Kuro507

I was hoping to try and use existing voids, conduit etc. If the conduit is installed in the panels, ready to empty patresses, before its put into place - then there must be an easy way for the electrician to have been able to run his cables around in them, and back to the board. Or is that usualy classed as first fix, which is the covered by additional finishes, making them unavailable afterwards?

We are just buying a 22 year old house thats constructed using a timber frame CPS, something I have not had before. (Concrete block and render outside finish) I have been told that there would be conduit in place from the factory for electrical wiring etc. Do any of you have any good references on CPS so I can learn more about it, start to understand how it fits together and where conduit would typicaly run? I assume the electirican would run cables in after panels are in place, but where do the cables join, would there be any acces point left for maintenance? Would there be some sort of service void to the fuseboard etc. We need to replace 3 bathrooms, possibly change some lighting, switches etc etc. So understanding how I can route power and network cables, hanging things on the wall etc are going to be useful.

I have insisted the Vendor get the survey done, I found a local expert that they have appointed. If something needs doing, of course its part of a negotiation. The obligation is on the seller to ensure its fit for purpose, or negotiate something with the buyer. Worst case we can meet in the middle, idealy not as generous as that. We are getting the house for a sensible price, but it was based on the assumption of no significant issues being found.

He's still fitting new septic tanks, rather than waste treatment plants?

We are in the process of purchasing a new home, its a relatively new (22 years old) timber frame house, however the septic tank predates it and was originaly for the old bungalow that used to be there. (Could easily be back from the 1950's) The septic tank is due to be emptied early October and then a specialist will survey and asses it the following day. Its located in the corner of the garden and the soakaway/drainage field is into the neighbouring field (nearest house at least 500m away). The title deeds provide rights to maintain the soakaway, as necessary. This is the last significant query on the purchase, so has the potential to hold things up. We are keen to try and get the purchase completed before end of October, to avoid any nasty suprises in the new Labour budget! Whats the likelyhood its going to be deemed unfit to meet the General Binding Regulations? If it doesn't, what sort of cost would we be looking at to have a new waste treatment plant installed instead? (3 bedroom house, 4 of us living there, 2 bathrooms and 1 WC) Any recommendations on type or manufacturer of treatment systems? Is there much maintenance required? How big are these systems and are they in-ground or do we need somewhere to site it? Thanks in advanced for thoughts on this.

We are just in the process of buying a new home, the EPC is a high C and I happened to notice a couple of mistakes. I decided to email the Company who issued it and ask if they could review it. In fairness to them, they accepted a couple of my points and that things like double glazing were incorrect and it should have been trippled glazed. I had some additional information on the timerframe construction, which again they took into account when re-doing the EPC. It improved 1 point, and thats it! Then at the end of the report, you get the usual - install floor insulation, install solar hot water (we have a combi, so would need a tank etc), install a wind turbine and it could be a 'A'. I know these SAP calculations are flawed and so much depends on what the assesor selects. But, by now there must be some knowledge out in the community about what main changes can be done to improve the numbers. Somebody must have sat down with one of the SAP programmes and tried different combiantions of options to see what difference it made to the numbers? It would be good to know what realistic improvements we could make to bring it up to a low B, its now at 79 and only needs 2 points to become a B. Some of the mortgage lenders are now offering lower interest rates to properties with A or B, so not only would it be worthwhile improving a few things to reduce our running costs, it could also reduce our mortgage cost. There is also a large possibility of us doing a single storey rear extension, where again insulation and building control 'expectations' are going to have to be considered. As always, I value your thoughts and ideas on this

Thanks, that makes sense. I was thinking about UV bulb life (and cost), plus of course the electricity cost. I will scratch it from my thoughts

I'm just moving to a house here in the UK with a private water supply, it will need a UV upgrade to meet current recommendations. My understanding is that the UV is permenantly on and typicaly the bulb lasts 12 months (9,000 hours). This particular system has a pressurised vessel to reduce strain on the borehole pump. I did some basic tests and could see that the pump controller worked very well at maintaining pressure (as seen on the gauge). If the presure dropped to 3bar, the pump kicked in and raised it back to 4bar, then went off - hen repeat as required. Would it not be possible to link the UV lamp to the borehole pump controller, so its only on while the pump is pushing more water into the system? Even if the UV stayed on for 30 secs after the pump stops, to take care of any residual flow) I could even install a timer of some kind, to monitor the UV lamp run hours. Thoughts?

I will definitely ask my Solicitor whether it needs to be registered, from what I heard it was drilled in 1994, so not recent. I believe it’s around 30m down.

Water has been tested, quality is ok, Ph needs slightly adjusting (its 6.8) but I suspect the Ph unit is empty of media. Also recomendation to install filter and UV to meet modern standards. A guick google does show sites talking about it being a requirement to register boreholes in England, will research further. No way we are going to use anything like 20,000 litres a day though, to exceed the limit. We don't use that in a year in our current home 😂

The house we are purchasing has a borehole, which we have finaly located.😀 I will get a local Company to come and survey it, to ensure its still fit for purpose. However, I would like to understand for myself how these systems are supposed to work and how they should be plumbed together. There is a currently a Grundfoss 170lt accumulator, Ph tank with backflow, all supplied by a Lowara 0.75kW pump. A water quality test was done and recommendations were to change the Ph from 6.8 (I suspect the Ph unit needs simply needs recharging), to add a filter unit and UV. What order should these be connected together, starting form the incoming water from the borehole/pump? For things like washing the cars, watering the garden etc. is there any sense in taking a feed to a garden tap from further back in the connected systems? Therefore not wasting money filtering or cleaning water thats not for human consumption? I'm likely to undertake most day to day maintenance myself, so understanding how it all works, getting spare parts ready is going to help. Thanks in advance for advide and guidance, its a steep learning curve!

I had looked on their previously, its definately not there. Is it mandatory for all installers of boreholes to register them, if only for private use and less than the daily limit?

As it happens, I have been contacting a number of local Businesses who install or manage Private water suplies. Sandra at ML Eden & Son came back to me yesterday witha ton of information, including a couple of photos of the borehole which show its location! Whilst they did not install it, they have maintained it in the past (not for 6 years). Now in discussion about survey and upgrades

I haven't done one before, although my Wife's last house already had one. Any guides or tips on making a bathroom, or en-suite, into a wetroom? We will be ripping most of it out anyway, so its the right time to consider it.

Are these traps easily maintained from above?