Triassic

How sustainable of the both! There was an item on our local talk radio on the increase in interest in repair clubs from people sick of throwing things away for the want of a simple repair. I recently visited my local dump with a 15 year old computer case, I’d striped it of things I could reuse, and the skip of electrical goods was full. A sad state! Shame on Stuart Turner and Triton Showers!

Maybe the moral of this story is not to buy Stuart Turner shower pumps as they don’t provide adequate Support for spare parts.

As of January 2015, individual spare parts are no longer available for Monsoon, Showermate, Techflo, Flomate and Wasteflo product brands. However, a new and simplified set of Service Kits are available and these can be purchased on-line at www.stuart-turner.co.uk/where-to-buy.

I feel for you! We’ve also got a basement and digging it out went from an estimated 4 weeks to 12 weeks. Luckily we have a large sloping site so we were able to loose the excess spoil on site and I did all the labouring so as to keep costs down.

Just a quick update. Following the advice about we ordered samples of each. We chose the colours off the brochure, wow it’s hard to visualise what a whole wall will look like in reality and how they will contrast with the dark grey aliclad windows! This self Build game isn’t easy!

About half of the exterior of our Timber Frame house is covered with fibre cement cladding and as the house arrives next week I thought I’d better get on and order the cladding.. Has anyone got any experience of using fibre cement cladding, how easy is it to fit, cut, handle etc. Can anyone recommend a particular manufacturer and supplier? ps. Just had an email from a James Hardie Building Products, apparent their local stockists are B&Q and Topps Tiles. I find it strange they don’t distribute their product through builders merchants!

My wife wants to create a project plan for our build. Can anyone suggest any suitable free software?

If that’s the case would anyone like to buy an unused Sunamp and some solar panels, as I’m going back to an oil fired boiler, it’s going to the cheaper than grid electricity

Can’t wait for the Sunamp office to open tomorrow for an answer to the question about PV charging !

Frame up in January Roof on in February Windows installed March First fix electrics and plumbing in April Exterior cladding and render in May Plaster boarded in June Plastered in July Second fix plumbing and electrics in August Paint and decorate in September Fit the kitchen in October Final snagging in November Move in early December! And in the really world, worry how your going to get a house built in 12 months.

I did wonder, given that smart meters are becoming more widely available, if the end of FiT would provide a small technology type company the opportunity to buy excess solar generation, to be sold on in bulk by them.

The SAP assessment isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on! Another worthless piece of legislation.

Sorry I’m away from home at the moment, as soon as I’m back I’ll post something. In the meantime maybe others have something they could post?

They go on to say...... “The true action of those settings is closer to “don’t charge unless mostly empty” (‘ON’) and “charge when still nearly full” (‘OFF’). The latter is clearly better with a PV self-consumption device. Even better mode planned 2019.” Well that clears that up then!!

Sunamp Tweeted this yesterday. “Planning an update in the New Year that fully implements PV self-consumption mode for: Combi (opportunity charge from PV) Electric hot water (as above plus timed charge periods - may require external timer tbc) Happy Christmas ? ? ? ?” im still confused!

Or it’s just a way of buying the PI, the research, the people and the manufacturing capability, cheaply!!

Our Timber Frame arrives in January, however the chief buyer (the wife!) has just informed me that her laptop has packed up and she needs a new one ! As I’m a complete numpty when it comes to computers, can anyone suggest a suitable laptop. We won’t be using it for anything too heavy, just surfing the net, buying things online, email, forum browsing etc. Any pointers to cheap Boxingday deals?

I wonder how long it’ll be before the Salty company is taken over by Google?

When my dad was building houses back in the 1980s building waste was buried on site. On one site this included an old Transit van which failed its MOT.

Mine had 4 setting, low to high. If it’s in the lowest click it up a setting and try the system out. If it trips, click it up a setting, and so on.

Do you have a buffer tank in the system? Is there a second pump on the UFH manifold? Do you have a filter \ magnetic crud collector in the system? i sound like the rad thermostats ans/or UFH stats are closing reducing the flow, thus causing the ASHP to trip on low flow. Maybe a bigger bypass is required?

Sun amp and Ovo have just got a £1.6 million Government grant to develop the technology. Just found Some further info on the subject https://www.vcharge-energy.com/ Sunamp and Ovo have put out a joint statement https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-newsroom/press-releases/2018/december/cheaper-cleaner-smarter-ovo-and-sunamp-secure-funding-to-transform-how-we-heat-our-homes.html

I see that Sunsmp and Ovo energy have announced a partnership with Vcharge. According to the blurb.... ”VCharge is OVO’s proprietary platform and the first system of its kind. VCharge is a highly scalable, intelligent technology platform that captures the value of flexibility present in domestic assets of different types. VCharge remotely connects distributed flexible electrical devices (electric vehicles, home batteries, storage heaters) and uses a range of market, device and customer preferences to determine the most appropriate actions to maximise value. VCharge provides the intelligence and control necessary to symbiotically react to changes in demand and supply, enabling our transition to a cheaper and low carbon energy system.” Any thought on its applicability to Self Build pioneers?

There was no response from Sunamp. Maybe if we all went onto the Sunamp Facebook page and asked similar questions or added comments we might get a response.

HSG33 makes clear that the batten should meet certain minimum requirements and one of these is that: the battens are a minimum size of 50mm x 25mm and meet the grading requirements specified in BS 5534 Code of practice for slating and tiling (including shingles) and NFRC Technical Bulletin 33 Graded battens for slating and tiling.