Adam2

Some pics of my setup

As I have my own company owned EV I can apparently pay for the charge costs from my company which is v nice. Unfortunately I have a a very basic charger so wanted to find the easiest way to measure the usage. Is there something I can use in the consumer unit or should I find an old elec meter and install that in-line? My EV charger runs from a small consumer unit installed in the garage which seems to have some unused capacity.

Lots of questions come to mind - just finished an ICF house that I managed the build of. Cost - is this very important to you? Maybe other options will be cheaper? Insulation - Yes you get this with ICF but not in the floor or the ceiling (usually). if you really want this to be insulated curious why - if there is no heat source the temp will still drop/rise just more slowly so unless you use it for working in and have a heater then a high price for something that does not seem to provide much benefit. Not insulating the floor would be a big omission if insulating the walls and ceiling but would mean more groundworks unless you can just build up from current ground level and have a sloped entrance? Security - if you go with ICF you won't need rebar for security - if someone comes equipped to go through 150mm of concrete the rebar will not be a problem. No idea of the risk level of course but a timber building also has eco-crudentials and I would have thought you could get something up v fast. If you wanted insulation then maybe consider SIPs. Render is fine on ICF - JUB is on mine and seems good but others I'm sure are OK also. Flat roof - someone could easily get on top and in 5 mins cut out a space to jump down and probably open the door of your storage area etc - so your Ferrari will be off to the parts shop I'm not anti ICF just not enough info to know if it seems right for this purpose vs other options. It is appealing in that you can do a fair bit of work yourself but you could get a good carpenter in and go sail your boat 🙂

This is great news and thanks for sharing - today I had the building control sign-off 🙂 Those 3 years flew by 🙂

We're going to build something like this We'll have a 20mm thick base and header mounted on floor/ceiling but would like the slats to be rotatable. Thinking of something like a sprung push pin (not sure of right terms here) at the top but can't find anything that will depress say 15-20mm to make install/removal easier vs really small travel ones. For the base ideally soemthing that will allow rotation - not like it needs to be spinning around so just some kind of locating system for it to be held in place - the slats will be 2.9m long and I think weigh less than 10kg each so does not need to be too industrial - ideally we'd have the slats looking like they touch the floor Push pin Appreciate any suggestions for parts to make this work well

Here it is

Also recommend paying someone. I had similar - all 200mm concrete with a lot of reinforcement a good guy can do quite a few holes in a half day. For mine he bolted the drill to the wall - maybe he could have used a stand for the drill but a few were quite high. A bonus is that the cores are super smooth and with a bit of varnish make a nice ornament. Will post up from my phone 🙂 I've some decent extra long 20mm bits for small hole requirements and they actually work better than expected as long as rebar is not in the way

TV Wall - maybe consider a TV set into a fabric covered wood frame. You can more easily increase size if you need to and can also have speakers set behind the fabric so can provide a nice looking solution with some flexibility

I have an invertech which has been running fine but this eve the water is 23 with setpoint 45. Unit is running but not heating water. It is set for both got water and heating. Not aware of any time limits on heating the water. Any suggestions of what to check as thought would start heating water as a priority. Thanks

well no dust but plenty of water coming through the table when cutting - it's cold out neighbours can close the windows

Thanks all - in the end I found a Rubi table saw for a bargain locally so have that - did a test and even with the blade left in it it cuts cleanly through the 20mm tiles 🙂 Only issue is the amount of noise this is going to make, my neighbours probably thought I'd finished making a racket!

I've laid all the full tiles on my terrace (on pedestals) and now about to attack the edges - the tiles are 20mm porcelain 600x600. About 30 tiles to cut. I'd like to get a non or very minimally chipped top edge - what should I use for this? I understand the cutting disc is really important and I need a wet cutter. Would a simple table like this https://www.toolstation.com/vitrex-power-pro-750w-wet-tile-cutter/p82003?store=LQ&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed With a decent blade like this https://pureadhesion.co.uk/rubi-porcelain-tile-diamond-rim-machine-blade-cpc-180mm-30955/ be up to the job? Or do I need a big machine like this https://tools4trade.co.uk/products/excel-1250mm-wet-tile-cutter-bridge-saw-240v-1200w?variant=42311376273605&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOoo12F815X3zguW7QZLU7TscCY51PE_vmPOLbFPYaUAjtbeUW5wJGE4 which maybe I should rent? I guess a blade that comes down into the tile face may mean a cleaner cut? cheers for info

I had similar but it was the LED bulbs used in a bedroom ceiling. Thought it was my automation boxes causing a small leakage current but was fixed by changing the bulbs - I guess some bulbs have a "feature" that does nothing with any very low level current? Maybe a quicker thing to check?

Well, maybe. The aim is to KISS 🙂 The ASHP / Buffer config is a setpoint of 34 degrees (thought was 32 as per original post) with a 3 degree differential. Meaning the UFH should be getting water in the range 31 to 37 degrees. I'll take the setpoint down to 30 and see how we get on. My concern with going lower is really just the time for the UFH to start having an impact. The room stats are all in the plant room so have remote probes in vented wall mounts Balancing - using self-balancing actuators so think this should be OK unless there is some other balancing you have in mind.

OK so seems the simpler model does not allow external temp probe - which I need. Issue is the larger one does not fit a standard back box - which I need. So....still looking for a low temp differential (0.1 or 0.2 degrees) simple timer that allows an external temp probe and fits a regular UK single back box - let me know if you have any....am continuing to Google of course but nothing yet

yes will try that also. I see the same co does a simpler version which looks like a good replacement for my Wunda which has 0.2 degree differential vs Wunda 0.5. Will get one to test on 26 quid

Hi - UFH has been in and working great. Only issue is that the UFH is in liquid screed (50-75mm thick) and the Wunda stats only have a 0.5 min temp differential meaning if I set 22 degrees UFH will come on at 21.5 and stay on until 22.5. SAs we're running low temp ~32 degrees by the time the UFH comes on and we notice a difference it could be 3hrs later by which time it is much below 21.5. And of course the stat will stop UFH flow at 22.5 and then there is a lot of heat still in the slab so we overshoot desired temp. This is of course not a big deal in the scheme of things but I am wondering if I could swap out some of the stats for more sensitive controllers - I called Wunda and they say the ones I have can't be adjusted to be more sensitive (I already read the manual but hoped there may be a trick as the temp reading is per 0.1 degree granularity). I have 1-0 of these but at least hey are all in the plant room so swapping one out to test is quite easy. Other aspects to consider ASHP and wired temp probes in walls within a vented panel. I do have a home automation system running (Hubitat/Zwave) which I could possibly start to use to support this and maybe could have saved money by not having the stats/temp probes in the first place but I like the idea of the UFH being modular and just left to do its own thing without extra integrations. Thanks for any suggestions.

Our dog is quite excited by ham at Christmas + my daughter will need locking away from it 🙂

Thanks for the additional valuable comments 🙂 Yes @Pocster one day the room will exist, complete with lovely contents, maybe if in time also an iberico leg for crimbo - iris recognition, if you're too drink maybe you'll get blocked 🙂

Nice - could be great, see they have a few options to consider and some v quiet. Min temp is 17 or 18 on ones I looked at but if they can maintain that think I'd go with the easier install as that temp should be sufficient for my needs.

Well I have the space so going down through 300 to 350mm reinforced concrete and our waterproof membrane gives me a bad feeling just writing about it 🤣

Facing NW issue though is when outside temp is 20+ hence need to have some kind of chiller unit. The room is I reckon about 8m3 so pretty small. I guess a cheap AC unit could do this if the control unit goes down to 15 deg. Would want one that is pretty quiet inside and out though. Also not sure if need planning approval for one as have an ashp on other side of house already....

To keep us from going to the offy too much we planned to have a large under-stairs area as a wine room and looking for any clever suggestions on how best to cool this. The area is approx 1.7m deep 2.5m wide and sloped ceiling going from about 2.5m down to 1m. We installed a lot of insulation in walls and ceiling and no UFH of course in that area. The back wall is an outside wall partially below ground and there is no direct sunlight externally or internally into this area. We plan on the front being triple glazed units in a wood frame with PIR installed in any cavities. Idea is to make the door as well sealed as possible so may need a small threshold to optimise this. Target temp will be ~15 degrees and max ambient temp in peak of summer will be about 26 degrees. It's OK if we break the target a little in a few days in the summer - though we plan to mitigate the internal heat with some external shading on the worst days. I'm expecting to use a split AC type unit but looking at "specialist" wine room coolers they get quite pricey, especially compared to regular AC units. Appreciate the specialist ones sometimes also control humidity which I may need to measure and implement some kind of different solution for if I find it is way off. I've seen simple solutions like this which may be too cheap - no idea. Though a single unit I guess is going to be a bit louder inside than a split unit. The internal part does not need to be pretty as can hide the front with a mesh cover and put in a cupboard. Appreciate thoughts on this - not sure what capacity unit I need, would regular AC units be able to maintain a 15 deg temp without working non-stop if not accessed too much? Anyone done something similar?

Just installing "soaker hose" circuits connected to a manifold which runs off a v simple timer type unit. There is also a rain sensor that will skip the watering if it has sufficient rain. Products I used are the hose and clips etc from site linked earlier and Claber controller from easygardenirrigation seems OK - can add slightly bigger holes in key locations if needed but be v careful as a small hole still leaks a lot so think needle not anything bigger. The soaker hose I first got was really durable but same order 1 yr later the hose has a thinner wall thickness for same diameter I used regular hose to connect from manifold to the soaker hose so it starts soaking where needed. For a large garden, may need to have separate circuits in different times to get the required water output which may mean a smarter control system or maybe 2 of the ones I mentioned but set to run at different times (they are cheap and run off batteries so easy install)