joth

Just to add to what the others say, I can confirm in my experience an MVHR is no use at all for cooling upstairs rooms. More details in the link below. We have this issue all year round - even when downstairs is getting cold enough to require the UFH to come on, upstairs bedroom is uncomfortably warm all night. In fact it's worse in winter, as the MVHR will not enter bypass mode. If we slept with the bedroom door open it is just about bearable, and leaving the window open is generally pleasant, but this is not an option for various reasons (pets, trains). So I'm planning a forced-air retrofit to solve it (basically moving a much larger volume of air between the bedroom and the vaulted hallway void, via a FCU which can have active cooling in summer)

New legislation came into force this month that in theory requires light fittings to be replacable with commonly available tools, and include instructions on how to replace the light source. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/1095/regulation/6/made#top From my Lighting designers FB page: Good news! The Ecodesign for Energy Related Products and Energy Information (Lighting Products) Regulations 2021 is coming into force tomorrow (1st October 2021). This includes light fittings containing one or more sources and/or a separate control gear. From tomorrow lighting manufacturer's will have to ensure their products meet technical and legal requirements. 1. LED lamps and gears will have to comply which means more energy efficient products and higher colour rendering. 2. LED lamps and gear should be replaceable with commonly available tools and without permanent damage to the luminaire 3. Lighting manufacturers' must provide access to information on how to disassemble fittings for replacement of light sources and control gear, and for responsible disassembly at the end of life.

So this temporary extension lead is hooked into the new house consumer unit? No do not connect the PV inverter as it'll try and export it's load back up the 13A extension lead. And even if not, I think you're better leaving the inverter disconnected until a qualified electrician is there to commission and sign it off. Also, in case you're not aware, be careful about the high voltage DC from the PV panels if you're leaving them unconnected that side of the inverter.

Standard electrician sign off is fine, unless you want to sell back any surplus to the grid (https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/smart-export-guarantee/) in which case it needs MCS sign off (which generally only comes as part of a supply & install package).

That article reads like "we doubled the efficiency of our land rover by replacinging the engine! Oh Btw we also rebuilt the chassis in carbon fibre and redeisgned the body for aerodynamics in a wind tunnel, but never mind that" Successfully insulating a grade 2 listed building sounds the main story really. It needs to mention what the savings in oil heating that made on it's own. The change to ASHP is a side note to that.

Can they not ask for photographic or other evidence of the site clear with zero structure on it above ground level? If you've already built the new extension it'll be much harder to prove the old property was indeed fully demolished. Otherwise anyone with a newish extension could also know down the old part of a house only, and claim that now the whole thing has been rebuilt vs the original build. Sounds like Trigger's broom. Given this topic started with a worry about missing out on a £7000 grant, I'd be much more worried about staying entirely above board to secure the (guess) £50,000 of VAT saving.

Yes I basically agree! But training up more apprentices in the commercial M&E space is not going to be anywhere near fast enough way to build up the lack of sufficiently skilled system designers operating in the domestic space. Ultimately domestic installations are (today) so much lower margin and so won't attract the same scale of investment in skills as commercial. The domestic market has no economy of scale. A multistory office block, one engineer can specify the system and then 20 technicians carry out the install. Domestic market every house is unique, making the ratio much less favourable, you need one designer per technician. A council estate retrofit is probably about as good as it gets for traditional build housing stock. While the underlying tech is a century old, I'd say domestic heat pumps are still rapidly evolving, considering just while I was shopping for one 3 new refrigeratants came more available on the market, each with different flow temperature characteristics, and each with different undocumented control system idiosyncrasies especially regarding enabling cooling mode, I was generally far more aware of the current possibilities and performance within a given brand than my M&E consultant was.

It'd be great, but I suspect completely impractical in this instance. 1. There's next to no established large scale installers to run the apprenticeships. 2. Apprentice route is a generational training program, but we need new installers now, not in a generation's time (see 1) 3. The tech is still rapidly evolving and the government policy far from stable, requires an industry training network to support continuous learning, not just someone to pick up established skills on the job, as are passed down from their grandfather's generation. Insurance backed guarantee on the design+install is a fascinating suggestion. It's exactly one of the things an MCS certified install and RHI mandate, is it not?

I think a lot of people are generally worried about climate change and genuinely want to believe we are one "silver bullet" away from solving it They know adding more insulation isn't going to be that silver bullet as we've been doing that for 30 years but we're still in a worsening state. But heat pumps are a magic new thing they haven't heard of before, so "maybe they will be the magic solution?"

? I think sometimes it's just that people don't understand the difference between "efficient" and "effective", as it's possible (but by no means certain) UFH could be more effective than some aging and poorly placed radiators. But authoritatively equating this to achieving an ecohome (whatever that is) on primetime TV is lazy and irresponsible. My neighbour, a lifelong builder, was raving about this programme this morning. The desire to learn more is there, but entertainment TV does not sound the best teacher.

TBF just a few doors further up you have this. And presumably all those tiered balconies are supposed to be evoking some kind of nautical / sailing club vernacular. But still, not at all to my taste in a terrace like that.

Try adding secondary glazing in one room and see if that helps? DIY kits can be very cost effective https://www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/magnetglaze-double-glazing-kit/

(I guess as an electrician you already have trade deal on various builder merchants?) Some misc thoughts and observations of where our costs did creep up. (also a 60s renovation) - Cut corners on finishes, as these can (and likely will) be changed over time anywhere, whereas deeper fabric improvements (putting lots of insulation under the UFH heating is the canonical example) is a "now or never" opportunity, do it now, a few hundred quid extra at this point will pay for itself in short time - Use consistent materials and finishes wherever possible. managing stocks of many different parts, reading all sorts of different install instructions, etc takes time and increases wastage. - Don't be over ambitious in the planning. No strange shaped rooms. Keep door heights, ceiling heights etc standard. - Don't stress over the odd bit of "boxing in" needed to cover over piers and steels etc and accept the disrupted sight-lines (where the alternative is much more complex wall/beam rebuild in order to hide it from sight) - Anything on the plans that has "an inch" to spare will need a lot more attention to detail (==time) and risk of rework (==wastage) than allowing larger tolerances. One builder we spoke to gave the example of trying to fit a cistern under a window as a simple thing that can easily cost them a bunch more time and effort.

Thanks! 2 £/W for the full package inc inverter, installation, DNO & MCS paperworks. We justified the extra cost on aesthetic it brings and the cohesion it brings to the project as a whole, in the context of being the first solar install (and Enerphit) in this very conservative conservation area , not ROI of the panels in isolation. The biggest hidden cost (not passed on to us) was all the time taken by our main contractor getting the roof plumb and true to accept it. It's not a forgiving system for a retrofit.

8.1 kWp Nothing busy about this!

We're in a highly visible location in a conservation area, but still got a full roof of solar into the planning approval. We went with GBSol RIS full roof with no tiles at all, so it actually looks less "busy" than a plain tiled roof, but I think we could have got away with a GSE style of in roof tray system too. One thing we did is cite the Local Neighborhood Plan that conveniently had been revised a month before and said that the planner's default position should be in favour of sustainable developments and measures, i.e. so the onus is on the planner to explain why it's not in the community's interest to approve it.

If you have an unvented cylinder then G3 servicing that annually is a legal requirement. Ideally the whole system would be checked over at that time too, although getting someone qualified in the make of heat pump might result in paying over the odds for the G3 service.

I found https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ useful for kitchen appliances to get another view on them all. It did, for example, let me know that Bosch, Neff, and Siemens, are all the same company and owned by the devil himself.

I think you have to go back to them (Valiant) to have them explain their proposal and provide their rationale as to how it will resolve the issue. Without access to a root-cause diagnosis anyone here will just be speculating. Regarding the proposal itself, my read is that the key thing is they're replacing the system with a brand new aroTHERM/3, and the fact it has a heat exchanger is just a clarifying detail of the new system, not necessarily the most critical part of the solution to the noise problem. But that's just my read. You need them to explain their workings. (I acknowledge this is easy for me to say, and sympathise that actually getting them to explain it is another matter)

Similar to @jack I have a Loxone system (indeed I think his posts here convinced me to preserve with DIY install of it) and here's my list of automations my wife and I like in it, in approximate order of usefulness Automated skylight windows to cool down the house overnight Automatic lights entering any room (mood based on time of day and house hold mode) Single button to control many light fittings/moods in any given room General heating & HW controls (tied to presence and energy prices) Solar PV monitoring and boosting devices when cheap electricity available Turn off appliances when room/building is empty Automatic blinds based on overheating risk, sun brightness and time of day to keep sun out of my eyes when working Mute / unmute speakers in each room and outdoors based on presence Automatic lighting, towel rads, MVHR boost on running the shower Burglar and fire alarm alerting Shut off water mains when house is unoccupied Automatic lighting scene and music selection when running a bath.

our heating isn't on yet bit In a couple months I'll get some thermal imaging photos for you. But in short, the non-heated areas of screed sit at a reasonably steady 20°C same as the room temperature, but the heated areas go to flow temp, 25°C for us but obviously higher for people that run higher flow temperatures. And varies in temperature more. So personally I don't want that under anywhere I might stood fresh food or my wine stash. The cat litter tray also sits on a non-heated section as no one wants that warmer than strictly necessary I do agree if you want to maximize the thermal store potential of the screed, maximizing the UFH loop area does make sense.

You need to get your own EPC done to apply for the RHI. It isn't automatically done for you, if that's the question? (Source: I had RHI approved 2 months ago)

Does the neighbour have any windows or doors in that opposing wall 1.4m away? If not, you may have a chance to put the external unit there via a planning application. You'd ideally want to wall mount it, so you still have use of the ally, and have it expelling air down the direction of the ally (toward front or rear of the house, depending on prevailing wind direction) rather than towards the neighbour's wall. Alternatively a split system that moves air vertically might work (and be smaller and lighter to wall mount) If the neighbour is really onboard with the project you could offer to allow clearance and an easement so they can externally insulate their wall there. (Or even install their own wall mount ashp there too in future). It would slightly encroach into your plot but would give them extra sound insulation as well as energy savings. But planning applications never go the way of mutual benefit so not sure why I'm even suggesting it.

Terminate the three phase in the boundary box and run a spare duct with pull cord from that to the house. If you ever need additional phases you can pull them through at a later date.

We did this, primarily to improve fitted U values in the PHPP model but also to make a more frameless appearance. One thing I have since noticed is the asymmetry as we overclad the top and sides, but the bottom edge isn't due to the sill, so that looks chunkier than the other 3 sides. Not terribly obvious, but once you notice it you notice it.