Bramco

@HughF Interesting - it works as a latch. (Probably should have expected this thinking about it). So when you connect DI-4 to GND, the unit switches from heating to cooling. But when you disconnect it, it stays on cooling, so you'd have to connect DI-3 to GND to get it to switch back to heating, or do that on the controller or app. With a suitable relay, you could switch to cooling and then drop back to heating but you'd need 3 wires. Simon

@HughF thanks - there's a spare pair on the cat 5 into the house, so I'll rig that up with a switch in the house to see what it does. Simon

@HughF I'm assuming that these connections override whatever may be programmed on the internal Carel controller (and the app)? So you could leave the controller/app on Heating but have a relay make the connection between DI-common and DI-4 and the unit would switch to Cooling mode. Obvs, I'd need to also provide switched live to the 4 zones on our Heatmiser UH4 wiring centre to open the valves on the manifold and give the ASHP the boiler enable signal. In our case, we'd have to replicate the programming for when the cooling comes on which is currently in the thermostats but that's pretty easy to sort out. We normally run the ASHP at night on off peak.

Thanks @HughF Like Mike, I'd ignored that page because it was headed 3-phase unit and we've a single phase unit - next time I speak to them, I'll point this out. Simon

Apologies if so - I did a search before posting but didn't see anything

Thanks @JohnMo - I'd had a look at these a while ago. Looks though as if you have to switch modes manually as opposed to based on the temperature? If I can find a way to automatically switch the Cool Energy unit from heating to cooling, then I think I'll end up using some Open Energy Monitor emonTH units as thermostats, sending data to a Pi with the eMon software and then sending signals to something like a Sonoff 4 switch gizmo, to control the call for heat on the 3 zones and to manage the ASHP. But if I can't find a connector on the ASHP unit, then I'll have to start writing down how to make cooling happen so that when I'm gone someone else can program it. Simon

Agree and it's an option but the thermostats do manage when the ASHP is running - we only heat the slab at night on cheap rate. And there's a downstairs bedroom which needs less heat than the rest of the house, so we do need some zoning....

Hi, We have a Cool Energy ASHP - it's doing sterling work during the heat waves at cooling our insulated slab, however.... To make this work, we have to set the unit to cooling on the internal display/control unit, then whack the thermostats up to their maximum to trick the system into actually running. So the call for heat gets the unit running and opens the manifold valves. There are a couple of issues with this. Firstly our thermostats highest setting is 25C, so if it's hotter than that, then the trick doesn't work (we can live with this by making sure we get the cooling running before things get too hot. The second, is that in an ideal world we would use thermostats that could generate a heating or cooling signal depending on the temperature and use this to switch the ASHP between heating and cooling. We could do this if there was a connection on the outside unit that controlled heating/cooling mode. Does anyone know if there is such a conncetion, we can't see one from the schematics in the manual. Or has anyone managed to sort this out in some other way? @dpmiller any thoughts? Simon

No but they do get you top of the class in other respects. To date this year our energy provider owes us about £5. All electric, almost passive house, PV, MVHR, ASHP and batteries. Our EPC is A with a 100 score, which I think we could get higher by getting them to use a more recent EPC version. But it's crazy that all the technology that makes for a comfortable energy efficient home isn't properly taken into account in the EPC/SAP system....

I'm pretty sure we have the same blinds and there's no flapping. They are much more robust than internal venetians. It's blowing maybe force 4 or 5 here at the moment and there's no movement. You can connect a wind sensor that will retract the blinds when it hits gale force 7 or whatever - we've turned ours off though, so the blinds have managed everything the weather has thrown at them for the last 3 years.

Talk to Hallmark Blinds - I can't remember what ours cost but it wasn't prohibitive. And you don't need anything fancy for the 'cassette' that the blinds park into when up. All you need is a properly sized gap behind the cladding, so that the blinds can be fitted into the gap.

+1 for that - we also have external blinds on the south facing windows and no curtains. Make sure you build in cassettes for them to go up into. We also have overhangs on the ground floor windows but with the blinds in their horizontal position, we find that they let in the sun from the autumn through to spring which is when you want the solar gain and for the summer months, with the sun higher, they don't let any sun, so no solar gain. You can see this on our architects web site -> https://lhc.net/projects/ashcroft-creating-a-low-energy-family-home/. In this photo, the blinds on the 1st floor bedroom are up, the blinds on the ground floor are in their horizontal setting.

Just out of interest - how much does a bore hole typically cost? And I know it depends on depth, what the geology is etc. but is it hundreds, thousands or ten's of thousands? Or can anyone on this thread that has paid for one say how much theirs cost?

We set the heating pump on cooling last year but in the height of the summer. At this time of year though, the roof lights and patio sliding doors give enough draght to keep things ok. Having said that, when we used cooling it was very effective. Cool slab underfoot in the morning.

@Great_scot_selfbuild See the attached photo from inside. The Roofmaker roof lights have an internal lip that the plasterboard fits into, so it's a very clean look. We haven't got any blinds. The roof lights come with remotes but can also be hard wired to momentary switches for up and down. I think they've changed the controllers now. Ours are hefty black boxes, I think the new ones are integrated into their switches. They also do rain sensors. We only fitted one and ganged it to all of the roof lights. We also have one momentary switch in the hall which we can use to put all the roof lights down. Again, this is ganged to all of them.

@Great_scot_selfbuild Not sure if you were planning on cladding, or the roof as well - if you are doing the roof and also rooflights, then look at the roofmaker rooflights. They do triple glazed etc and are motorized to lift up and down. For us, the great thing about the roofmaker roofights was that they were just a flat glass surface outside - they are also very neat inside. We've always hated the bumps at the top of velux and similar rooflights. You can see the 'look' on the second image above.

Not sure where they get the potassium from... From the Sioox website -> https://sioox.com/pro/gb/articles/patented-silicon-formula/ 'The use of silicon technology to protect and preserve wood was already developed in nineteenth-century Germany. We have refined this technology and created a patented silicon formula for a unique wood protection product – that contains no toxins. Our silicon-based wood protection products are based on mechanical principles. Simply put, the product’s silicon crystals penetrate and strengthen the wood, while forming a physical barrier.'

Here's the spec for the steel... Roofing&Cladding_N14-3Sinus.pdf CoatingsPages_GreencoatCrownBT.pdf Data_sheet__GreenCoat_Pro_BT_2021-03-22.pdf

Maybe what we need is a forum topic for sharing specs and images of cladding, so that folks can easily see what the differences are.

@Roundtuit - you're right! Old age creaping in... I remember now! Thanks for reminding me. Need to wash the windows more often and remember to spray the underhangs...

@Great_scot_selfbuild here's a couple of photos - not great but they show the build up.

You can see under the overhang that it is still in the process of greying out - it needs light for the sioox process to work.

We have larch but didn't want it grey. So had it treated with Sioox by Russwood our supplier. 3 years in and it just looks bleached...

@Great_scot_selfbuild We have black corrugated roofs and walls to the 2 storey section of the house - images here -> https://lhc.net/projects/ashcroft-creating-a-low-energy-family-home/ Our son was the architect and specced the tin. From memory it has at least a 45 year guarantee - I think it was Firth steels. We used a company in Leominster to do the actual supply - Thomas Panels and Profiles. They suggested a contractor to do the actual build but we sacked him off half way through and our main contractor finished things off. fastenings were EJOT. I can get more detail if you need it. We found it hard to find examples to go and see in real life - there's probably more around now. You're a long way away in Surrey but you're always welcome if you are up our way to have a look at ours.

We have the same problem at the edge of our patio. Similar blocks that we need to treat to stop the efflorescence. Internally, we've used zinser peal stop but not sure if this would work externally.