Alan Ambrose

>>> the area / orientation of glass for overheating control, >>> Doesn't this come in to the SAP? No, it's a part O calc. Could be done yourself.

I talked to the 'Patch Manager' in Suffolk today. After 8 months he's raised some new process obstacles and can't explain the story I've been given by their FBC (Field Based Coordinator) so far. He says there's lots of impenetrable red tape (I paraphrase) and that they can't deliver a service into a kiosk on site but only when a house has actually been built. I said that (a) that was the proposition they were given from the start, (b) if that was the case, why does their 'FBC' keep telling me 'I expect to have more news in 2 weeks' and (c) if that was the case, why does their process documentation not describe that? He's gone away to think. Goodness they make this hard work...

Does that do any more than Ubakhus?

>>> Can I ask what the associated charge is Sorry missed that. Just a £125 processing fee.

Make it an oak post instead?

Oh that old "less than substantial harm" BS. It's just a nonsense excuse too turn the application down. In East Suffolk there are literally thousands of 'grade II' listed buildings. Suggest seeing if you can get any more info from the planning person on what might be acceptable. Otherwise a consultant to do the same. You might reasonably ask the officer what this 'harm' is - the planning officer should be able to describe exactly what 'harm' they are trying to guard against. If you can determine that, you might be able to mitigate it. Otherwise it's just planning waffle.

If it latches on, then maybe a pull-down resistor. 2.2K ohms is standard for a few interfaces. Not critical - at 3.3V that's 1.1 mA.

@Nick Laslett Wow that is a high water table. What time of year was that? And you had it specially sheet piled? And your digger guy managed to excavate a smallish narrow vertical hole? How did he do that? So many questions?

@JohnnyB 's site sounds at an interesting stage. Does Thurs 28th work then?

Ah yeah, I was wondering whether an alternative method of holding it down would work. Maybe a concrete plug and wire rope or ground screws or something.

Although they took forever and their web system 'lost' my application, I found EA were actually quite helpful in the end and corrected my answers to their questions and checked to be sure that I agreed they were right. So, suggest just the grid ref for the nearest village which probably has a sewer.

Hi, now I've found that the Rewatec ASP has been discontinued, I'm looking at the Diamond DMS 2 and the Bio-Pure 1. Like Mr Harris, I'm fairly sold on the idea of a conical tank. My skilled digger driver says he has found them a nightmare to install and we're on clay with a high-ish water table. He says it's hard excavating a conical (hopefully not comical) hole and then getting shingle / concrete down the sides to the base. So, has anyone any experience / tips on how to install these?

It's roughly that time again... Any takers? You're welcome at my plot but it is a bit boring atm with only a slab and some drainage there:

I’m just about to do this too. Took a bunch of laser measurements today, will crunch them tomorrow - but I know there’s something like a 16mm variation.

If you don't mind - what was the elapsed time from payment to install? I'm still waiting for mine...

OR supplied BT standard grey ducts for ‘free’. Loads of it, more than twice what we needed. Standard sizes are 50 & 90mm from memory.

We have much shorter runs but used a kiosk similar to an electric kiosk and got the mains water routed to that from the mains in the verge. Then we have a mixture of temporary pipes, some above ground and some below in ducting and some permanent in ducts ending up coiled for connection to the house. The connection goes … mains, join, meter, kiosk. In the kiosk is a double non-return valve, main stop tap, some T adaptors all with their own stop taps, then onto the various runs. You might want more than one ‘standpipe’ around the site for temporary use close to where you’re building.

>>> UKPN are the most cumbersome - the scale of the resources they waste is impressive. For anyone who’s interested - UKPN had 5 people at the plot & 3 vans for most of the day to connect and run one 5m cable into the duct we had already installed. Impressive, bravo. Interestingly, it was labeled TT earth only or somesuch and they said they would move it to PME at a later date. I was expecting to use a TT earth and then simply switch from their already installed PME earth at the right time. Fantastic, the promise of more paperwork, expense and delay to look forward to.

Yeah, I’ve said this several times, but for most people making a well insulated house - the objective is to use less energy, not more. I understand that in general ‘more is better’. Do I need a car that does 0-60 in 3s. No. Do I want one? Well, I wouldn’t say no.

😄

Plasson have an 'arctic' tap that's meant to handle cold weather. I've put in a bunch for temporary water.

Sure, have 3P if it’s cheap and available - you can always just use a single phase for the time being, maybe put your huge car charger on another when the times is right and your HP on the third. You don’t have your to all 3P on your PV, battery, wiring necessarily.

There was also a grand design episode a month ago that had some kind of fabric solar roof from Eastern Europe:

>>> This is implemented in Belgium with capacity tariffs, where your largest 15 minute averaged power draw dictates your unit rate for all usage. Well that's sort of an idea - except that it should depend on time of day. Someone well organised to charge their car and their house with their HP in the middle of the night shouldn't be penalised. Someone that generates their own peak demand when the rest of the country is too, maybe should.

My pet theory is that this and all the similar inefficiencies in our systems is where 'all the money has gone' i.e. it's not that there's any less money / resources, just that we're wasting it with all this nonsense.