Jump to content

Nick Laslett

Members
  • Posts

    259
  • Joined

  • Last visited

3 Followers

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Nick Laslett's Achievements

Regular Member

Regular Member (4/5)

91

Reputation

  1. My build is taking me forever, so I have no actual facts or data to share. When I first came to BuildHub and started this journey, the challenge of cooling kept on coming up. Insulation and an airtight build mitigated the heating requirements, but due to solar gain, how did you tackle cooling. PPHP modelling, window shading these were the go to advice. Actual air conditioning if you could accommodate it. Then in amongst all this talk you discover an ASHP can be run in reverse and provide cooling. Back in 2019 there was some debate about if this wasn’t allowed by RHI or MCS, some ASHPs didn’t allow cooling or had the feature locked. For me this sounded like a good cooling solution. I was going to build an ICF house and have a poured concrete 90mm thick 1st floor. So I installed wet UFH in the first floor expressly for the cooling. The concrete floor was now not just an extravagant way to have a solid, non-creaky, sound proof floor. It was now my cooling block for the bedrooms. Unfortunately, I’m still building so have no idea if this approach will work. I also went with 70/30 tinted glass on the windows to help with the solar gain. And I’m putting the cooling module on my MVHR, which doesn’t seem very popular or value for money, or even effective! So @Nickfromwales one word advice might seem a bit cryptic, but to me it is classic Buildhub.
  2. @markocosic, thank you for posting this. I have my ASHP on the wall and the pipe going down vertical 1m into the ground and coming up vertical into the house and through the insulated slab. When I looked at Intatec’s instructions for installing their anti-freeze valve, I could not see how it would work, as it wanted the valve to be at the lowest point in the circuit. I wasn’t going to bother with putting glycol in the system. I feel a lot better about my setup after reading your post. The average lowest temp according to Met Office where I live is -2°.
  3. I bought my insulated pipes from these guys: https://ingoodnic.uk/25-25-90mm-2.html 32 + 32 /110mm Pre Insulated Heating Pipe I discussed it in this thread. Some more discussions about pipe options here:
  4. We talked about it a little in this thread. This is @HughF install. He has a good tip about using Solar piping UV resistant tape to finish off the install. But it is expensive. https://www.bes.co.uk/high-temperature-insulation-tape-x-15-m-20220/?refSrc=42745&nosto=productpage-nosto-1-c I’m just about to do this. The Primary Pro pre-made flexible pipes from Intatec are 750mm, but you can get longer ones from other suppliers. https://www.intatec.co.uk/product/heat-pump-hoses/ https://primary-pro.co.uk This thread from the Ovo forum has lots of interesting pictures and advice. https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-smart-home-138/heat-pump-pipe-insulation-energy-efficiency-starts-with-the-pipes-9477 I’m going to use 28mm water softener flexible pipes with primary pro insulation. I need a 1” BSP connection at both ends. The water softener pipe spec limits it to 65° water temp. I will cut the underground insulated pipe and try to get the best finish I can. I will upload some pictures when I’m done. I’m currently waiting on BES to ship the insulation. Note: For any one interested, I choose to hang my ASHP from the wall because it was going to be a long time before any landscaping work would be done. I did not want The ASHP concrete plinth to dictate what we ended up doing in regards to levels and access. I got the idea from on of Urban Plumbers YouTube install videos. He was very positive about wall hanging ASHPs.
  5. Thanks @JohnMo, I actually found your original thread about inlet control groups and balanced cold. Thanks @sharpener for the clarifications, where I was getting confused, is my cold manifold includes toilets, showers and basins. @PeterW covers this point where I was getting confused in this thread: As I have already plumbed and tested my cold manifold, I’m not going to break it all apart. But the design nuance I missed, is that not all cold feeds need to be balanced like to a toilet cistern or kitchen tap. So for the benefit of others attempting to follow the plumbing manifold approach popular on BuildHub, you need to consider if you need a non-balanced cold manifold that comes before the inlet control group, this could also be hardwater if appropriate. All mixer outlets should/must* be fed from the balanced cold outlet on the control group. (*There are exceptions to this rule) See Here:
  6. Hello @SimonD, @JohnMo, what are your thoughts on the need for an inlet control group valve to balance the cold supply. https://www.unventedcomponentseurope.com/22mm-inlet-control-multibloc-valve-group-3-bar-6-bar.html/ In a lot of the threads about the manifold approach for distributing supply, there are lots of great pictures of the manifold, but not so much talk about inlet control group valve. Is this because it is a part of the UVC install? I currently have my hot and cold manifolds, but have not got to the UVC bit as I will need to bring someone in for this. In my rental the UVC does not have an inlet control group valve and none of the thermostatic valves appear to work correctly, it is either hot or cold, there is no gradual change in the temp as I have experienced in the past. Does the inlet control group valve have any downsides?
  7. I’ve got a question which I thought might be better here than in a new thread. ASHP flexible pipe connecting to my underground pipe. I was just going to get the Intaflex Pre Insulated Heat Pump Hoses. But my 32mm underground pipe terminates with a male 1” BSP, not 28mm compression. As a non-plumber going from 1” BSP to 28mm seems like a real ball ache of different bits. Might be wrong, just my ignorance. https://www.bes.co.uk/air-conditioning/installation-equipment/air-source-heat-pump/intaflex-pre-insulated-heat-pump-hoses-1-bsp-f-swivel-x-28mm-comp-x-750mm-pair-25802/ I asked about the internal bore and BES replied that it was 18mm, you can see it on the website. Intatec have no detailed spec on their website. 18mm seems a little tight for high flow systems that suit ASHPs, again might be my ignorance. Anyway after a little reading on BH, I came across Jeremy Harris comments, where he was very relaxed about these connections. So I’m thinking of fitting Water Softener flexible hoses like these: https://fountainsofteners.co.uk/28mm-stainless-steel-hoses-pair---straight-x-elbow-800mm-1000mm/ They have 1” BSP at both ends which suit my requirements and are 25mm bore. Is there any reason why these will not suit being used with an ASHP? @Nickfromwales, @PeterW your thoughts on this matter would be appreciated. The ASHP is only being used for running the UFH, so max temp should be no more than 35°.
  8. My pipes are in the ground, but when researching the topic, I thought Primary Pro had a good wall sleeve solution. https://primary-pro.co.uk This Ovo Forum thread also had lots of advice and lots of pictures. https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-smart-home-138/heat-pump-pipe-insulation-energy-efficiency-starts-with-the-pipes-9477
  9. Placement of projector is dependent on model specs and screen size. You need to select a projector and then use an online calculator. https://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm Distance from screen affects overall brightness, but reduces contrast. Have the projector too close and you might get hot spotting. I have a fixed screen, so no experience of motorised screens. The projector section at AVSForums.co.uk is friendly and helpful. https://www.avforums.com/forums/projectors-screens-video-processors.43/ If you are looking at DLP projectors, make sure you and your other half don’t see the rainbow effect. This is nowhere near as prevalent these days, but if you see it, you won’t enjoy the projector. Each projector type has it strengths and weaknesses. 10 years ago you had bulb projectors and needed to worry about all sorts of issues. Laser has really simplified everything.
  10. I used Ursa acoustic roll. Very good price from Profile Store. I also used two bags of Knauf whilst waiting for the Ursa delivery. I would say that it is very hard to choose between the two products. The Ursa may have needed a little more fluffing before it reached its true depth, but it is strong and holds itself well.
  11. I was lucky, I was able to have most of the penetrations in place before the concrete pour. I did however have to drill one 110mm SVP hole through 150mm ICF concrete wall and two 50mm waste pipe holes through the same wall. I used my Makita SDS drill with the Erbauer diamond tripped core drill bit from Screwfix. https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-diamond-core-drill-kit-3-cores/96229 The one hole killed the core bit. If you can, I would pay someone to do it for you.
  12. Here are some useful threads, that you might have already seen. This is the one where Russell talks about using Triton TT Vapour membrane paint for prepping his window reveals. You have already seen this one about ICF and windows. There is a link in this thread to another thread about ICF windows. My ICF build is 9 miles from Diss, you’re welcome to come and visit for chat. Just send me a private message
  13. My original plan was to affix cement board to finish my EPS foundation plinth. But the guys doing the rest of the ICF rendering, recommended this solution, Mosaic render from EWIPro. https://ewistore.co.uk/shop/external-wall-insulation/mosaic-render-ewi-050-25kg/
  14. Just for people’s general reference the Hep20 FAQs warns against using expanding foam to seal around the actual Hep20 plastic pipe. I think it invalidates the 50 year guarantee. Not sure what the expanding foam actually does to Hep pipe, but Wavin don’t like it.
  15. That is a real shame. I’m sure many build’s have minor mistakes like this, I’m sure mine does. What gnaws at the back of your mind, is how big a deal is this, as laypeople we have no easy way to quantify. We took the insulated foundation approach which has some advantages if people drop the ball later on in the build.
×
×
  • Create New...