G and J

And as my experiments have revealed, the third best visual effect after 1) a real log fire, and 2) a spirit burner in a woodburner is 3) an iPad propped up behind the glass with a vid of a log fire burning. Still way better than the fake electric jobbies we looked at.

I believe if you get the woodburner in as part of the build then you don’t have to pay a hetas person lots, you can do it yourself, saving quite a packet.

Well said GP. Man doth not live by U value alone.

Why is that then?

For that very reason we are hiding our cisterns in the walls.

We’ve looked at spirit burners. I made one up from a foil takeaway container and some bits I had around the garage - I had a bottle of fuel anyway for my camping stove. The flame is better than the best electric ones we could find, but what put us off is the sheer volume of single use plastic containers that it would mean. I believe 5l packs are available but that would still be a mountain of plastic, and for peeps who try hard on that front (and get our legs pulled for our 70’s throwback Sodastream) it grates. So, we ended up thinking that: nothing gets near to the comfort of watching brightly glowing logs; the heat from a woodburner on cold days will reduce our leccie use; retro fitting a woodburner is difficult (having done it before); and, a spirit burner in a woodburner is easily the second best thing to a wood fire so we can use it on nights too warm for a fire. So a small woodburner it is, (a Charnwood Aire 3 is the plan), with judicious use of a spirit burner to limit waste plastic to an acceptable level. I would be chuffed if someone knows of a way of bulk buying bio-ethanol using reusable containers mind…..

Should we run a BH sweepstake on how long before the first extension lead is deployed? My guess is two days after you start putting up Christmas deccies.

Ah. A Donald Rumsfeld moment then. Those are the ones I fear the most! “Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it”. Sigh. I guess it’s a pick yourself up, dust yourself off, try and view the lost funds as the cost of experience, and start working with a more helpful organisation instead. However, that doesn’t mean that the issues they are referring to aren’t valid, so they still may need design changes.

Ah, so they were submitted to your local authority. My understanding is that if one opts for a private company BC then the local authority are out of the loop. Did the architect recommend using the LA?

I admire your confidence lol

Question 1. Which company have you submitted your building regs to for approval?

Yet. 😉

Any advance on 5kW? Going once…..

So if the proscribed procedure is followed then I can’t finalise the design of the heating system including ASHP size until my build is proven airtight (or otherwise). Crumbs. I had assumed my airtight test would be done after screeding.

Now I understand. I stupidly assumed you meant per year.

It’s very close to reality on our house and our summer house. That’s good to hear and I have assumed it was bang on, hence using it so much and relying on the output. So for our house, which is “not anywhere near” passive house insulation levels, Jeremy’s spreadsheet shows our heat loss at less than a third of @ChrisInKent’s. Methinks if Jeremy’s spreadsheet is as good as I think then the 7kW is rather suspect. So Chris, why not give Jeremy’s spreadsheet a go?

Perhaps they use a sun lamp at night to generate more. 😉

If I had to remove a vertical metal pipe safely (from my own land, naturally!) leaving it safe but with the minimum work I’d probably cut it off PDQ with a battery angle grinder, a bit proud of the ground, thence cutting four vertical cuts, thence two more horizontal cuts at ground level to leave two opposing bits sticking up that I’d then quickly hammer over. Might work best if the bits left standing for hammering were each a bit less than a quarter the circumference. A quick ‘polish’ with a grind wheel on said grinder would help make it safer. Maybe have an older, hi vis clad, overweight chap with a clipboard standing by to prove that it’s official. Oh and close the nearby road for 3 days, that really will make it look official. 😉

I’m thinking that either your numbers are wrong or mine are. Using Jeremy’s spreadsheet our not anywhere near PH 150m2 design looks to need just over 2kW to maintain 20C when it’s -3.5C outside. I am assuming 87% MVHR efficiency and 0.5AC/h. The air tightness and form factor (2.75) are the only PH ready things in the place really. I get the idea that an oversized heat pump lasts longer and is quieter but that’s still quite a difference.

I suspect it might prove easy to make a purely financial case for a battery system, but I’m with @JamesPa re the non existence of an environmental case. And I’m the absence of such a case I’m tempted to conclude that as it uses resources then such is likely to be environmentally negative. I might want one for battery backup (lights, internet, MVHR, freezer, etc) but that’ll be managed in a different way to a save money battery. So I’ll therefore accept that my battery system will be an indulgence. Not my only one either.

So the fish tank has electric eels and stingrays huh?

For home use battery weight isn’t an issue, so it sounds like I don’t need to worry about the using up of rare commodities. But how about the carbon footprint of the battery with associated bits? I appreciate by using the tariffs they can save money but will that reduce emissions?

I need a focal point in a relaxing room that isn’t a tv. We go to great lengths to hide our AV as it’s rude and ugly to my eyes (and that’s my job so I won’t live with competition on that one). I’ve been in way too many living rooms with no fire and a huge TV glaring down at me to accept such. And I think somewhere deep down in my DNA is the feeling that fire means safety and survival, so one can relax fir a bit as the dinosaurs won’t get me while the fires on. I did say it was irrational. We've looked hard at various electric faux fires and they are coming on, but they’re a way off yet.

So is it a good thing to evaluate battery purchase purely on financial payback? I have a nagging feeling that if we looked real hard at it all we might discover that the total number of tons of carbon who’s release into the atmosphere I’m responsible for between now and my demise will increase if I add a battery in. It might be that the world would be better served for those precious metals used in ‘my’ battery to be deployed in more electric vehicles. I’m going to cost building in the option of adding a battery in future by hubbing wiring to the key bits into my attached garage. If it’s not too much we’ll do it and thus maybe add a battery for power cut backup, rather than to save bills. When/if it’s proven that the new ecobatts (made from recycled pasta) actually reduce emissions overall including the battery production then it’ll be game on. But not until.

It won’t burn for a full evening Iceverge lol We are planning a pointless heavy metal contraption in our snug area. I will admit it’s more me that wants it than J. For many years we’ve had a fire each cold night so it’s kinda built into my psyche - having three wood burners and a couple of chainsaws does that to a man. But we are making so many über sensible decisions and being all grown up about the rest of the build that I’m ok with this irrational aberration. When we light it it will cause the ASHP to use less leccy (somehow!) and I’ve a cunning plan involving a spirit burner for when it’s not cold enough. And @MikeSharp01, I just knew there would be unexpected downsides to passive houses!