scottishjohn

that calculator does not list OAK or teak ,probably from old sailing ships and things at 14" wide and 6" deep maybe me ,but I can,t make any use of it and how do i calculate the load of the granite stones on top of it -- Iwas looking for a rtaight foreward com[parison . will probably just replace wood oneswith pre stressed lintels to make up same dimensions ,maybe 3 or 4 wide where needed

you could do it in an analologue fashion with multiple temp stats -if panel above 50c then divert to DHW and when bbelow go to unbderfloor and when dhw reachs max required temp another one to divert it to underfloor tank,I,m sure there will be a controller out there by now that can do that -was not one when i did my system 20 years ago in last house

the original wooden ones seem to about 150mm and 300mm wide what Iwas looking for is if anybody knew of a comparison of wood to concrete

Combining an air-water heat pump and solar thermal this is very possible as it was what I did a long time ago mylimitations was lack of computers and knowledge for ideal control system - I,m sure that is all doable easily now assuming modern insulation valves -but to get best from any solar thermal you need large storage volume - 30c+ from solar panel will be availbe virtually every day of the year -- if underfloor and insulated well it will run that the calculations that I came up with -- do your own was 10000litre storage for all your heating year round assuming 40-50c tank temp and plenty of extra heat will go to DWH tank you are not trying to get very high temps --just a large volume -you will get high temps with good panels to do DHW as well --I could send my 300litre tank from 17c in morning(as it run underfloor overnight ) to boiling by 13.00 hours on a good sunny day ,-40 thermmax unregulated tubes yes you could use it on most days reasonable days for HW -- but that would mean more complications in valving -so it always heats HW tank first then when that is full or temp is not high enough it reverts to heating your main lower temp heating storage tank I am contemplating the system for my house and maybe less tank size +PV panels to eun elec heater and maybe 1000litre tank tank would have at bottom solar coil then underfloor coil in middle and DHW at top not sure with price of panels +tank whether it would be any cheaper than a ASHP still plotting

how would you equate wooden lintel sizes to concrete ones as they all need replacing

yes and that also needs a compressor --Iknow the one Iused have at work used about 10cfm --so small compressor would not do the std calc is 4cfm per hp for compressors-and would need a fairly big tank to smooth it out depth of cement render is up to 20 mm inplces --I,m sure they used the same granite sand as they did with the pointing -they would have any amount of it from crushing rocks hard as hell---

that will require a large compressor and I do not have power on site other than a generator --so will go with chemical attack first

the reply form SIKA techn ical is yes but it might take a few applictions to take it off in layers so we,ll give it a try and report results

yes that would , non local so costing will be high and i,m already worried i will run out money ,

I don.t know if chemstrip would work or if it would eat the granite away as well or if it will take more than just staing off great if i could just paint it on and let it softenen al the old ceoment render and then wire brush it off I will speak to "sika " and see

I had this problem with my 40 tube array my solution was to put a motorised valve in system which opened when you neede flow -eg circulation pump turmed on heat is always going to rise so will start a themo syhpon system on its own and I found the one way valve not good enough to stop it totally it always bled a little - so fitted motorised valve problem cured

on one outside wall of the house there was a lean to pantry at sometime this was hard cement plastered and tiled the lean to has gone ,but looking to remove the remains of the cement render from the granite walls its real bugger to chisel off and I will never get it all off all over thegranite walls are not smooth in anyway

that statement sounds suspect sounds like you hiding something If you have not increased floor area-then whats the problem ? If however it is obvious that you are intending to make it habitable --and not on the plan --thats a different story bottom line is you let her in or upset her and have problems from here on with every little detail change --she will talk to BC if you make waves

only if you could get it back and it would be in rubles --so who knows where the exchange will go If they will give you 20% in dollars --maybe ok -but who knows you could get it back?

not a chance with current planning rules -even if it were feasable --thats why i say planning blockage for wind need be binned but that would also need alot of upgrades in the grid inplaces where the wind is my plan to have 30 acres of solar panels on the jetty plot was going fine and I had a company who would give me a 25 year deal on renting the ground --but after checking the grid transformers +power lines it was found it could not take it without upgrading -and no one wanted to pay for it

supposedly plenty of gas in the e solway firth -but has not been developed cos it is ours -- morcamba bay gas field has been on line since 1985 and the solway is very close

this war is surely the sign to unblock planning applications for wind farms and tidal dams like the swansea bay project ,so we will not as reliant on gas sooner and accelerate towards a zero emissions we have to go there anyway - and yes prices will go up -- making me even more worried about my project costs and If will be able to afford to do it. anybody know an oligark who wants to fund my hpuse and can have it when I die .LOL I don,t see housing prices going up at all for a long time , maybe could make plots cheaper ?

the only thing I can say comparing durisol to isotex is that the durisol blocks are a little variable in the thickness --so decide at start which side you want perfectly flat and accept there could be a variance in the other side of maybe 0-5mm block to block - no big deal but something to think about and if hard plastering no problem at all on inside or indeed for a parge coat on the outside if you build it flat on the inside , then batton and PB for DIY I think both systems are good if you going to be stop start and if worried about bonding of one layer of concrete to the next -- just drop some rebar in where you stop . I am not saying anything bad about poly systems as you could do the same with them if you wanted ,and you would only pour one storey at a time with those ,even if blocks are built to eves in one go . even poly systems require to be have a water proof layer of butyl type stuff rolled on if building below ground for a basement all the systems work if done correctly of that I am sure

my answer is simpler and cheaper I have a small 4kw generator which I can connect to the house --turning off the incoming mains first of course feed it back in the ring main and it will run every thin but the elec cooker over 30 years never had an outage more than a few hours and watch for street lights coming back on in the town

and which one would you use for your own builds ?

that makes more sense=other wise lots would be doing it

diesel gen and batteries + solar pv +generator? how big was the pv array + storage lead acid batteries?

this is the idea for a thermal store https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKb-lKuLlpQ swop solar thermal fro extra input like oil or gas and top postion where they have the oil or gas burner have the pv heater any commments

ok wrong terminology sorry

very interesting thread I have also been considering which way to go when i eventually get started and although I have ASHP in current house and was considering this as first choice maybe that is wrong now but i would not be fitting a combi ,but a system boiler be it lpg or oil and a UVC as space will not be a problem If I go PV as well then alot of that can be used to keep UVC hot as I did with my solar water panels in this house and of course save some elec as well that tank had a solar coil and was also had underfloor coil and third coil at top for hot water supply- any heat made by what ever means went to the UVC and sent to where ever required this time If go that way it would be a taller tank to get even better stratification and that brings on the next thoughts -how far off are we from pv panels +battery prices being a viable choice -if elec grid connection is going to be 15 -20K diesel/heating oil generator ,for some winter top up of batteries as well all thoughts are welcome