ToughButterCup

Oh Scheisse! Hadn't thought of that.

@TerryE..... Thanks for that. As so often happens, your posts help me think. Ian

@ProDave, the RSPB should know....

Nominally, I know the rating of the stove (5kW) in our current house, but I guess that most of its output goes into warming the arses of the local sparrows. Readying the house for sale, or maybe rent, I appreciate that most people aren't as devoted as I am in terms of paying daily homage to the fiery monster in the inglenook. The stove has a back-boiler, and it does a spiffing job of producing super-heated-close-to-boiling-water every night ready for SWMBO's bath. It provides heat for a few scalding radiators too. So much so that it's a good deal safer to touch them if there's a bit of air trapped in the rads. There's no way any purchaser or renter is going to tolerate that. How do I guess -or work out even- how much electricity (or kWH) of electricity I need to produce the same (or slightly less) 'comfort'? I know exactly how much anthracite we have consumed over the years (2 bags per week in't season). Is it possible from that information to work out how many kWh I have put in? And then make a guess at the number of kWh has gone into warming the local sparrows? And thus derive the number of nice clean kWh of E7 I will need? (Gas isn't a possibility). I am aware of @JSHarris calculator (and other online calculators), but I wanted to check those results against a reverse-engineered number

Exactly, I wrote the post to suggest that a quick dirty check is always worth it....

@Barney12, I should just add to J's note above, that I went round to check a random selection of pile markers each of which had been marked by a total station. I found 1 that was exactly 1meter out. Hmmmm

You may be able to: if I can, anyone can. Get a 'clay spade'. Worth its weight in gold to us on glacial till.

Foundations going in next week, weather permitting. What concerns me now is all the things that go through the foundations : foul drain, water, electricity and rainwater recycling - and in our case MVHR. How accurate do we need to be in determining the place that these services come through?

If I look that chipper at 94, I'll be pleased.

How I wish I had kept the sports bag straps I threw away. Bit of MDPE slipped over the handle?

Oh God, @JSHarris, the answer to my problem! But knowing me I'll leave it out in the rain and........ so I'll be drilling drainage hole in the bottom. It's a couple of quid cheaper here

So, in a nutshell, short-term you want to assure access for the build, and long-term you need to dissuade people from parking across your access. Right so far? Short-term, make sure you talk to the guy; a note asking for a meeting through his door? At that meeting concentrate on answering his problem (I'm going to have to park somewhere else....) and listen to how he frames the issue. Then adapt your approach. Focus on him and he will be more likely to see your point of view. Long-term, get the LA to mark the road. And make it visually clear -by design as well as marks on the road- that access might be required at any time. And good luck. Ian

And I am thinking you have more courage than I. Turning your loo into a Catherine Wheel. Takes some guts that.

I would dearly like to know the root cause of this chronic error. I slaved for many years to teach good database hygiene, and to promote the enjoyment to be had in a beautifully normalised relational database. Table 'creep' and sloppy normalisation might well lead to this kind of error. I wonder though if the answer isn't more prosaic: simple managerial paralysis, coupled with laziness and no incentive to 'get it right'

I solved the problem by routing the two ducts in a built in wardrobe -rather than the wall. Might that work for you too?

"And what precisely are the grounds for your complaint?" "Well, erm m'Lud, we, erm, don't like the look of it...." Welcome! To be sure there will be wider contexts to consider, but in the terms outlined above - just ignore unsubstantiated opinion.

For at least five years I have tried to get our DNO to update our details for our current address (1 Potters Brook): each time they say they will. Every time they don't. "Where's Salamander Cottage, then?" they ask. "Its not listed" "So how does Amazon know where to deliver stuff to Salamander Cottage?" "Errrrmmmm...." It's been on the Post Office database since the LPA put the address, two years ago. I wouldn't mind but I'm not sure if the Fire and Ambulance Service know our new house address. I blame the teachers.

Ah, those pesky decimal places, some you win, others, like this one ,deceive.

Thanks very much indeed. I'll copy that recipe. We own the land immediately to the west (left, looking north) under which the line will pass, so there's no need for a wayleave - although the lass I was dealing with tried insisting that they would need to investigate whether one was needed. Good luck with that....

Got it in one. Build a bit of our front wall, and be done with it. Like this... (lime green dot below) Is there any reason why I can't ask for the boxes to go on the back of the wall, out of sight? Contestable? All of it except the bit where they wet their fingers, twist the wire and make the joint @Triassic, my fingertips are telling me the same story: the discussion with the Electricity Northwest rep was markedly casual, uninformed even: she constantly had to ask for advice from colleagues on what I assume are standard questions. Maybe she was in training. Adding a caravan connector is almost a no brainer. Jeremy, what's 'decent strain-relief'? (ExLax?) Thanks for the tip about HO7RN-F cable - didn't know what you call that nice heavy floppy cable. Thanks. Ian

Thanks for the support. I think the operator I talked to let the cat out of the bag when she said 'Most developers round here use generators....' And yes @Triassic, I will have to pay all over again if I get a temporary connection, but wait for it, -even if the temporary connection is in exactly the same place as the temporary one. So, it's a diesel genny for me... say 6Kv?

I'm trying not to laugh, but to ensure a temporary connection, I've been told I need a brick built cubicle. These are screenshots from the quote I have just received..... and here's the object of desire.... All for the knock-down price of £4000 I've missed something haven't I? Tell me it's not true, give it me straight men, I can take it. I'm ugly enough. It's the brick-built sh1t house that gets me...... Ian

Wyre Borough charges £24.

Hello and welcome. The question you ask is exactly the one I did a few years back. And the answer is in a program called PHPP, or quicker, cheaper and just as good (probably) is a spreadsheet written by one of our stalwarts @JSHarris Damn! I've lost it.... not to worry @JSHarris will be along in a minute. And anyway, I'll try and dig it out and attach it later. The PHPP cost me £200, allowed me to play with very many variables, and enabled a common sense compromise. At the moment we are aiming for 19W per square meter rather than the passivhaus standard of 15. Long term, the PHPP program (it's a spreadsheet with a good deal of VB in it) will save me an appreciable amount of money.

That's sheer genius @Onoff. It's genius because it's also easy to take down: loosen 6 bolts and that's it.