-rick-

thousand Will be interesting exactly what was in there but expect it to be a lot. Those disposable vapes are such a travesty and if they sold disposables I'd bet they sold rechargable ones too along with spare 18650s. Wouldn't be shocked if the basement/back room was full to the gills of batteries/battery containing supplies. Plus they are the high energy, very flammable LiPo. Not LifePo4

This surprises me, at least on a masonry build with a decent cavity. I can imagine localised damage that needs work but totaling the house?

Talking a 90 day reserve. Drax currently burns it but not sure what else. Assume we would be wanting a reserve that could be burned for 90 days with Drax flat out and likely some other plants also. Agree.

I think when we shut down our coal plants a significant proportion of the coal they were burning was imported. Not sure this would add up to much, and if you are paying to have electricity generation as part of the incinerator plant then you are generating energy during normal operation. Edit to add: and non-incinerator plants don't have the filtering to clean up the emissions from waste. Best backup we have available to us easily is to reopen gas storage facilities. We could have 80-90 days storage of gas available if we wanted to at reasonable cost. We aren't far off from not needing fossil fuels during the summer months. Lot further to go during the winter months. But still as we deploy more renewables the amount of time that the same amount of gas storage buys increases. None of this helps with short term spikes caused by the current crisis. But at least it is happening as we are coming into spring where our need for gas/heating oil is limited. Edit to add: if you want non-gas, burnable storage, maybe store a stockpile of wood/biomass. You'd have to store it in a way that won't rot down over time (woodchips not a great way to do that) but seems quite doable.

This is the huge saving vs Gus' estimates. DIY bearing replacement rather than replacing either the whole unit (which seems excessive but might happen if parts unavailable) or replacing the whole fan using a professional likely adds up to a saving of £500+ each time. Important that you choose an MHVR with a fan whose bearings can be replaced. From reading hear some fan units are very difficult to service like this forcing a whole fan unit replacement.

If the price is good compared to others then maybe worth buying on the basis that you might want to be replacing the polycarb at a later date. I'd guess the polycarb will last a while then all go at a similar time. Glass would get broken one at a time over a period of time requiring occasional replacement. Either way you are replacing bits.

Completely anecdotal but I've seen more reports of fires from loose connections on 48V wiring to batteries than I have of LifePo4 batteries burning.

Though why bother? I doubt the system is using much energy with it's current behaviour so overriding it isn't just one more complexity that can cause problems.

The big risk was they'd run out of defence missiles rather than the attack ones. They have virtually unlimited supplies of JDAMs, much less long range weapons but they don't really need them now they have destroyed everything Iran has to shoot at their planes.

I lean towards Trump getting bored and declaring victory in the next week or two and things will become more normal (possibly with occasional lash-outs by Iran). In which case doing anything as a kneejerk reaction is a bad idea. If that doesn't happen and instead Trump decides to send in ground troops then the global economy is in a world of hurt. The impacts of that will likely be different from COVID so things that might have worked during COVID likely won't work here. My thought is to focus on being prepared. Know the different suppliers of things, monitor the pricing, know what you will do if something is unavailable. Basically plan for contingencies and be ready to act if something you need near term is becoming difficult to source (or is being offered at a big discount due to a cancelled project). But I would think that panic buying anything is just as likely to go wrong than right.

This is a good goal and I think that is an area that could be improved in the original design. Especially upstairs. If accessibility is a concern then the squarer bathroom is better than a long thin one.

TBH after looking at the others they seemed less suitable. They seem to require custom trays for the bins and they are focussed on bigger commercial size bins. But seems to be plenty of options so I'm sure you can find something if it's acceptable as a solution.

Based on what they say, maybe it would be sufficient to provide storage space/charging connection for an electric assistance device to move the bins, without actually committing to purchase one?

Gah, well this got on my mind so I went down a rabbit hole. There's a whole range of solutions out there: https://www.mastermover.com/applications/bin-mover https://bintowa.com/ https://www.industar.co.uk/product/tow-tugs-electric-movers/small/ https://wheelieezy.com.au/ https://emoveit.com.au/product/wheelie-bin-aluminium-trailers-3-x-240l-bins All look pricey or need a car/buggy but if its the difference between using the plot or not maybe worth it as a last resort.

Where precision/accuracy/sharpness matters people want to use things that they are comfortable with.

I expect there is a much simpler solution to this but I've seen someone on youtube build little motorised trolleys for their bins to take them out front. If you get stuck on this then something to consider. Having said that the one I've seen was based on a guide track and simple motors. If you don't own the road and can't alter it then you'd need something more sophisticated (and the more sophisticated the more difficult I guess it would be to get approval). I'd guess all you need is for something to make it easier for a less able person to move the bin.

@SimonD Is this available online somewhere? I've found https://waterregsuk.co.uk but that doesn't seem to have the same content as the photo you posted.

sorry, was saying it in the context of multiple acceptable solutions as discussed above. Informed specifier has the leeway to allow the installers choice of options within an acceptable basket but say no to crap options.

So everything leading towards pipe in pipe sandwiched at the join between eps and pir (likely chased into eps). so you get: - pipes insulated by the eps pir sandwich - spaced to separate hot and cold - individually ducted for easy replacement if needed - minimal disturbance to the insulation. Ie cutting is way less than 50mm Though as @saveasteading is paying someone to do this maybe the biggest decider is what his installer is most comfortable with?

My only experience with low energy input is when my last boiler failed and I used the immersion. 3kw rated immersion seemed to have no trouble getting my 170L tank up to temp within an hour (from too cold to shower to plenty warm enough - can't be more precise than that).

Thanks for the update and I'm glad you are trying this. I assume with the controller still in the upper bedroom? If our guesses about your building are correct, it will take some time to warm. So while you are running this experiment I suggest the following: 1. Keep internal doors open - you want the air to be able to move around to equalise all the internal space* 2. Daily, open the windows for a good ten minutes to ensure the place has a good blow through (I think you said you did this anyway). 3. Regularly check the radiators with a thermometer ideally something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ERICKHILL-Thermometer-Non-Contact-Adjustable-Emissivity/dp/B0C72MDQ2Z?crid=2V242L59HQZZ8&sprefix=ir%2Bthermom%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-6&th=1 The radiators should be warm and at approximately the same temperature (guessing around 50C) if the room with the thermostat in it is colder than 16C. If some radiators are colder than others or if the radiators are often not hot then there may be a problem with the system that needs fixing before things will warm up. *If you get hot at night or if you leave the bedroom window open at night, close the bedroom door to isolate the room from the rest of the house. You can also turn that specific radiator off at night and back on in the morning if it helps with bedroom temp (a good idea if you have the window open anyway). I know you said you will try this for 2 months but if you don't feel things improving at all in 2 weeks then maybe come back then.

My remaining thoughts are that I think I would want a duct, rather than direct bury. I'd want to be able to swap things out if there was a problem. If you are willing to put on top of the 150mm eps, then insulation not so needed. Could run individual pipes in conduit then so you could always pull/replace the pipes (like they do in many european countries). Much lower profile this way too.* I'm sure you've got another duct going in for electric stuff but I would try and put at least one more in for future needs. Probably won't use it but if a future need develops and you haven't got it then you are in a world of pain. * No expert so don't know if there is a flaw in this approach I'm not thinking of.

https://barkeepersfriend.com/

DHW definitely the limiting factor, depends how you design your system whether it's an issue. If the tank is big enough to handle the morning (or evening) routine in one hit with room to spare then reheat even if long shouldn't matter too much, just comes down to scheduling. If heat loss is 2.8kw, a 4kw unit can spend several hours a day on hot water (not all at once) and still have capacity to heat the house. Or have I missed something? This depends a lot on the heatpump though doesn't it? @JohnMo was talking about how his new 4kw heatpump had a much bigger external heat exchanger/radiator which should lead to a lot less icing/defrosting than his previous 6kw (downrated 9kw?) unit. Edit: I should add that Nick and Simon are the experts with experience, I'm not, just someone who is interested in this and trying to solidify my knowledge.

If these use the same internals then it's likely the minimum modulation is the same on both. If that's true then there is no benefit for going with the smaller model. Which means with a max heat loss of 2.8kw and a 7kw heatpump you will likely see a lot of cycling which is not great for efficiency. I feel like I'm channelling @JohnMo, surprised he hasn't spoken up yet.