Dan F

We were given one of these with our VOIP service. Works great and the base station supports PoE so doesn't even need a socket which is good. Pretty sure you can set this up with any SIP account. https://www.yealink.com/en/product-detail/zoom-phone-w60p https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yealink-Bundle-Package-Handset-Station-Black/dp/B076WVZY2P?th=1 @IanR What VOIP provider to you use?

Maybe, but pump runs at 100% to achieve 1200L/hr so I'm not sure there would be any remaining head for UFH if I was running an open-circuit with no buffer! Also Vaillant people not happy really (not that that has been an issue in practice).

We used Rauvitherm pre-insulated twin duct and put this in before the hardcore below EPS. You need a deep trench, but it's not that bad if you put this in before everything else. This goes through hardcore, EPS and concrete without any ducting. Our M&E consultant told us to use 25+25mm but that was bad advice as 25mm plastic isn't much more than 20mm. Our 7kW AroTherm Plus manages 1200L/h to our buffer, but I'm pretty sure there would be no remaining head for much else. Length is 8m or so, if it had been any longer it would have been worse. 5kW ASHP would have been less of an issue with this size, but most people would still use 28mm copper for 5kW. Do you know what your approx heat loss is going to be. This will help, because it house is huge and heatless is 10=kW, then you might need more than 32m, especially if plastic with smaller ID.

I started looking at the different brands, but got lost with all the different options and decided to stick to Weidmuller. Are the Wago ones cheaper, or easier to get individually?

I have single isolation and earth leakage protection in CU and then inside the panel, have additional per-circuit protection. My understanding was that this made the Loxone panel an appliance. i.e. it's not the RCBOs in the Loxone panel that make it a CU, but rather it's the isolation and earth-leakage in the CU that make it an appliance (and I just happened to use RCBOs in my appliance). I may have this wrong though. Only if you don't also use smaller per-circuit RCBOs in the panel. We've used 7-8 RCBOs per floor. These are all in two loxone panels; one in the plant room and a smaller one in the lost. Each panel has a single isolation point in CU. The 8 RCBOs in the loft panel, for example, are. - UFH - Towel Rails - Blinds/Curtains - Downlights - Low-level/niche lighting etc - External facade lighting - 2 x LED lighting (2 c-curve required due to the high in-rush current of the drivers) We have something similar in the ground floor panel.

32A I think. Then in the cabinet, everything is 6A apart from UFH which I think is 16A. We used c-curve RCBOs for the chunky PSUs otherwise, they trip due to in-rush current. The Meanwell datasheet says how many are recommended on a B-curve vs a C-curve etc.

Mine has 36 ways (three phases) and is next to the Loxone panel too. Yeah, check with him on the regs. BTW, like the fact that CU comes with SPD already.. will that go before any battery system you plan to/might install? I like the fact there is a single isolation point in the CU which I can flip and be sure that the panel is safe to work on, rather than having to flip n different breakers (where n might increase over time during the install). I don't know if this is a regs thing though, or just personal preference. Be interesting to see how others have done this and if regs have anything to say about this. I have a Contactum MCB and 7-8 RCBO's on the bottom rail.

The way I have my cabinet is that there is a single feed from CU to Loxone cabinet, and then on the bottom rail I have all the RCBOs for the 230v circuits used within the cabinet. - Loxone/DALI PSU's - Blinds - UFH - Multiple RCBO's for lighting. (there is a maximum number of Meanwell drivers recommended per RCBO, also I have LEDs, downlighters and external lighting separate) If you don't do this then either you have a lot of 230v cable going between CU and Loxone cabinet, or you may not be segregating things enough. There may also be some regulations to consider, but not an expert on these 🙂

You can common the neutrals if they are all on the same RCBO. If on different RCBOs, best (or need) to keep separate. The earth you don't need to common if you are using the blocks that earth via the rail. Wedmulled call then "cross-connectors", rather than busbars because technically they aren't a solid busbar, but use these to common across terminal blocks. Just make sure you get the right ones, as there are various different types and if you get the wrong one (like I did) can be a couple of mm too short and give a bad connection. We just cut it off I think. Did you get all the blocks and have started cabinet building? Were you able to design it on the Weidmuller software?

What type of blinds? Internal/external? What have you seen so far? The cheapest/easiest is 230v IMO which requires a 4-core radial run. Unless you want "pull to open" which needs a permanent live, or plan to use SMI protocol? If you don't know then run 4-core radial + CAT6 and keep your options open.

Exactly. Combined with overhangs. Our windows open inwards.

With overhangs and blinds, don't see a need for Brise Soleil personally. Outer blinds, if using the venetian style, can be used to keep the sun out but still allow room to be light and see allow view outside. Internal window coverings aren't great for keeping solar gain out, external ones are much better. Window coverings may help with heat loss, but there is nowhere to account for this in PHPP. Our solution to get the best of both was: - High-g triple-glazed windows (higher solar gain) - Overhangs modelled to keep the summer sun off of windows. - External automated venetian blind.

Correctly sizes overhangs. Automated external blinds are great and will mitigate the majority of the impact of not having overhangs. Not sure why you'd want brise soleil and blinds. Why do you need external and internal blinds for overheating? Not sure I understand this question. You can add a building element to PHPP, but you'll need to look at the specifics of this area (due to the amount of glass in a conservatory) as PHPP mostly looks at things from a whole house perspective.

@Mikey Our builders used https://www.originarchitectural.co.uk/. They supply also sorts of fittings and also did the calc for him I think..

Similar here. Our electrician wanted local isolators for UFH and towel rails but didn't use any for blinds/curtains. In fact, the external blind connections are hidden behind PB in a simple choc box. Our electrician used 1.5mm for some reason, but 0.75mm should be plenty. The blind motor can't draw anywhere near 6A surely.. but take a look at a few spec sheets. It may depend on how big your windows are)

If you can afford it, it's a good idea to get someone to do the modelling before you build. This allows you to adjust window sizes, overhangs and shading to get things to a place where you are happy with sizes and overheating risks. If you don't do this then yes, i) your windows might be smaller than they needed to be, or you might need to retrofit shading after the fact which is less than ideal etc. This same modelling will give you an idea of what your heating costs will be given your chosen level of insulation as well as if active cooling may be required/desirable. For this exercise to be worth doing and for you to be confident in the results, then it needs to be done properly, ideally by someone who has experience and done it before. Then, once you are ready to build it is a separate decision you need to take in terms of certification. At this point, you've already got the value out of the modelling and the reasons to certify would be i) the certification itself (minimal value unless it's important to you) ii) the fact it enforces more rigour and quality control and so, the final build should be closer to what was modelled. That said if you are very hands-on and have the knowledge/experience you could achieve the same level of quality without certifying. The certification isn't the only way to achieve quality, but it's a good way if you are new to the game. For example, as part of the initial modelling thermal bridges weren't analyzed, but because we were planning to certify more effort went into ensuring thermal bridges were correct (between PH designer and MBC) than would have happened otherwise.

If you are doing Weidmuller, get the configurator and design your terminal block row in there before buying all the bits: - Helps ensure it fits. - Creates a part list you can then use for sourcing the bits. - You can be sure you are getting the right cross-connectors for the different terminal blocks. - If you want to label blocks, it will help you find which are the correct labels for each terminal block. - Great for documentation, as you can add a text comment on each block and then export to pdf/print or even stick it on the inside of your cabinet door! https://www.weidmueller.com/int/solutions/weidmueller_configurator/index.jsp

Good idea! The only issue with the different colour approach is avoiding buying so many of them. (that said, I'll have a few of your spares potentially). Depends if you use just the top side. If you just use the top side then it's /16, if you are using the top and bottom then it's /30. You only need 1 per retractive switch (so two terminal blocks). The 24v for each retractive switch can come off the same interconnected blocks as your tree runs if you want. Else, 1 interconnected for 24v + 2 non-interconnected if you want to keep these separate.

I'd stick to 8-level (32-way) terminal blocks. If you use all 16 connections for tree/24v/GND then things will get busy enough as it is. And that's before considering cabinet depth which will also likely be an issue. Don't get terminal blocks without earth (on the outgoing/installation side) for anything that is 230v. I used a mix of Weidmeller L+N+E and 2L+N+E and blocks, while the cable was 5-core in a lot of cases I didn't have a need to terminate 5-cores for anything. Terminal blocks without earth could be used for 24v applications though (e.g. lighting). Remember you can very easily convert interconnected terminal blocks into non-interconnected ones, so when you order these just get 15 (or a box of 20 interconnected) rather than 20 of each type. /16, no? Why do retractive switches need 4 cores?

> I'm not sure how that would work with two separate circuits, Two circuits mean that: - Everything can be controlled from Vaillant, no need for anything manual outside of Vaillant. - You can have two zones, with different target room temperatures. (this makes a lot of sense if, for example, you have radiators on the ground floor and fan coils on the first floor) - If required, you can have different heat curves and flow temperatures for each circuit too. If your radiators and fan coils are in the same rooms and you plan to use radiators for heating only and fan coils for cooling only, then I can see how your approach works and may be simpler. In our case, we have two circuits/zones; one for ground floor UFH (heating+cooling) and one for first floor MVHR post-heater (also heating+cooling). Each zone has its own controller (given it's two different areas in the house).

OK, kinda makes a bit more sense now. But I don't understand the motivation for doing this vs. using two separate Vaillant circuits and letting Vaillant control everything. Using two circuits gives you the flexibility to run each zone with its own controller, schedule, heat curve and flow temperature etc. Any specific motivation for trying to make one circuit service two circuits? On a separate note, do you have a buffer planned?

I'm struggling to visualize what your setup looks like. Why do you need valves to switch from cooling to heating? Aren't you using a single Vaillant circuit for fan coils? Don't the fan coils need to run for both heating and cooling?

Did you see this post? That summarizes all my findings I think..

@Nick Laslett I wouldn't do it again, instead I'd put fan coils in. Compost for the whole house, or just the first floor? What about easterly/westerly windows, any shading/overheads?

MBC used this on ours. Joints get taped, but the board itself is airtight.