scottishjohn

why would you pick one over the other as I understand it both need emptying or regular basis and if you have space for a leech field why spend more on a treatment plant

I will be doing an exploration of the spring/stone culvert to see where it actually surfaces and if there is a possibility to pipe it direct through the field - Isuspect where it rises wil give me plenty of pressure ,however not sure iwould want to plumb direct due to low flow rate in a drought -so there can be no pollution from what the farmer does. I am reasonably sure the quality will be good as there are a lot of others using private supllies onthe same hill side,but will get it tested. Iwill get some piccies atsome point of what is there now

I amy seem to be "butterflying" a bit but I am also now looking again at bringing mains water up from the main road below . and am looking now at solar powered pump station to see how that will work out I did originaly look at a mains pump stsation -but the length of power cable run down to it etc makes it expensive and hard work although that way I could have 2 bar of mains pressure - so all things still in the melting pot ,maybe cutting down volume and using solar power and large storage tank at top will be the solution ,If I can work with private source at worst fo only 1000l per day --then solar pump to give that +some should be viable --even in the dark of winter ,with battery storage and maybe wi-fi control link between tank and pump controller-to shut off pump when correct level reached?-

don,t think it works like that with water suppies-no one can cut off yuor water -but iwill check everything you boys have posted keep the info and suggestions coming i thought of using a hydraulic pump and power it with the big drop ihave --not asure if they can pump up 400ft any info would be good

ok after measuring the min flow rate for last month before the rains ti was minimum of 1000lt per day now we have had some rain is 4 or 5 times that so now considering intercepting it with a collection tank -which has my take off to my storage tank set so to not get any crap from stream this goes to a tank ,which will be buried -capacity -thinking of around 5000 lt ? 50mm pipe in with 50mm out at top --so in normal condtions the water in there will be changed more than once a day ok in drought conditions -it will take a few days to change it by having another outlet at other side of tank at top -so there will always be flow through -no stagnation -when the excess water will be returned to stream there will also be atke off closer to the top for garden water supply take off for house supply to be about 10" from bottom , but off it so any sediment can be removed once a year through inspection hatch then this outlet to house filters and ultraviolet and auto pump to raise pressure ot 3bar ?-connected to an accumulator although i call it a stream its actually a spring in field up the hill which then goes into a stone culvert farmer -whose family have been there for 80years ,says it never drys up what have I missed I was going to pump up the hill --but thats 350ft and 400yds ,so needed 220psi pumpstation at bottom of hill- and running big cable down to it as well as pipe up and trying to insulate it ,as depth of 750mm to bury it will be hard in some places-so now ithink private is the way to go any advice is very welcome

yes or just buy an old trawler and moor it next to my jetty used to be 2000ton boats came in for the granite I have a picture somewhere of the last boat than came in the 90,s --a russian one -it went back with granite and 6 ladas as deck cargo --still very sought after in russia and very cheap here not sure how that would go down but the simplest if planning end up being very hard to work with would be to refurb "the Glebe" I reckon 150k tops would totally rebuild that to modern specs rip out all interior and build a kit house inside it basically but the idea was to sell the quarry and the jetty and the glebe anyway we,ll have to see how things go once I get somewhere with planning then other bits will advertised so many options its mind blowing OHH to be younger

you can tell I,m stalled by planning .LOL

good point ---just a silly thought maybe --lol and isuspect cost would be prohibitive but if it wasn,t --and you could do small ones as holiday rentals -- -and in very panoramic places --big bucks

an airship would that get round planning ? variable views If you winch it up and down LOL

pv on the jetty --30acres --could be good --but again its the outlay 3oacres =3mw so i am told -but with the pitful FIT you need to find customers to sell it to at 10p a unit -then its a real winner--again I had companies willing to do that if there were users close at hand -then they pay me rental --about 25k a year and they build it I,m too old for all that sort of messing about

all depends on how much of the site is good for 5kw according to hydrologists quick cal on how much land drains into it I could raise the level of the pond by 10m if idammed it up some more ,so out put go up some more the water that used to supply the house iam rebuilding -would only be good for hydro if i put turbine at bottom of quarry -350ft below and then its variable flow could mean forn 2-5kw but it all costs loads of money to do and Iwil look at it gain ,but think iwill just suck it up and pay for a supply for who ever buys the quarry --then that could very well be a viable option wind turbine -- thibk planning would be the problem theregetting very hard to put them up now the farm above bought a fairly big one a few years ago -cost 600k --he gets 175k a year from it ,so he tells me --not sure what he will get when his contract runs out --he has had his outlay back already

Ihave the space and water to do all that --but it just is not viable -even if i lived for another 30 years this is my pointoff grid is not a technical problem --cost is

surely the true test of costings is can you go off grid as cheap as your cost to have a connection on a new house .my connection is going to be 30k and istill don,t see cost of PV and storage can compete with that in my life time only way that could happen is if electricity costs went crazy

what Idid with my solar thermal was to store as hot as i could and have a blender on output of my tank so i used less of the hot and therefore less further mixing at shower --so saving waste of hot by adding lots of cold to it at point of use lots of days I could have had my 300 litre tank at 150c --but of course water cannot do that -- if you linked an oil filled solar thermal to a pcm unit with high threshold ,as you can use different mixs to alter PCM change temp --then low flow/ high temp solar thermal might be a good match for a pcm unit --then heat exchanger on the pcm system to actually transfer heat to the water you want -- It gets complicated --very doable on big scale --

If there is life for PCM system then i think it will be on big scale for district heating and the like ,where waste heat from something can be collected and stored. or maybe a heat pump extracting the heat from waste water in winter to pump a very large pcm unit and use in large heating system like a block of flats. or maybe solar thermal panels charging up a pcm unit in summer I just don,t see it being great for small system --but a large one Iran a solar thermal and tried to work out how to make the most of it --and storage was always the killer --the cost of it - you can get minimum30-40c water for a tleast 10months of the year -but you can,t store it at that cos tank will be so large add heat pump to change it from 30-70c --now you are talking If they can make PCM units cheaper and with a wider range of temps to trigger it then maybe it could have a longterm future Ionly see it viable on big scale

If you are not building it yourself - -then no you don,t know If you are finishing off after first test -then you should know

so Isupose the question is --how long would it take to recoup the cost of the test ,if the difference was little between tests

how much is an air test ?

this will be why MBC do it at that stage --you and they then know that the problem is not with the house shell but the trades after them soidf doing another test it would bebetter to do just prior to PB fater all services are in -so its easy to remedy

I used to have a chalet park -but that was when i was in my 20,s --and it seemed very boring and not for me at that time -dealing with customers at 11.00 at night for a bog roll or a bulb ran it for 5 years along with the garage where we are the season is at least 20 weeks - I reckon @£600 a week renta -the you would have them fully paid for in 2 years my price is from what is advertised for the area without all the features and no views to compare 10x7 m sips units my guess 20K each to build and with proper heating system etc I see there being all year round potential --not just summer as with these "hobbit homes and pods so i would expect to get min 30 weeks a year

Ywes that one looks very good ,bit like my 30ft tal retaing wall on my plot -

to be fair that staircase you show is not really dry stone dyking --they are all cut stones Imean lay them inbasket as the farmer does when he builds his walls from random size bits he has cleared from the fields If you got a lot to do then concrete legp blocks will be cheaper -1.6x1.6x.6m about £100 a pop -you will pay that much for a proper gabion or close enough now delivery is the killer onlt 23 on a jugger naught so why not buy a mould and make your own as and when you have time - i have certainly considered it for my job local ready mix will sell me trailer loads of dry mix cheaper than i can buy cement and agregate -then just add water when i get home 1.5cum in one of those big blocks -but maybe you get a smaller mould and hand mix it all ? I could buy htose 1.6x1.6 x .8 units for 70each +carriage +vat carriage tom was going to be £700 per 23 blocks--so that made them £100 a block deliverd my local dykers seem to charge about £100-150 a meter to build walls -if you provide the stone to site-- so @1.6mper block --thats cheaper just a thought

youcan buy cages with a secondary wall to keep the front layer inplace while you fill the middle packing them tightly ,like a dry stone wall is the secret --very time consuming if the rocks are not good shapes my suspicion is sheet netting is too thin for long term localfarmer used some to make a retaining gabion wall --starting to look squint after about 5 or 6 years looks like he did not take alot of time locking the sotnes together in the baskets. a dyker will tell you that the most important part is not the big stones but placing the little bits to make up the gaps between the big ones so it cannot move over time If you asking the basket to do all the support --then thickness of wire will be important making round ones? --think you will need big river pebbles to make that work not sharp cornered ones could be wrong -just my take on it you can see in above pictures what happens if you just dump in loose stuff between big bits --it moves and then basket is not fulland distorts I personally wold never use that type of "rotten rock"--as it just keeps falling apart -but ido understand he was trying to use what he found in garden

this is the first mention of it being on 4 windows the inference of your post was that the problem was just with one window this does indeed suggest you have a damp problem in the cavity my guess caused by poor or wrongly carried out insulation job on the cavity ,which is now holding water time for a professional to insepct

If as most window fitters do --they had sprayed builders foam in the cavity right next to where the window was to be fitted -then that would be your barrier , there is usually agap around the window after its fitted as they usually use 5mm-spacers where the screw fixings for the window are . this leaves a gap they can fill with spray foam -trim and then finish with plaster or trim plate.or caulking outside brickwork whould be no where near the palseter finish -as the plaster finish is applied to inner skin --not the outer one the whole point of the cavity is to be a space ,in your old type house where the moisture from out side can evaporate or move up the wall and out of the wall head where roof starts if you seal the top of the wall then you trap any moisture in there -- your wall looks like hard plaster - If not plaster board so there would be no vapour barrier -so filling cavity can be a bad idea if any moisture gets through your pebble dash or the pointing in the outer brick work and cannot evaporate out of the cavity --eg no air flow I am guessing at that age of house it is a cold loft --which means wall head must not be blocked very easy to happen if someone gets excited stuffing insulation right into the eaves and blocking top of wall cavity all I have just is guessing as your pictures do not show enough