jack

I don't know what your wireless setup is, but if you have Ubiquiti, they do an interesting line of wireless cameras that work well with their wireless access points and switches. I want to stay away from proprietary solutions, but will still be doing some more digging into this.

We're finished (ish) but happy to show you around and have a chat about the pitfalls we encountered. We're near Farnborough.

From memory, the window is wired to the mains and has a zwave module in it. I have a remote control that should be able to control the window via zwave. I seem to recall that we did have that working when the window was first wired up. There's then a mains-connected wall-mounted module (see pic above) that can be controlled manually (buttons on the wall-mounted module) and via a home automation system (internal dry contacts). From memory, it was transitioning from the working handheld remote to the wall-mounted module that caused the problem. There are four channels in the wall-mounted module, and you need to teach each channel which remote control it will be copying when you push a button or close a dry contact. I can't remember any more detail than this, but I do believe we wondered whether we'd somehow upset the relationship between the handheld remote and the window, and hence the wall-mounted module wasn't able to learn the correct code.

I need to book my electrician back in for this, as he's the one who wired it all up and spoke to Fakro about how it would (/should!) work. Can't see that happening in the next few weeks as I have some other things I need to get ready for him so he can do it all in one visit. That said, it could well be something I or my electrician did back during setup that's causing the problem. I know there was some sort of "learning" mode you needed to access via the remote, which may not have been done properly at the time, despite us having Fakro's tech department walk him through it. If I'd had more time when this all happened I'd have pushed harder to get it sorted then, but too much time has passed for me to go back with a straight face and demand they fix it!

Bear in mind it's the surrounding mounting area that's easier to keep clean, as much as the taps themselves. You don't get pooled water below the taps from wet hands turning them off, for example.

Ha. We ordered 30 packs the first time and that was plenty enough to find space for - lasted us over 2.5 years I seem to recall!

We wanted wall-mounted in our kitchen, but as you've noticed, they're very unusual. We gave up in the end. We have wall-mounted in our bathrooms. I'd have mounted them a bit higher to give more space underneath for your hands, but otherwise can recommend them as being easy to keep clean.

I can highly recommend our salt supplier: https://www.uk-water-softeners.co.uk/ Best price I've been able to find, delivered reasonably quickly, and old-fashioned good communication and service. I didn't buy my softener from them, but based on my experience buying salt, I'd certainly consider them if I were buying another softener.

There was. I was only able to buy around 6 10 [I checked] packets (pair of blocks per packet) sometime late last year I think it was. I asked the delivery guy, and from memory, it was something like two out of the three factories that produce these blocks temporarily closing at the same time for some reason.

We have a Panasonic Aquarea. Excellent performance, but we had a pump failure in less then three years. The approved engineer we had around to find and fix the fault said that this was extremely unusual, and couldn't see anything in the installation that could have caused this problem. Might just have been unlucky. Also, at least when we bought around 4 years ago, the controller that came with it was monstrously complicated, and there was no easy way of getting it to communicate with our home automation system. I believe you can buy a more advanced controller, but while the ASHP was relatively cheap, extras and spare parts seem eye-wateringly expensive for what they are.

Ours are Pazen, but yes, serious issues with installation. Had the installers known what they were doing, it could have been relatively stress free, even with the blinds not coming pre-installed.

Isn't it an EU requirement that all electronic equipment have a <1W standby mode? Also, does any of this help?

That's exactly what we were after. In the end, we went with the Fakro wireless unit (which from memory has internal dry contacts), connected to our Loxone home automation setup.

I haven't got around to trying again, but we were never able to get our Fakro z-wave rooflight to work after installation the years ago. I couldn't figure out at the time whether it was how we integrated it to our home automation system that was the problem, or I'd have been onto Fakro for help. Interesting you've had issues too.

Windows are almost certain custom goods, and so are excluded from this right.

No, but I talked to our plumber about it (he plumbed in the ASHP as well as the rest of the house) and he said it just wasn't worth the cost and paperwork hassle. Perhaps he hadn't considered the potential installation premium?

You may be right, although I get the impression from the video that the technology is still somewhat new. Heat pumps are such a well-established and understood technology that it will likely take some time before people will be willing to trust something entirely new like this.

Yes, all I could think of while watching it was "Jeremy's going to want to build one of these".

Really interesting setup and explanation:

Sorry, I missed that entirely - ignore me!

What does "ceased trading" mean? I assume they're in administration? You could find out whether they'd paid anything to the factory. If so (and even if not), I'd be in direct contact with Velfac at the earliest opportunity to explain what's happened and the see whether there's anything they can do. If they've received any of the deposit, it's possible they'll honour at least that amount. Even if none of the deposit reached Velfac, I'd be sobbing over the phone asking whether there's anything they can do to help you get back on your feet. If they've started production of the windows (and you'd hope so given the due date), they have a strong vested interest in you continuing with the purchase, so you definitely have some leverage. I feel for you - we didn't have this happen during our build but I spent a lot of time lying awake at night worrying it would!

Or it heats up faster, so you lose more heat through the floor faster?

Guildford Homebase was closing down when I went past it yesterday. Stuck my head in - 80% off all internal lighting was probably the best deal, but there was a minimum 20% (and I mainly saw 30+%) discount off everything. Not sure it it's still running, but some bargains to be had for sure.

I believe this is classic TG-BS. I seem to recall that Nissan has said that they've been surprised at just how long the first generation batteries have lasted (once they fixed some problem with a subset of them, from memory). They're so good that they're recycling them out some of the cars as they're scrapped and repurposing them into domestic battery storage systems. I think a lot of earlier electric cars - and maybe current ones - have very conservative charge and discharge settings to ensure the batteries last.

Not my experience with our Siemens induction hob. With cheaper/thinner pans particularly, you can see the pattern of the coils underneath in the way (eg) water boils. You get a circular ring of heat on the circular pads (not heat in the middle with any of them), and a series of lines across the rectangular ones.