joth

This is almost certainly a marketing scam, or outright fraud http://www.solarsense-uk.com/news/latest-news/posts/2018-/july-2018/beware-of-solar-scams.aspx Etc There's been a lot around us recently Our elderly neighbour got a call saying her solar was causing problems for the grid and they'd be around to fix it. She called the police who turned up just after the guy had walked away. She has solar thermal water, not PV...

Does anyway have recent example of the cost SageGlass adds over a "normal" 3G window? As a data point: upgrading to 4G and internal blinds to our Internorm quote adds about £300 +VAT/m2 to our total. This is based on 16m2 over 12 panes (hence 12 separate blinds + motors). Given this adds privacy light and sound benefits as well has heat control, I'm currently favouring this option I saw in another thread @NSS mentioned £1-2k/m2 (plus control system) for SageGlass a few years ago, but there seemed to be an asterisk against that? (Need to factor in discounts and remove the cost of the normal glazing saved) Thanks

We're not planning full disabled conversation, but as we're installing a whole new downstairs shower room these are the things we're prioritising in the layout to make it accessible ready Wide door 800mm clear outward opening Wide pathway through the room Low/no lip shower tray, larger showering area, perhaps wetroom Slightly higher toilet seat height

My office overlooks a giant building site (3 new buildings immediately next to us, part of the sprawling Kings Cross development). It can be quite a distraction to watch! The building directly below us is of particular interest, as it's being built directly over the tunnel out of Kings Cross (just sub-surface level, so more on a giant bridge really) with trains moving directly underneath as they work. It confused as at first they started pouring concrete with absolutely no pile-driving -- made sense when we figured what lies below! Even all the landscaping around that tower block is just concrete over Geofoams. Here's a truck collecting the EPS offcuts: (" you can drop those at my house!") Here's a concrete pour a few weeks ago And here's an excavator unearthing a chunky looking orange cable this morning (I was waiting for the bang)

Icynene is castor (vegetable) oil based, not petrol-chems AFAIK? Been reading up on this a bit: - Polyurethane contains Isocyanates which are strong irritant / health risk while being applied and if not fully cured (risk if poorly installed). - If it burns it can emit cyonide which is obviously even worse (aside from the whole "and now your house is burning down" thing). - Icynene has lower VOCs and generally considered safer, but still health concerns linger especially if it isn't cured properly, and if the "closed cell" (vapour impermeable) version is used. Context: researching what to put in a cavity wall retrofit; Icynene closed cell has be suggested (by potential contractor) for the extra layer of airtightness defense it provides, but Passive house consultant very against it due to it not ticking the Natural boxes. I think on a retrofit, we're going to have to accept some unnatural choices, and having it outside our "main" airtight layer (internal OSB) means any lingering badness is mostly kept outside (Edit to add: as @Ed Davies already pointed out above] The other issue raised is around breathability and risk of (condensing?) vapour in the middle of the cavity.... I read so much conflicting info on that my head spins.

The developer must be very upset about all that free publicity.

Great, Fascinating ideas. Future proofing a spare loop to the loft sound ideal, as from there we'll have easy access to mvhr, loft itself, bedrooms and the vaulted hall light well. Cold air falls so we can drop it down onto any those areas relatively easily.

@lizzie thank! and no worries, we keep just discussing abstractly whether this would suit us, and would love to see a nice example or two (IRL, ideally)

Maybe the context there was lost on this point, but by doing "both at once" i meant cooling via slab and cooling via ventilation duct at the same time. It seems physically plausible to cool both at once, but questionable if it's worth the complexity.

Do you know the name of the contractors? (Not that I dare to look for their prices, but I'd be curious to see the portfolio!)

If you haven't already, have a good read of https://developers.thameswater.co.uk/-/media/Site-Content/Developer-Services/Domestic-and-small-commercial/Building-near-pipes/Building-over-or-near-a-sewer/Building-over-or-near-a-sewer.pdf?la=en It includes costs (page 3) and guidelines on when they can be moved -- both depend on the diameter of the sewer. I'd be looking at getting a sewer survey done, and they surveyor might have some inside knowledge on it to. A key point is whether this is a "new doweling" or alterations to an existing one. Generally I'm told Thames Water aren't terrible to deal with, simply because so much of London is already built over sewers they have to deal with it all the time. But .... we haven't submitted our build-over application yet, ask me again in 6 months!!

<insert "why not both" meme here> Yes, indeed. My spec currently calls for a mid-position value to redirect between UFH and MVHR duct cooling. The thing that concerned me is the complexity of dialing in their respective target cooling temperature if it's driving both at once. I'm doing all the cooling on the basis of "run the pipes now, figure out commissioning it later"

To confirm, this means when switching from DHW to slab-cooling, and back again, it has to first "flush out" a supply-pipe length of hot water before the cold arrives (or vice-versa)? So if there's a long run from ASHP to the redirect valve, it will decrease the effective efficiency? (e.g. pumping cold water through the UVC that it'll then have to heat back up again). Maybe this is negligible, and I'm probably overthinking this, but as I have a long run (aprx 20m) from ASHP to tank, I'm currently thinking it would be better to have the redirect much nearer the ASHP and then send the cold water to the MVHR supply duct (which is off in a different direction to the tank anyway) so it will run in its own "dedicated" loop. Also, perhaps more importantly, it just feels better to have cooling via air-ducts as that will get upstairs to the bedrooms, as the UFH slab is only downstairs. (with caveat there's only a limited amount of cooling you can do via air, but I'm not sure the slab is much more anyway as we don't want THAT cold a floor, for risk of condensation, right?)

I think there's just 2 tanks, UVC and buffer. The first one (second line item) is a "Docking assembly for" [...air source heat pump, hot water cylinder, buffer tank ...] right ? @Jenni There is no doubt an endless chorus you can do it more cheaply if you DIY but FWIW in case this is of help: I'm in the same camp of wanting someone to own specifying and supplying and installing the whole system, to meet my requirement spec, as my limited time is better invested elsewhere on the project. To that end, in case it is helpful I've been given an initial ballpark figure or £11k+vat for basically the same MCS based ASHP manifest as you have (including with NIBE heat pump). I'm still shopping around, I really need someone that can do heat calcs per PHPP format. This is in SE England (Herts), as with everything else in the project I am sure that has a bearing.

Thanks! I'd previously seen there's a modder community adding additional fans, but hadn't realised this isn't just for efficiency but also offers longevity gains https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1627406

So my plan to put the inverter in the loft really isn't a smart idea then.... ? (passive house, warm loft) Can I put it in an enclosure that the incoming cold air for the MVHR passes over, acting as an air pre-warmer and an inverter cooler? All very well except when the inverter is working hardest probably the one time you want incoming air pre-warming the least.....! Still, nice idea for the shoulder season, maybe?

Architects and fans of Kevin love them not necessarily because they can be completely opened, but because the large wall of glass helps bring the outside in, and makes the garden the largest room in the house, promotes light and and space and union and a feeling of connection with the earth, etc etc. Being able to open them right up is just a plus. This sounds delightful, but we eventually chose an architect that advised against it ; several did but we eventually went with a passive house certified architectural technician who rightly pointed out the thermal liability of lots of North facing glass. Looking at photos of local terrace houses that have added these in renovation, I see they can be excessive. Many times they are opening to gardens no wider than the house, and often of little depth. So rather than of opening up a near 180° vista with deer gambling over the horizon, instead most offer a wide variety of viewing angles of the boundary fences, and perhaps a gently moulding trampoline centre stage We're now planning a French door and window and bringing them both central as we can on the rear wall, hopefully to direct the views to the tree down the bottom of garden rather than obliquely at the side fences.

Thanks. Looks like ATAB-Trappan is the manufacturer. Much as I love to cut out the middle man, I don't think I mind paying a little bit for a local dealer if they're handling the design for UK specific regs and shipping logistics.

Are you purchasing from https://www.completestairsystems.co.uk/ ? Interested what sort of price their quoting for that? Hadn't seen them before, but the style is very close to what we've been looking for.

Yes! If you move to Denmark. Believe it or not, their smart meters actually help, with a peer-to-peer local generation sub-market. See page 29 of https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/media/1321/netcompany_css_technology_review_v22.pdf

Or if you take his 4MWh export estimate, and 10p export rate, just over 3 years.... this is really my point: right now there's next to no way of knowing it will pay back (and in all likelihood it wouldn't) however for every day the sun shines over those 10+ years, what price to put on the warm feeling of knowing you're getting a market rate selling back that excess generation, vs a darkening resentment of giving it away for free simply because you chose to cut a corner a decade ago. It maybe perverse economic logic, but I know my how my FOMO works!

To clarify, their proposal is to (re)nationalise national grid and the DNOs, not the solar installation/generation industry afaict. Installing solar on a million low income homes will be expensive enough, I can't see it would make him also in a rush to refund money to those of sufficient means to be able to self-install it without financial incentive prior to his time, but this is speculation to the Nth degree so not worth losing sleep over .

Remember that the current stated position is only MCS installs are going to be eligible for the new guaranteed export scheme when it finally arrives. The risk of regret of missing that is enough to make me pay the MCS markup right now. That said, the way all the other green incentives are going, I have a feeling the SEG won't happen until next government is in, and they might not feel beholden to promises made by their predecessors on this anyway.

https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/toby ?

Even if you put the mvhr in a gnd floor cupboard, will you be able to get ducting from it to every room without going into and back out of the loft? If space is tight seems an even stronger case for shooting for a warm loft, as you can put more plant or useful storage there. Is it a new build or retrofit? (I'm now expert on roofs so can't help either way, other than mention our retrofit we've been pursued to do a warm loft even though we're not converting it to living space)