Russdl

3 months after commissioning the new and improved Mk2 Pre Filter box it was time to change the filter material. The muslin seems to be doing a grand job and the increase in useable filter surface area is being fully exploited by dust and flies.

And I think very necessary. Previously it was just some thin foam on the inside (and not very well attached, definitely not airtight). I’m hoping the new set up will improve performance thermally, waiting for some proper cold days so I can check the temperature of the boxes, the Mk1 was definitely getting cool last winter.

As it happens, that is exactly what I did during the mid life refurb! It is so much better, shame I couldn’t work it/you weren’t available when I made the Mk1! I’ve also increased the insulation and air tightness with some left over bits and pieces. My pre filter material is now some fine mesh muslin material that costs pence and works like a charm.

@JoanneP We moved in 4 years ago. Hugely stressful. Hugely rewarding. We had no prior knowledge of the building trade and no idea of what we didn’t know. Community Infrastructure Levi is probably the first ‘gotcha!’ waiting in the wings. That will suck huge amounts of cash out of the unwary so make sure you look into that as a starter for ten. Find out as much as you can about every aspect. Treat the professionals with an abundance of caution until they prove beyond doubt that they are actually professional. You won’t regret self building, well, when it’s finished you won’t regret it but there may be wobbles en route. Good luck, almost unlimited knowledge and help is available from the good people on BuildHub.

That all sounds like a top plan to me. Let us know how it goes.

Certainly looks to be, that may be just what you’re after, and cheaper than the Combimate 👍🏻 If you install a water softener, over time it will remove the limescale that will already have built up in your system, my guess would be that a phosphate dosing water conditioner will not however I suspect that will not be a big issue for you now the Quooker has been descaled.

Actually, I should have done the above myself. I wonder why I didn’t 🤔 I think it may be because I knew about water softeners and knew I would need one and then at a later date discovered the Combimate by which time the softener was firmly fixed in my plan and I lacked the bandwidth to rethink everything.

As it happens, I believe it can do the whole house and it would be a far cheaper option for you. Perhaps look into fitting a Combimate to do the whole house and see how it goes, and then if you want to add a softener later on you could - but keep the Quooker on the Combimate.

Yes. And, as @-rick- reposted above, to prevent all limescale formation in the house we have a salt softener for the whole house (non electric) and a Combimate solely for the Quooker. The feed to the Quooker is a hard feed that goes through a water conditioner (Combimate in our case) before it gets to any of the Quooker gubbins. The Combimate phosphate doses the hard water which, in a nut shell, gives you hard water that can not form limescale. This combination has worked flawlessly (regarding limescale prevention) for 4 plus years, I thoroughly recommend it.

The flow rate at the shower is around 12 l/min, the incoming mains supply is 15 l/min (and 3bar). I can’t compare it to an UVC as we’ve only had a Sunamp in this house. We have two showers and when they both run at the same time there is perhaps a small drop in flow but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t know. We have an accumulator that helps when both showers are running as our mains supply is a bit meagre.

@Workerbee Not recent experience as such, we’ve had our Sunamp UniQ eHW 12 up and running for about four and a half years. A thermistor string failed shortly after it was commissioned and that was promptly replaced. Other than that it just sits there quietly doing its thing. If we suffer a major failure in the future (which I guess must be on the cards) I’m pretty sure we’d get another one. There was/is clearly a risk being an early adopter with any new technology but it was a risk we were comfortable to take. The arguments ‘for’ are thin and there are plenty of arguments ‘against’ on here but we’re still firmly in the ‘for’ camp.

Oh Lord. All things being equal they should replace it sharpish but would you want a third one? Ours is still doing what’s it’s meant to do without any dramas, long may that continue (well at least, may it continue until we are close to, but not beyond, warranty end).

I guess piano hinges is going to be the best option. It’s got to swing out legs to support the leaf and they wouldn’t get past a piano hinge so I’d have to put the hinges in 3 sections so there are two gaps for the legs to swing through. Thanks all for your input.

I’ve build a wheeled work bench with a ply top, cut the ply down the middle so that I can fold it in half and then wheel the bench out of the way for easier storage. I had some little cupboard hinges left over so without much confidence in their ability to take the weight, I gave it a go. They hold the leaf well enough in the folded position but can’t take the weight of the leaf when it’s up, leaving a step in my otherwise flat workbench top. Does anyone know what sort of hinge would be up to the job?

A Combimate solves the potential problem of drinking softened water whilst still keeping lime scale at bay. (There are probably other water conditioners out there but I don’t know of any).