ToughButterCup

Assuming anything on our build is dangerous.... No, I think is the answer, but I will check with the electrician who fitted the system. I'll get my spark to price the export meter for me : a guess at the price Dave? Thank you @Bramco (Simon). Just what I was looking for - some quiet fireside reading ( Oh hold on, hmmmm, no fire anymore) PS, the sparky has just texted me to say that there isn't one fitted - yet.

Clear evidence for a substantial price reduction.

The inverter is connected to the meter as shown here (apologies for the images - I can't undo the distortion)

The end in mind here is simple. I want to make sure that I consume as much of my 'own' solar PV production as I can. How can I do that when the meters fitted don't tell me? The context 3.86 kW peak fitted to a Solis inverter. No FIT. Solis ( Ginlong) supply an app which purports to describe your production. It does so, but in a way that a first year undergraduate coding student could do better. It is impossible to work out whether I am consuming the PV we produce. These two threads ( Smart Meters ) and ( Self consumption, Making sense of meter readings ) lay the framework for this one. @ProDave has sorted a similar problem out by fitting his own meter ( but he's an electrical genius) and @SteamyTea said that I'll have to get one of those power management sytems. He also hooked my interest by saying that it should be Possible to do the job with a little ingenuity: There is a wider context: the issue has been researched for a little while now, so for those who are interested, I attach a pdf - it's useful because it reviews the current (2015) situation in relation to this issue. Luthander et al (2015) Photovoltaic self-consumption in buildings: A review in Applied Energy 142 So @SteamyTea, hit me with a reading list, or better put, start me off on yet another steep learning curve, please! Thanks. 1-s2.0-S0306261914012859-main.pdf

Ya got me hooked now @SteamyTea Help me help myself ... how do I start please? I'll start by looking at the meter: we are generating now ( reasonably sunny here) and the dishwasher is running. So the LED should be off ..... (Apologies Russ, I'll start another thread)

Apologies @Russell griffiths if this takes your thread off topic a little .... In relation to smart meters, my focus is self-consumption (because we fitted the system after the end of the FIT incentive period). As @SteamyTea and @ProDave point out here I'll need a smart meter or an export power manager. We fitted a Solis inverter. Had I known how dreadful the data-logging sotware was, I would never have entertained fitting Solis. By far the worst choice of our whole build (Schadenfreude permitted @SteamyTea) . Now, I just have to assume that the PV we generate is consumed by us (if demanded) . But, I can't trust Solis until I have evidence to the contrary. @ProDave's answer is to fit a To bring the focus back to your question @Russell griffiths, I think the answer might be; fit a smart meter if there is a compelling reason (saving meaningful amounts of money) or you want to Demand Side Manage your consumption - switch electrical appliances on and be sure that you are consuming your own PV.

You'll be fine on the plumbing then, moving the boiler will be cinch. And you'll need to be more careful about your hands than most. In this sector, you'll have fantastic bargaining power ... "Do me a decent roof and I'll replace that knee for you" . And if you do lobotomies , well, you'll have a free extension I recon. Good luck. Ian

Anything made by Zinsser. For example.....

Never!!!! Well, wait until I put this on FB, Reddit, Chirp and Twitter, and tell the lads in the pub and .....

I've heard that he's helping POTUS cling to power. The argument goes like this; if enough people are convinced that thermal mass (code for Mass Fraud) is true then Jezza feels that its his mission in life to debunk that (wink wink) mass fraud. Now Sydney Powell and he were great mates in the 1970s (code for you know wot) and since her bitter experience with the guy with the runny hair dye , Jezza's inherant good nature lent itself to supporting her and POTUS' claim that he wuz robbed. Jezza never did like injustice. Case proven. QED (I think)

@SteamyTea, it doesn't matter. He's still here for me. I sometimes do buildhub searches refined by screen name, most often his. I have a great deal to thank him for. So, Jezza, publicly, I say thanks for all your help. And entertainment.

With great pleasure Joe ?

We just don't know. The online environment - asynchronous and written - can often appear unforgiving, uncaring. Words written with a smile and in haste can be read with a frown. Non verbal cues absent, we are all forced to grope for the true meaning of what's meant - and everyone misreads some of the time. Online, it's hard to show that your tongue is in your cheek.

Declan, he's free to join this thread is he not?

It's easy to forgive his somewhat brittle responses to some comments: we all have our little characteristics. I remember most the generosity of effort, well crafted sentences, depth of knowledge. But Christ on a bike, he didn't wear it lightly.

Not difficult.

Excellent. Crisp, and therefore helpful. Will the image / animation run on a phone ( is there a 'reader' for the file)? I ask because I have often shown people Sketchup renders on my phone : Sketchup offers a good reader that seems to work well on mobile platforms.

If you ask an engineer at random, maybe, yes. But if you ask an engineer who has experience with the product (Kore) and proximity to trees, then I suspect the answer will be more qualified. In addition to considering answers suggested here, as standard procedure, Due Diligence needs to be done.

No. The level of information support that the industry gives to self-builders is poor at best. I needed to ask exactly the same question - of several people - before I trusted the answer. You are right, logically. But what they (the industry) don't tell you is that the thickness required to achieve the U value required is calculated at the lowest end of the slope: the minimum insulation needed to obtain the target value. Then additional insulation is added to create the slope needed. So at the opposite end (the high end) the U value will be even lower.

Or a thin wire coat hanger perhaps.... (mis-spent youth skills and all that ...?)

All part of the service @SteamyTea. And thank you for all your help - you made me look just a little bit harder at many things.

Just a little bit of Schadenfreude now and then is delicious innit? You'd 'a loved it if my underpants had come off at the same time wouldn't cha, eh? But they didn't. So there.

Thanks very much everyone. One thing is very clear, the chances of us having achieved this without buildhub.org.uk is close to zero. If we had tried on our own, our bank balance would have been even emptier. There's something very empowering about knowing that, sometimes within minutes, you can have informed opinions delivered straight to your laptop. When the soft and smelly hit the fan we were immediately supported with sensible advice and good wishes, as well as reassuring stories of similar calamity. A virtual group we may be. But the support experienced is very real. Very personal. And very C19 - safe. Thanks everyone.

Brilliant place. Used to train (running) a lot round your area in the 70s: did the Long Mynd hike a couple of times. You are very welcome - good luck with the Planning App. Ian

Thanks Dave. Rendering to do on the west face front needs cladding too - but we now have a magician plasterer and a good chippy - but they are ragged raw with too many customers, MVHR second fix early next year - so spring 2021 ish ? Thanks. I post the difficult stuff partly to help write it out of my system and focus on the future, but also to encourage others. I have not lost my loathing of east winds yet @jack, I need to learn to be a bit more pleased with our progress: I look at the niggles all the damn time.