rowan_bradley

We are refitting our Ensuite shower room. The tiles we are thinking of are Porcelanosa Silver Image 33x100. We are wondering whether these will get dirty with soap scum or chalk out of the hard water (we have a water softener, but it doesn't make the water perfectly soft) and how easy they are to clean. They have a textured, somewhat rough surface. Can anyone say what they have experienced with this type of tile in a shower? Thank you - Rowan

I am considering fitting an Air Source Heat Pump to replace my ageing oil boiler. In order to evaluate this, I need to be able to calculate accurately how much electricity the heat pump will use to keep our house heated to the temperatures that we need. As I understand it, the efficiency of a heat pump (i.e. the kW of heat generated for each kW of electricity input) depends on the difference in the temperature between the outside air and the water circulating in my radiators. I presume that for any heat pump available in the UK I can get a table showing the Coefficient of Performance (CoP) for various outdoor temperatures and various circulation temperatures. I then need detailed weather statistics for my area, showing the number of hours per year that the outdoor temperature is at each temperature between the minimum ever seen, and the maximum. Where can I get these statistics from? I also need data about my radiators, which tell me how much heat output they produce at each combination of room temperature and water temperature. Where can I get this data from? Does the CoP of the heat pump depend on other things? For example, does it depend on how rapidly the outdoor temperature is changing? For example, does it use the same amount of energy if the outdoor temperature is at -10C for 10 hours, and then at 0C for ten hours, as it uses if the outdoor temperature is at -10C for one hour, then 0C for one hour, repeated ten times? Does the amount of energy it uses depend on humidity, wind speed and direction, insolation, or any other environmental variables? If so, where can I get this weather data for my location from? Thanks - Rowan