Hastings

That is very helpful to know, thanks. We have a 10,000L tank but it was the local rainfall data vs roof area calc that was equally, if not more, important in our having to prove 'sufficiency' of the supply. Was there any official assessment of the water supply, like to show roof area vs rainfall calculations for how much water you can ever collect in a year?

Same, in Argyll. But we're restricted to max occupancy of 2 by a planning order due to the rainwater supply not being sufficient. Is your rainwater harvesting your sole supply for water?

Honda EU10i working well with my 5yr-old Multiplus offgrid system. I use it fairly seldomly, in winter mostly. Run it at 80% capacity to keep the exhaust hot and prevent carbon buildup. Before the EU10i i had a cheaper Honda frame generator that I couldn't get to work with the Multi.

Did you manage to improve things? My system is 5 years old and one thing that's clear from reading this forum topic (MVHR) is that not enough thought, attention and design is applied to how to keep all the myriad parts of the airflow path clean. In particular, positioning of the external intake vent (mine is on a slate roof two storeys high and I don't know whether it has a mesh within it) and cleaning of the heat exchange core unit.

Previous house was Grade 2 listed 2 up 2 down cottage and last time I asked the council (about 15 yrs ago) what the options were for adding insulation they said they couldn't answer questions without an upfront £250 fee. Annoying when everyone else was getting paid to insulate more modern houses.

Never installed anything like this before and looking for advice on how to fix to the RSJ and to the vertical two sides which are very rough. Thanks.

I wasn't going to worry about thermal bridging as it won't be a heated space.

Are there any special precautions to take when fitting an aluminium d/g 3 door bi-folds unit into an opening (2360x2200) that has an RSJ over it? I expect to fit packers between the steel joist and the bifolds frame so they won't be directly touching each other but wonder if the fixings that connect the two will create enough of an electrical connection to cause the aluminium to corrode prematurely? Environment is fairly high humidity (West coast Scotland) close to sea. Wind blown rain regularly contains salt. My 5-year-old timber front door handle and lock made of aluminium alloy and stainless steel parts is already showing signs of corrosion. The bi-folds will be installed in an attached uninsulated, unlined, random rubble stone workshop/store. The opening currently has a temporary timber frame and OSB panel in place with new cement render finishing up against its outer top and side face edges. The new bifolds would be fitted in the same position.

So no need to disconnect each battery from the others while I'm using it? Doesn't the charge spread out gradually between all the batteries in the group when connected back together?

I have 8x 12V 200Ah AGM batteries arranged as two 4x12V strings connected to each other in parallel to make a 48V supply. They power a 5kVA inverter/charger that powers the house. The inverter/charger has died and I wondered if, to let me charge laptop and phones while getting it repaired/replaced, I can temporarily connect a small 12V 300W inverter I have to one of the 12V batteries while it is still connected to/within the 8 battery bank setup? Or must I disconnect it from its neighbour first? I could of course disconnect each battery completely before using it but the connectors are secured by nuts and bolts and it's PITA to do so frequently. I want to keep the entire bank connected as a 48V unit so that I can continue charging it with my 48V wind turbine and its own charge controller.

This seems like a better perspective than the EU's agency blowing its own trumpet: https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/energy-transition-tracker "...Country Transition Tracker annually assesses progress across a range of energy sector indicators and highlights those nations that are most advanced in decarbonising their energy systems." The score cards are also very nice to look at.

The very latest tomato growing greenhouses in the UK use natural gas (as well as heat pumps) to heat them, using the plants to capture some of the CO2 (source: https://energyadvicehub.org/giant-low-carbon-greenhouses-could-grow-12-of-uk-tomatoes/). I don't know if they change the fact that UK tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in winter have a higher carbon footprint than tomatoes imported from warmer countries, like Spain, even after you add in the food miles.

Even when adjusted to include imported emissions?

I think it may be important for the nails to be of a softer material than steel, so that they can be 'cut' with a slater's ripper, when a broken slate needs removing & replacing. Is this true?

Yes. The drillers are well regarded by people locally who have used them. The rainwater system we have now is a much better solution for us - lower cost (up front as well as year to year), lower energy, probably lower CO2 emissions overall. It was what we originally planned and we only drilled the borehole because of the council's very strong opposition to a 100% rainwater supply.