Crofter

OK I'm not a total newbie, I've designed and built a couple of off grid systems. But this is different. I've got a small all-electric newly built property which needs essentially no heating at all through the summer months. There's a 200l direct UVC in there which currently heats up from an E7 tariff. I'm considering installing a PV system with a diverter, primarily aimed at covering that DHW demand. I'm going to assume that I need about 8kwh/day to heat the tank (incoming 10°, outgoing 60°, two seven minute showers at 10l/min). As it's a holiday let, it's primarily occupied from April-September inclusive. So I'm looking to design a system that can deliver close to 8kwh/day over that period. What I've come up with so far is: 6x 500w panels (£450) 3kw inverter (£300) Diverter (£300) Plus obviously mounting hardware, cabling, isolators, fuses, etc. So I should be looking at not too much north of £1k, plus any labour and fees. I'm considering getting it signed off by a qualified but non MCS sparky. I believe I still need DNO approval though? If I go down this route, would there be anything wrong with using secondhand gear? The panels would probably be either ground mounted, or on a south facing gable (or possibly a combination of both). Playing around with PVGIS, I've learned that my optimal angle is 39° for total annual output, and 74° for the best winter production. Somewhere in-between would give me the greatest number of months which hit my target of 240kwh. All academic if I end up putting panels on the gable, of course. I could think about roof mount as well, but the roof is E-W. It's corrugated steel over timber battens. Anyway like I say, I'm new to this, I might be overlooking something, or overthinking things. Feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated.

Fair point. When we need the most cooling, we're likely to have an abundance of solar production. And heat waves will continue to become worse in the future. It does seem strange that we're getting this press release on the back of rumours about BUS being scrapped. I think the government have been throwing a lot of ideas out to judge reactions, and to manage expectations. E.g. if you spread rumours of income tax rises, then it feels like a win when nothing happens on budget day.

A2A is used extensively in Scandinavia. I fitted a ducted underfloor system last year and I'm very happy with it. It made more sense than installing a wet system from scratch. It doesn't seem beyond the wit of man to sell restricted units that can only operate in heating mode. Mine has never been run in cooling mode. I didn't even fit a condensate drain.

Party might just be getting started: air to air to be added to the BUS scheme! https://www.gov.uk/government/news/discounts-for-families-to-keep-warm-in-winter-and-cool-in-summer

Interesting thread. I'm a big fan of Sketchup, I've never got to grips with any sort of traditional CAD though. I'm currently running an obsolete (2017) version on a ten year old Mac with a screen the size of a small cinema, it's amazing. I hadn't really thought of using it for BW drawings though- @nwnware you going to screen grab different views and submit those? Or do you think BCO will actually want to look around the 3D model? I've never added any labels or info to the models, is that possible/easy?

If fiddling with the cost of electricity/gas is part of this, the progressive approach would be to reduce standing charges, which have become inflated in recent years.

I likely have a few spare caps for the screws, colour should be close enough.

I'm thinking more like 5001. There's definitely a slight blue tint to it. It's funny, the roofing people call it BS1829 but every other reference I can find to that shows it as a solid grey without any blue to it. Aargh. I might just have to fork out for a RAL colour chart and wait for it to turn up.

My steel roofing is supposed to be BS18B29 or 'slate blue'. I'd like to match this for some replacement windows, but that will mean finding the nearest RAL code. Just on the off chance, if anybody on here has their hands on charts for both systems, what would the closest match be?

How is the existing plasterboard attached? Is it dot and dab on to the brickwork, or are there timber battens?

Yes they have a huge head start. But the Chinese are about to launch their own reusable vehicle (some time this month), and Blue Origin have such incredibly deep pockets that they don't really seem to care about launch cost at this point. They issued the largest launch contract in history, buying up dozens of launches on various rockets including Atlas V and Ariane 6. Interesting times. Of course it would be nice if we had a satellite internet option that wasn't lining the pockets of a billionaire or an authoritarian state.

Kuiper, from Amazon, has launched about 100 satellites so far and is ramping up quite quickly now. I think they plan to be offering a service by the end of next year. By comparison, Starlink has launched over ten thousand satellites to date. The Chinese are also building at least two systems, but I don't know whether that will be available in the UK.

We use a Starlink Mini on our boat. It's been basically flawless. It only cuts off in truly horrendous downpours, but we're talking tropical thunderstorms, not normal rain. My FIL uses a standard Starlink on his house and says it's been perfect. He gets about 350mb/s which is about ten times faster than his old BT connection. My only concern about Starlink is that the packages and prices can change quite a bit. At some point Elon will probably throttle your connection unless you like enough of his Tweets 🤣

So, I have tracked down one very promising lead, but the only supplier who has given me a quote for this system just isn't passing the sniff test. Their FENSA number doesn't match the company name or location (hundreds of miles away!) which seems very shady to me. It's a shame because the uW values and price are good. Maybe too good to be true?? They also appear to trade under various different names that all come back to the same phone number, although at least it's a landline.

Operator error. The house is used for holiday letting and we have dozens of different people staying there each year. The tilt/slide mechanism was too complex for a few people, and some just left it open, others tried forcing it closed. It's now pretty badly damaged and I think the most sensible thing to do is to replace it with something simpler. Similarly, the window was damaged when somebody opened it during a gale. That's eventually led to some rot in the frame. I shouldn't have specified a side hung pane.

Why plastic rather than metal?

If it's a location that might be susceptible to wear, I'd look at an extruded metal bead.

I'm looking for a sliding patio door with a decent uW value... and a window as well. To replace the current units which are both comfortably under 1.0 uW. Money is a bit tight so I'm trying to juggle thermal spec and budget. The originals were Aluclad but just to replace these two units at today's prices is going to cost approximately double what it cost me to do the entire house back in 2016! So I'm considering uPVC. It looks like there are some pretty high spec options these days. The names that have come up are: - Eurocell Syncro - Aluplast Super Slide Neo - Liniar Modlock - Ideal 8000 It seems hard to find any suppliers who will deal directly with me, even if I'm offering to drive down and collect these in a van... don't they want my business??

I did perc tests for my build and the council were very hands off. I could probably have made up any old number if I'd wanted. But I wanted the system to actually work, so I did it all properly. That was for foul water, where you have to ensure drainage in to the aerated upper level of the soil, whilst maintaining a minimum cover depth (can't remember the exact figure for that). Your quote for a connection across the road sounds absolutely bonkers. What sort of size pipe are you talking about?

Presumably far more expensive too!

If it's already on, don't paint it. As the wood expands and contracts you'll end up with little lines at the joins.

Yup I'd expect the colour to be a planning condition. Otherwise you could paint it bright pink. Or add a flag of your choice. Etc.

Does that mean stainless? That's the advice I followed on my larch and it still looks good nearly ten years on.

Having seen the view including the gable, definitely go for the natural wood colour. I'm surprised this isn't a planning condition though?

I would use blocks of PIR offcuts to get that 50mm standoff, and cut your slabs approx 5-10mm undersize, then use low expansion foam applied with a proper gun, to fill the gaps and hold in place. I don't see how you could guarantee the 50mm gap if you were filing with any sort of wool. And the u value would be a lot worse.