marshian

Home made induction heater was what I called it Anyway apologies for the OT back to ring mains and fused spurs

I’d better state the case for defence (of the lazy) 1. it’s the shortest immersion I could find (seriously stubby) 2. it will heat approx 30 litres of a 115 litre tank before tripping out on thermal overload (temp of the water thermal overload - not melting the plug thermal overload) 3. it is absolutely a get out of jail solution for major gas boiler breakdown/failure 4. I’m well aware it’s probably well past the ragged edge of acceptable just an aside I once needed to do a bit of welding on a car - rather than turn the car round so the welder could be plugged into it’s normal 16 amp socket - I plugged the welder into an extension lead (un coiled just what was needed to reach the welder) that ended well…….. Next time I used the extension lead it uncoiled to the same point - the rest had welded itself together / scrap basically

you’ve just reminded me I need to wire in my 3kW immersion heater to a fused spur connection off the ring main (rather than the current 3 pin plug it’s currently wired into) before I turn off the boiler, drain the system for a couple of days to do a few circuit/rad valve changes prior to the heating season. yes I know it shouldn’t be on a 3 pin but in 33 years it’s only been used twice (very much a energency use only)

flipping the question round why would you want to switch the flow off to the UFH and rads if it’s heating season?? Well set up weather compensated flow temps should mean that the heat source is only replacing the heat lost not more and not less…..

reminds me of the Urban Plumbers Skit on Viessmann Boilers and why the company makes life so difficult for installers Skip to 11 mins and enjoy

Pretty much what @JamesPa said I'd certainly try WC first with as much of the system in play as possible before adding lots of thermostats and micro zoning I've currently got Wiser "Smart" TRV's on every Rad (13 in total) The only ones that actually have some room influence are on the north facing side of my house with 3 external walls on the rooms and they are used to set back temps during the periods where we aren't using those rooms and overnight for same reason primarily because of the high heat loss. All the others are set to an elevated target temp and act as temp limiters rather than temp controllers (for solar gain on south side or an unexpected and sudden temp change outside) I'm going to try to re-coup some of the cost by selling the smart TRV's and replace them with decorators caps as really they are just expensive battery powered room temp sensors and I have stand alone units already in most rooms

I mostly DIY because - with the exception of plastering and brickwork - when I've paid a tradesman to do work it's not been to a standard I regard as acceptable - that doesn't mean it's shoddy or terrible it's more that they want to get the job done in the minimum time and it shows. Your maths works and makes sense but I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing 1. I did it myself and 2. If I need to maintain/alter/replace something I know how it was put together (I tend to think of the access requirements at the fabrication stage and build it in)

Excellent progress - getting vehicles stuck on site is fun................ One of my treasured memories is getting a cement lorry stuck in my back garden after delivering 15T of concrete and it buried to it's differential casings due to driver not understanding that spinning the wheels from the start was unlikely to do anything other than dig a really big rut. Seeing it pulled out by another one - happy days.............

Fun comparisons Weekdays Roughly Translated to Sleep - Wake up Get Up - Work - Get Home - Have tea - drink tea - bed Weekends Roughly Translated to Sleep - 1 person wake up - get up and do stuff - 2nd person get up - stick on laundry 3 loads - tea Oven - watch movie - bed Winter is heavier on laundry due to TD/dehumidifer drying usage

Or too high a pump speed for the system volume and lockshields screwed down to slow the flow (aka "balancing not balancing") One of my pet hates is system noise - I won't repeat the post I wrote around pump getting blocked up with magnetite resulting on the need to run the pump as twice the previous speed and generating a lot more system noise as a result But this was the pump impeller and once cleaned up I was able to revert to the previous min speed and had a perfectly quiet system again......

I guess it depends on what electrical kit is running mine averages around 300W background load.

so it the HW heating on demand via temp sensor (ie as soon as sensor sees 5 deg lower than target temp it tops up) or timed to once a day? with a 250 litre tank and lowish usage you could run cooler temp and use more of the tank if heated once a day - if you have visitors either heat to a higher temp (change the bi-metalic sensor to higher temp or increase frequency of re-heat at same temp) our tank is typically down to ~30 deg overnight and reheated in ~40 mins in the morning (using ~3 kWh of gas to do so) winter when cold water is coming in at a lower temp (10 deg) it’s down to 20 deg overnight and reheated to ~55 deg in 20 mins in the morning (house losses are increased in winter) (using ~5 kWh of gas to do so) It’s what works best for us…..

Easier viewing than the HG Website

If it's a loop that supplies all the hot taps and as a result no delays in HW at the tap then it's returning to the tank and is not what I would term avoiding stagnation because legionaires isn't just about stagnation it's about controlling the temp of the water store to avoid optimum growth temps. If you are using all the water in the tank every day then risk is much reduced We only have a 115 Litre tank - we heat to between 48 and 50 deg C and heat just once a day (except on bath night) We pretty much use all of the water every day with 2 showers morning and evening plus a little washing up Is your HW loop 24/7 or on a timer to minimise tank losses - if it's on for long periods of time it will be dragging down the tank temp and as a result you need to run the tank hotter to compensate and it won't be helping the plant room temps

That's almost certainly the case for everyone.

When my neighbour replaced the gutters on her single garage (they are joined to my double length garage) the “handy man” joined the two sections with a wood screw because the gutters were different profiles as well as wood screws holding the gutter to down-pipe join I didn’t know this till later. My garage wall was showing signs of damp so I asked her if I could pop into her garden and check it out. I found this in her down pipe I’m not keen on screws thro plastic pipes as they can catch stuff and lead to blockages…..

Or even one 90 deg to the right and then another 90 deg that can set the angle to whatever is required - good plan it would have to be tight to the wall to stop it being forced apart - depends on how much water is expected?

Quick Google https://www.r-e-a.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Boiler-Upgrade-Scheme-Launch-Event-QA.pdf 1. If a customer disconnects from the gas grid, and then a heat pump is installed, then reconnects back to the gas grid (say for cooking purposes) what would happen? 2. Can a gas connection be retained for cooking purposes? Answer: Heat pumps are eligible to be installed in properties on or off the gas grid. A gas connection may be retained or reconnected for cooking purposes. 2. Can a gas connection be retained for cooking purposes? Answer: Heat pumps are eligible to be installed in properties on or off the gas grid. A gas connection may be retained or reconnected for cooking purposes.

I thought that the BUS Grant wasn't impacted by continuing to use gas for cooking?

Alternatively - if you get some solvent weld adhesive and it melts the down pipe fitting you might be able to pie cut a fitting and then solvent weld it??

I'd be gluing a 45 deg bend to the down pipe and then firing up a hot air gun and heating the downpipe just after the bend to make it form to the required 38 deg angle - you are never gonna see it from ground level and the water is going to want to flow along the bottom of the down pipe anyway

When I was doing my suspended ground floor insulation a couple of years ago I was reasonably flexible with thickness - I could use anything from 60 mm to 100 mm it's worth investigating / calculating the cost comparing sizes sometimes there is a sweet spot where it works out you get better price For me 75 mm was a few pence more that 60mm but a significant amount cheaper than 80mm (obviously if you need fixed thicknesses and can't deviate then it doesn't help)

Yeah that’s a little bit more flow than the average rad based gas boiler circuit due to a very low dt (for clarification my usage was based on boiler dt of 5-7 deg c - a flow rate of 0.4 m3 / hr at a WC flow temp of 23 to 32 deg C. My old grundfos pump was 35W at similar flow rates (modern pumps are witchcraft)

70W is a pretty high usage for a modern circulation pump on a gas central heating circuit - mines using 13W 13W x 24 x 180 = 56kWh or £14 It was one of the factors I worked out before going 24/7 on CH The old pump I will grant you was a Watt hungry little sod.......... Imagine if all the houses in the UK adopted modern pumps saving £50 a year - the payback would be under 3 years.............

Hopping on the conversation - does anyone know what the scores are for all aspects of EPC assessment - I've googled a few times and not had a decent hit?