Alexphd1

There is very little extra cost in running UFH pipes in to a insulated raft foundation. Even if you don't use them it's not a major. Gives you a second heating and cooling option at a later date.

We used stainless for valleys and soakers. DIY from ofcuts from roof.

I need to run the pipes from the unit out to the soffits. I have 160mm female EPS connections. Options are to reduce to 150mm and use plastic or galv metal or use the expensive pre insulated 160mm EPS pipe (verplas) . Any pros or cons in each pipe material . I am spraying open cell insulation afterwards so non insulated pipe is not a major disadvantage. This is a diy system with the mvhr units bought cheap from fleebay.

I have tried speaking to a few companies for design and supply of a system minus the mvhr unit. As soon as I mention I will not be buying a mvhr unit I never hear from them again, I would have been happy to pay a small premium for their service and I told them this, their loss! It going to be the basic flow calculations I may struggle in so I may be asking some simple questions shortly!

Yeah we have made many mistakes with Nudara but will probably use it again on the 2nd build!

You could put up the ICF with no Windows or doors, pour the concrete then cut out openings with one of those concrete chainsaws.... TBH I dont see what you will gain apart from bracing lintels ! If you are serious about ICF get on to one of their training courses or get out and visit other builds, you learn more in half a morning on site esp a pour day than spending days scheming up ideas such as playing with toy icf blocks. Where exactly are you located, see if we can't find you a project to visit.

@Humpty Dumpty Much appreciated for your genuine feedback. I respect somebody coming in telling the good the bad and the ugly on a product more than this is the best thing since sliced bread !! I was initially sold on the quad lock but I done a lot of digging on American forums and had mixed review. In a perfect world the house would be designed to the exact block size but to cut the eps icf is not a big issue.

Excellent spot. Thank you.

Both tanks are a thermal store ie dhw runs through a coil in preheat then through the coil in main tank. Don't get any good for UFH direct from solar thermal but PV will help. A few people in Ireland tried various styles of large heat stores with varied poor results.

John https://www.mcdonaldwaterstorage.com/thermal-store-vs-unvented-cylinder

Will be interesting on how we get on, we have a 500l TS heated by ashp/pv plus a 500l TS preheat with thermal/log gasification . If preheat store temp rises above main tank then preheat starts to heat up main tank. We will get a good idea on how well solar thermal actually works. For what it's worth this a trial and error project, wouldn't think twice on major changes if doesn't work ie change tank to a sunamp or even sticking in a oil boiler. Our thermal controllers aren't wired in yet we but stuck a plug on the grundfos pumps yesterday for two hours. It raised the preheat tank from 8 to 20 degrees.

@Declan52 what are you heating your store with?

@scottishjohnIs that not a unvented cylinder?

57 degree for a normal tank for bacteria plus it's a thermal store water is heated on demand (like a combi boiler). Nick, is this correct??

Does a thermal store really need to hit 65-70 degree?

Hi Geoffdg, For some reason architects love drawing pretty pictures of houses with solar thermal panels on the roof with no thought on how it goes together. Are you planning to use your wood burner for heating/hot water? Solar thermal is not a bad thing but it is a one trick pony, you MAY be eligible for RHI which will probably refund your installation cost (inc a large premium for being RHI) over 7 years. Simplest way to mix solar thermal and oil boiler is with a twin coil cylinder, this is the industry standard crude but does work. If you want to mix a log boiler it gets slightly more complicated but can be done. One way is use a thermal store and throw all heat inputs into one tank inc option of solar PV via immersion and take out DHW via a coil or plate heat exchanger. You can run UFH and radiators from the thermal store as well. You can also mix vented and non vented system with extra coils this can be handy for mixing a open vented log boiler with a sealed pressurised oil boiler. The biggest problem with thermal that the solar panel has to be hotter than the bottom half of the cylinder, you could easily end up with a tank at 30 degree from last nights log burn and solar panel at 29 degree so you get no energy from the solar panel but the sun is out. Solar PV will dump energy into tank whatever temp the cylinder is at (within safety temp limits). We have a mix of 5kw of PV and 8m2 of solar thermal,20kw log gasification boilers and ASHP and have the solar thermal connected to a 500L pre heat thermal store getting max out of the solar thermal, but i have done all this DIY and most material of ebay. If I was paying a professional no way would it be worthwhile!

Hi and welcome. As mentioned above most build methods can be to passive level inc masonry but the devil is in the detail. But first I would question if you really want the passive certification (not a bad thing), a lot of people on here have taken the fabric first approach and built to passive level of insulation and airtighness even using passive design principles for overheating in the summer but have not bothered with the certification. Certification adds cost and time which most self builders run out of both!

Got a job to drill my skis with 6.5mm holes for new bindings. If I take them to the local shop probably cost me in the region of £150 so looking to treat myself to a pillar/bench drill to make job easier. I have been lurking on some woodwork forums and they have knocked the Aldi/lidil ones (apart from warranty) so been looking around and trying to keep it under £100. The small Clarke trade one has caught my eye but usually wary of Clarke tools. Have been looking locally for old heavy duty drills as I believe buy good buy once but nothing has came up. Any recommendations advice welcome. Clarke one https://www.buildingsuppliesdirect.com/clarke-cdp102b-350w-bench-drill-press-230v-6505512

Have you ever worked with concrete, it's bloody heavy!! 120mm of concrete is almost the same weight as 2x 100mm 7nm blocks (standard build block not fancy lite weight ones) so 150mm of concrete is a lot heavier! I don't know anyone who has built a external wall in 120mm ICF, it's not a good idea! For the record I am a big fan of ICF but there is many ways to build a house not all but one are wrong!

ICF and less weight should not go in the same sentence! 120-150mm of concrete is a heavy method to build a wall!!

A photo from under the boiler could be handy to find the prv pipe.

@temp do you have any experience with that nwt link, looks perfect for me.

I usually find agents/builders use/sell what they can get best margins on not what they want to sell. If it is the ekonect guys from glasgow the father and son actually are nice guys?

Rome wasn't built in a day! A few houses up here have been built with isodom2000 (ekonect) nice product. Wasn't keen on the eps ties but they do it with plastic ties aswell.

If only icf was as easy as that video! (Still a simple build method). What system did you use john?