Gone West

Excellent! Wendy particularly likes your console table .

Sounds interesting, I'll keep my eyes open for future pictures.

No, it's just a picture I've got showing open cladding.

Ideally the windows would be set back into the wall behind or in line with the insulation.

It's only the sewage treatment plant that causes a problem when there's a long power cut and I'm not worried about other things. We do get cuts lasting from one to three hours occasionally but I guess it's part of living out in the sticks. With the current gales we'll probably get one this weekend.

We shouldn't get power cuts very often because they've replaced all the poles, transformers and cables recently in our area, but we had one the other day for an hour or so. I guess it's just one of those things that isn't a serious problem.

My sewage treatment plant runs off it's own supply from the shed. When there's a power cut we have to limit the amount of waste water used because it's pumped up to the soakaway. I would like an automatic system the keeps powering the sewage treatment plant for around two hours when there is a power cut. The airpump uses 80W continuously and the submersible pump uses 240W, when it runs, which is around half a dozen times a day. I've looked at UPS systems which seem to be mainly for computer type systems and automatic transfer switch generators which seem over the top for a total of 320W. Has anyone got a backup system like this and what type is it?

Just the opposite of Wendy, who hates draughts and likes the whole house to be 23C/24C all day, every day, all year round.

I thought the point of MVHR is that fresh air is being brought in continuously so you wouldn't want to open the windows. If you have MVHR and feel the need to open windows then the MVHR isn't set up correctly.

The water is very hard here and the softener I use removes all the hardness. The anode for the Genvex is magnesium and cost £102 all in from the UK, although they are cheaper from Europe.

The surface area would decrease with time but presumably the material would be lost at the same rate as a volume. I guess the most loss from the anode which is at the threaded end is because the enamelling around the anode hole flange isn't complete. There's no scale formed. I shone a torch into the tank and it's clean but it looks like the anode has a soft coating which may be NaCl from the softener.

I have an enamelled DHW UVC in my Genvex which is fitted with an anode. The manual says the anode should be checked every two years and the expected lifetime is 2 to 5 years so I took it out today after 2 years 9months and it doesn't look much different to the new one, just a bit pitted. The manual says it should be replaced when down to 10mm diameter. The dimensions of the new one are diameter 33.5mm and length 469mm and the removed one 31mm diameter and 440mm long. Calculating the volume of magnesium lost from the anode I reckon it to be about 1/4 of the original. If that's the case the anode should last around eight years. Does that sound right? I have fitted the new anode and don't want the faff of draining the tank down unnecessarily so is it reasonable to to assume it should last at least five years.

IIRC ours had to go a certain way up.

Spray foam would be the best choice as it should stick to the corrugated steel as long as the surface temperature is high enough. The only problem is the cost. I'm not sure whether a thin layer of spray foam with a layer of Rockwool on top would be a problem with interstitial condensation but would be cheaper than all spray foam. https://www.dupont.co.uk/products/froth-pak-180.html https://www.abbuildingproducts.co.uk/froth-pak-180-spray-foam-kit-inc-9ft-hose-gun.html

This is ours warts and all.

Yes is the short answer. Nothing is perfect, people, buildings, whatever you can think of.

@ZacP it was £4400 which was the cheapest by a long way. This was for removal and disposal of all the 8'x4' chrysotile asbestos wall sheets that lined all the internal walls and ceilings and for the disposal of the roof slates which I removed.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your build.

Same as ours. The most expensive part was the asbestos removal.

Ours worked out at 64% for a PH.

Our tomatoes got a real hammering from the strong North wind this weekend so this is the last pick. This has been our best year yet for tomatoes and we've been picking two or three times a week throughout the summer. Wendy grew them from seeds from a supermarket cherry tomato that tasted particularly good. I planted eight of them out into pots and we just kept chopping the top off the plants when they got over 1m high.

There's another free AECB webinar about airtightness on 1st October. https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aWesPg6_QuWAior4F5lxsg

We leave ours on all day, everyday. You can turn it off in the summer if you want, and use windows, but we don't bother.

Lots of the apple orchards around here aren't picked until October.

On submersible pumps I have had the cable which is attached to the float switch gradually harden over time and as it becomes less flexible it doesn't want to float. It is possible to lift it manually but not for it to float naturally.