Russdl

I agree. Earlier when I said I'd found diddly squat in my Google search I wasn't being completely honest (shame on me) because I found this on Alibaba which would probably fit the bill, but I thought I'd ask the assembled masses first if they knew of a more local solution. Are there any 'specs' that a meter box should conform too? If so, does that Alibaba box fit the bill?

@PeterW Thanks, basically painting a white-is one the colour you want I guess. How has it faired?

As the title suggest really. I'm looking for an electric meter box that is black and not recessed. With good old Google I've found the square root of diddly squat. Does anyone know where I can get one: Black (or very dark grey) non recessed, electric meter box?

In a nutshell.

Sorry, not me, not yet.

All the above, and much more. Thats our plan, Sunamp, PV, offpeak elec and Willis heaters... and firmly crossed fingers.

That’s why we went for 40 degrees as our roof pitch, plus it gave a tad more head height in the fully useable loft space.

@SteamyTea Got back to the computer and the PVGIS website gives a 'slope angle' for the easterly facing array of 28 degrees, so to my understanding that would be 28 degrees up from the horizontal, it doesn't make that clear, apart from the words 'slope angle' which to my mind implies that. @Ed Davies If I've got that correct then I guess your assumption must be correct because it wouldn't get a great deal of direct sun from the low early morning sun at that angle.

@SteamyTea that’s probably the site I used to get that 30 degree angle, too far from a computer to check, but I’ll revisit it when I get the opportunity.

I guess all the above is based on a southerly facing array? My (non connected array) faces just west of south, 210 degrees, and is at 40 degrees from the horizontal. In the (distant) future I plan some easterly facing panels (120 degrees). I’d read somewhere that 40 degrees was the best compromise for the southerly facing array (hence the 40 degree roof pitch) and that for an easterly facing array, 30 degrees was the optimum. I was quite surprised that 30 degrees up from the horizontal was the ‘optimum’ for the easterly facing panels, I was expecting more like 60 degrees. I could of course have misinterpreted the information and it should be 30 degrees from the vertical (thus 60 degrees from the horizontal) but I’m sure that’s the information I gleaned. Have I got that completely wrong?

@vivienz I hope Paul (I think that was his name) from Earthsave Products gets you up and running asap, it is a real concern that the Eccocent Air can't pick up from where it left off after a power outage. Any other MVHR users prone to power cuts had any similar issue?

I'll start the ball rolling with the excellent Naim Mu-so, or it's little brother the Mu-so Qb, it will do what you want, but at a price - which might not be what you want! https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/naim-mu-so-2 https://www.whathifi.com/naim/mu-so-qb/review

Well, it's very early days yet as it's only been up around 2 months. It should be virtually maintenance free and stay looking sharp for umpteen years. I'll have to let you know in umpteen years if that is indeed the case.

It's not 'burnt' and it's not exactly 'wood' but we've used a wood/plastic composite cladding from Envirobuild. It's not far off being black and, we think, looks pretty sharp. It's also a good 'wood' imposter.

I would agree. For 2D drawings I still use SketchUp because I'm rubbish at CAD. From the SketchUp 'Camera' menu I use 'Standard Views' 'Top' and 'Parallel Projection' and that gives pretty reasonable 2D results but nowhere near as good as a proper CAD package.

Without a doubt, SketchUp. For the lay 'person' it is (IMHO) the best way to visualise what your future house will be like, all in glorious 3D. It takes a while (well, it did for me) to get to grips with it, but when you get the hang of it's incredible. CAD is beyond me, I've tried and failed, but what CAD can't do (can it?), is show those intricate details, just beyond that 'section' drawing. The joints and the corners, where the roof and gable end meet the wall (or can it?). For me it was probably most useful in designing our recessed blinds, how that all comes together, up in the corners and with the cladding etc etc would have been mighty difficult/expensive without me spending numerous late nights knobbing around with SketchUp and realising where gaps would be and it just wouldn't have worked based on the limited information contained in a sectional drawing. And it's free.

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread in detail but we have tilt and turn inward opening windows, and sliders. Not lived there yet as it's a work in progress. We went with Internorm because they undercut the next best by a large figure (which we thought at the time were Norsken for what we we wanted) which made it a no brainer. The windows/sliders seem to be spot on, but it's too early to say definitely. Thats the windows. The installation was a shambles, and it looks so simple. With enough muscle around to lift the things, we're I to do it again I'm pretty sure I'd opt to fit them myself (is that permitted??) We had the installations manger on site. I'm not sure he'd read any installation instructions. Aftersales is reasonable. They will come back and and refit a window vertically instead of at a jaunty angle. They will come back and move a window to the correct position in the timber frame. They will come back and re-do the mastic on all the windows that look like it's been applied by a three year old (that's the ones where they arrive unglazed and the glazing is fitted on site, sliders, picture windows, etc.)

I bought a Dewalt laser level a few months ago, can't recall the model number but it was a self levelling one, circa £80. Didn't really have a clear idea what I was going to use it for but it's invaluable: Checking up on shoddy window installation, running a line round the outside of the house so that the first floor cladding stopped at the same height all around, checking the dips and bumps in our power floated slab etc etc. No idea about the cheap detectors but I think I'm definitely in the market for the DeWalt detector that goes with my laser level.

Ours is being struck on Thu, I’m out of the country. My main defence is my good lady being on site to scare them into being bloody careful. I hope it’s enough! I guess you could get a load of OSB to try and protect them if you feel there is a risk - we haven’t...

It would make your existing speakers redundant but a few Naim Mu-so’s scattered around the house will tick every other box... apart from the price... https://www.naimaudio.com/product/mu-so-1st-generation

Thats the plan Nick. The idea of the box was to have a much greater surface area for the filter so as not to restrict the airflow too much, the boxes in the link you provided would seem to filter the air as the duct enters the box. I have no idea but wouldn’t that potentially restrict the airflow too much?

Thanks. Seems like I'll have quite a choice of pre filter material to choose from. I'd better get on and make the boxes.

That looks like a great idea, I especially like the washable aspect. My fledgling plan has the duct from the external vent entering the box horizontally and a separate duct then leaving the box vertically (en-route to the MVHR) with a pre filter horizontally mounted between the two. When I open the door to (Pandora’s) box I will be able to inspect/clean the horizontal duct to the external vent, and slide out the pre filter to clean it. It seems great in my head...

@Conor ?

Sounds like its a goer then, I'll get cracking. ? @Conor Do you know exactly where/how that coarse filter is fitted?