PeterW

This is more out of curiosity than a technical query - has anyone fitted a magnaclean or similar in their system circuits where you just have UFH...? I've looked at the components and other than the heat exchanger in the tank and the ASHP, the rest of the components are predominately plastic. I've got a "requirement" from the ASHP manufacturer to fit a strainer in the return to the ASHP unit but I'm considering just putting one of the IntaKlean units in the circuit as it has both mesh filter and magnetic filter although I doubt there is much ferrous material in the system. Thoughts..??

Velux technical services are usually pretty good to help. First thing to check is that the window is square in the frame as that causes problems before you start. Usually if one corner is down slightly you get some leaking but if it’s both corners then it sounds like the seals aren’t correctly fitted.

Yep however to flush them out and fill full of water it’s not that important but I agree @Nickfromwales for the pressure test you need to get the right size ...

Right .... job done ..! Wickes had their latex SLC on offer so it’s worked out about £13 a bag. I learned two things today .... the first is that a bag of SLC and 4 litres of water will fit in a standard Wickes bucket .... The second was that Wickes make their buckets out of recycled milk carton lids and they can’t cope with the weight ...!! Lost about 10% of the first bucket to the utility floor, the rest got mixed in a couple of batches and seemed to be fine when it was mixed into the rest on the floor.....

I reckon it will have water in it as there is nowhere for it to go, so I would flush it with clean water to find the loops if you use a pair of JG Sp****it appliance taps you can normally get them to push onto the pipe and then hook the hose to that - as soon as you work out which loop is which, run the hose through them for a few minutes to flush out any crud.

+1 to that It is also the reason most rebate kits can appear to have a slightly wider offset on the rear door so they can swing past each other.

Hi Conor - like @ProDave I would suggest the best course of action would be to pressure test the loops. I would expect any damage would have been caused to the exposed pipework at the manifold so I would check that first. Removing the manifold will create you a few issues but I would want to test each loop to a minimum of 4 bar wet pressure and leave it for 24hrs to show any leakage. You may end up digging out some of the pipework near the manifold to extend the existing loops if they were damaged but that is par for the course in this sort of situation.

I would say the answer is “it depends”.... There are lots of materials out there with very tight manufacturing standards that are far in excess of the UK BBA requirements, and lots of countries sign up to stuff like TuV etc. Bringing those materials in shouldn’t be an issue as they have a provenance and MIs that should help with their approval. When you get into more obscure materials from countries without any recognisable standards, or where you are using a material for something it’s not normally used for such as making your internal walls from Siberian yoghurt pots, then you are into having to do a lot more proving that they will meet a standard and do a job. The good news is that the Approved Documents are just one way of proving adherence to the Building Regulations that are in the statutes. You will need to work with an engineer and the BCO to make sure that you understand how this all works together. But it if it makes you feel better, look around at how many stone cottages with thatched roofs and lime plaster walls are still standing 300 years on - let’s see you find a kite mark or spec for a lump of sandstone ..!!

That flooring looks good - what is it ..?

Thanks @Russell griffiths - that was my thoughts from how hard it sets but just wanted some first hand experience ..! I’ll probably go with that and paint it - flooring is black limestone though ..!

Got a little bit of an issue ... the boss has chosen a very nice limestone flooring that we are using through most of the downstairs. The plant room(s) will both open onto a corridor done in this, but due to a couple of reasons we won’t have the flooring for about 6 weeks. It’s also 22mm thick ..! I need to get the tank and first fix finished so was thinking that as a finished floor (and to bring the level up) I could use self levelling compound on the current floor with a batten to set the door level. Two questions : - assuming it will take the load of a 300litre UVC, will it stand the wear - does it need a finish surface such as paint..? I don’t really want a step down into the plant room of an inch or so if I can help it but that’s the other option. @Nickfromwales...??

Ok - who is your warranty with ...?? You have a contract with the warranty company, not with the approved inspector as they appoint the inspectors (you just pay for it......) You need to point this lot out to the warranty company as they are not aware of what is going on - have they issued any remediation or stage reports to you ..? If its with BZSS I may be able to help you with a name of who to talk to - and they will listen ....

Apparently we haven’t built to the approved plans from the planning application either ...... but if they checked, they would find we had built to the approved ones from the non material amendment application ..!! And that was from a random stranger who was walking past the end of the drive ..! Neighbours aren’t too bad as we are at the end of a private no through road.

I’d be ditching the timers and switches in favour of using contactors in their own dedicated CU or enclosure. A 32A contactor coupled to a DIN rail time switch will do the bottom one, also allows for upgrade to 6Kw if you want to. The top one I would again use a 32A contactor but use a time delay relay to drive the contactor and that can be driven off a momentary push switch to energise the relay. All nice and neat in a 4 way CU that could be lockable if needed to keep fingers out.

.... which are lovely when served with a slightly piquant sauce and stir fried vegetables .....

TBH if Virgin is available I would go that route as they have some silly offers on fibre at the moment and you can get upwards of 200mb speed easily. They will dig the trench etc and duct to the house but beware as they don’t like going down more than 6” from experience ...!!

I had the proper Egger Protect P5 down for 4 months open to the elements and it didn’t budge - had a few puddles at some points too ..! That stuff is designed to stand 90 days exposed, with 35% rain and I think in total we only had 12-14 days of rain in the end.

Was going to get some Wiha PZ2 bits as they seem to have lasted pretty well. Only got 450m of batten to fix anyway ....

Not the same guy that @curlewhouse is having the issues with is it ...??!!

@daiking it is £219 but I also got a discount on that too as I had a £10 voucher. Got to say the impact driver is superb - not quite sure how my Wiha bit holder will stand up to it but ......

Yeh I saw that one on t’Bay for about £54......

Let me check - I buy it by the pallet ..... looks about £1.80 but my maths may be rusty and I’ve not had enough coffee ..!

Nah they do two chargers still @Nickfromwales - one is “up to 60 mins” for a 4Ah battery.

@Nickfromwales that’s the benefit of going with something such as Frametherm against “ordinary” wool as it has a much better structure that resists compression. We stacked up 600mm to see how much it compressed - lost about 15mm over a week.

So by way of update I’ve gone with the Makita LXT 18v and have both drill and impact driver. I priced up getting the individual components (just after I gave @Ferdinand my spare LXT rapid charger....) and unless I bought pattern batteries I couldn’t match an offer from Screwfix that included two genuine 3Ah batteries with a standard charger. I’ll probably add a couple of pattern batteries and a rapid charger and then the circular saw. Its not like I didn’t need a nice early Christmas present to myself anyway ...