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Crofter

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Everything posted by Crofter

  1. Crofter
    So the answer to my original questions turns out to be 'neither'. As a further thread drift... I know the idea of the second immersion on a UVC is for use on E7, but would it make any sense whatsoever to swap it out for a DC unit and hook it up to a solar panel? Just to provide a low level of heating to counter standing losses and reduce bills. The £/w of solar is just so low these days, and the house is mostly going to be used in the summer (in answer to a previous question, yes I will keep it open all year round but I expect to be at 50% occupancy or less in the off season ).
  2. Crofter
    How far do you want to go? Builders Merchants will offer to give you a quote based off plans, so must use some sort of estimation technique. On my own build, I tried to be as accurate as possible- I built the house in Sketchup and then added up how many studs, rafters, etc etc and from that could order the timber that I needed. Very slow process even with a tiny house that I knew intimately, and inevitably some detailing deviated slightly from the initial plan as the build progressed. It's always a good idea to round up when estimating quantities! When I did my original budget estimate I noted down the first reasonable price that I could get for things, generally on line or in some cases on the phone. Then when the time came to purchase, I hunted around much harder to get better deals. This has almost completely offset any increases in materials or omissions, and has meant that the budget has stayed within a few hundred pounds of my original figure, which is quite remarkable really.
  3. Crofter
    I guess their pumps have a better reputation than their boat engines, which are known as 'Stuart non Turners'...
  4. Crofter
    Thanks for the offer but I think I'm settled on the UVC route. I didn't know Stuart Turner made pumps by the way- I'd only heard of their boat engines.
  5. Crofter
    If J wants to be my guinea pig then I'd quite happily give him a week's stay pro bono... I've certainly learned enough from his postings over the years and it would be one way to say thanks! Hmmm maybe I should be offering a discount to BuildHub members...
  6. Crofter
    Bearing capacity for the foam should be available somewhere. Incidentally, I was pondering something similar myself today. I'm going to make my hearth using cheap and cheerful slate floor tile- a single 60x60 on top, and then to build up the height I'll cut up some smaller cheaper ones and mortar them into a little U-shaped upstand. That leaves me wondering what to put in the middle, and I was actually thinking PIR would be just the job, easy to work with and it would get rid of my offcuts. This is to go above a chipboard suspended floor, so I don't want to just fill it with concrete. Fireproofing not an issue really as, like the OP, my stove can go on a 12mm hearth.
  7. Crofter
    PM'd you...
  8. Crofter
    Fingals is of course geologically different, being part of the band of columnar basalt that runs from the Giant's Causeway. I'll need to do some homework about what regulations will apply. I know a few people who rent out caravans, boats, etc via AirBnB and am crossing my fingers that I can do likewise- legally it is just a caravan, not a house. But that's another topic.
  9. Crofter
    The band of limestone is very localised. On Skye it is a small area in the south, around Torrin and Elgol. There are caves in the area which have yielded some significant archaeological finds, and where the limestone meets the sea it produces a fascinating landscape. The only cave I've personally explored is Spar Cave, which runs 80m back. You're supposed to visit at low tide but I was there at the wrong time. Was fun to shimmy round on the limestone cliff face above the sea- the handholds are great, and the thought of falling into four degree water really focuses the mind. Anyway, to get back on topic- I had a word with my local plumber and he has also suggested a UVC. So I might take a punt on the one on eBay. It does seem to be the most straightforward solution. Whilst I would like to DIY everything, I have to be realistic and admit that the summer season is approaching fast, so it makes sense to hand off discrete bits of work where possible.
  10. Crofter
    Well that's given me a lot to think about- thanks all! Just a quick note just now (heading out in a minute to catch the last of the daylight..) - power cuts: we've been here about four years and had two power cuts in that time that I can remember. One was 37hrs which was quite exceptional, the other about 4hrs. So we may be in the sticks but it's hardly something I would worry about. Plus they occur during low season anyway. If it were to happen whilst guests were staying, I do have a genny in the shed and there is a woodburner in the cottage. It would be easy enough to provide a camping stove for emergency cooking. - not going for an LPG hob, it's got to be either ceramic or induction, primarily for cleaning purposes. - the cottage will sleep two, and that's it. I've had advice from letting agents and was dissuaded from aiming for the family or group markets. It's simply too small, at 43m2, to realistically squeeze anybody else in. At most I might consider having a travel cot available but that would be the limit. A note on water quality- down in the south of Skye there is actually an area of hard water, due to the limestone. Our own water is good, no trace of colour, and no problems with scale or sediment.
  11. Crofter
    That's a really interesting idea- fit a header tank as a buffer to take the chill off the incoming water prior to electric heating. I'm also warm roof construction so it could be feasible, but I don't know if I've got enough head.
  12. Crofter
    Fixing the current house shower is on the to do list... after the new house is done! So, IHW or electric shower may lead to disappointment and bad Tripadvisor reviews, especially in colder weather. Got it. A normal vented cylinder is doable, and obviously cheaper to buy and install (DIY?). It's a bungalow, but the highest I could put a header tank is about 4m above FFL, or a couple of metres above the shower head. Not convinced that's enough without having to put a pump in? I've got my eye on a UVC on eBay that looks perfect, but of course DIY install then goes out the window- how much might I be looking at for this? Edit to add- great water pressure here, I don't have a figure but it catches people unaware and visitors end up with wet trousers when they wash their hands...
  13. Crofter
    I resemble that remark!
  14. Crofter
    All food for thought... I guess a single tank would actually be the easiest/cheapest system- so big brownie points for that.
  15. Crofter
    Thank for that Jeremy. In my own house I actually lust after a basic electric shower, because the gravity fed mixer we have is utterly pathetic. I installed it in exactly the same way as the one I put in our previous house, except this one has slightly more head and a cleaner pipe run- but the unit itself is some unbranded junk, and the previous one was a Mira. Even having ripped out the NRVs built into the unit (naughty I know, but it's fed from a header tank so cannot contaminate the mains) it is awful, with a very poor flow. So I have become quite accustomed to miserly showers and forget that some people accept nothing less than a Niagara scale deluge. The tarrif to which you refer is 'Total Heating, Total Control' and gives access to cheap rate electricity 24/7 for space heating and DHW- but I don't think you can get it for new builds any more. It would lend itself to IHW rather than stored systems. Don't UVCs need some sort of annual check? Especially if installed in commercial premises? The priority has to be getting the house up and running ASAP- if I miss this summer season, that sort of blows any other cost considerations out of the water (regardless of how it's heated...)
  16. Crofter
    Planning my first fix plumbing and wiring and so it's decision time for my DHW. As a small building used for holiday lets I will not have a boiler or the need for any bulk hot water storage. I also don't want to be paying for standing losses on a house that might go empty for weeks at a time. So the options are: a) Electric shower + two individual under-sink IHW units, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom b) Electric shower + multipoint IHW unit feeding both the basin and sink. I could site this near the CU which would be about mid way between the two outlets. c) Multipoint IHW feeding the shower, basin, and sink. The last option is very tempting as it would in some ways be the simplest, and possibly the cheapest. Also prevents the possibility of overloading the power supply. But you would want the IHW to produce higher temps, for dish washing, than you'd need for a shower- and I am right in thinking that it's quite inefficient to have to dilute hotter water back down again? If it was my own house I would live with the shower temp water, and top it up with a kettle if I needed to soak some dishes... but it's not my house, and everything needs to be idiot proof I know that @JSHarris has had success with his IWH, albeit in a quite different application.
  17. Crofter
    Yeah three plus hours from your side of the Sneck. A bit of a slog. Boat is in the water but sails, boom, canvas all stripped off. The sailing here is rather nice though!
  18. Crofter
    Wish somebody had told that to the people I used to work for, who had converted a music studio and used sheets of Celotex to block up the windows.
  19. Crofter
    Ah yes that rings some bells from when I did my loft conversion. I that instance, I laboured for a sparkie and did all the running around in small spaces whilst he did the clever bits- seemed to be a good compromise as we got it done in a day and it cost me less than £200. In the new house, most of the wiring will be running in a non insulated service void, but there will be a small amount in the partitions- which don't even exist yet so I tend to forget about them. I'm planning to board out the whole perimeter and warm ceiling and then build the partitions after that.
  20. Crofter
    I know you said you're not considering using rigid board insulation of any kind between the studs, but just in case you find you need to, it's not so bad to get a good result if you leave a gap all round and foam it in place. Or if you're really clever you can insulate as you build, laying down stud, board, stud, board, pressing everything together nice and tight. On my own build I did glasswool between the studs and then rigid Kingspan on the inside of the frame. Partly down to detailing of my build and also I believe this follows the principle of each layer becoming more vapour permeable as you go from inside to outside.
  21. Crofter
    Plenty food for thought there, thanks. I do have a very local sparkie (as in a few doors away) but he seems plenty busy. No harm asking. On the legal aspects, I had assumed that SSE would come along and install the meter and then go away again- and they would have no knowledge or particular interest in my CU and wiring. Happy to be corrected on this but curious about what sort of enforcement system would apply. I don't have a supply in the house quite yet- the cable has been taken to just outside and a duct installed, so now what I am wind and watertight I could get them back to finish it any time really. I hope I haven't jumped the gun, but I already bought a reel of 2.5mm T&E and one of 1.5mm, with the intention of using this for the sockets and lights respectively. Obviously the kitchen appliances, water heater, and shower will need something else. These higher power circuits are all going to be along one wall so I could leave that unboarded maybe? I consider myself competent enough to do the sockets and lights as I've done that sort of thing before, but I'm more reluctant to get involved with the other stuff. @ProDave what can I do to tempt you over to Skye... a free weekend break in a partially finished luxury self catering? Complete with a lovely Burley stove which as we both know is the connoisseur's choice of stove
  22. Crofter
    Useful as fairing boards for sanding down things like car bodywork, boat hulls etc.
  23. Crofter
    I should preface this by saying that my build is exempt from building control/regulations so in legal terms I have free rein. Hence my question is really about what is practical, achievable, and advisable. If time was not an issue, I would do loads of research and aim to wire in everything myself, no doubt with the aid of a heap of questions on Buildhub. But the fact is I need to get a shift on and get my project finished in the next few weeks- or at the very latest, by about June. What I am considering is to position the wires themselves in the service cavity, and quite possibly do the connections at the sockets and other fittings, but leave the whole CU side of things to someone who knows what they're doing. What I'm wondering is if this will prove a hard sell and no sparkie will touch my project with a bargepole. I expect that my explanations of being building regs exempt will fall on deaf ears, as it has done with almost every trade I've talked to so far.
  24. Crofter
    Surely these high temp devices create lots of particulate air pollution
  25. Crofter
    I wonder to what extent the stainless mesh fitted to my stove will alleviate particulate pollution- it is described as a soot catcher and is designed to burn off small airborne particles. One of the reasons my stove is rated at 89% efficiency, compared to less than 80% for most good stoves. Another consider that comes to mind, that might explain people's reluctance to accept the arguments against stoves, is that burning wood is as old as Homo Sapiens itself. Is there something about the higher temperatures reached in stoves that makes their emissions worse than what we have endured for the preceding millenia? Or is it just that for the last fifty years or so we have had cleaner alternatives?
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