Radian

I can't find anything on https://mcscertified.com/ that explicitly covers rules or recommendations about DC cable management. My expectations are based on the BS 7671 wiring regs. which would not permit cables to flop about unsecured. But that's what I see when I look up under the modules on my roof: Is this supposed to be acceptable?

Not your house fabric, your atmosphere. Take a chilled glass of water from the fridge. Put it on a table in your extension. Look at the condensation forming on the outside of the glass. Now think how warm the glass & contents would have to be for this not to happen. Now think about the surface temperature of your door reveal.

Breaking news Ok, got me. I thought "oh $hit, what now" Not to say your accident isn't horrific but it's been such a spiral of gloom lately that I was expecting something much worse!

The installation guys seemed to think it just didn't matter but like @ProDave says, the one thing that really matters is not disconnecting the DC when under load. I'm surprised they didn't point that out.

Finally had our little 3.2kW system installed today after being on the waiting list for over six months. All good It seems but the Solis S6 inverter is a new one to me and the operating instructions regarding start-up and shutdown seem odd. With other inverters, I'm used to staring up by switching on the DC first then AC. And the opposite when shutting down. But these snips from the Solis manual say: 5.1 Start the Inverter To start up the Inverter, it is important that the following steps are strictly followed: 1. Switch the grid supply main Switch (AC) ON first. 2. Switch the DC switch ON. So, it's important that the above steps are strictly followed? And when power is restored after a power cut? The shutdown is just as weird: 5.2 Stop the Inverter To stop the inverter, it is mandatory that the steps below are followed in the exact order outlined. 1. Select "Grid Off" in the Advanced Setting of Inverter LCD. 2. Turn off the AC Switch between Solis inverter and Grid. Fine if you've got access to the advanced settings and have prior notification of a power-cut. Still, it's only mandatory.🙄 What are they on about?

I just can't imagine diagnosing any heating system without some sort of time-series plot of what's going on. This example of mine from January shows how the zone valve for HW wasn't quite closing properly, so when the UFH came on early in the morning, cold was able to circulate through the coil and rob the cylinder until it started going the other way. Just going by what came out the taps and the general feel of things would never reveal this.

Steady on there, if DHW is set to 50oC your boiler might not actually be able to meet that demand. The signs of it struggling would be lengthy run times at minimum modulation. Exactly what you don't need! You can try it for sure, but keep an eye on it. I'd start at 65oC first and see how that goes.

So all you have to do for a crude test is wind it all the way in which should effectively close it when other rads are open, then feel the pipes either side. One side should feel much hotter than the other after a while. The fact you have towel rads without TRVs that give off some heat means the auto bypass is pretty redundant anyway. I'd certainly set it to 0.5bar and leave it at that to see what difference, if anything, it makes.

Never had one of those that actually worked properly. But I'm a cheapskate so always bought from SF or TS. Seriously, even screwed in all the way (so supposedly half a bar needed to open) it won't shut off even at 0.1 bar (my lowest pump setting). I've given up with them and use logic to keep one zone open (HW cylinder) when no call for heat. 5 minute pump overrun just tops up the tank with an extra couple of degrees.

Try it at 65oC? Especially if the rails are a nice shiny chrome 😉

Is that an automatic cascade function provided by the diverter?

May be unrelated, but what temperatures did you experience late August/early September? My garage was over 35oC and I was thinking about all the various products that often have maximum storage temperatures below that!

What exactly do you mean when you say you're unable to spray it? If it screws onto the base of the gun and nothing comes out when you pull the trigger then perhaps the gun just needs cleaning? I'm sure you mean something else...

I always feel there should be some sort of resin with a similar refractive index to glass that you could apply and buff back to lessen the appearance of a scratch like that. There's something like that for repairing car windscreens. But yes, if the window cleaner drops his mop or sponge to the ground and it picks up the tiniest bit of silicate, that's all it takes.

That's handy! How wide? Even if it was only 50mm, then pumping in cheap EPS beads could reduce heat loss by around 75% (a couple of Watts/m²K down to 0.5W)

I've started this kind of thread before and would agree that there's a questionable financial incentive behind it. On the other hand, laid-in DC can be a convenient way of going partially off-grid without the complexities and expense of a changeover switch for the AC. I've got my routers, ethernet switches and broadband modem running off PoE adaptors with a UPS battery supply. Lighting is next on the list. 48VDC is the ideal to minimise copper losses and is very easy to step down with >95% efficiencies for lower voltage applications. And ethernet cables are ubiquitous for distribution.

Jeez that looks bad. When you say they were clearly caused by the window cleaner, how is it that you are so sure of that?

As I understand it, you would be looking at average power draw overnight or during the day when the house was unoccupied. Meaning no lights or intermittent demands like TV's, washing machines etc. So between the last light going out at bedtime and before the alarm goes off in the morning, only the standby power of various gadgets permanently powered-up plus the intermittent on/off of fridge/freezers would be counted.

Third gen. Emura are the ones I've gone for. They're large but can go very lazy. It's a bit like PC fans, the big ones tend to be quieter than the little'uns. This is in a 4m wide room to give an idea of scale:

Interesting. I read one review where the person noticed condensation in the bag when they were buying them. Sounds like the wrapping is partially hygroscopic, but it would also fail if even slightly punctured. I wonder if Knauf have terminated this product because of these failings?

What's the history of this product? B&Q and lots of other places all had it at £14 but now seems out of stock. Sometimes marked as clearance.

Agree with votes for A/C. I'm waiting for a couple of Daikin units to be installed instead of putting a new gas boiler in our two storey extension.

Welcome aboard 🙂 Can you remember what your first car was?

If you just leave it as whacked type 1, the rain will make a big white mess everywhere.

If you do go down this route, assuming not ashlar or anything really fancy, phone around and get prices from your nearest quarries - ask for price of cropped walling stone per 10 ton delivered. Might surprise you.