Alan Ambrose

@Jeremyw @G and J @olley @LSB @zzPaulzz @DIYHacker @GaryChaplin @Nick Laslett @JohnnyB @marshian @FuerteStu Anyone interested in a Suffolk meet-up? I'm thinking maybe 1st Thursday of the month at a pub somewhere in the 'centre'. If you are, let me know your post code prefix so I can figure where the 'middle' is? We're living in IP6 and our plot is in IP17.

In fact, most sustainability credentials are irrelevant to the LPA unless they have a specific concern/remit e.g. biodiversity or external lighting vs. wildlife. Think you'll get brownie points for your Passivehouse spec? By and large, no.

While looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, electricity demand is expected to rise as transport and heat are increasingly electrified via EVs and heat pumps (see below). According to NESO’s recent advice on reaching clean power by 2030, demand for electricity is expected to grow 11% by 2030 and to nearly double by 2050. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-electricity-was-cleanest-ever-in-2024/

And why on earth would you imagine that the British use British Thermal Units? 😀 I guess we did in the 1900s. They are useful though - see the following equivalents: One Btu is approximately: 1.0551 kJ (kilojoules) 0.2931 W⋅h (watt hours) 252.2 cal (calories) 0.2522 kcal (kilocalories) 25,031 to 25,160 ft⋅pdl (foot-poundal) 778.2 ft⋅lbf (foot-pounds-force) 5.40395 (lbf/in2)⋅ft3 A Btu can be approximated as the heat produced by burning a single wooden kitchen match or as the amount of energy it takes to lift a one-pound (0.45 kg) weight 778 feet (237 m).[16] p.s. BH members were mostly all brought up on a healthy diet of Monty Python.

It’s a BH tradition that we don’t answer the exact question that’s been asked. Instead, we riff on the theme like a seasoned jazz band 😂. Think of it as a more creative process than straight Q&A … akin to ‘art’.

It probably depends on the exact geometry, prevailing winds direction etc (you don’t say whether the chimney is on the ridge or further down) but I would think yes it may well be a problem. Not too tricky to move vents elsewhere? I guess you could rough test it using a smoke source and then see whether the MVHR draws in smoke in practice? Also, FYI there’s an issue with internal MVHR vents in the room with the stove - the idea being that you don’t want the MVHR to pull the smoke into the room. The latter issue is discussed in several threads here on BH.

>>> Is it worth considering just a single electrical supply out and then putting another meter box in the garage to split all the external requirements from there? As it’s usually much easier to do lines into a garage, yes reckon so, also for ethernet (with a separate POE hub there). In fact, I could see 2 or 3 consumer units - in another thread, someone suggested a separate CU for the kitchen rather than running everything back to the main CU. Seems helpful.

>>> Do you have a design you're working to yet? Yes, several, but they're all generic and specify MOT1 and I want them to be free draining.

I'll spend some more time talking to the local aggregate suppliers next week when everyone is back. In the extreme, can I make up my own aggregate, say with a mix of stone, shingle and sand?

I read about MOT 3 (e.g. here https://www.cloburn.co.uk/what-are-the-3-types-of-mot-aggregate-and-which-would-be-best-for-my-project/ ) but yet to find a local supplier. Supposing you wanted a fairly free draining version instead of a standard MOT spec e.g. under a driveway sitting on sticky clay, what would you use?

You've seen his youtube channel mikeselectricstuff ? Fascinating if you've always wondered how a PCR / bomber sight / baggage xray works?

Maybe there's a way of covering the cables with SS mesh or tube or something to encourage the blighters to gnaw on something else?

10m sounds a long old way (although I should say that I know nothing about piles ). Poss to post up a pic of the soil layers from the soil investigation?

Pros: + Fewer tiles, so less cost and weight. + Better looking (maybe). + Easier to protect against nesting birds. Cons: + More complex fitting (check out the instructions for choosing trays and for battening). + Harder waterproofing detail. + Lock in to a range of panel sizes when renewing in 20-30 years / possibility trays have degraded by weather or UV and need replacing,

OK, supposing in December you use 90% of your proposed 40,000W / 175A supply. There are 744 hours in December, so that’ll be 744 x 40 x 90% = 26,784 kWh. At, say, 20p per kWh, that’ll be £5.4K for December. Maybe £30K of electricity a year given that you’ll be using far less in the summer? Is that what you’re expecting? No? Why not? So, perhaps you won’t be using that much electricity and maybe you don’t need that big a supply. Search for ‘Veyron’ on the forum and you’ll see related discussion around this subject.

Duchamp eat your heart out. You'll be duct taping fruit to things next...

Goodness, something that hasn’t been regulated yet. Happy times. Thanks all.

You’re lucky, major CIL here for your southern cousins.

If you asked me to guess, I’d say it was just a fault with the fridge. Sometimes those drains get blocked with general fridge gunk.

Also, was building control involved in all this and are they local authority? Ah, I see the answer is ‘yes’. Then it sounds like one part of the council is telling you to do something … without warning you that another part of the same legal entity is going to try to profit from it. Strong letter to head of council suggesting unethical behaviour to start with as such behaviour could be interpreted as a revenue scam. That’ll probably do it. It wants to be worded carefully, so maybe you want a cleverish lawyer to write it.

If I have my own equipment on site (e.g. telehandler), for me to use only, do I need a formal training certificate and/or Loler certficate?

The LPA will read the objections to help them in their decisions, so I might just leave it at that. Parking, safe access etc. is usually very important to them. The applicant’s info will be on the application form, so you could contact them or their agent/architect and have a more informal chat.

You could, of course, raise an objection. Also possible to ask your neighbour about your concerns before you do.

This is for the connection?

It’s not impossible to have a garage in front of the principal elevation, of course. It might help if the garage doesn’t look ugly. We just got planning including that. It wan’t really possible to do anything else much as the plot is long and narrow. The previous permission also had a car port in front of the house. Run it by your LPA? If you look around your local area you might find a bunch of examples to show the LPA.