G and J

I’ve been toying with the idea of costing up having two consumer units. One that will be powered by a battery in a power cut, (freezer, MVHR, router/Wi-Fi, lighting, etc.) and one that will be dead during a power cut. But when I think about the cost and resources just sitting there doing nothing and not saving energy just for the rare event of a power cut it feels wasteful and difficult to justify. However the same set up could serve, with the addition of the above changeover switch, with a small generator. Said generator would only be purchased if power cuts became a regular thing, but making the allowance for it might be a good idea… Food for thought (at least when I lay awake at night, that is….)

Yes. Jeremy’s spreadsheet. It’s really easy to use and informative.

Understood. I didn’t realise that was a busbar. Makes perfect sense.

And the only downside is that you need a deeper backbox on the light switch, which with timber frame is dead easy. I like that and will use that. Another buildhub membership info nugget banked. Again, thank you.

Goodness I’m full of questions (or something) this morning…. So typically a short to earth is less likely and hence not tested for, or indeed, is difficult to detect in a modern timber frame house?

Thank you. Presumably the left hand bottom two connectors are redundant?

I’ve always run the loop round the roses, then a wire for each switch from the rose to it’s switch. Is there a particular advantage in running loop at switch?

What’s the correct way of connecting in a generator (I’m not thinking of getting one, but I am curious)?

Are you saying counter battens might be making the flapping worse or the noise from the flapping worse (or both)?

This is part of the rationale for not having one to start with. Especially if, as it appears, it costs nothing but a bit of wall space to allow for it to be fitted in future. Again, thank you.

Noted. Thank you.

In fairness our current house has modern flimsy trusses and we are classified as being extreme exposure here so we had to nail the tiles loads. Never detected any movement in the roof. Mind you, this roof is heavy both sides, our new roof will be lighter one side than the other due to solar panels replacing slates.

I know that public opinion and factual science/engineering often differ, but I’d guess the vast majority of folk would not see having one’s own diesel generator as being eco-friendly. A box of candles just in case would be more what peeps would expect…

Methinks reading the above that for us there’s not a clear justification for a solar diverter day one, but like a battery, I will cost up making allowance for one in the future. Clearly the diverter needs a direct connection (16A?) to the immersion element, and a supply connection but what other connections does it need? Is it a wireless or Ethernet to another element like the inverter? I don’t think anything but the inverter could know when excess solar is available and exactly how much. Are diverter typically mounted next to the inverter or the immersion?

That’s exactly what our architect told me. I had a little wobble, thinking that meant a slack lightweight underlay which would billow noisily in the wind and be more likely to allow crap to collect next to where the horizontal battens cross the trusses. I also definitely like the idea that counter-battens help cool solar panels. But I’ve other things to worry about for now. Sometimes, it’s tempting to give in to the inertia of the ‘everyone does it this way’ and save one’s energy for other debates.

Remember that they have seen all sorts and it’s not safe for them to assume you are competent and will complete the build. Worst case is you bugger up the whole thing and leave the house unsellable and then default, leaving them with nothing. So they simply can’t actively agree to your plan.

Certainly possible, but arguably unnecessary. I suspect had you just gone and done it it would have been fine, I’m sure many have in the past. Simplest above board way may be to pay off your mortgage and if you need that money to finish the build then raise a self build mortgage against the new pad. Shame about the fees. Of course you could decide to abandon the whole plan, then tell the mortgage company so (to their relief). They don’t often pop round to check that you are looking after their asset, do they?

I’d assumed as much. When in the process are you intending to sell the current house?

Regardless of the size of mortgage it sounds like the whole plot is against a single title. The charge against that title is the mortgagee’s security so they’ll be loath to release it, understandably. If you are going to sell your main home then the spilt will happen then and it’s nothing to do with the mortgage company as your mortgage will need to be redeemed at that point.

Paint that changes colour when dry so you can see where to paint second coat - brilliant. However, I’m guessing if my airtight strategy is principally based on taped membranes I’ll have little use for this?

Following much head scratching I conclude that I'm not sure about where what goes. So I went back to the drawings from our architect and read around a bit and here's my understanding so far. I'd like to get this clear in my head before I think about variations to it. What have I got wrong or could be improved.... In case it helps here's a bit of the drawing the architect provided - sadly he made the assumption that I had a clue....

Given that we have 2.3m walls downstairs I could use that to be my downstairs VCL and Tony tray all in one go! The fewer junctions the least taping and faffing perhaps….

Odd thing, power cuts. We live just a few miles outside of densely populated areas. When we first moved in and for a decade or so after we had regular power cuts lasting often many hours. Just a symptom of where the ever growing network needs developing. I’m assuming that as we as a nation get greener then more lecky will be needed so more network capacity will be needed and where that isn’t put in quick enough then power cuts will ensue. Plus extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and they do lead to long power cuts. So the woodburner stays in the plan. And if the freezer defrosts then I’ll just have to eat lots. Especially ice cream.

That’s exactly what I’m planning. Not a clue what to make the tray out of mind. I’m also not clear yet how wall junctions are handled, but will study that nearer the time.

So pretty much three potentially airtight layers. Wow. I’m impressed.