Big Jimbo

Am i correct in thinking that a snail layout is better than an up and down ? In my head it is, as the heat is more evenly distributed.

@JohnMo You have just dashed my dreams Sir.

@Nickfromwales So i shouldn't get so hung up on loop sizes, and trying to get it right for each area ?

@Nickfromwales I'm defo in the want to understand camp. Up to a point. But then just want the bloody thing to run. On its own, with no intervention from me. Oh, i forgot, i want to keep me at 21 degrees (southern softy) provide me with ample hot water, and cost me pence per week to run.

It is defo more complicated than just bunging in as much pipe as you can, to each area. Then it all gets even more complicated. The room at the front gets a fair bit of solar gain, and the one at the back gets none, and faces north. But only sometimes... You have One thermostat on the ground floor, and stick it in the wrong area. All the other areas either overheat, or are bloody cold. As i said, i think it is complicated. However, perhaps my teachers were right, and I am just a bit thick.

Right, as @Nickfromwales has given me a like.... Now im on a roll. What we need to know is how much heat our length of pipe buried in the floor can emit, if we put hot water through it at 30 degrees. If we find this out, and lets say it is 100watts at 4 litres per minute, at 30 degrees, over 10 meters of buried pipe. our room/area, needs 500watts. therefore we need, 5x 10 meters of pipe in that area, 50meters to give us the heat output we need. All the areas need to be calculated in same way, in order to give us our loop sizes. ???? I was going to start talking in K/ws, but i always get the kw's mixed up, and @SteamyTea then tells me off.

I have not had a chance to work out, how to pair heat requirements of individual areas, into a simple system for my ground floor yet. So i am at the same stage as you, with perhaps a little more time on my side. My ,thick bloke ,understanding so far suggests that if you can get each individual area to have an emitter that matches the heat requirement as near as damn it. Which would be for the coldest day you have designed for, means the system works as a whole. I think this is preferable to all the different areas, shouting all at once. Heat...enough heat...heat...etc. On an underfloor heating system, I have seen where the manifold has been used to balance the system using various flow rates to each loop. Again my, dont know what im talking about suggests that the flow to an area might be dialed up or down a bit. When done well, all the valves on the manifold are taken off. the way my small brain thinks of it is...and lets go back to Rads... you have four bedrooms. each has a radiator with a TRV. You have the boiler set to come on at 6am till 8am. Bed 1 and 2 get the room up to your desired temp. Bed 3 gets up to temp very quickly, and the TRV closes that rad. Bedroom 4 however has the TRV fully open, and never gets up to temp. That says to me that the design of those 4 rads is a bit rubbish. The rad in bed 4 is too small, the rad in bed 3 is to big. To try and balance this out you would try and use the lockshield valves and trv's. I believe that it would be better to size the bloody rads correctly in the first place.. Sorry, none of this is helping you. I just dont have the heart to delete it, now i have typed it all. The Welsh Wizard, and others will be along shortly to tell me to shut up.

Looks fab. Well done. Just make sure you coat the timber with something that is UV resistant. Otherwise, in the same way as Mapel turns a bit orange in the sun. Your Walnut will "Fade to Grey" as the song said.

@Nickfromwales Thats exactly what i am doing

Hoping to start in about 2 month. should be better weather i hope.

I had planning to knock down an existing bungalow and build One new large house. I dug a small trench, and took a photo to make the application active. That permission had no requirement for a bat survey. My new application for Two new houses, which was passed, started mumbling about bats. I told ecology that the demolition was being undertaken under the big house application, and therefore the application for Two new houses had no requirement for a Bat survey. They were ok with that, and stopped muttering.

well as i am currently drilling deeply down into my fabric, and ventilation heat losses @SteamyTea . After completing my part "O". I am going to consider myself very skilled, but only when i get it bloody completed. I could murder a Kebab, or a bloody good burger, as my brian is currently using energy at a rapid rate.

My son in law works for a British, French, Belgium Company, that designs and manufacturers, and maintains weapons, missiles, including nukes. They do use a lot of American software, and hardware, and have begun designing this out. That makes a lot of sense to me. I hope we do have the ability to up our UK skill level. If we need a lighter, or a box of matches to make fire. We are buggered. The reason he says that they are moving away from US components, is that worlds buyers no longer trust the US, and want weapons that do not rely on either the US or China. He says that he doubts that the US will ever get the trust back. I'm sure that will have implications for them in the coming years. As he said, when he was in a previous industry, they used to send stuff to China to be produced because it was cheap. They used to basically steal all the R and D and re-badge it as there own technology. We still to this day, educate there people in our universities, to allow them to go home, and have the skills to do exactly that. America, is heading in the same direction. Can't be trusted, and thought of in the same way as China in the future.

I like that idea.

I think the concern must be the distance from the bottom of the window, to something solid below. Whether that is grass, patio, decking, etc. So he may be saying that at present the height does not comply, but it will however once yo fit your decking.

You could wedge a piece of pir across the cavity. Either 50 0r 100mm if you have room. Then your ply, then your wood flooring. That is providing that your new floor joist have all been extended over the cavity to support the ply.

Defo, best to try and find out from either the council, or there website. You don't want to fall foul of Cil.

I would have thought that you would be fine, the next day. You are only going to be drilling a few small holes.

The drawing seems to show a non ventilated flat roof on top of a cavity wall. There is no reason not to fill it all with mineral wool in my opinion. You should atleast fill it to above the cavity closer as that is a week point. You did well to find any detail for what to do as accepted practice. I couldn't find any for my funny detail bits.

I will have a talk to the estate agents today. I had a talk yesterday with a very well known guy in the industry who has a comprehensive understanding of heat pumps. For a fee he will take a look at my plans, do heat loss calcs from my drawings, and specs, to confirm my results. He will also design the system for me. If he cant fitit due to distance, i will atleast have a design that would enable me to have it fitted, with confidence, by a plumber that i know. I do think that a modern house, built with a bit of quality control (me) , and a relitively low heat loss (sub 5) is a great candidate for ASHP. I just want it done right first time, and for it to work with no problem. A bit like a gas boiler install. I just need to step away from my old flat cap, 63 year old self, and perhaps embrace the new. (not that ASHP systems are new). Just new to me who has always had an oversized gas boiler in all of the houses that i have ever lived in.

I have looked around locally, and spoken to two agents that i know well. Its felt that it is the best configuration for the local market. Nice master ensuite. double sink, double width shower. Bed 2 with small but functional en-suite. Beds 3 and 4 share a bathroom with separate bath and shower.

@Adrian Walker Also, i believe that at below 3 i would be required to fit MVHR. It is a shame but just really not got the space. I will have to have have 6 extractors for all the wet areas. I will have to have a look and consider what my options are on that front.

At 1750square foot, it is a compact 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house. Although i have designed for 5ach, i will aim to be better. However, i don't really have room for the ducting for MVHR, or the actual unit. That and the roof pitch is shallow at 28 degrees. It's also a cold loft space, and i have a height restriction.

@Oz07 gas is already on site.

Fortunately a fair old distance away. However only a couple of hundred meters from One of the golfballs. Radar station about 50meters high. there are 3 or 4 around The outskirts of london. Used to track the planes into Heathrow. My weapons manufacturing son in law advises me that although not public knowledge, the stations are also used by the military. Apparently, that makes it on to the list of first of targets within the UK in the event of war. If that's the case i hope it's a nuke. I don't want to be hanging around. I'd rather be vapourised.