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I'll check later today about the flow temperatures. Another related question - when the cold weather does come in, will it be more efficient to just leave the heating on all the time. We have UFH downstairs and rads upstairs. I'm guessing it'll be better to leave the UFH on at 21C, as opposed to heating when we're using the downstairs during the day, then turning off art night, and back on again in the morning. Why advice here?

We have two meters that were installed near the boiler (for RHI). One's for electricity used for the heating, the other is the heating output. Is it as simple as dividing heat produced by electricity consumed? Our electricity used is 2184 Kw - heat produced 5216 kW, which works out to approx 2.3. If that's the case, that's not very good, is it, given it's only been in used since March (with a coldish May)?

Random question: what would be considered an acceptable COP for ASHPs in the UK?

In our ASHP the evaporator is placed at a higher level to prevent cold air recirculation, which according to the manufacture results in better performance levels. Don’t know if there’s any truth to this. As I’m looking into this by way of comparison, can I ask what brand and size ASHPs everyone has, with a rough annual COP?

What does that mean JS?

Incredibly insightful comments as always JS. I've started my own study to determine the performance of our heat pump to see if there is an increase at all at spring/summer temperatures versus the winter. The pump's only been in operation since March so my data is limited. But your insights are invaluable.

Our installers told us that in temperatures above 20C, DHW was negligible in terms of electricity requirements because the air that's being stripped is so warm which means that the heat pump doesn't have to work as hard. Having said that, we have a solar PV array with an iBoost that uses electricity that would have gone to the grid to power the immersion heater, so our ASHP hasn't even come on in the past 10 or so days.

Having moved into our new property almost a year ago, we've had to buy some different gardening tools for our manicured garden and field respectively. We purchased a cordless, battery operated Makita strimmer and lawn mower for our manicured garden, and a 1200W Ryobi strimmer for our field. Wanted to share first impressions with you all. Made some videos if anyone's interested. Makita strimmer and lawn mower review (YouTube): Ryobi 1200W strimmer review (YouTube)

I purchased an Einhell brushless impact driver this year. Transformed my diy world. My my question is what is the difference between brushless and brushed?

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to look at Qlon and see whether it'll do the trick.

I think the BP 4, when I look at it a few months ago (before I got intimidated by the prospect of installing the pump) was around £220, which was pricy (I thought). I think I'll consider the options you've provided - we don't need anything too pricey for this.

That's great JS - demystified the pressure for me. Thank you so much. Has anyone ever used the BP 4 DEEP WELL from Karcher? Any idea if they're any good/reliable?

Hi Jack - thanks for the suggestion. From an aesthetics perspective, a tank wouldn't work in our back garden, but that's a good idea. That would I would fill the tank using the pump; how would I get pressurised water to a hose then? Would I need another pump?

Thanks JS - that's a very detailed response. The water doesn't replenish at a rapid rate, so would have a bit cautious if we did a lot of watering in the garden. The one thing I've struggled to get my head around is switching pump on and off if it is connected to a tap, for example, and how that would work exactly. Is it as simple as turning the power on, and water would be there on demand. If the tap was "closed" and the pump was on, would that damage the pump? Perhaps it's better to just have the switch with an open hose so the water just comes out when the switch is turned on. I've looked at your recommendations - thank you. I was initially looking at this one because I can lower it to 15m: https://www.kaercher.com/int/home-garden/pumps/irrigation-pumps/bp-4-deep-well-16454210.html I honesty didn't think this exercise would require so much brain power.

We need assistance with sealing an extremely poorly constructed wood door in our conservatory. We've completed a number of projects around the house, and now need to turn our attention to sealing this drafty door before the winter. If you take a look at the photos, you'll see that we have a 1.5cm wide gap at the bottom of the door, and a similar one at the top. Last winter, we just ran some sticky rubber trimming to seal the top portion to prevent the rain coming in, but we need a solution to sort this out properly. I've given this some thought and as a newbie DIYer, I cannot think of a way that I can seal this gap to keep the wind and cold air out. The previous owners also appear to used the wrong paint on the exterior which is flaking given they claim to have painted the conservatory 18 months ago - so we'll be sanding this down in the weeks ahead and repainting with exterior paint but want to figure out how to seal these gaps in the door. Any suggestions would be massively appreciated.

Thanks Dave.

Great point about the switch for power - I was going to have this near the tap too. Do you know the brand of your pump, and how long has this been running now?

May I ask what you mean by "maintaining the well of the wall"?

We did three months of research prior to getting ASHP installers to come to our property. In the end, we invited six installers from boutique, small installers to large multinationals. There were so many "cowboys" despite us doing our best efforts to prescreen them. It was an incredibly tough decision to select an installer, and we finally selected a boutique installer that we fired on the first morning because they had no idea what they were doing and they sent one guy, yes, one guy, to install the system which included him getting a 150Kg ASHP out of the van by himself. We then opted for a new installer, a British manufacturer of ASHP - the installation of out 18kW ASHP was outsourced to their preferred installers who were reliable and very professional. We have an overview video which we think is very useful.

Not sure if this is the right forum. We have a walled well (which probably dates back to the mid-1800s) - the previous owners measured it by dropping a rope down and claim it's 60-feet deep. We are now ready to try and put this well to good use to water the garden. We need advice on what the best way would be to approach this and what kind of pump would be best suited.

We moved into a renovated Victorian farmhouse (built around 1850) along with a 2-acre field and our lives have changed completely. The plan is to be as self-sufficient and eco-friendly as possible. We have discovered home DIY, sustainable living and making our home as eco-friendly as possible. We have a lot of questions, which we hope can be answered here.