rbw

We are faced with a similar positioning conundrum, though in our case driven more by aesthetics rather than noise. Wherever we choose to position our ASHP it will not be up against the house so our plan is to use Mibec pre-insulated pipe (likely their Primo Duo product). Mibec’s brochure has heat loss graphs on page 37, one of which I have copied below. Hopefully here with the requisite knowledge will likely be able to translate these into temperature losses for given flow/return/ground temperatures and distance.

I’d say to be wary of costs per square metre unless they are clear about what they include. Also, as others have mentioned so much is site and design dependent. For example, is there an existing property on your site? Are there already the right services? How much glazing is there in relation to square metre size? Etc etc.

just saw this and assumed it was suitable... “Complete with high surface area coil for Heat Pump“

I think Telford do one... https://www.telford-group.com/product/horizontal Brand Telford Lead Time 2 - 5 working days Capacity (litres) 300 Heating type Indirect Immersion 1 x 3kw Water supply Unvented Height (mm) 650 Width (mm) 1650 Depth 550 Warranty Lifetime edit - just seen the requirements to handle UFH circuit too so ?‍♂️

Sent you a PM.

Building in Wiltshire and using private inspector. Service has been great as far as I’m concerned but then I don’t have much experience to compare to. Chose private as Wiltshire planning were so incompetent that I didn’t want to risk anything like the same (I know they’re separate but I was cross at the time!). Also could use the same private inspector for our warranty - seems to have saved a lot of hassle.

Was looking mainly at taps with these, not showers. Was interested in if they were any better than standard 3 axis mixer taps. Sounds like they are to be avoided.

Thanks, that’s good insight. Also sounds like they would fall foul of the guest test by not performing with expected behaviour. I wonder why they seem so prevalent right now in my searches right now, I’ve never come across them before.

Title says it all really - I was wondering if anyone had any real world experience (good/bad/indifferent) with progressive mixer taps? These taps control all temp and flow in a single movement. They start cold, increase flow, then mix hot into full flow, then end up full flow full hot. I can’t work out whether this is intuitive and useful in practice or is confusing compared to standard 3 axis mixers. They make for a nicer looking tap in my opinion but form over function is useless!

A Dutch company called zwart hout, some other place in the uk that I forget the name of and permachar that are linked above. Ended up going with permachar as they were helpful, had the nicest looking samples for the type of char and face width we wanted. That said, we don’t have it on site yet so can’t vouch for the delivered product.

It’s strange - the stuff I’m using doesn’t look or feel like it’s sealed but it also does not rub off on your hands or clothes at all, char is about 2mm deep. I’ve seen quite a few other samples and some of them have a very soft char layer that feels very delicate and can be picked off easily and will rub off to a degree.

The deeper the char the longer it will last. Eventually it will weather back to the timber beneath, how long that takes will depend on exposure afaik. I’ve seen buildings in Japan that are around 80 - 100 years old with original shou sugi ban, some is almost back to wood colour and others still pretty black depending on location. It often seems to fade from the top of the timber to the bottom. Be aware that in Japan they use a specific timber for this, it’s a soft wood and I understand that hardwoods are less suitable. Apparently you can also prolong the life significantly with oiling every few years. We’ll be using this on our project with a very deep char, but the site is not very exposed and most of it will be under eaves etc so I expect it to last quite well. Fingers crossed!

I asked a related question here:, thread might be useful to you @ashthekid My conclusion is that for my case this should be possible given the right type of insulating pile. Google Mibec insulated pipe - that’s likely what I’ll end up using. Admittedly this will be more like 20m but if you look at the spec the heat loss doesn’t seem too bad.

You could use 3 phase track as used mainly in commercial and retail settings. You can fit luminaires from any manufacturer as it’s pretty much a universal standard plus you get the advantage of up to 3 circuits on the same track and are able to reconfigure luminaires to a different circuit by just unclippping them and flipping a switch. Can be recessed or surface mounted. Price ranges vary but definitely worth looking at.

From our experience I wouldn’t say it tastes yuk, but it’s definitely not as pleasant to drink as the water from the kitchen sink without the softener. I would leave the kitchen sink taps hard and will be doing so on our current build. I guess it depends a lot on your local area though. North west Wiltshire here.