ToughButterCup

And when I'd visited enough passivhauses and talked to enough owners, (including @VIPMan of this parish) every one of whom said - you don't need a condensing dryer, the MVHR'll do it for you - I'm just about beginning to believe them. Well, nearly. @VIPMan could have offered to dry our washing, so when he does that, and the clothes dry by 'magic', I'll believe them all.

The single advantage is that the socket cannot be taken to work, lost in the sofa or chewed by the cat.

@MrsRA used to build high-end computers in her own time (when it was worthwhile doing so), and as well as that, she hoards. So, we have every single 'technology' somewhere squirreled away in this old house - from an Amiga through zip drives, 4.5 inch floppies, ZX Spectrum any number of laptops, a few 'boxes, spare memory and some random number of Processors; the loft is groaning, in one (used to be) bedroom you can slip on defunct CDs lying around the place. USB A? It's a spring chicken. "You never know when we might need it" Give me strength folks, strength.

First of all, thanks very much. Time to go and re-read the numbers. And thanks for the prompt to ask '...where (they) come from. I appreciate it. Ian

@Alphonsox, demystify the percentages for me, please! No, my understanding of re-heat is a safety margin (in this case of 50%) rather than making the bloody thing go faster than the speed of sound.

So, who's this Eva woman at 0:35? Eh, Edward? No wonder Faye looks less than happy

No; I think I'm saying (think I'm saying....) it takes 518 Watts to raise the temperature in the living room (in this instance) to 21 degrees when the outside temperature is -1 degrees Celcius and 776 Watts to do the same if you use a factor of 0.5 f 'reheat value' Quite what 'reheat value' is, I'm not sure.

Hello Jane, welcome and good luck. There isn't one builder on this forum that hasn't had several minor and the odd major hiccup(s) Rolling with the punches or tide or whatever cliche you fancy is the norm. Make a simple table of your conditions. Have a column about what you're doing to fulfill it and then a 'by when column', followed by 'whom'. I made a folder in a filing cabinet and kept all the relevant documents in sub folders. It's too easy to lose track. Your pre-commencement conditions are the ones on which to focus just now. Regards Ian

This post is a deliberate attempt to expose my thinking on MVHR in the hope that someone will see a flaw in what is planned or be able to make a suggestion which -as has happened before- saves us from unnecessary errors and maybe even saves us a bit of money. What have I learned about MVHR before I got here? Avoid standing hot water pipe heat loss. Get the house air tight. Forget cat flaps. Visit lots of houses with MVHR (thanks @VIPMan among several others). Don't allow your postie anywhere near the front door. Forget normal keys. Open the windows if you like, and switch the system off if you like. Many people have MVHR and don't use it or worse, haven't been told how to use it. In the passiv or nearly passivhaus sector use PHPP (again thanks @VIPMan) to estimate your heat requirement (19 Watts per square meter per annum) - in our case 5 Watts short of a picnic. Watch for overheating (10% risk in our case) Getting from numbers on a spreadsheet to buying a system As I've said elsewhere, here be dragons. Let's be kind and say that MVHR isn't well understood. By sellers sometimes but by Jo Public in particular. I've been digging round for two or three years now, and frankly, my heart's still in my mouth. But I have moved on from looking at a house and thinking - oh yeah, lets put a bigger log burner in there... it'll be lovely. Poor life decisions in relation to pensions taught me that. Useful, relative penury sometimes. Makes me think more, and more deeply. So, I start with a PHPP print out, our plans and send it to a company that says 'We'll do a heat-loss calculation for you' Thanks very much Here is one claculation. Hmmm, much to explain there (for me anyway) Take the Total Column: that's the total in Watts of heat that is used: Living Room uses 518 Watts If you add a 50% factor for 'safety' you get 776Watts And (next column) it takes 642 Watts to heat it, ERGO, the MVHR recovers (776-518) Watts With a Heat pump inline (MVHR and HP) I'd recover (661-518) Watts With a heat pump and a Duct heater, I'd recover (679-518 ) watts Not sure what the percentages refer to..... (help @SteamyTea Bottom line, I'll need just over 3 kW of additional heat ; 3077, 3169, 3261 to heat the house to 21/ 22 ish (bottom line in grey) So, what does this tell you? There's two of us, a cat and two dogs: cat =10 Watts, dogs 100 Watts between them, @MrsRA 1kW (hot stuff ) me a bit less, so 2 and a bit kW. Put the hoover on, the oven and a few lights (no hot water see above) and we get close to just right- or needing to open the windows? Answers on a postcard please...............

Yep, got one (I know, I know - @SteamyTea, @VIPMan go easy on me please) Key thing: portability. That model is a 'stick-it-here-and-leave-it' beast. Got a bad back? Avoid. The next one down the range (GTX10 C) can be mated to a Saw Table that doubles as a sack-truck and makes the whole thing much more flexible. And the pull-out extension can, with a bit of jiggery pokery, be made to double as a router table. Needs careful setting up... and there are loads of Germans on YooChube fussing about half a millimeter here and a few microns there as far as set up goes. I bought both because I think this is probably the last time I'll buy any really expensive tools, and I'm sure I can't have a lovely workshop (because I demolished it the other day) AND a nice new house. So portability and flexibility are as important to me as a reasonably specified saw. It does not have a laser guide. Ship, tar, ha'porth, spoil

@Crofter, if there's one thing that BH has taught me, it's that , in the words of DH Lawrence no less, '...each flow is related to every other flow...' I seem to remember he was talking about money, and so are you in terms of heat (is 'heat' the right term?) - how far apart should the intake and outlet be? there's lots of guidance about this issue all over Tinternet. Bottom line: try to make sure you don't suck up what you blow. How you do that, up to you. Local winds? Micro-climate? Rotor? Wind shadow? - Could I put the bedroom supply vent inside a walk in wardrobe, that will be on the dividing wall (i.e. through the wall from the sofa)? Yes Other than higher purchase and running costs, will an oversized MVHR unit cause any problems? Just asking in case something comes up on eBay. There's no evidence that I have read (and Hell I've worn out several pairs of Poundland glasses) that buying a Ferrari causes you not to arrive at your destination when you could just as easily have driven there in a 2CV - At what height should [...intake...?] vents be placed if the room has a vaulted ceiling? I don't know. But I do know you need to ensure a simple cross-flow of air. Bottom Line Diagonally opposite (or as near to that as you can) the exit point of the out-flowing air - Do I *really* need a summer bypass? Bottom Line: I don't know, and neither will anyone else until a program like PHPP (or JSH's simple spreadsheet) has been run. You, I seem to remember are in an SMZ (Scottish Mozzi Zone), and so will be unlikely to want to open your house to the local hoards on a long summer's evening just after a lovely warm, wet downpour.

No, @mvincentd, you aren't. Planners appear not to care about clearly expressed language. Or readability. That would take effort and care. Simply expressed communication always requires inordinate levels of effort. I've scanned your conditions, and, at random pick one which is very poorly written; '....Before the development hereby permitted is commenced any entrance gates shall be set back a minimum distance of 4.50 metres from the edge of the carriageway and hung so that the gates can only open inwards...' 'Any' gates .... so you aren't required to have gates, but the purpose of the condition is to ensure safety. So, if you don't have gates, will the site be less safe? As written, you might conclude you might as well not have gates. How much easier to say: If you install gates at the property, they should be set back from the road by 4.5 meters. And by the way, have you seen any gates that are 4.5 meters long? No, neither have I. In which case it matters not a jot whether they open in or outwards.

If anyone is genuinely stuck, I'll translate for you if I have a moment..... but please use the @Fallingditch approach first. Ian

I'd heard of the shortage due to the fire, but not until I read the German press that 4 people have lost their lives.

Lord love a duck that's looking brilliant. I'm guessing that we will only be able to afford the Tupperware equivalent.

Slowly, oh so slowly that's where I've got to. To be kind to planners: I'm sure that a very robust approach by the developer is a reasonable response to the system overload. Most planners won't or don't care. And the vast majority of Enforcement Departments are very likely to be overloaded. To be unkind to planners' bosses; there is very little excuse for managing success so poorly. Those, however, who test the edges of illegal development - it's not unknown in Lancashire - make for much righteous indignation in Parish Councils, but good pub badinage.

They don't according to local lore. But knowing my luck.....

My research over a long period on exactly the same issue leads me to conclude that the answer varies by area, and by whom you ask. The answer below is no more than a summary of my own research and experience. Commonest answer: as soon as you break ground - as for example to connect services. Looking at our site, you'd be daft to conclude that we haven't started development. But technically we haven't. Not one sod has been turned: electricity and water comes from our own house (so no need for external temporary connections). The answer above also depends on whether the LPA feels minded to pursue those who might break ground (commence development) earlier than 'permitted'. Briefly, is there any point in an Enforcement Order on a site which will shortly have full permission and have all Conditions discharged? No, appears to be a common answer.

In the process of specifying our house lighting switches. We'd like to use as many occupancy sensors as possible (back door, loos, boot room, store room and maybe stair well). We'd also like to use those light switches that are switched by (say) a hand being placed near the switch - ie. no moving part in the switch. I have heard rumours about tiny LED lights which have PIR in built: strikes me as a perfect system for those of us who need a Precision Approach Pathway Indicator System (PAPI ) for the loo at night. When it comes to specifying in this area, I don't know what the Hell I'm on about.... you get the picture. Is there a Ladybird book for electric switch specifying? Or an online resource for neophytes like us? I want to avoid the scenario in which the electrician ends up doing our specifying for us. We're both prepared to put in the leg work. Thanks in advance. Ian

Right. That's that problem sorted.

The Germans have a saying about their favourite company AEG..... [roughly equivalent to GEC] Anschalten, Einschalten, Gaput. Loosely interpreted: On, Off, Broke.

Hey up Joe, getting serious then!

Hi, it's not so much the drill that matters: bit like iPhone-Android - it's the system that matters. Your choice of drill will inevitably colour your decision on other tools. And, unless you want several charging systems, then , like @Nickfromwales says, choose a colour and stick with it across the piece. Ja, ze Bosch drills for me Tommy!

There was I thinking I was the only one......that thought the inevitable harness while operating at height would get the way. It's the way those carabiner jaws can nip your cheeky bits when (and where) you least expect it.