joth

Here's the extension frame going up, and now with windows installed and getting close to ready for warmcell, plus a close up of where the new extension frame meets existing cavity wall.

Nope. When they dug it out and everyone agree the ground was as perfect as could be hoped for. The issue was the building inspector renegade his previous (verbal) design approval for it, and the structural engineer that signed it off had since retired for poor health, and the new SE our architect took on to replace him sided with the BC which left us high and dry. (I guess we could have sued the first SE's professional insurance to recoup costs but seems crap to throw that onto someone with poor health, and after legal fees we'd barely recover costs. Still doesn't make it more pleasant to have to pay the cost of putting right other people's errors, PLUS VAT on it and the wasted work)

You can "stick build" (construct on site) the frame and then blow fill with cellulose, it's not a requirement to factory build panels for this method. Indeed this is exactly what we're currently doing, our main contractor looked briefly into factory building them but even with our very basic square house it would have been a nightmare getting all the tolerances and angles exactly right to match existing so they're just doing it onsite. The old house is 60s cross wall construction and we've demolished and rebuilt both the curtain walls in timber, so it's only the supporting flank walls that remain as B&B. I really hope this won't make insurance a nightmare!! Can share some example photos of the junction details if you're interested

Off topic here, but be careful about BC design sign off for this. We had a raft foundation approved for our extension, but after it was dug (but prior to pour, thankfully) the building inspector changed his mind and wanted strip foundations dug and tied to the existing, to stop the raft floating away from the old house.

ZigBee, zwave, BLE, enOcean, even lutron etc are all wireless (or going that way) which is great for retrofitting but personally I want wired connections to my switches. If you're happy with wireless then I hear those things are getting quite good. The other thing loxone adds is a central controller that's tolerably easy to learn. This allows programming complete lighting scenes all in one places, and overseeing all the automations across the house. ZigBee lets you connect things up but you'd need another system on top of it to get the same level of automation and control.

3 is the target to get any payback value from the MVHR. The higher above 3 it is, the more leaky the house is and the less value the MVHR is giving you.

Nope we're a renovation, paying full VAT on all the work and then extra VAT on putting right all the mistakes (don't ask) hence keen recover any costs we can from government (before they spend it all on nonexistent PPE)

So ASHP are included too. I've already put down a deposit but balance of over £5k to pay. I've not even hassled my guy about it yet while waiting basic info, but I need to figure out if - if I will be eligible for the voucher even with the deposit down - if I can do both it AND RHI - how I get the voucher. I expect an MSC installer price surge coming up.

So I just managed to pickup a CARLO GAVAZZI RJ1P23I50E (data sheet) SSR for £25 on ebay so now idly thinking about how I'll use it. My default thought is to lash something up on an ESP32 with ESPHome probably using a PZEM-004T V3 current clamp as the source, this way I automatically get monitoring/graphing in Home Assistant and it's easy to send on/off override commands to it from wherever. My tank will have 4.5kW immersion, with 8kW PV, so slightly non standard hence the thought to DIY it.

What pipe diameter?

Yikes. If I've done the maths right, it only takes an 8m pipe to cause 30sec delay https://www.google.com/search?q=(8m+*+11mm+*11mm+*+pi)%2F+(6litres%2Fmin)&oq=(12m+*+11mm+*11mm+*+pi)%2F+(6litres%2Fmin) We're going to be 10-12m to the kitchen, so definitely will benefit from this. I'm inclined to run a spare DHW pipe over to the kitchen as backup anyway. [During the heating season, it'd kind of make sense to fill the Combi from DHW rather than from cold, just for the times we draw more than 3 litres, such as doing the dishes, to gain the efficiency of ASHP pre-heat. I'm not too worried about taking 'drinking' water from the UVC as we'll be G3 and WRAS compliant it will be boiled in the Combi anyway]

No, but currently planning to by the end of the year....

Yes

I can't reconcile this two statements - have you already paid £6,875 or £2,125? From the illustration their 10% charge is the cap for all fees until completion, not the cost of the onsite stage only (but it's not super clear so that warrants clear confirmation). Also you are complicating the equation by mixing VAT up in it, better to calculate everything ex VAT and then have a separate exercise to figure the VAT hit. e.g. if the Architect is charging 10% of contract (excluding kitchen) for full service, this is £110k * 10% = £11,000. Of that, if you have already paid £6,875 the remaining architect fee (and thus the potential savings by firing them now) is (11,000-6,875=) £4,125+VAT whether those savings are worth it or not is up to you. Why not ask them "If the build comes in at £140k, how much will your remaining fees be?" Also as others mention, get clarification if this really is a proposal for Project management, or Contract management. There's quite a difference.

yup makes sense OK my thinking is, there's no insulation between the hot tank and the buffer, so if the hot tank is hot it surely will slowly heat up the buffer area too (diluting the temperature of the hot tank as it does). The impact of this would depend largely on the overall usage patterns.

It's a cleaver idea and I was tempted by it myself, in the end I've opted for the Delta Geocoil (and a separate low loss header), as that one is Erp=A rated (vs B for the Optima), and my top priority is reducing heat loss in summer (both to maximize PV self consumption across cloudy days, and avoid the tank losses overheating the house) when the buffer tank is going to be unused and in effect is unhelpfully increasing the volume of heated water that contributes to those heat losses. In a lower efficiency house where the heating is on more of the time the balance may shift. [Caveat: not yet installed so I'll withhold final judgement until ~next year] To your specific question I can't help, but I ran loads of technical Qs via their UK sales email address and got fast and helpful responses: sales.uk@oso-hotwater.co.uk

Fwiw, while not entirely ecstatic I've found a few people that weren't unhappy with their install: (these are all via ecohaus. I'll give my own feedback in a few days....... ?) https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/1529-connecting-window-frames-how/?tab=comments#comment-20728 https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/3238-passive-window-recommendations-please/?tab=comments#comment-50364

I'd be curious what the cabinet build up costs are for something like this. Certainly this DMX route we took demands a good bit of upfront labour, if paying someone to build up the cab I expect that distributed options like DALI or Tree start to look more competitive. The bulk of the job is a kind of handicraft work that my wife enjoys even more than I do and really was a benefit having 2 of us on it, but still not a quick job by any means. If seriously looking into DIYing an install then https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/loxone-english is fairly necessary reading. DMX lighting almost seems the most popular approach on there.

I used http://www.spiderelectrical.co.uk/ who are localish and has also provided several useful pointers and tips, and has an hourly rate for consulting remotely or onsite to unblock me if I hit snags, which is perfect arrangement for me knowing I have that backup if I need it. In particular, he's very familiar with the graded alarm integration. @Rob99 can also resell the parts, so I'd likely otherwise have gone with him (indeed I contacted him first but unfortunately missed his reply due to an zealous spam filter. Sorry again about that Rob!) Thanks ?

Have you seen those things? Very much "fabric of the building" - no chance of taking that with us when we move!

Mostly personal preference. And, a graded alarm is required for ARC monitoring with police call out. Nothing against people that use Loxone for their intruder alarm, music streaming, weather forecasting, PV -> EV charging, monitoring the progress of the steak on the barbecue[1].... just for various reasons these are all things I want to partition apart from my lighting controller. [1] - no, I lie, I have a lot against that one.

Totally. @Dan F has pointed out several times that depending what specific ASHP you buy they need to ship out a different custom controller. Doing this sort of customization via bespoke hardware changes rather than software/settings in 2020 seems completely archaic.

The light switches are - we went through a lot of options, visited the Loxone showroom, compared alternatives, and settled on this plan. The tablet in kitchen is entirely untested, but we need something to replace our underused and unloved Google assistant. We're both very keen to avoid relying on voice commands for everything, but need to live with the options for a while and see. I'm fairly confident we can adapt that over time, the key thing at this stage (1st fix) is knowing what wires to bury in the walls where, which is largely about light fixtures and switches, motion sensors, and lots of extra cat6. Thanks! Yeah unlike the top rail, the bottom rail is "visible" even with the cover on (to access the trips) so I'd need to find rail mounted terminals that have no wires exposed in that central 45mm part (i.e. to look like a blanking plate), or install a cover over the top of them or something.

Already have my own NAS (linux box with bunch of drives and plex and stuff). I tried an Amcrest NVR but was distinctly underwhelmed. (Their camera doorbell is OK though. Forgot to mention that). Out of stubbornness I'm on a "no raspberry pi" policy. I find they just miss the spot for me between a proper embedded system (ESP32 or Loxone proprietary where I must) and a proper server box. I'm also, not quite by choice, on a double "hub" design. Loxone for lighting, shading, and motion sensors and "basic" automations from them, and Home assistant for the more complex stuff. The idea being Loxone works without any router/IP network/ethernet, and is part of the fabric of the house (i.e. it would stay here if we ever moved). The Home Assistant bit is more convenience layer over it, and would move out with us. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in practice. One tablet in the kitchen, by large the plan is to get must stuff through automation and motion sensors, and the mutli-touch light switches.

Just saw this one - good tip! Yes I intentionally haven't done anything 'neat' with the connections into those as I'd like the certified electrician to have their input on that. Hence no bootlace crimps there (yet). For cases like this where multiple things come off one RCBO and terminate inside the cabinet, what is the alternative? Using something like wago blocks to split them out after the RCBO? Or daisy-chain the things?