SimonD

I think we're mostly on a par with Germany in terms of highest costs. It's no surprise given both rely so much on gas. But there are so many inconsistencies that make little sense from the perspective of an environmental policy. We still subsidise fossils fuels to the tune of £17.5 billion per year. The greatest increase in electricity costs are relating to wholesale costs and social/environmental costs on the average bill since 2021. It seems strange given the profits made by producers and that Gas has not been significantly levied from a social and environmental perspective, but is privy to significant subsidies beyond the subsidies available for renewables. Yes, the government has announced some reductions for electricity in the budget, but we'll have to see how that pans out in reality.

Somewhere recently I saw some data showing that heat pump uptake follows a curve of parity between fossil fuel prices and electricity - the closer the parity the higher the uptake. something which largely disproves the capital cost argument. Interestingly the figures show that heat pumps provide the biggest bang for the buck when it comes carbon savings, even over insulation measures. I still cannot fathom why our electricity prices are the way they are and how this can in any way be justified other than in terms of profits for energy companies and their shareholders.

Yep, maybe it's just my age, but it seems to be getting worse by the parliament.

As is appearing quite typical of this government, they've realised the problem after the fact and are now trying to reassure pensioners that if their sole income is from pension, they won't pay any tax even if it is above the threshold. It's not too dissimilar to the 3p/mile tax on EVs which is another, we're going to do this but haven't got a clue how. Then some clever bean will think we'll just roll out a kind of start meter to be installed, and just like smart meters or fibre broadband it'll be privatised and roll out will maybe happen by 2080....or some other century in the future and use shite technology that doesn't work properly because the infratructure it needs hasn't been installed either. And they wonder why there's a productivity problem in the UK.

I know you're in the Wiser ecosystem now, but for future reference the EPH controls can do multiple zones via Opentherm as each additional zone is paired to a master hub controller. I've always argued that it's not the heat source that's important but the control strategy and mechanism. With gas systems I always seem to have struggled with getting the system control as I like it, even in my own house where I ended up with a pragmatic solution that was okay, it was efficient, but not amazing. I think this is down to the split between heat source and controller manufacturer and how they decide to implement their control ideology and this causes problems. This is particularly the case with in the gas market. I've now completed 2 full system designs and installations of heat pumps where I'm fully responsible for the systems and have to say that with using the manufacturers control packs of course, the control element is just fantastic. Both have required very little time and only small adjustments to WC and room influence, including a tweak to a couple of normal trvs. From this, I have so become a convert to heat pump systems, I really don't want to work with gas any more. Integrated manufacturer controls are a big player, but I also suspect there are a few other fundamentals in the systems that improve things on this front. Anyway, just an aside, while I'm on the topic. I'll get my coat ☺️

I don't recall what boiler you have but I seriously doubt they'll check the wiring. For tests they'll usually use the check programs and might ask you to turn your heating on so there's flow through the system.

Yes, that's what I meant to write. You caught me before I edited 😊

I doubt they'll notice on a service. It's likely only on repair or warranty work they might find out.

I've lost count of the number of houses where I've been showered by the things. I reckon loads of the installers skimped on the adhesive as it cost them, especially during the grant funded years.

Yes, there are a few that do. On some, like Ideal, it's used with weather compensation and the manufacturers get a bit sniffy about it if you use it without weather comp. Don't ask me how I know, but they don't always like those who experiment 😏 If you're using something like this with an s plan you'll ideally need a normally open 2 port valve on the ch side to close when you send your 240v call for dhw to boiler. No such thing as a free lunch unfortunately. I used to do this stuff regularly until I saw the light and just moved to installing Viessmanns on 4 pipe. Life got a lot easier from then on - I'd regularly save myself a day.

With eph controls you can run priority hot water using opentherm on an s-plan system. You can also get an additional receiver to install right next to boiler for necessary opentherm communication so no new cabling required. Use the cp4i together with cp4-hw-ot for this. No subscription fees for the app. I wouldn't touch tado controls ever again after my experiences installing them for a few customers, even the ones I ordered from Europe with opentherm. Hth

Worst day for us was Wednesday at about 65kWh including EV charging. Best day was yesterday with 30kWh which is total consumption, so about £8.5. On gas just heating would have been about £6.5 with no dhw.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/discounts-for-families-to-keep-warm-in-winter-and-cool-in-summer

As @Onoff says, the system should be flushed as part of a boiler installation. Many boiler slingers will just do a chemical flush or nothing at all. Whilst I always complete a flush when installing new boilers if someone I haven't done an install for asks me, I usually send them to British Gas as they used to have a lifetime guarantee for their flushing jobs.

Exhaust air heat pumps. First made by Nibe in the 1970s who are probably still the market leaders.

Not any more they don't if you want them to be efficient - all manufacturers provide their own controls for this too. Some of them are Opentherm or can be used with opentherm alongside their own controls, like Viessmann , which do allow third party opentherm controls, but unfortunately not all boiler maufacturers implement Opentherm in the same way so the same level of control may not be available.

Good question! But with all the manufacturers I've trained with and some I'm going to train with, there's remote access so no need to re-visit to tweak, unless there's a problem with the system that needs someone on site. I've only just skimmed the thread but there is quite a bit of misunderstanding and, dare I say it, ignorance about heat pumps, the market and how much decent installers make even with the BUS grant on here.

All decent heat pump manufacturers provide their own control systems and any decent installer buys the heat pump and control kit from the manufacturer. It really is as simply as that. They're not really that complicated to set up during commissioing either.

You don't really need that. The manufacturers now have apps with online access so they (installer or manufacturer)) can tweek the WC curves, or change room influence factors remotely if customer says they're too cold or too hot. Some are now locking this function away from the customer coz they don't want them playing with them. All part of the ongoing customer service... For better or for worse, depending on how you view things.

We just had fibre rolled out to us. Signed up. Had connection for 6 out of 14 days. Cancelled the contract within the 14 day cooling off period. It was with Virgin Media. I have to say I haven't experienced worse customer service since we were with BT broadband. Now using National Broadband on 5g which has been pretty good so far. Forgot to look at Starlink.

Take it from someone working in the industry that if anyone, and I mean anyone, including a person from MCS, say MCS says this, ask them specifically where it says that in the library of standards they've got. 99.9% of the time they'll go silent a crawl back to their hole. For example, in the last month I've had an MCS umbrella dictate installation requirements that MCS publish. I lifted exactly what MCS says - in fact - to tell the umbrella they're wrong. the umbrella immediately changed their mind. I've also just had to submit a complaint to a competent person scheme because they refused to certify an installation of mine because of what 'MCS requires.' I then quoted exactly what MCS requires and it's the opposite of what the competent persons scheme assessment people told me. Funnily enough they've gone completely quiet since my complaint. Unfortunately there are a lot of people in this industry who haven't got a clue what they're talking about ☹️

I spoke to my solar people about this and they're not keen - apparently they don't like the potential heat build upon the system with the metal roof. Unfortunately I can't comment as I just haven't had the time to do the research myself and form a view on it!

Thanks! And thanks for sharing your experience. I'm going to have a good think about what we can use instead and see where we go with it!

Wow, incredible. Shame they're not a plc as you could then apply for an arrest warrant for the directors. I had to do this years ago in a claim and it woke them up. They said they'd posted the original cheque to the wrong address! Right. Good luck I hope they're forced to pay up with sufficient costs applied too!

Thank you! Yes, I've just been tied up with a manic work week and your earlier post also sent me down a rabit hole to dig out and digest the original structural scheme, which I realised had been completed by 2 structural engineers. The 1st was regarding the whole house design, in particular the steel frame and founds, but also the wind uplift on the connection between the masonry ground floor and the upper floor timder frame. They then passed on the structural design to the glulam beam manufactureres who also completed there own uplift and load calculations for the beams spanning approx 7m on the longest side. I know the first onces erred on the side of caution, but know quite know the other - I will have to look through their report too. However, as I digest all this, I'm erring towards the alternatives suggest because: Yes, this is what the smaller side of the roof looks like - I completed the flashings pretty robustly by making a series of smaller single welt panels. Ridge and eaves went a little ott too. It's a 'proper' standing seam, hand folded with a double lock, so it has floating clips to allow expansion and contraction and this is significant as the panels are over 8m long on the longest side. Exactly, could agree more! This is now rapidly becoming my conclusion given all the input here. Yes, the solar panel side of things wasn't covered off at design stage at all, unfortunately, but it alos comes about because the solar designs sees a surface and just wants to use it all - doesn't see the risks until there's silence from the roofing contractors. For me, I'm feeling lucky that I didn't get a cowboy outfit that said they'd happily do it. And now I'm rapidly concluding that we should go in a different direction with this. I don't like the look of the fixings I've found, particularly given the curve as they won't sit completely flush to the seam and therefore may not be able to fully lock onto it as intended and I like even less the small ones with one grub screw that will inevitably damage the surface coating. All in all, I so appreciate the input here as it's been invaluable, thanks!