joth

Did you try the Tuya mmWave offerings at all? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005477612297.html much as I dislike wireless sensors, at less the £10 each they seem worth a look. it'd have to be Zigbee as their wifi models are effectively locked into dependency on their cloud service ... and some report they spam the zigbee network quite a lot. Actually... https://smarthomescene.com/blog/best-and-worst-presence-sensors-for-home-assistant/ has me looking at the Apollo Automation MSR-2. it's a little bit more ~£30 but is very interesting - native ESPHome so easy to add custom notifications, temperature built in and CO2 can be added at a very reasonable price. Just darn ugly.

2 years on, it looks like Zehnder now have an officially supported option for a local BMS/HA integration in the "ComfoConnect PRO" https://www.international.zehnder-systems.com/en/comfortable-indoor-ventilation/products/connectivity/smarthome-for-ventilation-systems/interfaces-for-smart-home Of course costs even more than the ComfoConnect LAN C, but it has modbus RTU/TCP built in. Very annoying they've in recent years they pushed FW updates to the LAN C to enable cloud service, but haven't added not modbus TCP support which would be relatively simple addition in comparison 🙄 Also funny to see "Google Protobuf public AP" listed in the table above as not supported by any device. That of course being the private API used by their app, and also used/abused by Home Assistant and Loxberry plugin to get local control over the LAN C.

So my guess... One of the main intents of BUS is to support wide scale training in domestic HP installation, hence the instance on MCS and encouraging profit taking by those with said training. Domestic plumbing is seen as a wet plumbing not F-Gas skill set and so they want people to cross train into the skills that are typically needed to maintain these things going forward

Correct, cooling is not prohibited in a bus install. The two challenges with cooling are (I) it's not allowed under permitted development, and (ii) MCS training doesn't cover cooling (MCS install being mandatory for BUS) so it's extra hard to find an installer competent to do it. In practical terms so long as you keep the cooling temperature above dew point there's not a lot of additional effort needed to support cooling.

What controls are they providing, and what do you currently use to disable/enable the conservatory zone? The one potential snag of a temporary "permanent" disconnect during the ASHP install (to reconnect after) is they disable whatever controls you have working now, and you need to redo some electrical work to get it going again. It's probably not that complicated but potentially bit of a faff for someone to have to figure out and reconnect after the fact . Anyway, the temporary disconnect is exactly what I would do (if I wasn't doing the heat pump myself, or getting a more amenable installer to do it)

Oh my oh my, welcome back! Much as I wish the reason for your return were more happy news... Your input on here was helpful for me during our build (2020/21, with all the extra challenges those years brought) I'd more than happily come over and give a hand on your replacement if you'd like an extra set of hands. Personally I'd think seriously about a uvc, fwiw.

Ok much as it horrifies me to welcome a device into my home that was previously used to monitor your comings and goings 😂, I'd be interested in this if you are letting it go. What song would you like? Feel free to DM your answer...

Is that fp2 direct to HomeKit or via their hub? (Which hub?) The advertising suggests the hub connects to everything under the sun, so a bit of a kick to hear HomeKit + frigging is required to set it up with any of those alternative platforms

Not sure that's quite right either: aiui the Green Levy applies to all three of (domestic) Gas bills, Electricity bills and Dual fuel bills. "Just 6% of a typical gas bill is from green levies, rising to 16% of an electricity bill, and 11% of the average dual fuel bill." https://eciu.net/insights/2024/are-green-levies-going-up-in-april-2024

Tell me more about the fp2 Can it send event notifications over Mqtt or a webhook? What hub do you recommend? Their website makes it out as the absolute kitchen sink of protocols but their manual and faq are offline https://www.aqara.com/eu/product/hub-m3/ I have a couple places where radar detection could be handy (e.g. the office) but one where fine grained zoning is needed (kitchen, detecting cooking vs using sink vs passing through) - I think a camera will ultimately be best there.

Great tip thank you! I got a shelly BLU recently and really unimpressed by the complexity getting it to integrate with anything outside their ecosystem. I'll grab a couple these and see how it goes The enclosure is ugly as, but seems plausible to put it into some other case.

I agree with the gist of the OP, but the discussion brings to mind a few general comments 1/ Beware of creating false dichotomies. Yes, we should be targeting homes already on resistive electric heating for upgrade to heat pumps, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also be targeting homes combusting fossil fuels too. Both need to happen, and technically there's no reason both can't happen at once. 2/ Keep an eye on the long term goal. Sure replacing one boiler with a heat pump will not reduce scope 2 emissions for that home's heating to zero today, but the goal is net zero by 2050, not today. If it's a step towards that goal it's a step worth seriously considering. 3/ Massive scale systems change is required, not tinkering at the edges. This is a multi industry, multi decade project. Optimising each individual's personal emissions at every single step is not practical or in fact useful. What's important is on average everything trends towards net zero. Regrettable as it is, there will be examples of houses making nonoptimal choices that taken in isolation can be seen as a back step, but by moving towards renewable heat sources they are still support the systems changes needed; e.g. directing more of their ongoing spending away from gas and into electricity (and hence renewable generation projects), and supporting the economies of scale needed to reduce the cost of materials and increase training & knowledge in heat pumps.

If this is compared to an existing gas boiler, then no that's not correct. A correctly installed ASHP will reduce CO2 emissions as the COP is better than grid system losses so less combustion is needed to drive it vs burning gas directly to create heat On top of that, a portion of the electricity is from nuclear or renewables thus much lower CO2

I generally dislike doing plumbing work, and this project was no different, but it is a massive help having this chap's monotone voiceover echoing in my mind whenever I do make pipework changes. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1692555494842644?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Do you have any room thermostats? How often are they calling for heat? If you have rooms stats, as an experiment turn them all up to maximum so the ASHP is running continuously and see how hot the ground floor room temperature gets. Then dial back the flow temperature to a level where it's just maintaining the desired temperature throughout the GF. Note the outside temperature while running the experiment, and that's one data point you should set on the weather compensation curve. Repeat when outside temperature is nicely above zero; WC curve sorted. 👍

Chat JothPT... To prevent an external condensation pipe from freezing, here are a few measures you can take: 1. **Insulation**: Wrap the pipe with foam pipe insulation or heating tape. This will help maintain the temperature above freezing by providing an extra layer of protection against the cold. 2. **Use a Heated Cable**: Install a self-regulating heating cable along the pipe. These cables will heat up when the temperature drops and can prevent the pipe from freezing. 3. **Redirect the Pipe**: If possible, reroute the pipe to a more sheltered or warmer location, such as along an interior wall or within the house, where temperatures are less likely to drop too low. 4. **Maintain Flow**: Ensure the pipe is not completely blocked and allows for continuous drainage. Stagnant water is more likely to freeze, so encouraging a small, consistent flow can help. 5. **Cover the Pipe**: Install a protective cover or duct around the pipe, which can help shield it from harsh weather conditions and wind chill. 6. **Regular Maintenance**: Check the pipe periodically to ensure it’s not accumulating debris or ice, which can block the flow and contribute to freezing. By combining some or all of these approaches, you can effectively prevent your external condensation pipe from freezing during the colder months.

Absolutely. The problem with the current subsidy on gas is it's ostensibly there to avert people from falling into fuel poverty, but has the unintended side effect of skewing the market to make ASHP unattractive for other people that have homes that could work with it and could afford the capital cost if the payback worked out. And worse, is effectively penalising those that have already made the shift off of combustion, as many of us on here have - albeit for unavailability of gas to site or for more moralistic reasons, it doesn't matter. Disconnect gas and you're they paying the inflated cost of electricity in order to subsidise your gas burning neighbours. So my OP is basically "how can we move in a direction where the gas subsidy is removed, but without having a cliff edge where some large percentage are thrown into fuel poverty overnight (as such cliff edges are politically unpalatable so never introduced, or if they are they get repeatedly walked back and back). I think an important step is any house without a gas connection should be eligible for an ongoing energy subsidy on their electricity bill, proportionate to whatever domestic gas supply subsidy is in effect at that time. As and when the national energy subsidy is reduced, then it's reduced from both the legacy gas users and the converted all-electric users alike.

Yes, if you're doing DALI this makes total sense. I used 5-core 1.5mm for all my RGBW LED strip as I had all dimmers centrally, but not sure I'd have bothered if I was doing drivers local to the fitting, but if it's the cable you have to hand then yeah why not. Not Tree over 5-core flex would not be advised as it's not twisted pair (nor screened). It'll probably work fine if the lengths are not too long and its not a heavily loaded branch, but could create headaches. Even I would probably reach for a wireless solution like Air or shelly/wifi before resorting to that.

Ok but some T&E will be switched mains circuits and other have 24V permanent power so the only saving is needing a single cable drum for them both. You still need to manage the topology in a way that makes sense per fitting. Put another way: I don't know of any Loxone tree lighting devices that can run straight of mains. Unlike say DALI RGBW drivers which typically do.

If you'd rather LED strip have a look at the dimmer compact https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/rgbw-24v-compact-dimmer-tree.html (Or Air) They're electrically identical to the din rail variant but skinny enough to post through a down light cut out or similar so you can dot them around near the strip. But being low voltage input you still need to run chunky cable to them to avoid voltage drop. I've only briefly used the Loxone spots during their training, not enough to get an opinion on their effectiveness in domestic setting. But their office is done with them pretty much exclusively and seemed okay enough (I was only there in daylight and using office like moods really).

What are your lighting requirements? To me basement with retractive switches sounds like basic GU10s would be fine... But it seems like RGBW is non negotiable? If so yeah the Loxone offerings are going to give all the lighting you need without any more panel DIN space needed. I forgot, you have ps&b or something else with plenty 24V power headroom already in there? Personally I'd got CAT6a + T&E to each fitting as it gives you future options, and every sparky carries infinite T&E and knows how to handle it. (E.g. My sparky complained anything smaller was too "snappy" when pulling through voids) But if doing it yourself year 2 core 1.5mm will be a bit easier to work at each fitting.

@Russdl thanks! And yes, utterly bizarre. All I can think is the compression joint to the 28mm was not quite tight enough so over a number of expansion and contraction cycles it was pushing against it and managed to rotate on it, a bit like a ratchet. The fact I do DHW reheat and space cooling on higher outputs during cheap over night electric (and this happened exactly in cooling season, starting May) perhaps compounding it. It must have had a pretty bad kink to start and then this just collapsed it. The other thing I noticed is the pipe seems to have lost a lot of its "flex", almost like it has perished and seized up a bit Anyway for a part costing so much (for what it is) it's very disappointing to have this happen It'd be interesting if there's industry figures on failure modes and reasons for breakdown call outs. These do seem a prone part (having installed new ones and seen how easy it is for bad bend radius to kink them, but hidden under the insulation)

Finally fixed this tonight. New flexi installed Monday (what a bloody pita the rubber washers are, in the cold and dark) but took two days to get the system bled such that the flow sensor can detect flow again. (I needlessly replaced primary circ pump yesterday thinking it was pooched, but it was just hard to extract trapped air. Venting it out via the outdoor connections eventually was the trick. Lesson learned: don't run ASHP up and over the ceilings, without figuring a high point bleed valve for them. Wish my architect , builder, plumber or MCS installer had mentioned that... 🤦‍♂️)

Sorry yes I was making same point as you are on this one, that the legislation pretty much reflects the technology with cars. I feel the difference is, in society, cars are special. Not transportation. Cars. Folks love the solution more than the problem. Whereas in homes, it's the problem space - being cosy, solving fuel poverty - that's special. It's very rare for anyone to get excited about the solution space.

So do you mean leave the existing gas subsidy and electricity surcharge in place indefinitely, or remove them too? If so how and when? That's the crux I was driving towards. Excellent point I forgot about this. Same as insulation and heating controls and solar, the VAT should be removed from the materials without a requirement for paid labour to qualify. (I have similar thoughts on bicycles vs the regressive cycle to work incentive scheme but that's for a different forum lol) Tricky thing here is legislation always tries to avoid naming and locking in specific technology as it suppresses the market incentive to invent something completely different that's even better. I see the argument there, but somehow EV legislation has got over that hurdle.