scottishjohn

thank you for the correction -- I did mean amps rather then kW what I have noticed since fitting my solar array and invertor is the vol;tage from the grid is much more stable i used to get an annoying cut out of the well pump now and then -- as the amperage draw sometimes exceeded the safety cut out never happened since fitment of solar system

yes I knew that one -- unless you get a different export permit 16 kW per phase is what I remember form when I got my 3 phase supply when I asked how big a system I could run but it will be limited really by your invertor size and I see 11kW at most as my invertor is 11.5kW-- But seen it a few times this summer It just sounded like he was limited to the amount of kW he could send back per day good days here i,ve been sending back 50-60 kW

I did look at that but was assured by builder that by the time they GRP that area there would be no savings and possible problems over time if not GRP below the panels

why are you limited to export volume?

a we piccie of the hall-all made up from individual bits -- now that craftsman ship

I agree don,t do any more till you can afford to put a proper roof on it why spend twice in money and labour then you will have a dry bit to work away as time allows have same problem with my next phase of rebuilding some stone buildings and decided might as well just it right once --then work away with the insides a piccie of my ruin which is attached to rebuilt house

this looks like a problem how ever you do it you have no gutters or way for water to get off the roof I personally do not like membrane roofs after seeing how crows brought things up to a roof then pecked at them and made holes in the membrane I if it were me I would start again with GRP you can buy all sorts of shaped edging, drips rail etc for use in GRP roofing systems which will allow you to want ever you want and direct the water from roof where ever you want it go like maybe fitting a gutter to a soakaway- which is fitted after you done your cladding and some lead above your brick work is only proper solution to that something that can move a little

just to throw a spanner in the works why have a tin roof why not OSB +GRP then cover whole area in solar panels ? if you want to inset it you just make roof the right shape with OSB and grp and make it lower at bottom to drain the water before you mount panels

when my men did all my floors - they insisted on moisture meters fitted to downward facing cup -- left them in place and came back to check them from memory the number they were looking for was 3.5% they said they could do it at higher moisture rate but glue was twice the price --so i waited then they came back and ground all the floors_ sucked all the dust off them to get a perfect flat finish -then checked it again for moisture content only then did they start to lay it and they laid it AFTER the skirting boards were fitted -- cut it all in perfectly real professionals job was prefect and that is not a term i use lightly only downside with using this company is that they are so good you need to book them 4-6 months in advance but well worth it still looks great nearly 2 years on

I went through this when I fitted solar thermal 20+years ago on old house unless its different for solar -- then the angle should be same as your latitude approx 53-54 for me but in winter they worked better when hung at an even steeper angle due to height of sun in my case I opted to go an even higher angle as in summer they produced too much and boiled by 300 litre tank - unregulated panels-- but in winter when my underfloor was wanting heat they did help as long as it was clear skies it was always my intention to go full solar if i was building a new house -- but costs of 60000 litre insulated storage tank under the house might have been prohibitive-- basically a very wet cellar but where I ended up on this quarry site rebuilding an old house which is built on live rock --made that a non starter maybe just as well as price of solar thermal panels have not dropped at all -best output for a £2400 solar panel would be 4kw--where PV panels have and thats only 8 solar panels at £120 each ? providing you have the space

tricky question If I had been 20years younger I would have done it all myself but trying to work on a roof with one leg that hardly works and gives way at any time was not on so mine was professionally fitted with extra costs involved 26 panels --11kw invertor and a stack of 5 batteries 17kw capacity it became clear to me from the start that the tariff you pick will decide what the installation should be I picked battery make so i could go octopus intelligent flux which at this time your import and export rates are identical for same time periods eg most of day +night it it 20.6p per unit good time is 16.00 to 20,00 then it is 27.6p for export --but also import is same there is no night cheap rate as such they have total control of when it chargers and discharges the battery --sounds bad -- but in practise it works fairly well -my panels all face s/w on the roof of house house is shieled by a hill behind so no major production happens till it gets high enough to get at the far side of roof the house is all electric ASHP so this morning as an example --battery been sucked down to 20% in peak time last night so this morning it is dry and i,m importing a small amount ( 500w) and it is also charging the battery a little as the panels are only making 800w at 07.30 this continued to 08.30 when the panels started to make more than usage -- so now the battery is still low but gradually charging I expect that it will start taking small amount of import if sun does not come out properly till round about 12.00 and usually battery -is full by 13.00-- so then it starts to export back to grid at same price i paid this morning-- so actually no cost to me to fill battery and in the afternoon when its doing well --11kW -it will keep sending it back at the 20.6 till the peak time when it will most likely still be full -then it will be 27.6 p a unit when they start to take it back It is supposed to only go down to 20% --but quite often they will suck it down to 5% --I am guessing it is something to do with grid balancing and they get more money for it then if they do suck it dry then they will start to recharge it at some point at the lower rate so all it all I find it a simple and fair system I have also joined AXLE energy for their grid events where they will pay you £1 per unit when they want it events last one to two hours and can be any time of day they will pay you £10 a month even if you send nothing back- but fi you do the first £10 is from what you send If any body is interested mail me and we can both get some money for me passing your details on what would I change if doing it again --smaller battery stack -as cost of extra batteries will never be got back --and as the pay you for export when batteries are full no point in having too many batteries to completely cover consumption of a 16kw ASHP with battery storage in should months would be prohibitive

I have been looking at this seriously recently the conclusion is unless you can spend 70k or more on one its a total waste of time although they say these cheap vertical units they are rated at 5kw /10kw -- that is maximum theoretical output before any losses etc and you need to be in winds of 25mph + to get close to that and then the cost of a suitable mounting pole and foundation most of these small units you will be lucky to ever get more than 1kw from them -and do we believe the life span - I do not--its basically an electric motor on its back spinning 24/7 so I have decided better to have some more ground mounted solar panels up in the high level waste garden If I do anything --which will face south-separate invertor coupled to my 17.5kw battery stack as my main array on the roof faces S/w and get little output once you get later in the year because of lower sun angle and little till late morning -- but once the sun gets at them -- i can see 11kw+ so the idea is to fill in the morning and as they face south will also carry on all day another 5kw of panels -- still waiting on costs to make final decision but although I have lots of wind it would never pay back in my life time with a smaller wind turbine so for anyone not in a very windy position it will never work

thank you -which was what i was trying to get at --they have to be insulated no reply from builder yet, will give him a few more days then email him again

that is my guess certainly ASHP pipes not --so pretty sure no insulation on nay internal piping using a thermal camera a while ago -- i could see heat bloom from ASHP pipes in the ceiling space where they go to the hot water tank and controller upstairs i am guessing the dipshit plumbers -thought that heat lost in the house is ok and too much trouble to insulate all the pipes --which it is not no point in having individual individual thermostats on each room with programmers etc and in a big house most of the time you do not want to heat all the rooms

not possible

I have already emailed him and awaiting his reply I will be attending to the plant room and I will continue with this and insulate everything in there but we know that will not stop the problem till pipes are insulated in the ceiling void-both ASHP feed pipes and cold water

I agree -- but i think there is another problem in the ceiling other wise why would water start at 24 00then go to 30 and then back down must be heating of uninsulated pipes in the ceiling void I think well told the builder and the only way to get at them is to drop ceiling as upstairs has stuck down floor +ufh heating as well If he won,t do it then I go to building control --as he should not have fitted all those pipes in same void with no insulation or HSE as it clearly sates cold water should be less than 20c I really did not want to do this --but needs must so insulate pipes in plant room fit 2 vents one at ceiling level one at floor and get some convection of the warm air happening in the plant room and out outside unless you have a better suggestion just shows houses built to new insulation stds can have other problems you don,t initally think of certainly if it was mains coming up through the concrete slab in kitchen --as normal and not shifting it across the ceiling space maybe 8ms from plant room with an accumulator storing it

in the plant room picture attached

comes from a bore hole 30m up the hill behind --120m deep in solid rock all the way

I think insulation is part of my problem --too much and the batteries +invertor for the solar are in there == plus washing machine and condensing dryer may be i need some positive ventilation in there? vent at bottom of wall and one at ceiling level but that would not stop it getting hot in the space between floors I suspect they did not insulate the SHP pipes to the controller and tank which is upstairs in center of house house is 22m long granite with TF built inside it

temp of accumulator and filters etc in plant room today with thermal temp gun 24c when i ran the tap in the kitchen it started off at 23 c then after 1min of running it went up to 30c then eventually it went down to 18c and i also checked where it comes in the house from the borehole--same temp I do have a UV on the system would that not protect from legonella ?

neither of you addressed the question I take it from that there are no regulations about insulation of pipes inside house

my problem is a strange one my cold water is not cold I,m on a bore hole and water comes to plant room into an accumulator where pressure is kept at 3.75 bar it then goes through filters + uv etc the water pipe then goes up into the space between the upper floor and the ceiling the result is my cold water is never cold I checked the ASHP pipes with a heat gun and can see a heat bloom from the ceiling but even now when the low heat is not much to heat the hot water it is still a problem my question what insulation by law if any should have been done to the pipes in that area are there laws about insulating pipes inside the house

is the barn floor only damp at that side of barn or is it over entire area? do you know what sort of foundations and how thick the concrete floor is ? if its an equestrian barn -does that mean it does not have a complete concrete floor inside and only concrete at edges was it built as such or a converted farm building If that is the case it could becoming from the ground upwards which would suggest you will need a french drain all round the barn and probably in the floor ,quite deep ,and then hardcore and final surface on top of that to get it to be dry all the time more info needed

last year we hard serious attacks from ravens -to an extent where they were hurting themselves leaving traces of blood on the windows ,as well as pecked rubber seals one presumes they were fighting their reflections hoping they have got the message now that there are people living here and do not continue this year i tried to shoot the buggers ,but they know exactly the range of a shot gun and which tree to sit which is out of range and just craw at us when we appear