Andeh

Totally this OP!! Sorry you're in a difficult situation..... But this is the best course of action. The alternative is get building control in site WITH the builder so they can discuss it and agree rectification work. Builder can argue about "randomers on the Internet" but BC will give you a cast iron line in the sand the builder cannot compromise on. Just in the background, I would start looking at who else in the area could take the job on. Even if you need to liaise direct with individual trades. Ask at local builders merchants, facebook, friends, family, work colleagues etc etc.

Yep we have a few going in around the property. Washing cars, washing very dirty hands, filling paddling pools, etc etc.... Its a simple but great addition.

Thanks very much all!

My wood burner needs a 50mm ( i think it was) pipe to suck in air from outside the house. I am keen to insulate this just so that when we are not using the wood burner it isnt just sat there cold & behind plasterboard. Does anyone know of any pipe insulation that can be safely installed in the vicinity of an insulated flu? Obviously full belt & braces on safety/proximity to a fireplace. Many thanks,

One for the OP, how'd you get on?

Water cooling is always more effective then air cooling....

Thanks Richard, we have Cat6 externally for signal boosters etc if required... Would Cat6 ever play a part in solar panels themselves? This is what I want to avoid, finding out that the latest generation of panels need some form of low voltage cable or equivalent alongside the big HV cable!

Thanks for the suggestion. We have a single ply membrane roof, so the panels are on frames stood off the roof. I prefer it this way to enable future upgraded panels and flexibility in it. Current panels are 13 years old, but tied to a good FiT so no budget to swap them now, but will look to in future with the permissions on FiT recently changing.

Watching with interest, we are probably going with white as per your picture... But not totally sure.

If its good enough for pub beer gardens, it's good enough for us to try out! If it makes you feel any better we have 3.99Kw of solar going in to counter act the environmental harm.

What's the wall made of, if its a single sheet of plasterboard you MIGHT (probably not though...) get lucky with the dabs and be able to squeeze cables down behind plasterboard? if not, multi cutter to cut a channel all the way down of plasterboard & clip cables in, then bury in plasterboard or chase wall out deeper & fit a duct? Or easiest....paint the duct to match the wall s& that'll get you half way there for 30mins work.

Thanks for all the support! After a really good chat with a wonderful women at National Grid (previously Western Power) she confirmed it'd be an estimate of £1950 for the 3 phase installation, including meter, and two holes dug in the verge. Builder just needs to the dig 3-4m trench to where the meter will be installed. Very happy chap here! Just need to be mindful of future proofing for a 3 phase Solar Inverter etc, but a problem for another day!

Thanks Dillsue! That is very good to know. Our budget is shot so my approach is to refit the ''old'' system and run it for another year or two whilst we build up finances again, then look to replace components as & when funds allow it. I will look into that new FIT, I had heard rumours elsewhere they had taken this (sensible!) approach.

Thanks Peter! I will raise the 22.5 option with them. I believe our flu will need to be 8" or 10" due to the size of the stove. I have been looking around for a flexible insulated ducting, but they don't seem to exist.

This is a good approach if you are worried. It is a very low chance of a screeder doing something wrong, which impacts the UFH. Long as the pipes are clipped properly (you can check) and capped properly (you can check)... The screeder will just pour the floor. I don't see what could go wrong from a UFH damage. The UFH pipe is very very robust, we had ours trampled for a few weeks due to delays with screed, then had a week of -5 to - 8 degree temps and no issues at all.

Thanks for the posts all! It's a flat roof new build, so we will go up approx 1 to 1.5m, from roof anyway. Fairly exposed location so will need to look at the chimney pot that goes onto the flu. We will have a clear vertical run of approx 3.5m from the last 45deg bend, which is where my "how much faster/more could the air need to accelerate" query came from. I'll insulate the pipe more just to keep it extra warm though. We have heat alarms in both rooms, and carbon monoxide alarms. Also a dozen fire alarms throughout rest of the property, Inc corridors between bedroom area and where the fire will be.

We are fitting a stove in a bungalow, so are looking at the height & angles required. The stove flu (fitted approx 800mm up the wall) will need to go up 600mm ish then angle 45 degrees to clear a lintel in the wall, then 45 degrees again to go straight....and straight up through the roof. All ok - total internal flue length of around 2m. The problem is we will need to then have about 2.5m of flu above the flat roof to hit the height requirement from the supplier! They have then said for every 45 degree angle you need to add 0.5m to it to compensate for the 'air flow' restriction. They couldn't explain why, just explained 'required for a proper burn'. I (engineer by profession, but not fire related) cant see the reasoning behind a 4.5m need for a chimney, nor the extra metre of height (so 3.5m above roof height!!!) to ensure it works properly. Now, to complicate things.... we designed in a dual sided stove to benefit two rooms, which meant we had to go to 9kw - far more then we will ever truly need in a well insulated house, but 'because ambiance' its what we chose to do. This means rarely will we burn it truly hot (I am aware of deposit build up etc, so we will need to be extra careful on what we burn & the temperatures we use it at.) Stove: Stovax Riva Studio 2 Duplex Cassette Woodburning Stove | Stonewoods Can anyone explain the need for such a big flu? What does the final 2m+ of the flu achieve in air flow dynamics that the first 3m+ doesn't?

I always thought that if an ASHP can modulate down low (ie some Samsung quote down to 10% I think??) then no penalties for a slightly bigger unit. Obviously if it can't modulate down to the lower what demand then there would be effieincy impacts.

Just jumping on this thread, I tried the developer portal myself but it asks for a company that is registered with them? I dont want to use my builders firm without his approval, but I would prefer to start this earlier then later. Any advice on how best to contact them other then their generic contact us page?

We have a very old 3.99kw array we are about to reinstall onto our new build. We cant change the system or we lose the (very good) original tariff...worth £1800 per year for another 15 years. However, if in future we were to replace it & upgrade it I would want to replace the 21 x 210w panels with more modern equivalents. Something that ideally can deal with shade on part of the panels, due to surrounding trees catching some of the panels during spring/autumn. We also have 3-phase being installed. The electrician is going to wire up cables for 8kW...is there anything else we need to get routed to the roof to enable future proofing? thanks in advance

Always prefered plastic. If only because copper transmits heat much better then plastic!

Thanks everyone for the feedback & comments, very helpful indeed! We haven't actually bought any vehicle chargers, but all the cabling has been installed. We have 4 x cabled in for, with 1 x cable future proofing a battery but using same high gauge cable. Certainly wouldn't say builder or electrician are forcing our hands here, but we are guilty of massive scope creep/future proofing which has come back to force our hands. The only other area we got carried away was Insulation (!) but with the electrics. Even without the Car chargers & patio haters I think we are too far gone for single phase. Its a large bungalow with 6 bedrooms, 2 studies then the normal assortment of rooms. We also have an existing single garage & new external garage that are wired in, then 3 x large external AC units. The Electrician gave me a verbal run down of this and we quickly blew through 80amps. Waiting for pricing from DNO which worries me (ben chasing them daily), and also further feedback from Builder/Electrician on what could be done to bring us down to 80 - 100amp loads. Ill keep the thread updated!

Thanks very much all. Electrician on site has grave concerns at single phase, to the point where he is really not willing to certify it. Looks like our hand is being forced. I am annoyed this wasn't pointed out to us until the last minute, but even removing the car chargers he still said with 2 garages (existing/previous and a new one), some 10mm for out building future proofing etc etc we have backed ourselves into a corner into needing one. Wish I'd been told this 12 months ago!!!!!! Just waiting...hoping...praying the DNO isnt unreasonable for the connection. Village edge location, with Neighbour opposite wired for 3 phase, but otherwise not many high power homes in the vicinity. here's hoping!!!

Trocal? Looks the same from ground level but massively cheaper, 30% of the price or something.

It's great, but does require greater depth to be dug out from under the block and beam.... This comes at a cost. We chose not to go down this route as the cost of muck away was going to be too much for our site... Then ended up needing to dig it out anyway after orders had gone in and commitments made!! DOH. Fortunately we got 160mm PIR in at a reasonable cost to compensate.