PH standard in a small build because the volume: surface area ratio favours larger buildings. Another thing counting against a PH Shepherd's Hut is the exposed floor. You've got a very large surface area and a small volume inside it. I came up against all of this on my own build, which is a 5*10m house on legs.