Alan Ambrose

I thought we covered that, no? Also, should really be a bi directional class B RCD as inverters often have dodgy output waveforms.

No, I think you'll have to sort out the detail yourself. If I remember rightly, for that kind of detail, an Oakwrights frame I saw had the glazing unites mounted on the outside of the frame and then some full width oak 'trim' pieces mounted over that. Unless you looked very carefully, the effect was as though the glass was mounted in the 'frame'. I think the trim was held by counter-bored A4 SS screws but with little oak dowels over, so the whole thing looked through-dowelled. Having said that, I'm not sure why you couldn't mount the glazing units within the frame, allowing plenty of room for the frame to move, and then mount trim pieces inside and out over the units. Maybe you can mount one big triangle somehow in the apex to avoid dealing with the curved braces. Actually it's not clear which parts you're planning to glaze and which parts not.

Anyone have a lift? Thoughts? Pros & Cons? Suppliers? We have a couple of designs in planning and I am sweating the design detail. I would like to at least prep for a lift so that we have the opportunity to install one when we get (even more) decrepit. Without actually selecting a model at this stage, I wonder if it's possible to design for (a) the footprint, and (b) for any pit required? e.g. I'm seeing pit depths from 10-30cm atm.

Something like this? What rating are the main fuses? 63A? https://www.superlecdirect.com/cables/steel-wire-armoured-cables-bs5467-pvc/?&conductor[]=10mm²&conductor[]=16mm²&conductor[]=25mm²&cores[]=5

@Raine FYI - see https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics Look up table P153 and then your LPA - you should see the '% processed within 8 weeks or agreed time' number.

How to identify a Conformité Européenne mark vs a China Export mark https://starfishmedical.com/blog/conformite-europeenne-mark-vs-a-china-export-mar

>>> the inherent need to have something done right. +1 much easier if we could just buy some dodgy old house and get on with our lives, no?

I've done 3 of these floors in kitchens / bathrooms so have some experience but not lots. Yeah, suggest 10mm insulation board (thicker if possible) and then 'self level' screed over the mat. You can also use simple heating cable instead of mat but ensure it's a shorter length than the max needed to you don't need to cut it - as the suppliers won't warranty it otherwise. Buy the best stuff you can find. Other tips - ensure you can get at the connections reasonably easily and put in a spare thermistor in case the original one goes bad. What controller will you use?

By and large all electrical heaters are 100% efficient. That is, they produce the same amount of heat energy as electrical energy consumed. That's just life (and physics). There's a bunch of bogus advertising around atm: world beating efficiency using new technology etc sometimes suffixed with they don't want you to know this etc etc etc. Now you might feel different and have a different 'comfort rating' from different appliances and technologies. For instance blow heaters heat the air up and circulate it quickly, but they also create a bit of a breeze which feels a bit cooling. Temperature gradients across a room and draughts from leaky windows etc will make it feel chillier than it might be if you just looked at the thermometer. Suggest any heater that she feels comfortable and safe with. Maybe a storage heater if she has economy 7. You may a good results also from addressing the obvious draughts. Yes, 'air con units that heat up' i.e. heat pumps use different technology and can have an efficiency of 3-4x - look for SCOP i.e. average efficiency and/or COP i.e. max efficiency. They generally whirr a bit of course.

The fact that neither Corui nor Shelley specify accuracy suggests they are not that accurate. Suggest better than 5%? But given that we're often interested in the trend or difference rather than the absolute value it may not matter too much.

>>> The cynic inside me suspects they are not sold in the UK because there is more profit to be made from selling mulitple inverters or a solar edge system Possible but it could just be due to the very low numbers of domestic properties in the UK with 3P.

Yeah Fischer is a good brand.

Kent?

Remove tile & replace? Have a spare tile to practice on? - maybe try hydrogen peroxide with suitable precautions. Otherwise I’ve had custom ss parts laser or waterjet cut - generally you need to supply a drawing and a dxf - but there may be someone out there who’ll do the little bit of cad for you on the fly. Of course you’ve replaced any other similar steel fixings…

Ah I thought I had explained - the planners want our buildings to be 'subservient' (i.e. as small as possible above ground) and even though we have 1/3rd acre that means we either have to have a house smaller than we want or build a basement. Property values are high in Suffolk and the economics work out. In the Highlands you may have as much land to build on as you care to and maybe your planners are not so fussed and would happily let you build out rather than down. Fantastic. But the circumstances are different here. We could put in more planning applications for more footprint, but (a) they don't have a high probability of being approved and (b) that would set us back 18 months. Unlike Germany, we don't do basements much in UK, so they're expensive and more risky than space above ground. But just like building over 2 storeys, building down is a way to get what we want. There's one other economic factor - with clay our founds are likely to be deep-ish. Beyond a certain point, you might just as well have a basement anyway as the incremental cost is not going to be so high compared with say building on good ground.

My planning applications went in last February - so this ship sailed long ago. The two alternative designs both specified ‘basement if ground conditions allow’. The plot is next to a farmhouse (say 75m away) - one of Suffolk’s 2,000 ‘heritage’ assets and the LPA have medieval ideas about ‘subservience’. Unless you want to argue this out with the planners on my behalf and successfully resubmit my planning applications for me … I am where I am.

Conventionally 150mm above ground level around house to make the dpc detail easy. But some people will try something more ambitious / unconventional / risky.

Hmm, good crimping is key as is correct handling of the live cables as is clambering about on your new metal roof. You also need the correct dc isolator and to divide the panels into strings correctly. Incorrect crimping is a fire risk and you’ve also got potential damage to your new roof too. Does the £6K include the inverter work etc? While I’m all for diy, maybe there’s a halfway house solution?

Not politics so much as economics but still: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/weekly-planning-news/planning-news-15-february-2024

@Nic - err that was a joke, the clue is in the word 'unicorns' A couple of examples here: http://planning.highpeak.gov.uk/portal/servlets/AttachmentShowServlet?ImageName=397554 http://publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/portal/servlets/AttachmentShowServlet?ImageName=161266

>>> Unicorns Oh FFS - is this part of the new biodiversity thing?

>>> I don't understand how an immersion can pull 2.7kw and not generate any heat it can’t without breaking the laws of thermodynamics. Either not switched on / bad connection / faulty thermostat / or duff element. Easy to diagnose in 2 minutes with a multimeter.

A quick question for those with basements? Are you generally heating them and to what temperature? And, do you have insulation in the basement ceiling / ground floor?

For anyone following along - the consensus was that the cable percussion rig has a bit more grunt and could deal with shale and sand easily should we find it below 5m - whereas the dynamic probing rig might run out of steam. So, the current proposal is to do 2 holes with the former and 4 with the latter. That's probably overkill as it is almost certainly fairly homogeneous clay, but 'you don't know what you don't know'. I also learnt that all of the rigs can estimate allowable ground pressure and that nearly all ground failures are shear stress failures. Also the particle size distribution tests are to gauge clay shrinkage and swelling. My education continues... Also, my house loading is ~8 kN/m^2 but dwarfed by the loading of the basement concrete itself at ~33 kN/m^2. But ... the existing soil to be dug out is presently loading at about ~51 kN/m^2 @ 4m depth. So the structure to be introduced actually weighs less than the earth sitting there right now.

Can I ask - is there much of a difference between having all the actuators open and no actuators? This is the IVOR mixer? https://underfloorparts.co.uk/product/ivar-uni-mix-underfloor-heating-ufh-pump-mixing-kit-underfloor-heating-manifold-control-unimix/