sgt_woulds

Judging by the flow meters, only the centre loop is working, but that may be because you have multiple zones and that is the only one calling for heat. However, seeing a flow meter maxed out like that is not usual and would indicate a zone about the same size at Trumps new ballroom...

Also, what is the floor area in m2?

Have you seen the shading design guide - downloadable here: BBSA and GHA launch new shading for housing design guide I'm a big fan of roller shutters having used them at my parents in law's house in Hungary. They add both shade and security. Roller shutters have different options for use, including a stage where they are almost shut but still let a little bit of light through slits. However, I've got to say that the louvres / slats shown in the pictures above are much better aesthetically. In Europe, most windows open inwards so cleaning is less of an issue even with close fitting louvres.

Sorry, yes I should have said it will need to be Solar DC specific SWA. We didn't fit it very often but there was a specific brand we found that was SWA with insulated and sheathed cables. I remember that our Sparx still had to note it as a variation as technically you are not supposed to use a wire armoured cable for unearthed DC. Copex is the easier / cheaper / more compliant option. Elimination of DC isolators is generally accepepted, but unless the cables are surface mounted and identified with labels all the way to the inverter location you need a method of isolating the hidden DC cable run. If you rely on the built in DC isolator in the inverter - and espescially if that inverter is fitted elsewhere in the property - that still leaves the entire run of field cables live. Interesting figures on the failure rates of isolators. I imagine this is mostly due to people not paying for regular electrical inspections. For some reason the negative DC cable always seems to work loose over time in any screw connction, and its important to check and re-torque at regular intervals. (The neutral connections on the AC side are prone to this too) If this was taken out of the equation then the biggest failure boint would be the DC connectors - which sounds right to me as changing from MC3 to the MC4 'compatible' type connector was the biggest mistake ever made in the solar industry.

Yes, but you can push back. In my experience, most BCO aren't up to date with current regulations anyway, so going back with a reasoned argument and references to the regulations will mollify them. Our standard responce to BBA questions for our woodfibre insulation: We don’t have a BBA for our wood fibre boards and It is not mandatory to carry this certification for building regulations compliance; regulation 7 (1) states that CE marking and the appropriate Declaration of Performance can be used to establish the suitability of a product for its intended use. Additional national or international technical specifications are referenced in Section 1.14 and Independent certification schemes are in Section 1.15. These are not mandatory and it is stated that they ‘may be in addition to, but not conflict with, CE marking’. Our products are all CE-marked, and the DOP information is available on our website I would suggest to get a WUFI calculation for whichever system BRUCE chooses. This should also help with BCO approval. Back to Earth offer WUFI assessments for their IWI systems - I'm sure they will try to pursuade you away from unnatural insulations to more healthy options though... 🙂

Don't forget, if you are running cables from the loft to a position elsewhere in the house, they need to be SWA (or double insulated cables in Copex with a draw cable to the inverter if an electrician is doing final fix at a later date). If an inverter is not being fitted in the loft then a seperate DC isolator as close to the entry point is always required. 32 amp - DC specific - double pole isolator. From experience I wouldn't recommend any DC isolator made by ABB... although I haven't touched one for 10 years so hopefully they are more reliable now! A competent (sensible) sparky will work from the AC location up to the DC isolator and make the final connection to the isolated switch.

GagsPritch, are you talking about surface mounted plastic pattress rather than metal back boxes sunk into the wall?

Old ones won't have bonding connecteions for metal face plates, but those can be soldered on without removing from the wall. Other than that, as long as they are deep enough to take the gubbins for modern sockets without crushing cables I can't think of a reason to replace them?

I've never used bags in my Henrys (multiple) but then I've never bough one brand new either! I've currently got 3, and I've given away I think another 5 to friends. All taken off skips or grabbed at the local tip when no-one is looking. There is a common problem with his high/low suction switch that stops them from turning on. Most people just buy a new one when this happens, but being of the 'make do and mend' type (generation cheapskate) I just bypass the switch so it is constantly on full power. If I'd paid for a hoover I would probably just use it to clean the house and buy the ridiculously small and expensive bags, but otherwise they work fine without as long as you bash the filter regularly into the wheely bin. You need to do this more regularly with plaster dust and wood fibre as they clog the filter quickly. I use one of the other Henries to clean the filter and bob's your uncle. The suction is much better without the bags and you can get more dirt into the hoover. I keep meaning to buy a cyclone attatchment, but until I start paying for hoovers I'm not too bothered. I've just realised that my oldest free hoover (and the one I keep for the worst jobs) came off a skip on the day that I started installing solar, so that would make it more than 25 years old and still going strong. 😀

We hear sentiments like this a lot and unfortunately they are based on a misunderstanding of the respources we have. This line is promoted by certain sections of the media (who unfortunately no longer have the journalistic integrity to check their sources), and politicians on the make, and is 'encouraged' by the oil companies who source oil outside the UK but know that promoting 'British Oil' will actually lead to more sales of non-British oil in the UK! I'm by no means an expert, but I used to work for a solar company (way back, the first solar installer in the country) that was founded by a man who came from the oil industry and had first hand knowledge to impart. Without going into the weeds (which I'm in no way knowledgeable enough to do - I'm dragging this from the back of my mind from conversation 25 years ago...) you need to understand some basics of the oil industry as it has existed for the last 100 years. And a little Geology. Where to start? Oli is not what you think it is. Most oil in the world (and unfortunately the oil available off our coast) is not the black stuff you see shooting out of the ground in the Beverly Hillbillies. It is a multi coloured sludge made up of a vast array of chemicals that need careful and expensive processing to become useful - and that usefullness may not be as an energy source. Most crude oil - like that available in the UK - is only suitable for chemical productions (fertilisers, medecines, etc), not high grade energy use. Setting up oil refineries is increadibly expensive and to maximise economies of scale, a single type of process tends to be dominant in any region. Essentily, individual countries have specialised in different processes, using particular types of oil that is shipped around the world. I believe we ship 'our' sludge to South America for processing into a usable product, and vice versa). TLDR, The Geology of the North Sea does not produce the type of oil that UK refineries are specialised in, and the cost (and time frame) of converting our refineries to handle UK-sourced oil and the percieved benefits (and profits) are vastly outweighed by and dwindling resources of existing drill sites. In a heating world, WE MUST NOT drill any new fields and even if we did, the product would not power our country. Promoting th use of British Oil is a wheeze by foriegn oil producers (in bed with corrupt politicians and journalists happy to trouser a commission) which keeps the UK dependant upon their products. 'Gas lighting' in the literal sense... Another important lesson regarding 'Energy Security' has been learned from the war in Ukrain. A distributed power production that is not dependant upon a single source of energy is better able to withstand interferance from bad actors. It is very hard to cpmpletely destroy a wind or solar farm in a bombing raid, and even if you succeed, it will only be part small part of overall production. A distributed power generation will keep the lights on. But if you blow up a gas powered station - or the North Sea drilling rigs that supply your gas - it is much harder to get back up and running. To achieve a renewables based distributed grid is going to require huge investment of our aging infrastructure. But the long-term result will be lower bills, which should boost the economy as it will make manufacturing costs cheaper. Espescially if, as weve discussed before, industry is encouraged to move up North to be near the wind generation sources. We were perhaps disadvantaged compared to our European friends in the last 80 years, in that the last 'bad actor' was so very inefficiant at destroying our victorian infrastructure that we didn't have to rebuild earlier. Ironically, we probably gave Germany a boost by levelling the country and forcing a better grid to be built...

You can have a hybrid warm roof if breathable insulations (e.g. woodfibre) is used over the rafters. For these you need to allow a ventilation path above the insulation to draw away moisture exiting the structure. min. 80mm on a flat roof & 40mm on pitch roof 30 degrees+ with slates/tiles)

Yes but a standardised form and tested for structural use - I believe they have BBA, so easier get BC than some other soil based solutions. Used for inner leaf of cavity walls. Presumably can also be used in a solid wall with external breathable insulation. We had an architect/builder who was interested in using our woodfibre EWI on an earth block wall using BETTABLOK last year. I really must ask how they got on...

Perhaps, but we should hive it off to a seperate conversation 🙂 I like @solid' too, but other construction methods can achieve that. I was lucky enough to experience many types of construction back when I started installing PV. Back then the average price for a 1kw system was £20k! Only the absolute eco warriers were willing to pay, and they were as varied a bunch of characters as the houses they built. Great days... I've experienced TF, Strawbale, Rammed Earth, Cob, Earth Bag, Earth Sheltered (Stone built), Underground Bunker, ICF, Mass Timber, Double skin Insulated Wattle & Daube, Container house. The best timberframes can match any 'solid' construction method with correct detailing and pumped cellolose or woodfibre insulation, but, like anything, it will depend upon the quality of the build. As far as concrete goes: One of our customers and his architect built two houses side by side using different methods; Dense (fly ash) concrete block solid wall with external insulation, & ICF. Both had the same notional U-values and apart from the walls, all finishing details were identical. Multiple sensors everywhere. I spoke to the architect a couple of years later and he reported that the blockwork house was performing slightly better. His suggestion was that the internal layer of insulation on the ICF was blocking some of the advantages of thermal storage but the difference was marginal. The concrete block wall was quicker and easier to build (ICF collapsed twice during pours, even with manufacturer supervision on the site) and had about half of the upfront carbon than the ICF. They had the advantage of a highly motivated and dedicated team of builders - probably the best I've ever known. Would a blockwork wall built by the typical Great British Builder have perfored as well as the ICF? Of course cost is a factor. If I'd had the money, I would have like to have built a TF with Woodfibre insulation throughout. SIPs with a thin layer of WF was (supposed to be!) a cheaper compromise for a higher performing build, balanced against up front emmissions. If I was doing it again with the same budget, I would probably build a hybrid cavity wall with STROCKS.

I'm an ex PV specifier / installer and roofer, so I'm aware of my options... none of which will provide significant shade for my roof unfortunately. 😞 But enough distraction from the OP - hopefully we convinced not to use SIPs, but I wouldn't go for CIF either! I've felt guilty enough about the amount of global warming my house will have contributed to with SIPs, there is no way we should be building monolithic concrete structures in this day and age. What are the percieved advantages of CIF that would push Mueller to use this method?

With the woodfibre over the SIPs needing to breath, we already have a hybrid warm roof. Construction from inside is: plasterboard on resiliant bars, 25mm woodfibre flex , VVCL, 270mm SIPs / 60mm wood fibre (wet process highest density) / breather membrane / 80mm ventilated zone / 18mm OSB deck / EPDM. The detritus stuck to the eaves ventilation slits attest to the strength of airflow accross the roof. Unfortunately with the roof span and margins for snow loading, there is no spare capacity to add PV panels, sedum, etc to provide any more buffering, so paint it will have to be