joth

Sorry to tag on the back of another question, but bat is the "best" way to contact admins? A while back I tried the Contact Us link at the bottom of each page (https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/contact/) but that also did not get a reply. (I was thinking to setup a blog. I have no idea if I'd actually have time to maintain a blog, hence didn't chase it any further!)

Just to be sure I understood this, you're saying it would be possible to do all this in a single CU+HA box, but would advocate separate boxes anyway just to keep the separation clear? I guess I need to read up on what technical constitutes an LV circuit termination.

It certainly does. Also smaller will have less embodied carbon and generally use less resources / have lower environmental impact. While not perfect, it does exactly do the thing you said would be fun to do (unless I misunderstood?)

You can turn any IP camera into a cloud camera with a cloud based NVR like https://www.ivideon.com/get-video-surveillance-for-home/ (Which also has a self-hosting option too) EDIT forget that: ivideon needs a local server running even to use their cloud solution. I think there was some purely cloud NVR for generic cameras but I forgot which. Regardless it's way more hassle than just buying one of the many designed for cloud use cameras if that's what you want.

Couple quick questions - do you only want "green field" new builds, or are demolish+rebuild and/or deep renovations interesting too? - how "self" of a selfbuilder do you need? On here we range from those that dug every hole and laid every brick with their own hands, through to self specifiers (aka custom builders) that are very hands-on clients of traditional architect+main contractor setup, and every variation on this in-between (most commonly: had main contractor(s) for groundworks foundations and perhaps shell, then did bulk of the fit out themselves)

The very definition of passive house is <= 15kWh/m2 per year heating load. PHPP uses the concept of annual energy use per "total treated floor area" pretty much equivalent to useful floor area. I always think of our house as 160m2 but it's actually 151 when I subtract the area used by internal walls, first floor void (above stairs and hallway) etc. which slightly penalises the efficiency

Ours happens to already be 32° which is near as perfect for maximizing annual yield and I'm very happy with that. (Enerphit Plus rating is based on annual yield so that is convenient too)

@Raks looks good. One thing about that hackster setup is no obvious cover over the automation rails. Even though I'm putting it in a cupboard I'd want to keep all the screw terminals and hookup wire behind a screw on lid when not being worked on. I want to keep the RCBOs for these circuits at least nearby, so it's easy to flip them when working on things. Especially the lighting circuits (which will be mains voltage even in the automation rack). The only reason I can see to put ALL the circuit breakers there is for simplicity in describing the wiring layout, and knowing where to find it if one does trip. I'd not see that wago I/O system before. That's very neat and gives a nice alternative to investing in more loxone extensions. I'd probably use the mosbus coupler rather than Ethernet. Need to find a price list.

Point them at this https://www.heatraesadia.com/products/heating-and-ventilation/electric-flow-boilers/amptec Afaict it's a Willis heater in a fancy box with a shiny name on the outside. The installation instructions has some example schematics that may (or may not) be a useful starting point for questions here too. It specifically gives UFH as one use case.

OP doesn't state explicitly but assumption here this is for a new build. If it's a renovation, presumably the requirement for PP for a temporary caravan is even lower as it can then be an outbuilding ancillary to the enjoyment of the existing dwelling (or somesuch thing)? If it's a motorhome that moves periodically, rather than static caravan, feel this would be even easier to justify

I definitely agree with the sentiment here, I was (and still am) reluctant about the increasingly proprietary and anti-DIY trajectory of the company. Only reason I'm sticking with it for now is I already have most the gear (some was given to me after a friend took it out there old house) and I'm happy that the radial lighting wiring will give me a very clean upgrade path if I ever need it. In fact, I'm now actually more confident about this than I would be if going with an open standard like knx, as if setting out with knx I'd doubtlessly end up with a wiring layout that relied on the bus topology of knx and that'd be very hard to switch to a different protocol and would have to be done en masse. With radial data and 1mm2 cable runs to each switch I can alter them incrementally over time and have a much more mix and match approach, even using knx to some switches if I really wanted. Interestingly, someone recently reverse engineered the whole loxone link & tree protocol stack (basically variants of CAN bus), which opens another level of hybrid possibility if I really want to go there! Likewise my choice of dmx dimmers also partly driven by the ease of controlling them with something else. The loxone wiring guide linked above seems a pretty good place to start laying out a distribution board, even if not filling it with any loxone smarts. One question I do have is how best to separate up the board to avoid all work on it being part P notifiable work? If there are RCBOs inside it then defacto it is a consumer unit, so one interpretation is anything done inside that box (even if on the SELV 24V side of the wiring) is subject to part P? I'm thinking having 2 separate DIN boxes just to put a clear division between RCBOs etc and everything downstream of them. (even though those Future Automation boxes are updated to be 18th edition compliant)

There's numerous government reports on how they frustrate and add cost to adding external wall insulation too - especially the flush mounted ones. Basically the industry settled on the need for them to be external just as technology and the need to improve insulation made that obsolete, but the massively fragmented industry hasn't caught up. Annoyingly we're just about to move an internal meter to an external wall, just to avoid the hassle of not having any power on site while waiting to move it internally to a wall that hasn't been built yet.

So long as you never have any guests over to stay while you pop out for the day this might be fine. For me it'd be a total non-starter. IMHO the best signal for "away" mode energy saving modes is to use the burglar alarm activation. Even if you don't have a burglar alarm as such, having some kind of big red button you hit on leaving the house (and, next to the bed before going to sleep) has value in turning off all the lights, closing curtains, turning down the heating/HW schedule, warning if the back door is still open, enabling away-from-home automatic light routines, etc etc. Any door or motion sensor can be used as a trigger for returning to occupied state (or... setting off the alarm). Why involve phones and cloud connections for anything that can be done purely locally, and in a way that supports all users of the house (not just those with the app installed)?

To be fair it'd be totally unnecessary risk for any professional to ignore or actively recommend against following the current HSE guidance http://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/hot-and-cold.htm

(Presumably the rebar is better welded prior to laying UFH pipes?) To check I understood this, it means it leaves a thermal bridge directly from the UFH pipes/slab through the screw piles and down to earth?

Not directly answering you question, but what I'm planning to do (purely as I already have all the parts) old 12v car battery 12v trickle charger 12v / USB "cigar lighter" 5V/2A adapter Nest camera (powered by USB) 4G wifi hotspot (Huawei E5577) three unlimited data SIM card (£20/month) Obviously only works if you have three network coverage. I'm not dead sure the nest camera is best for this as if the network drops out it will drop footage. A simple IP camera that records to a local SD Card and only uses the 4G connection if you need to "remote" into it is probably a lot better.

Ah good old Revk, one of the founders or AA internet and he must have a record for most FOI requests or something. The conclusion seemed about right in most cases, but if you've already been told by the council you need PP prior to installing, it'd be brave to go ahead and install it without it.

Sorry if this was already asked but Is there anyway to disconnect the control panel from the unit? Seems the controller should be optional and without it connected it should fallback to just moving air around at a default rate. Also interested what brand that is? The controller looks rather elaborate, the fact the main unit doesn't fail gracefully if there is a comms problem talking to it is a bit of a design shortfall

I enjoyed reading that, not least because half way through it I realized I knew the author. He has some great exposés of DIY home alarm systems on that blog too. (hmm now there's a thought - we should get him onto all this keyless car theft)

@Ed Davies I re-found the article suggesting a structured approach to it I was thinking to start from: https://www.loxone.com/enen/how-to-lay-out-your-smart-home-distribution-board/ The price of those Future Automation enclosures though. Oh my. EDIT: For that matter, the price of the loxone Terminal Blocks to go in it are also fairly shocking. Looks like something AliExpress could serve up at a order of magnitude lower cost.

Sorry I offer no help (looks like you've solved it already), but do you have any example pictures of what you're planning to do with these tracks @AnonymousBosch? When I think of track LED lighting I think of things like this and this. It's clear from Adrian's link above we're talking something different (and less... overbearingly commercial), just keen to see what the final effect sought is? Thanks

Most air to air A/C units are air source heat pumps... The permitted development doesn't mandate it has to be air to water, but the problem is it DOES mandate the unit is installed to provide "heating" only. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/27/heat_pumps/2 Leads to the question, does "heating purposes" include DHW? Either way, clearly A/C for cooling wouldn't qualify.

Probably those Wago DIN rail mounted connectors (I think that would count as a bit more structured?) lighting will be driven from DMX dimmers and loxone relays, all on DIN rail; while it would be feasible to terminate the runs directly into them, it seems a lot neater to do via some kind of wiring block and I can see numerous benefits (not least in context of this thread, to allow easy future upgrades/changes)

It's not a bad idea, most the runs from switches to the central electrical closet are very short so not that wasteful. What is this beast you speak of? KNX cable looks like it is rated to 300V but I don't think it would meet any kind of regs to use it to 240V live switching. LOL! OK I under-anticipated the cultural hatred of ring mains here. What I really meant to say was for the sockets, I personally don't care that much what layout is used, and especially not in the context of home automation future proofing. Basically I'm asking the contractor to put sockets in <long list of places> and leave them to it, as far as I can. My own thought process here is I want 4 double sockets in every room (more in kitchen) so running every socket on its own circuit seems totally overkill. Grouping them by room seems arbitrary to me and may create artificial restrictions on already tricky cable routing. Double guessing this doesn't seem a good use of my time given I actually don't care, I'll just let the contractor do their job and figure this out themselves. If it was a new build maybe I'd get more excited over this, but for a retrofit the sparky is going to have quite enough chasing out of walls to do as it is without my making arbitrary dictats over this. Only exception is some circuits (freezer, A/V comms gear, CCTV/alarm, suggestions on an envelope?) will be on standalone circuits, and perhaps with a nod to future proofing to add offgrid battery backup failover (not that I'm really very excited for that). Losing a whole floor of sockets (except critical circuits) when a phone charge goes Foobar? Yeah, I'm actually fine with that. If it means I notice and decommission said busted device sooner, so much the better. But my key point is whatever wiring layout is used for sockets, home automation needs are lowest on the priority list. (Vs lighting where it dominates). (And to be clear, I'm saying all of this in the spirit of explaining how I made my own trade-offs and decisions, not trying to tell others how they should make their own choices)

I'm using a mix: wiring every light circuit back individually (radial layout) but putting the sockets on a traditional ring main. I don't care much for automating sockets and the odd one where it makes sense isn't going to be a critical component so a sonoff type plug in WiFi switch will be fine. Lighting on the other hand I want to be rock solid and future proof for upgrading (as I don't trust any of the existing tech to still be available in decade or 3) so radial fits the bill there. The one major compromise is putting SELV cable (cat 6) to each light switch rather than mains voltage T&E. This removes the option to revert the system to anything like normal configuration, it'd need central relays or new wire pulling. (I'm going to try and duct as much of that cable as I can but being a retrofit some places it may not be possible)