Thorfun

I'm the other way around, can't stand Android phones. 😛

Hi all. I'd like to revive this thread as I'm back on the battery storage research trail again after our M&E consultants no longer offer it and have refunded my deposit for a Tesla Powerwall 2 and left me to my own devices to source another. I got a quote from a local certified PW2 installer and the price has increased by £2k in the 18 months since I was last quoted and so I cannot afford a PW2. I have been looking at other options. I have a 10.5kWp array with Solaredge optimisers on each panel (28 x 375W) with a Solaredge single phase HD Wave 10kW inverter. I want the battery storage to be able to power the house in case of a power cut. As I already have an inverter the Hybrid systems don't work for me unless I eBay my inverter and even then they tend to be 5kW inverters max. so, from what I can see, my options are as follows: 1. Tesla Powerwall 2 - £703/kWh - too expensive so not actually an option 2. Sofar ME3000SP with Pylontech batteries - £375/kWh - (https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/sofar-storage/sofar-me3000sp-us3000-type-c-kits) 3. Sofar ME3000SP with Sofar battery pack - £405/kWh (https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/sofar-storage/sofar-me3000sp-gtx5000-kits) (https://www.sofarsolar.com/product-detail/566/GTX5000) 3. Lux ACS 3600 with Pylontech batteries - £617/kWh (online price here https://www.thesolarpeople.co.uk/shop/lux-power-battery-storage/ I think includes installation so figures might be wrong and further investigation that requires actually speaking to people will be done) 4. Sonnen Battery 10 with Sonnen protect - I'm awaiting a quote from a Sonnen installer. I could only find the hybrid version to buy online (but I have to admit I didn't look that hard!) all the other battery storage options are either Hybrid or don't have EPS functionality. have I pretty much got it all covered? if so, the Sofar with Pylontech is definitely looking like a very good option although I'm a little put off by Midsummer's comment "Wifi commissioning is vastly easier on the Android app over iOS. Only use iOS if no Android device is available." as we're an Apple household and don't have any Android devices. any comments or suggestions please? oh and before it starts I'm not interested in payback periods etc I'm just looking for a cost effective way of storage for our excess solar PV! 😉

Hi @MikeGrahamT21, I'm currently looking at battery storage as our M&E consultant has dropped doing it, refunded my deposit for a Powerwall 2 and left me to get on with it and find another supplier. I got a quote for the PW2 but it is stupid money and so I've been looking at the Pylontech batteries and either a Sofar ME300SP or a Lux Power ACS 3600 as a cheaper alternative with my sparky fitting it all. I know you've been looking at battery storage for a while now. did you make a decision and press the button or not?

we have a timber frame rather than SIPS and our TF manufacturer was more than happy to delay the manufacturing of the TF to suit our groundworks delays so I'm really surprised the SIPS manufacturer is saying they'll charge you for storage if there are delays! Ask them what lead time they need to manufacture the panels and then work backwards from that while adding a few extra weeks for potential issues. e.g. if they say they need 4 weeks lead time then when the Groundworker has got to a stage that they're 2 weeks away from finishing inform the SIPS company that you'll be ready in 4 weeks. yes, you may have a 2 week period where nothing is happening on site as you're waiting for the SIPS panels but that is a lot less stressful than trying to fit everything perfectly in a timeline. that was one of the first things I learnt! when I came to that realisation I started to stress less and things just flowed a lot better. remember things always take longer than you think (or are told) they will.

our makeshift raising of the TV to fit the Soundbar underneath. I'm sure it could be neater but as we're demolishing this house I didn't want to spend time or money on it but I guess it might give you an idea.

+1 for this! I've just finished installing 190mm glass wool batts in the roof and I wish I'd got deeper trusses and used blown in cellulose. it's not a job I want to repeat. don't worry about itchiness. just make sure you put overalls on and have a full face mask and you'll be fine.

I should add that the battens are solid so it's not the wall that feels squidgy per se but the PIR behind the battens. so I've no concerns about the solidity of the plasterboard on top once added.

my apologies to @DragsterDriver for hijacking the thread but I have another question about this as I work through doing the work. I have put up battens over the AVCL and all is good....apart from the fact that the wall feels 'squidgy' due to the PIR not being solid. this is probably expected. but I'm wondering if I should've covered the AVCL with OSB before battening to give a more solid base for the battens to rest on? Another thought I had was that with 25mm deep battens and 12.5mm plasterboard there is only 35mm for fixing things to the walls using plasterboard plugs. is that enough is what I was wondering or am I running the risk of, down the line, puncturing the AVCL when I attach things to the walls? so I could, in theory, add 11mm OSB to the front of the battens and then plasterboard directly on to that to give more room for fixings? obviously, OSB in either position is going to add substantial cost to the build so I wonder what others have done that have PIR internally to the TF studs. I've got this far in one room so still not too much effort to take the battens down, tape up the holes and start again!

Welcome. Property looks like a brilliant project. Personally I’d be looking to get a decent architect involved as soon as the contracts are exchanged! But not before. We got overly excited when buying a place and hired an architect who designed a lovely house etc only for someone to come in and gazumped us 2 weeks before we exchanged contracts! An expensive and emotionally draining learning experience. i’m a believer in knowing your limits and my design skills are very limited so I’d be leaving it to the professional designers. best of luck with it all.

If I was to ever self build again this is the route I would take. Fitting glass wool and PIR yourself saves money but is a real pain and slow and maybe the one thing, so far, I wish I’d done differently.

no. hence the 'I'm probably completely paranoid' statement! I don't know if PIR off-gasses harmful chemicals and so I wanted to put a separate VCL in place rather than just tape the PIR just in case. I've done lots of things in my build 'just in case'. I'm sure it's added a sh!t load of cost to the build but better safe than sorry! 🙂

the release of chemicals from the insulation over time. top hit from google. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/what-is-off-gassing I'm probably completely paranoid though!

they didn't even do that when I contacted them and said they didn't have a UK partner. maybe you need to have a word with them? although that was back in July 2020.

but if you're getting Gaulhoffer windows from @craig then go for it! as @Bitpipe has attested to.

Roma don't sell direct. I had a little rant about it here. 😉

I used Isover 32 batts and worked perfectly for 600mm centre studs. ironically though in our house there aren't too many studs that are 600mm centres due to panel joins, extra studs for support of windows etc. so we ended up having to cut a lot of it anyway. https://insulation-uk.com/products/isover-timber-frame-batt-32 this is the stuff we used. got it from Jewsons.

yeah. our installer threw a wobbly when I complained that he caused a 6 week delay by sitting on questions from Warema (which put me completely out with regards to the timber cladding, scaffolding, drainage and other follow on trades, not to mention the financial impact that a 6 week delay can have on a build) and he basically told me to find another installer. so I've found another installer locally to me who offers many external blinds and I'm in the process of getting quotes for them. once I've made a decision on who to go with and got them installed I will update here.

coz i'm a sucker for marketing. 😉 I wanted some kind of barrier to reduce off-gassing from the PIR in to the house and using polythene sheeting just didn't 'feel' right to me so I wanted something with technology that could potentially help in it. and after shopping around I found I could get the bee-knees stuff from Germany for cheaper than a cheaper AVCL so figured why the heck not! I don't know if it'll make a difference but if I didn't use it I'd always be thinking 'I wonder if using Intello plus would've been better?'

was told by local BM that timber prices will be going up next month. and PIR. definitely chose the wrong time to build a timber frame well insulated house!

nice one. added to my list to research nearer the time.

Aluclad

nowhere in the MI does it say you have to stop and stir. it just works. ain't technology great?

I can recommend Norrsken. offices based in Poole where they have a good display of their windows. great quality and the fitters they used for our job (Elite Installations Nationwide (https://www.eliteinstalls.co.uk/contact) were excellent. based in Leeds but they travelled down and stayed locally for the duration of the job. obviously, I can't comment on any of the other fitting teams that Norrsken use but if they're anything like Jim @ Elite then you'll be on to a winner. 🙂

agreed. it's much nicer not having a turntable. we have a Panasonic combi with a steam function which is great for steaming Bao buns and gyoza. it also has a great feature that Panasonic marketing call 'Panacrunch'. basically it's a low level microwave function with a grill as well. so it will heat the item and also crunch up the top. my only criticism is that it takes a long time for the oven to get up to temperature.