Jimbouk

Will follow with interest. My pump had run for 7 years, so not too bad value. Ive just bought some seachem bio boost to drop into the tank as well, hopefully it will get the bacteria restocked / revitalised quickly….

Thanks for the advice. I had already read your useful thread, needed a new pump asap so got like for like, but pondering on keeping a spare for backup… i took the lid off the pump, but it had well and truly destroyed itself, masses of red dust from where it looked like the metal from the diaphragm mount had worn away the outside of the chamber…. I’ve ordered a service kit with the new one and will inspect on a more regular basis… it is a bit depressing when the new plant you installed is failing before the house is finished! In this case probably my fault though from lack of maintenance.. Will see if I can purge the pipe with something too, sadly no compressor….. looks towards MachineMart website…

Property has not been visited for a few weeks, and the electricity supply to condor asp waste treatment plant had tripped. The air pump , Charles Austin et120 had failed. Looking at my electricity consumption think it died 7 days ago, no waste has entered into the tank in this period. New one should arrive today, is it purely a question of reinstalling and turning on? will all the good aerobic bacteria have died? Is there an additive to get them restocked? seen bio boost but that looks to be for septic tanks(anaerobic bacteria?) I plan on turning on and then not using the property for a few days allowing the system to reboot, I’m concerned about the current contents discharge into the dispersal field and cause problems…. Am I overthinking thi?

Apologies for a thread revival, but it is hopefully relevant. We are five years into build, still not quite finished…. However the Cedar cladding that was lovingly treated with two coats of Osmo when fitted, is looking very sad for itself. What to do next, sand it all down and start agian with some coloured Osmo to give the new look. Sand it down and leave it to go uniformly grey ignore… Have numerous other tasks to do, but it is looking shabby and I don’t want the cedar itself to deteriorate. The front elevation got a refresh a couple of years ago, it faces due South in Devon, so lots of sunshine and over looks an estuary so lots of exposure to the elements. I know this is a clear case of ‘well that’s what happens when you use cedar…’ Welcome thoughts and advice

I posted a couple of years back about reducing the electricity consumption of my condor bio digester, the general gist was it is pennies running it and not worth the risk and cost of damage to blower, if it gets blocked up with sludge during off periods. Made sense. Time passes, build still not finished… almost there, mvhc unit, en-suite, external balustrades still needed. I’m paying almost 50p kWh peak and almost 20p KWh off peak, average 38.5p kWh for the next two years. So the blower is now costing the best part of £1 a day, £365 a year The house is empty 80% of the time, so I’m think can I install a small scale solar system to just supplement the mains? Will provide most of the power whilst sunny and house and empty, and contribute a little when house being used. Yes with hindsight I should probably have installed a full scale pv system, with batteries and feed in tariff. I didn’t and don’t have the cash to do so now. Is it is simple as buying a couple of 12volt panels Victron BlueSolar MonoCrystalline Panel 115W-12V https://www.es-store.co.uk/product_details.php?product=PVC-PAN-VE-115MONO&description=Victron-BlueSolar-MonoCrystalline-Panel-115W-12V&cat_desc=Solar-Panels&cat_id=98&show_menu=3 Victron Phoenix 12v, 800va 230v Sine wave Inverter https://www.es-store.co.uk/product_details.php?product=PH%2012/0800-VE.D-SCHUKO&description=Victron-Phoenix-12v,-800va-230v-Sine-wave-Inverter---Schuko-Plug&manufacturer=Victron&mf=4 Then connecting them to the consumer unit, don’t worry as the level of the question suggests, I will not be doing it myself! This would appear to pay for its self in the next couple of years…. Looks too good… I just need to know if it is as simple as that before disappearing down yet another worm hole Seem to be able to find lots of info on solar systems for off grid camper vans and 5kw on grid, but not much for micro generation on grid. Any thoughts or guidance welcomed, or is it just a case of leave it alone and finish building your house…..

@LinearPancakesI’m embarrassed to admit they I still have not got around to buying one! So still deliberating…. I have been impressed in the current hot weather by how cool that house has been, one of the benefits appears that mvhr might negate the issue of mosquitos entering via open windows at night. Oh and that I need it to get building regs sign off

I have lift and slide as the only access point to our house, work perfectly. Only downside is opening a tall hole when wet and cold outside,

Interested as to why they cannot be used with Heatmiser thermostats?

Sorry for.being ambiguous. Both

As do I

@SteamyTea your map does not lie have Hyundai Nexo, really clever tech. Just wish it had a charger hybrid style battery, even one with a 50 mile battery range, would make it a sensible proposition. When we ordered it there was talk of more stations, COVID has only slowed that. Heyho joy of being an early adopter;)

Following with interest. We really need the infrastructure in place, but it is a classic chicken and egg situation at the moment.. Have a hydrogen fueled car and using it in the South West is a challenge to say the least. Refuelling at a hydrogen supplied home would be great, but the pressure at which the gas is pumped into the cars tank is immense and requires significant pressuriisation, see the refuelling gauge below.

B & D it is then. Hardest option to connect up, but I should be used to that by now! Might as well do it properly ;) Thanks for the advice.

Getting towards the end of my build... the time has come to buy the MVHR unit and install. Think I’m going for the vent-axia sentinel sx from BPC, although they look to be suffering post lockdown stock availability at the moment... Anyone actually got one in operation? My dilemma is where to place the inlet and outlet. The unit is going into the external plant room on the side of the property, on the inside adjacent to A and B. The prevailing wind is from the South West (where the gazebo is), the obvious and easiest is to put the extract at point A and the inlet at point B. But I have read that if they are not on the same elevation an imbalance can occur, or is that more the case of being on opposite sides of the house, rather than a plant room? Otherwise I could put extract at B and inlet at C ( or even D if a 2 meter distance between is too close and 4m would be better). The plant room is 4.6m long and 1m deep. Advice much appreciated!

I’ve now done the best part of a thousand miles in the Hydrogen powered Nexo and am impressed. Refueling is not that different to a pay at the pump petrol experience, albeit rather harder to find a station. Real world range is about 320 miles, performance is adequate for a suv size vehicle, lots of tech inside, comfortable. Biggest draw back is other drivers not concentrating on driving when they realise they have just seen a hydrogen car, it has a fairly blatant hydrogen themed wrap on it What I can’t figure out though is why they only fitted a 1.6kwh battery into it. This uses the energy from regenerative braking and provides additional power when required, if they had fitted a battery with a 50 mile range capacity to it, that could be charged to supplement range and /or when hydrogen supply was not available, then they would have had a real game changer.