John latimer

First and foremost I am not an electrician, I just need some simple advice about split phase or single phase supply. I’m building a 5 bed house and have laid a service duct under the block and beam. I have received a quote from SSE to install a split phase electrical supply but they don’t want to run their cable as I had planned. Which means I’ll have to dig up some of the block and beam and it all seems a massive pain in the backside and I don’t really understand it. Here is the what SSE emailed me: ‘’I see on your plan that you have marked a yellow cable route that goes under the building and the across to the cut out / fuse position Due to the distance to the supply point we need to have some mains cable installed and then a service off that – we wouldn’t install mains cable under or through a building or put it into a duct as that de-rates the cable and also makes it vulnerable to overheating, that is why the 95 wavecon cable should go into an open trench so that any heat is dispersed into the ground If you look at the plan provided with the quote you will see I have therefore marked a route from the pole then underground between the U shaped area of the building and pot end that with a 20 meter 3 x 35 service off the end. The service can go in a duct from the pot ended 95 wavecon cable to the cut out position inside.’’ So my question is, although my plumber advised split phase because of the air source heat pump, do I really need it? What warrants installing a split phase over just a single phase? How much electricity is too much for a single phase?

I tried this and then panicked because the Celotex didn’t give me the u value I need. However my architect checked and it came out achieving the u value. So just be careful using this webpage as it wasn’t accurate!

I have a similar question in that I have ordered a large quantity of 150mm floor insulation from TP. They quoted me Reticel so I checked the p/a meets the u value I require which is 0.12 and it was fine. But on the invoice I see I have half 150mm Reticel and half Celotex coming. I can’t check if Celotex meets the u value because it gives an R value and I have no idea how to work that out. I’m sure it will be fine but would like to double check but don’t know how.

We are in a similar situation. I thought about a time sheet but it felt like we lacked trust doing that. He’s just billing us at the end of each week. We are paying for lunch hour. He’s an honest chap and I’m sure he’s not going to diddle us.

Hi, Slightly odd request but I was wondering if anyone in Dorset/Somerset would be willing to let me view their wastewater treatment plant. I’m north Dorset based, looking to put a wastewater treatment plant for a 5 bed in, in the next couple of months and would really like to view/listen to how noisy they are. I’m looking into a klargester Bioficient/WPL/Conder ASP. thanks

Thank you, that’s really helpful

When I have searched for previous feeds on this topic they seem to either be for houses that are built and have wifi. Or building plots with no electricity or anything. That’s why I was asking if anyone could give me ideas for a camera when we have electricity but no internet.

Thank you for the ideas. I am not great with technology and these sort of things so any feedback is helpful.

I know this has been asked before but I can’t find the answer I am looking for. Quite a few of the posts are a few years old. I am looking for some site security camera for a house I’m building. It is onside a country road, it’s very rural but a busy enough road. The foundations have started. I have electricity on site but no internet. We live about 10 minutes from the site so site security is going to be a worry. If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Are ecology ok with a traditional type of build? We are just about appoint our architect and want to check in case they want more energy efficient eg ICF or SIPS

Just out of interest what did you all build with to get the SAP rating over 85? I have just applied to go with Ecology and am in the process of working out how to build. I’ve got some SIP quotes but using SIPS will use up over half of my budget not leaving much for Groundworks and the rest of the build. ICF looks favorable. Or I build brick and timber frame but not sure how the energy ratings will turn out to get the mortgage.