ToughButterCup

Yes lads. You two have forgotten more science than I'll ever know. First class opportunity for intelligent bods like you two to come up with a nice little after-market gizmo to tell us plebs "Ow much 'ot wada's left then?

Roll up Roll up! There’s a new game in town - the SunAmp Guessing Game. No, I’d never heard of it either until I was forced to play it. It goes like this. Install a SunAmp Uniq summat or other (14kWh - Ok, 13.7) Hitch it up to some solar panels Wait for the sun to kick the PV to life Watch the electrons being converted (via that Mr Eddi and Mr Solis) from this-to-that-to-the-other. (Very pretty little animation too) Look at the readout which tells you how many of those tortured electrons are sitting in your SunAmp waiting for you to Have a shower, wash the dishes, scrub grandchildren clean before their mother sees them Easy innit? Well no. And thats the game. See, SunAmp hide vital information from you. Like how much ‘hot water’ is ‘left’ in the tank. (Sorry nerds, can’t be arsed to describe it more accurately). Lets imagine the tank is full. Its been a lovely sunny day: full-speed charging of the SunAmp. And I take an 18l per minute shower (excessive I know but want, want, want). 10 minutes later I’ve got rid of a fair bit (say at least 160 litres - you can’t change the flow rate on the part of my shower that I use [iBox]) SWMBO has a bath - say 50 litres. Both at an unknown temperature but above 20. How many kWh’s worth have I used? No, I’m damn well not gonna take a thermometer out and measure the temperature during my shower or in her bath. So I can only guess how much ‘hot water’ is left. Anyway, couldn’t do the maths. Interesting. Next question: In relation to tomorrow’s DHW needs, Boost or Not to Boost ? (shunt mains electricity into the SunAmp instead of PV) What hot water are we likely to use before tomorrow? Some/any/nowt? Lets say nowt .... Well wassa weather forecast for tomorrow then? Partly cloudy for NW Ingerland Hmmmm, got enough water for our showers tomorrow ? So how many kWh is that likely to be? The only way I have solved this question (have we got enough hot water ‘left’ for tomorrow) is empirically. And annoyingly, the answer to this ‘game’ depends on how much cloud there is locally. Heavy clouds, easy, no cloud, easy. Partly cloudy: nightmare. Too little PV, I need to boost. Too much and PV generation goes into the grid. Sod that. The problem becomes guessing: how much sunlight will get through on a partly cloudy day. where is the sun in its cycle how many leaves on the trees the local wind effect on cloud (we live within the coastal strip: ie. in the ‘cleaner’ air mass) All because SunAmp can’t / won’t / CBA to give us normal users an indication of how much energy is left in the tank

Here's what you need. Follow the links in the page(s). In brief CDM 2015 does not apply to self builders. Take all reasonable care. Follow Best Practice. Do not do anything that suggests you might be a Client, and therefore NOT a Domestic Client. Be sure to know the difference between the terms Client and Domestic Client . That distinction is critical. I am not an expert. I've just done the hard yards doing the research so others can benefit. Do not follow my advice as if it is expert advice. It isn't.

use a micrometre son... you know it make sense

He's wrong. I'll leave the technical bits (of how to achieve it) to others, but I suggest that you should consider the need for your building to be as unreactive to temperature change as possible. Slow to heat up and just as slow to cool down. (Called a 'U Value' if you want to research further)

For each critical measurement, I now use all of the following: a (German) yardstick, a laser and then a (Swedish) steel tape. Sometimes I wait, do something else and re-do the measurements. If I can't get a consistent result, I use a story-stick, and measure that. I've recently taken to marking wood with a craft knife, not a 3H pencil. Maybe thats the difference between the different Fit Levels. With 3rd-fit stuff you can't mutter quietly " Nobody's gonna know" Each instrument has its strengths and weaknesses. But I remember @Nickfromwales advice about the issue (years ago). He was right - measure at least twice.

1.4kWh from mine so far today. Via Eddi.

I still want it. I just can't grow flowers for the life of me. And planting a dozen of these would show Debbie that I care about gardening. 🎱

But I want one. Now.

QS will be just as cheap and likely to be able to recommend the cheapest local deals - our QS marketed himself on the basis of that local knowledge. With a bit of luck a QS might save you some money.

I'm almost sure - without definitive evidence - that this is exactly what happened in our old cottage. The guy fitting the CWI mentioned the need to keep the cavity wall 'breather' brick open, but then promptly blocked it up by putting CWI inside the cavity. He tried to convince me how impossible it was (?) to ensure the airway was left open. I suggested that the sector must have a standard procedure for making sure that CWI didn't block the wall. You can't make this next bit up...... I had to leave for work, so nobody other than him was on site. He put a cowl on the outside of the one wall which had CWI in it (the others were solid - a meter or so thick) : it masked the fact that there was no breather grill behind it. And promptly left the site. I rang to complain. Was dealt with politely. And nothing happened. Except the growth of mould on the inside the wall treated with CWI. So I put a small bookcase in front of it. (If our car engine makes an unexpected noise I promise I don't turn the radio up louder to mask the noise.) Job's a good'un

No. Focus on issues Material to the Application. Everything else is hot air. Here's a good overview of what they are- and what they are not. https://www.charnwood.gov.uk/pages/material_and_non_material_considerations

No @Happy Valley, but I am going to submit a second application, and then appeal the (almost inevitable) refusal. If nothing else, it'll make good material to post of BH.

Submitted July 2021, paid May 2022.

You need an answer from a competent professional with experience of having done the same kind of thing. Find an SE with experience of adding another floor to a house..... Has yours got that sort of experience? I ask because not all SEs have the same experience - and I've suffered from one who over-specified because he didn't understand the product we were talking about. He just went by 'the book'

Welcome. Competence. What you are asking for is basic, normal practice for a competent kitchen installer. Unless your system has some particular quirk.... The only question I'd be asking is - Can you show me examples of your previous work : not just verbal recommendations, actual examples of the tradespersons work.

BC has nothing at all to do with the quantity or quality of the discharge. They focus on the pipework, gradient and physical layout. Commonly, they don't even inspect that beyond glance or - recently- a photograph.

Oh, I wish you'd told us that earlier. Who is they? Why should you take responsibility? To what extent are agencies involved and what have they said? In terms of BC sign off, once thats done, its done. What's the issue with the sign off?

The General Binding Rules (GBR) are , it seems to me , more honoured in the breech than the observance. Because they don't care. Its the same locally (NW England) - they can argue they don't police the discharge, thats the EA's responsibility. All Building Control care about is the quality of the pipework to the system. They don't even care if the digester or septic tank leaks. (Because it's got f'all to do with them). Forget the BC sign off. It's done, it's history. and You have an evidence base: in short, you have a (possibly) non-compliant foul drainage system, and you know where it discharges. And that discharge cannot be inspected by you without permission I suspect? But the discharge isn't on your land. Correct? My advice based on bitter, smelly experience is Document the system Tell your neighbour (formally if necessary) that the system is non-compliant under the GBR. Then, EITHER Tell the EA about your non compliance OR Keep schtumm. If you tell the EA, all they will do is offer advice . They are highly unlikely to do anything about it at all If you don't, since the discharge is not on your land : happy days Then Wait for something to go wrong with the drainage system. If I were you and you are still unable to get your message across to your neighbour, I'd think hard about not paying for your share of the costs of cleaning out the tank. Doing that tends to focus minds a bit - but even that hasn't (in our case) made any difference whatsoever. The one key factor in this is that we are dealing with soft and smelly stuff. And people tend to ignore it. If (and its a massive - if - ) it comes to a tangle with the EA, then thats what your neighbour will say, and there, I suspect, the matter will end. Forget the BCO sign off. Wait for a foul drain problem. In all likelihood, nowt will happen. Please don't regard my response as dismissive: I think you are understandably over-worried. If the filtered foul liquor disappears, nobody takes much notice these days, despite regulatory statements to the contrary.

here's a reasonably reliable source of data for the year 2019 -2020. I've had a quick look and there is some surprising data .... (eg) only 77% of pension credit uptake... those who need it most, I suspect.

This is perhaps a bit too generalised for you but, its a start. Its the term '....official politics... ' that confuses a bit.

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Yep, down to the foundations ....🤪 If you need to ask the question, the answer is almost always ....yes....

Welcome. You appear to me to be asking BH members collectively to suck their teeth and say... "Welllllllll, it could be, but I'm not sure ..... on the one hand this, .... on the other that...... (But that won't stop us offering opinions 😉) So, get a proper survey done, and reduce the offer by the cost of the survey (and the repair) plus +100% if there is a problem. We just can't tell on the basis of a few photographs. Ian