canalsiderenovation

Hmmm, what sort of system would do all this in one system? What would be the most cost effective solution?

So, I'm all ready to sort this solar PV and get it ordered but the plumber seems to have his knickers in a twist about solar diverting any excess to the tank. He is saying Alto energy (the company who have designed the system for the ASHP and allow the RHI to be claimed) are saying the mitsubishi system for the ASHP is not compatible for us to have a solar system to divert any excess to the tank as all the controls are built in, something about legionnaires and the tanks having built in controls which isn't compatible and Alto not taking responsibility for maintaining it if we don't have tanks with controls all built in. He had quoted for a Mitusubishi 11kw 1P air source heat pump with 210 Litre Preplumbed Pressurised cylinder (I noted we want to change this to either 300/400 litre now we are having solar as per the recommendation on here). Now I know lots of people on here have an ASHP and a tank that they use with a solar PV controller (iboost, solic200 etc) for the solar to divert to the immersion. I can't understand what the problem is, is it just that a Mitsubishi system won't allow this? Can you advise if there is a particular spec that I can go back as saying works with the ASHP, or what I can say so I can go back and pretend I know what I'm talking about! I'm sure someone in the chain of plumber/Alto is being deliberately difficult..... Any help would be really great. Thanks

So, it appears we actually cannot fit two portrait rows of 6 on our roof. I checked today and our roof is just over 7300 in length but from the pitch to the bottom is 3340 and I believe the panels/frames are around 1700 in height so that messes up two rows of 6. The only other thing I'm thinking is if we can do 12 panels horizontally, three rows of 4. Most people seem to have them portrait though, good idea, bad idea, opinions please?

It may be worth exploring if there are campsites nearby. We found one campsite had a static there that is normally used for holiday lets/warden (which wasn't advertised) and is 10 mins from our house, albeit we may have preferred to be on site but we couldn't get a static caravan over the canal bridge. We managed to negotiate a two bed static for a 4 month term (it's looking like it may be 5 months at this rate) for £350 a month all in. I also did things like find any Airbnbs locally and ask if they would do a long term. If you have a local Facebook site it's worth asking there. We also had a couple of stables/farm places that had worker accommodation that wasn't been used that they would have been willing to let cheaply that were perfectly functional. We both have portable hotspots for work and have successfully set my phone up as a hotspot for our Netflix binge watching as I have unlimited data. Laundry on site and neighbours/parents have done our washing.

Awaiting our glass and ours is a bungalow.

It would be on concrete, I'll check out the stone resin ones. Strangely there isn't much in it price wise but the Pearlstone looks more modern.

We are looking at two pearlstone trays for walk in showers (1400*800 and 1600*700). I just wondered how pearlstone compares to other trays or if there was any particular material we should be looking at?

Just wondering if the Solic200 is a good alternative to the Solariboost Immersion Controller? I've got a cheaper price but don't want naff products for the sake of saving a few quid....

This seems really cheap even for trade. If I were to get trade prices for the materials alone for the system I want are still more than £2k.

I don't know, good point though.

I think so, just need to check what our builder/spark is going to charge for fitting.

So some reduction on pricing and we some shoppinf around. Note we had to change from 14 panels to 12 as the roof was a bit smaller than initially predicted. They have changed the Fronius inverter 3.6 as the Primo will not work with 2 rows of 6 using these panels they have quoted for, instead a Growatt which is compatible. Does anyone have any knowledge of these products/comments on this pricing for the supply of GSE in roof panels etc and diverter for the water to immersion for ASHP?

I'm debating whether to have smoked glass on our walk in shower (the tray is 1400*800) with a flipper. I don't know if the smoked glass would be a bit overpowering with a grey concrete type floor and matt pale grey vanity although we will keep the walls white (only light is a flat rooflight). Does anyone have smoked glass, pics would be helpful please.

Prior permission needed and timescales. Can you recommend a PV generation predictor I can use?

This is the argument I'm having with my other half who is saying it doesn't make sense financially.

The extension is still a very large flat roof space which is a sort of continuation of what was our existing flat roof but now the two bungalow bits have been connected it hopefully won't look too box like. I'd of preferred not to have any flat roof but without a massive amount of money it just wasn't possible to connect lots of pitches together within our budget.

We got an ex display Internorm door with fingerprint sensor for a little over £1k - shop around! Our grey composite stable door from a builders yard, a customer order error we got for less than £200.

Ever since we moved in we have always been asked "is it two bungalows or one?" Weirdly it was designed exactly like the main picture (which was the start of our build as they were doing the footings). I think it was all a bit of a ploy. Roll back to early 70s when it was some sort of large vegetable patch. Planning permission was refused for two bungalows, various amendments and someone designed the bungalow as it is today, one bungalow suspiciously looking like two bungalows separated by a flat roof. I think they planned to build it and then attempt to get it split into two bungalows but it never happened. We have always wanted to somehow 'connect' up the roof and to be honest it's all been a bit vague on how this would be achieved. Mid build architect and builder got together, another £200 for some more beam calcs and over yesterday and today it is all looking a bit more like one bungalow. This pic is from the scaffolding and you can finally see the roof joining with the large flat roof extension. From the canal/bridge it now looks far more connected though this pic doesn't do it much justice (yesterday). And from the garden looking into our kitchen: What we really like is our ensuite, which, in the absence of any external walls will have a nice fixed rooflight on the flat roof just above our toilet/sink vanity unit which will be slightly raised from the ceiling (not the best pic).

Rough guesstimate around £3-£400 builder said (our roof tiles are Marley something or other so not posh slate or anything).

Inc VAT just a few quid over £4k.

So, now is the time we need to decide whether to go for in roof solar on one side of the roof (old Google image for info). Note a lot of these trees have gone and there is no shading. My other half doesn't think it is cost effective and I'm trying to drive the cost down. We approached two companies, both MCS accredited who came back with some prices which seemed expensive. We aim to avoid getting prior DNO permission and as I understand it the Peak Wattage of the PV array should fall within the inverter’s power tolerance and it is the inverter’s maximum output capacity that needs to be 16Amp (per phase) or less in order to not require permission from the DNO fall within G98 regulations. The quote I've had from one supplier recommended by a few people here is attached and they said the spec they have quoted for means it won't need DNO advance approval. There is then the additional cost of our electrician and roofer fitting it. We will have our ASHP and the solar is for our use and to divert any excess to the immersion tank (300 litre minimum just waiting for quote). Would someone mind taking a look at this quote (14 panel system) and seeing if there is anything missing and if there is any way of reducing cost and things that should/should not be included. At these figures my other half is reluctant and doesn't think it is worth pursuing? I'm hoping @ProDave will be along too and other people that know far more than me @PeterW? Thanks

Oh crikey, I didn't know that that's another conundrum. The Alutec one is definitely RAL7016 but the composite one I'm not sure of but comparing them next to one another there is literally nothing in it. Internorm are kindly sending me a sample of the window frame out to me this week so I can compare that with the fascias and soffit colours but that still doesn't deal with the front door and whether to go with anthracite or black.

Our builder has dropped off some fascias and soffit samples, both in anthracite - one that is a slim line metal one which is the very expensive one he tells me (Alutec) and one that looks like a uPVC or composite type material with a woodgrain effect. Both of us are leaning to the composite type one due to budget but our issue is the colour. Whilst I'm sure they will look smart against the Internorm Anthracite windows, the colour doesn't seem to go with the front door, albeit it's holding the samples directly next to the door which is black but it looks terrible (slight exaggeration maybe). And yes I know they have it on the display pic in a sort of anthracite surround. Perhaps it's just us worrying.... As the front door is on the extension which is flat roof the fascias and soffits will be closer to the front door but of course with it also being a bungalow there are a lot of windows close to the fascias and soffits too. As getting a new front door is out, frankly because we love it and even if we had the money it's the exact sort of thing we would pick and we can't afford a comparible door for the price we paid so we have two options. 1. Have all the fascias, soffits and guttering black. It will match the front door but not the Internorm windows. 2. Keep the fascias, soffits and guttering anthracite, it will match the windows but not the door. The utility stable door is on a wall with no windows and is a composite dark grey with white frame so think we could get away with either black or anthracite fascias, soffits and guttering. So, anyone got anthracite windows and black fascias, soffits and guttering or a black front door with anthracite windows? Options please. Front door attached. Frame is a grey, shiny type metal (not the dark frame on the display pic)

Soooo, met plumber and he is going to sort out pricing comparison for 300/400 litre tanks. I mentioned making sure tanks had immersion element as we are obtaining some pricing for solar and he said he will raise this with Alto energy. He was sceptical on how much solar would actually contribute to hot water of the ASHP and seemed to think we couldn't do this going down the RHI route. I'll wait to see what he comes back with and in interim see what prices I get back for solar.

Thanks I'm going to get some quotes for in roof solar - around a 4.4-4.8 GSE system. I just know I need to make sure whichever 300-400 litre tank I have it has an immersion element.