Russdl

I've changed my plans slightly and the TBS will be 'temporary'. But I'm getting confused about what/where/who/how etc. I can't call anyone until the morning and I won't sleep with these (hopefully minor things) playing on my mind, so I'm hoping you'll be able to check my plans thus far... I'll be trenching (IAW with the DNO guidelines) from their pole, and under a footpath, so that the hockey stick comes up in to our garden about 1m from our low fence which separates our garden from the footpath. I have a wide (700mm) lockable meter box that will be mounted on 2 wooden post. Inside this large meter box I plan to have the meter and Temporary Building Supply. Whats bugging me is: 1. Is there a minimum distance from the fence to the meter box/TBS (it will open in towards the plot) 2. Can I have the Cut Out, Meter and TBS all in one big box? (a bit late to ask that question, but maybe not too late!!) As I understand it, the DNO pull their cable through my duct and put the Cut Out in my large meter box and dissappear. Then the service provider attach a meter to the Cut Out and disappear. 3. Do the service provider leave a meter with nothing hanging out of it and then my electrician connects tails to the meter and on to the TBS or do they leave the meter tails in Henley Blocks. This is probably nigh-naff and trivia but it's vexing me, any light shining would be much appreciated.

It's all looking really good, great stuff. The size of those cranes (and the lorry) make me shudder considering how tight our access is. Good news re the power lines - I'm sure they'll see sense...

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Sorry Nick, what do you actually mean by that? I'll definitely need help there... How come? It will be required. If I need to go softener first, then accumulator, and this is all at the end of the garden I guess I'd need to run a separate, non softened supply to the house as well for drinking water?

That sounds like a nice simple solution. No stone left unturned.

@JSHarris ? A plan is starting to take shape. Clearly I'd need to protect the accumulator from long spells of freezing weather but I reckon I could make a shed for it at the end of the garden and then run the larger bore MDPE to the house.

@Nickfromwales & @JSHarris thanks for those links. Chunky monkeys aren't they. So if I were to go down this route I'd have the main going to one or two accumulators and then onwards into the house. Is the distance from the accumulator to the house important? I could probably site it (or them) in the garden some 25m from where I'd be expecting the water to enter the house.

@Nickfromwales Thanks for that obvious point Nick. Sadly I wasn't bright enough to think of that myself! @JSHarris Thanks for that info Jeremy, how does that work, having 2? Are they plumbed in parallel? Also, what are the rough dimensions of your accumulators? I'm still head scratching about where to put it (them) if I go down that route.

@Nickfromwales I'll look into the accumulator option I think Nick. Thanks for the pointers.

Splendid chap from Wessex Water popped round on his way past and I've got 4 bar of pressure ? ... but it looks like my 'stopwatch and bucket' measearument was correct - I only have 15 litres per minute flow ? Is that going to be enough for potentially 3 showers running at once? If not, will I need to replace the main or will an accumulator pick up the slack?

Well, I have a standpipe. My first dabble with blue MDPE and plasson fittings - a bit like massive Lego, I feel like a builder, and I will now stride around in my Dunlop Safety trousers with a new feeling of self worth. Being generous my standpipe is producing 15 litres of water a minute - but most importantly, it's not leaking! Now for the pressure test, I'll call the water company first...

@Nickfromwales I woke up thinking about an accumulator!! I think need to arrange for some more interesting dreams ? I presume the blue connector that I need to use, with the 7mm internal diameter, will have no effect on the static pressure? I also presume it will have an effect on the flow?

@Nickfromwales I'll be doing that in the morning, so ? @ProDave Probably not. The water is turned off at the meter which is on a road about 50m from the property. I found the main in the corner of our plot and a straight line from that hole to the meter would be under the 2 neighbours back gardens (green line in the image below). I suspect they wouldn't want me digging up their gardens (but I haven't asked the question yet. To replace the main, I suspect the only viable option would be to route it up the gravel track (red dotted line below). I'm hoping Nick will be right and the flow from my piddly little main will be sufficient.

It turns out we have a 3/8" Alkathene water main. Is 3/8" big enough to produce the goods when it comes to connecting to the new house? To set up a temporary standpipe I've got a Plasson 90° elbow (with a blue adapter) the internal diameter of the blue adapter is about 7mm. Does anyone know of alternative connectors that don't restrict the 3/8" Alkathene, I'm guessing that 3/8" is too small and 7mm is way too small?

@CC45 that’s been our best guess up to now, pretty heavy duty earth though! @ProDave we have the electric DNO on site in a couple of weeks so I’ll get them to peer down the hole.

Thanks Nick. It's definitely sub 20mm external diameter, no more than 17.5mm, should there really be a 2.5mm tolerance? The plan is to have a standpipe off the main at that location as a temporary supply and then, when the build is complete, run the main from that point to the new house. I was thinking of a 90° elbow up to the standpipe and at a later date, replace the 90° elbow with and in line join for the new supply. Are there massive flaws in that plan?

Well, a friend bought his mini digger round and we've found the water main... It's not iron or lead, it's black poly (is that the correct technical name?) We also unearthed a steel cable buried around the same depth, can anyone tell me what that is for? Should I hide it quick? The water main itself is externally just shy of 3/4" and internally it's pretty much bang on 1/2". So, have I got a 3/4" or 1/2" black poly main? I'm assuming it will be imperial as I suspect it's been there for decades (in new money, externally it's 17.5mm).

Wouldn't that be fun!

@Onoff. Thanks, thats just the kind of practical advice I was looking for ?

(Minor thread drift). I know where my water meter is and so I can make a pretty good guess as to where the supply enters the plot around 50m from the meter. I want to set up a building supply prior to demolition so I dig down and find the supply pipe... And then what? It's probably a sixty-ish year old pipe. Are there special techniques, tips and tricks to cut it and fit a standpipe and how do I connect a standpipe to the supply pipe? What bits do I need (apart from a mini digger).

Wow. Good luck Vivien, @ProDaves comments make for pretty scary reading. I hope a simple (and cheap) solution is forthcoming.

We are planning on using Tata, MBC say it should be laid on OSB and the OSB should be on battens for the air gap. Can you give me a link to the Aussie/US stuff?

Great news ?. You seem to have everything under control. I’m looking forward to seeing the photos as well, and hopefully I’ll pop along when MBC are there.

That is really interesting because the main player using the I beam construction would appear to have many more certified passive house's out there than MBC using (what you would consider) an inferior construction method to achieve it, that's reassuring as MBC is our company of choice. I didn't realise you'd done that. As my design has concealed gutters I think I'll be stuffed on the eaves but should be able to get a bit in the ladder frames.

Yeah, I guess I was trying to cheat the system! I've changed it to 55 W/mK and reduced the % of nail plate due to all the holes in them. As you predicted, the impact is minor. The last PHPP expert I spoke to suggested replacing the nail plates with OSB webs (which the manufacturer has agreed to do at no extra cost) but I have to say it seems like complete overkill and I suspect I won't bother doing that. I suppose the bottom line is that I have more faith in @JSHarris's U value calculations than the PHPP expert I spoke to, and I'm starting to feel inclined to ignore the PHPP expert (which means that was an expensive conversation!)