Russdl

It will be from the loft to ground floor, probably around 12-13m as the cable flies. A bit of Googling looks like the worst case for 4mm (conduit in wall) is max 26 amps and for the 2.5mm (conduit in wall) is max 20 amps. @ProDave has the worst case for the 4mm as 22 amps so with a similar reduction to the 2.5mm to, say 16 amps, I still have a combined 38 amps. My cables are not conduit in wall so will be better than those figures, amperage wise it would look like I'm home and dry? The cables will be similar though not identical in length, what other issues are there likely to be?

@JohnMo, thanks. Any idea if the max current of 32A has any bearing on my original question re paralleling the 4mm2 with the 2.5mm2?

Thanks for the reply @ProDave I’ll see if I can find the max current in the specs. Both the 4mm and 2.5mm cable will, on the whole, be in free air though pushing through a rock wool batt here and there I suspect (can’t remember precisely, and I don’t have sufficient photos).

Our house, when built, was wired for a battery system, plus it had cabling installed for an emergency power supply (both of these cables sit redundant). We're at the stage now where we are seriously considering a battery and I'm looking at the Givenergy All In One battery system. The installation documentation for the All in One states "...minimum cable size requirements for the All in One are 6mm2 minimum" The existing unused battery cable is 4mm2 and the existing unused cable for the EPS is 2.5mm2. Running a new 6mm2 cable to the position needed would be virtually impossible so I asked the installer the stupid question, does 4mm2 + 2.5mm2 = 6.5mm2, in other words can I combine the two existing cables and use them as a parallel supply? To my surprise he didn't laugh at me but instead said he'd check with the manufacturer. This is the manufacturers response - a bit of a non answer "The wiring would have to be as per UK electrical Regs in terms of wiring and connections". The installer is going to check what they actually mean, but can someone help me here, is it lunacy to even suggest such a thing or is it safe/acceptable to parallel the supply with certain protections in place? Any guidance gratefully received.

We fitted a silt trap in the pipe run to the soakaway. Works well, I empty the silt trap every quarter or so. I’ll find a link… https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/product/silt-sentinel-300-series-1000mm-deep-catchpit-vertical-silt-trap.html

@Coanda (you got me at ‘SketchUp’ love it!) What do you plan on building the frame out of? Any plan for a summer bypass?

I presume you’re snuggled under a quilt with a room that temperature? Without any heating our bedroom temperature is 21.5 degrees, as is the rest of the house +/-0.5. We’re sleeping under a quilt cover (no quilt) and we do so for >90% of the year. It’s like summer night bedroom temperature all year round. I’m guessing that currently you don’t achieve your desired 15/16C in the summer? You’ll adapt.

+1 to the Shelly relays, that’s what we use for our electric towel rails, works a treat.

I guess you’ve checked to see if there is a rear exit flue option on that stove? Some stoves have the option of top or rear exit flue and if yours does that may solve your problem.

We live in the country, not too far from a large pig farm. On occasions with the wind in the wrong direction it can absolutely wreak outside. The smell has never made it indoors via the MVHR and we have no carbon filters. I’ve no idea why. Someone scientific may be able to explain? Also when it gets chilly out the wood fires start from the houses all around and that is also very obvious when outside but again the smell has never got indoors through the MVHR. It may not be the problem that you think it will be.

Don’t do what a bloke I know did. He put a circular saw blade in an angle grinder, took the handle off because it was getting in the way and a few seconds later he cut his leg off 🤮 He did get a free helicopter ride to hospital though so it wasn’t all bad.

@pauldoc we have a very similar construction and we had similarly ludicrous quotes. We went with HomeProtect and they came in at a ‘normal’ price. We’ve just renewed and it’s still normal.

That’s exactly what we do. The whole House is on softened water with the exception of the kitchen tap. That has conditioned water from a Combimate. It’s all working very well, no sign of limescale anywhere and we’re in a hard water area. Softened water isn’t salty by the way, maybe fractional more saly than un-softened water but imperceptibly so in my experience (teeth brushing for example).

I’d recommend the porcelain. (Virtually) indestructible, very easy to keep clean and looks the same from one year to the next. The Indian sandstone will look good when it’s first laid and deteriorate from there on in.

Not so sure about game changing for ‘old stock’ because as they say, it doesn’t fill holes it seals leaks so holes would have to be found and filled first but thanks for sharing that video, the first I’ve ever seen or heard of such a system, a brilliant idea.

Our washing machine is integral and not floor mounted on the bosses insistence to make loading/unloading easier. I was terrified at the prospect of having a washing machine in a kitchen unit AND off the ground, I could foresee no end of calamity’s befalling us. Two years on and I’ve stopped checking it when it’s on a spin cycle. It hasn’t fallen out of its cubby hole. It hasn’t moved at all. Before the spin starts the washing machine turns the clothes and agitates the drum to try and balance the load. If it can’t balance the drum to a reasonable level it won’t spin. Just to clarify. The unit is specifically designed to take a washing machine and is suitably reinforced. It also has to be fitted either between other units or, as in our case, a wall and units. The wall hung cupboards have to be there as well.

Whilst the thread is drifting slightly from the OP’s original question I can say, regarding sound transfer, our experience is the air gap under the doors does not permit sound transfer as you may expect. On carpeted floors, if you close the door the noise pretty much goes away, and that is the case for carpet inside the ‘noise’ room and carpet/hard flooring outside the ‘noise’ room. However, if there is hard flooring from one side of the door to the other (downstairs toilet in our case, tiles run from the hallway to the toilet without a threshold) then that’s a different story, the gap’s not so good then, sound does find its way under that gap. I turn the music up.

I’d say “don’t” for all the reasons @Thorfun highlighted plus I guess you’d be cutting something down to do it and it would take an age for minimal gain.

You can try and add the door in the least disruptive (temporary) way, get signed off and then remove the door and flog it. We had similar requirements as our loft space is open to below with a fixed staircase. We have a pocket door to the kitchen which had to be fire rated. It is, and it is still there but it is almost never closed so may as well not be there. We do have a good smoke/fire alarm system fitted.

I think I may have neglected my pre-filters the last time I cleaned the MVHR filters. Once again the MVHR Seemed to be getting noisier, initially I put it down to me just always listening out for any noises but this morning when it did it’s morning switch from 100m3/hr to 200m3/hr it sounded like it was on boost. I went to have a look and this time remembered my pre-filter! 🤮🤮🤮 not the best photo but you can probably see that it is absolutely bogging. Almost completely blocked by all sorts of detritus. I don’t think it’s been neglected for more than 6 months so I’m surprised how bad it is. The only thing I can think of is that we seem to have had many more days of northerly/easterly winds of late (according to my gut feeling) and we have cultivated fields that side. I measured the noise with an app on my phone up against a supply terminal before and after replacing the pre filter. 41db before 33db after. Also the power draw 67W before 34W after. I must remember to keep an eye on those pre filters.

God bless the planners. God bless the architect’s… What do they actually want? I’ve never heard of that daylight/sunlight requirement before. What is it? It can’t cost £2250+ to see where sun and shadow are throughout the year? Is that what they want??

Depending on how long it takes you to finish I think moving in like that could potentially affect your VAT reclaim so check that out carefully as well.

We’re in a hard water area and condition the drinking water from our Quooker (cold and boiling) with a Combimate phosphate dosing conditioner. It’s been up and running for around three years with no sign of scale on the tap at all. Should fit your bill 👍

@Mr Blobby We used the Portman Pocket Door System. They are good but they are not without their issues though. As I said earlier I would only recommend them where they are seldom used (for the potential noise issue) or where they are the only solution and where they won’t need redecorating. Ever.

Ours disappear completely into the pocket when open and are basically invisible. To close it you push it in against a spring loaded plunger that ejects the door out of the pocket enough to access the recessed handle and pull it closed.