SimonD

Friends of mine live in what was originally a bungalow but has been extended several times over the years. Each time the heating system has been added to. Ever since they've lived there, they've had problems with two rads in the annex never heating up. They've had several plumbers round to sort things costing them money and never resolving the problem. I kind of quite enjoy these problems so said I'd go over and have a look and also crawled into the undercroft to look at the pipework there. - there's about 15 rads on the system and the two problematic rads are at one side and end of the house. - the rest of the house gets nice and warm quickly - 30kW heat only boiler running sealed ch system - circulator is a DAB Evosta 40-70/130 on proportional differential pressure setting 6 - pipework under the floor in the undercroft is a terrible mess - the two problematic rads are on a 15mm loop, that looks like it includes another two rads, probably giving a total flow and return pipe length of 24 meters for those rads When I started up the boiler, I put it into service mode max and even with the whole system cold, it would cycle rapidly. When I put the system as normal it would run fine and eventually, after about an hour finally reached 70C flow and 50C return - at all times during heat up it ran at 20C differential temp. I fiddled with both lock shield and trvs and the two rads eventually got hot but this was after probably 1.5 hours of running the heating on full pelt. Clearly there is a flow problem here. My thinking. I think there's too much pressure drop along this leg of the system and some of the other pipework has long legs of 15mm suggesting the total head on the system is pretty high. So questions: - do we chuck in a more powerful circulator pump. The curve on the DAB is pretty rubbish in terms of drop in head even at normal ch circulation flow rates. So we could go for a better domestic pump, like from Grundfos or Wilo that could deal with decent head up to 7.5m, or alternatively chuck in a light commercial pump for up to 9m head? - do we get under the undercroft and modify the pipework. There's a section of accessible pipework in the undercroft feeding two rads that do get hot. As it's so accessible my thought was this could be upsized to 22mm and we could then tee in the troublesome rads to this loop on 22mm pipe? (there are some dead legs here already suggesting that's how the old system worked before some building work was done and radiators were moved) - they've said plummers have been round a tried to balance the system, but is it worth us trying this first? Budget's limited so hesitant to just chucking in an expensive circulating pump without having a good sense of whether it might work, but is that the most sensible solution? I'd appreciate any suggestions here.

You don't need hardcore, sand blinding and then concrete. All you need is a sufficient cover of inert material so a good spread of hardcore or a lean mix of concrete cover - 50mm concrete should be sufficient. Then just make sure you've got a min 150mm distance between the bottom of your joists and finished level of oversite.

Well, it's Friday night and this thread caught my eye. How many books have you actually got? I haven't sat down and done any math on this one as my main thought was that my dad has a lot of books, a lot of them. My sister also has a lot of books currently on bookshelves on a floor that's been around for nearly 100 years now. There's never been a problem with floors coping with the load from the bookshelves, even in the last place where my dad had them in a loft converted into a library. In my current house, the SE didn't design the floor according to minimum BR load requirements, but to a higher standard to reduce deflection, which in theory is going to mean the capacity to deal with a greater load. I'll report back when I get my library out of storage and onto the bookshelves ☺️ If my very rusty engineering brain remembers correctly, this is only one way of calculating your loading which is in effect the resultant force of the load. However, this is a simplified approach. For a uniformly distributed load you may need to think as if it's pressure against the surface which would calculate the pressure over an area - think for example snow load. In this instance you'd be looking at load per unit area, or in more simply terms load per unit length. This way you get a better idea of the distribution of the load which is more accurate because in your case, you wouldn't in reality see the resultant force on one joist with less or nothing on the others. But also, because the floor structure ties the floor together your loading will be distributed across a wider area of the floor than just the joists below the bookshelf - try walking across a load of joists without noggings, then add the noggings, and then add your osb/chipboard floor and in each case there will be a very obvious difference in the floor's behaviour and how it feels underfoot. Like @markc has also clearly experimented, I've driven and used a mini digger on a floor with only 4inch joists. But maybe I've had too much beer....

Hmmm, I think the layout is pretty poor. Is this designer actually a proper designer or someone who sits next to you at a diy store and plonks units into place on an app? Ditch the breakfast bar as I think you'll find it cramped. no way you want someone sitting there while you use the kitchen. But more to the point, the designer doesn't seem to have thought about how a kitchen works. There's very little usable worksurface next to the hob for prep etc. It'll be full when a kettle is there and there's some washing up on the side. You've got acres of worktop the other side of the oven which means you'll probably do all the food prep for cooking there and have to work round the oven - if you cook at all you'll hate this with a vengeance, even more if you use food processors etc.. The fridge is at the other end of the kitchen from this prep area too. The fridge opens out across what looks like a doorway and the other doorway opens virtually straight into the breakfast bar. Similarly it looks like the dishwasher opens out in the way of good access to and from the fridge and it would get in the way of the walkway to and from the door when open. I also think there are multiple issues with the high oven next to the window and the wall cupboards around the extractor that are next to the other window. I think this will create some weird light in the kitchen and maybe darken it. Tall oven cupboard in the middle of it all will make the space seem much smaller too. So for some constructive input, I'd suggest you play around with the layout by moving the sink and dishwasher (assuming it can be opened without getting in the way of the doorway) right across to the other side of the kitchen beneath the large indicated window. Then move the tall oven cupboard across next to the tall fridge. This way you'll have created yourself a load of space and a much better sense of space with good light. Also consider if you can live without the wall cabinets that are currently on the wall above the hob and just have a simple extractor. The other consideration is whether you could live with a simple one sided galley kitchen. Remove the tall oven cabinet and instead have the oven below the hob. Then you could turn the fridge 90 degrees around so that it opens towards the galley kitchen without getting in the way of the doorway. Sink and dishwasher again sit under the large window. I have worked in commercial kitchens, love cooking and so I spend a lot of time in my kitchen. Following the image you've shown, I would lean towards the galley kitchen. Clean, simple, functional, leaves space in the kitchen and it's cheaper. However, if you've just bought your first place, don't rush out to renovate the kitchen. Live with what you have for at least 6 months to get an idea of how the space works and how you use it - you'll be so much better and knowing what you want then.

There is definitely positive movement, yet as the late Hans Rosling, the famed Swedish physician and statistician always used to say - you've got to look beyond the numbers. If you do this, the graph you show isn't as rosy as it might seem. In 2021 solid biomass acounted for over 1/3 of all 'renewable' energy, 70% of which is used for electricity generation. This process is highly inefficient (probably dirtier than coal) and in 2018 required us to import just under 8 million tons mainly from the US and Canada. Now according to the bean counters, this is classed as a renewable source. According to more up to date research and knowledge, it isn't. In fact it's now causing an increase in carbon emissions but this part of it has been off shored, like much of our other emissions. It also masks that we've done the easy bit in phasing out coal, for example. They've picked all the low hanging fruit. Now comes the harder work to continue the downward trajectory. This will be both more challenging and expensive.

I've heard figure saying that the theoretical available fracked gas in the UK would only supply the equivalent of 4 years worth of UK gas demand. Seems hardly worth the risk or cost to me. Unfortunately it seems that may be the case - with their 'efficiency' at least the heat pumps make up for the inefficient production of electricity using gas, but it seems an expensive and inefficient way to do it. I read that. Still remarkably supportive of the overall concept of fracking but to me it came across as more of a marketing piece for new ventures, so somewhat commercially biased. The use of brine was an interesting one, but questionable in terms of its proposal for heating greenhouses etc. for agriculture rather than making proposals re phasing out of gas for heating. There still does seem to be a pretty obvious vacuum in terms of short-medium-long term energy policy with nothing sensible on the horizon.

K rend on its own will do nothing for either air tightness or thermal bridging. K rend have several EWI systems - EPS and Mineral wool probably your best bet. https://k.systems/ewi/ Airthightness needs to be considered as a separate layer to either IWI or EWI - usually plastering with some foams, tapes, and airtightness paint in certain areas you can't plaster.

You also have the differences in cold bridging and total u-value. It's more difficult to eliminate cold bridging with IWI and current best practise now suggests going no lower than 0.30 in IWI. With EWI you can eliminate cold bridges because you're wrapping the whole house - you can also include plinth insulation below dpc and floor level - and you can install as thick insulation as you wish. With your existing cavity wall, yes there's a risk of air movement in the cavity but if you've got suspended timber floors, you're likely to be retrofiting floor insulation? Then you can do some detailing to seal up the cavity as best you can around the under floor vents, for example. In addition you have the option of filling the cavity with eps beads. Ewi is also very good when the weather gets hot. Ours remained nice and cool throughout the heatwaves we had this summer. My vote would be always be EWI unless absolutely not possible.

Should've seen the state of the heat exchanger and spark electrodes I saw in a boiler I was fixing the other day that was still under a BG service/repair contract. Input was 8kW less than it should do and was 'serviced' only a few months ago. Customers got me in because BG couldn't come out for a long...long...time. Service my ar$e.

Isn't that more of a sign they haven't got a clue? 😉 IMHO You're much better off calling in the manufacturer as they often provide capped price repairs and will know a lot more about the boiler.

I agree with @Jilly - live with it for a while and see how you go. Work collaboratively and remember that a develoment is always going to require some compromise and outcomes you perhaps didn't dream of. Our driveway happens to be a smidgen steeper than 1:5 where my wife parks her car, the rest of it slopes but not as much. It's north facing out in countryside so more ice - this bit sometimes doesn't get to see sunshine as the house also shades the area. Never really had a problem other than when it has snowed, even during Beast from the East. I have a tub of salted grit and haven't touched it in years. Ours is tarmac mind you. I know a few people locally with steepers drives that do get used to it. I do wonder if you redid the drive with infill you'd end up with giref about the loss of view as it's going to be difficult to imagine what it'll look like and if it'll make the difference you want. And BTW my wife has a 4wd RAV4 automatic - parking is a cinch and never complained. More complains from me when carrying materials from all the deliveries not able to get up the drive!

Yes, but with the full fill, you then don't need the ventilation. The advantage with it is that the floor structure becomes a warm floor as the main part of the insulation is outside the structure - a bit like a warm roof. You then also reduce cold bridging. You'll probably need a VCL above the joists, below the subfloor deck . This is an approach that may need explaining to your BC officer who may ask for ventilation anyway, but it's a discussion to be had.

On that note, I'd suggest you find yourself another builder. If that's their attitude to underfloor insulation, I dread to think how they'd approach the installations and detailing of EWI and everything else. They seem to be ignorant of fabric first thermal envelope. Building Regs might also want to differ due to the extent of renovation and there then being a requirement to upgrade the thermal performance of the floor. Your other option not mentioned so far is to full fill the underfloor void with eps beads, depending on how deep it is of course. Having just completed a 1920s bungalow floor retrofit, that would definitely be my preferred approach now.

Microcement. You can then also have integrated splashbacks and all jointless.

What are the bets that there are going to be some rather large unforeseen and unintended consequences as a result of the rapid knocking up of the rescue package?

The energy ratings of boilers isn't entirely straighforwards as the total ErP score depends on the boiler, the installed controls and how they're configured. Typically a boiler on its own will only be about 89% efficient but controls are then graded in terms of Erp classes which add to the boiler efficiency. Class 1 is on/off thermostat which adds only 1% to the boiler efficiency. A class VIII control (fully modulating and zoned) will add 5%.

What boiler make and model have you got? It's worth checking if it can be configured for priority domestic hot water. Some system boilers can't and are dependent on the same setting for both CH and DHW. And some boilers that can be configured that way don't tell you they can be so you have to figure it out. I can tell you that Ideal boilers can and it's very simple, giving 80 deg DHW and modulating CH even though the installation manual doesn't tell you this explicitly.

LOL! Oh, I don't know, I found his book Bullshit Jobs highly entertaining. I think he really did encapsulate a lot of office working life in particular in that book. One story which was both very sad while utterly hilarious was the one where a colleague had been sat dead in his office chair at work and nobody noticed. I also rather enjoy his final book The Dawn of Everything. RIP a colourful deep thinker who definitely knew how to shake up the conversation!

I reckon you're right. I remember back in 2008 an economist who was also chief economist for the firm I was working for was on TV saying that contrary to the politicians and mainstream economists mutterings we were going to enter into a very long spell of low interests rates, possibly negative. He said mid to late 2010s at the very least and to expect longer. I think this one is going to be worse and finally I've heard on the media there are others realising this may be the case too. On a brighter note, there's nothing like a good crisis to focus the minds of folk and it's usually a crisis that forces change, it's just a question of what kind of change emerges from the ashes.

https://www.ft.com/content/73212b74-c1ba-11e4-8b74-00144feab7de 😁

Yeah, I think this reflects probably the biggest problem we face, which is that it's a political and social problem being tackled as if it were a technical one. We've had the technology for a while now..... we all must really know the missing piece.

I would take the radical position 😄. We need some serious structural reform to deal with the current situations. The energy market is dysfunctional and I'd also say that the way that capitalism has morphed is more like cancer than a benefit to the world and society at large. Central to this is the problem of economics which has, for whatever reason, taken centre stage in pretty much every single human activity and is now treated as if it were some immutable natural force. In the words of Keynes himself we should not 'overestimate the importance of the economic problem, or sacrifice to its supposed necessities other matters of greater and more permanent significance.' But yeah, if there wasn't such huge waste during Covid, there'd be a bit more cash to splash on renewables and all the other things. 😊

If you take into consideration the entire infrastructure together with all the structural reforms required to make the Net Zero shift, I'd reckon the total bill is way beyond private investors. They will and are cherry picking the bits most lucrative. The reality is that private investors don't like early stage risky high capital bets. But instead of me jabbering on, it's probably better to quote from a pieve by Aviva Investors for COP26: This outlines that in order to make the technology being relied upon to even get close to Net Zero, a lot of very expensive technology needs to be developed, tested and then scaled in order to make it attractive to the investors to take it forwards. This pattern is fairly well backed up by history. I'm not trying to be a naysayer, but there's a good number of proposals coming out about how it's going to be achieved, including by governments, that are frankly pretty naive.

The International Energy Agency Net Zero Report: Commitments made to date fall far short of what is required by that pathway. The number of countries that have pledged to achieve net-zero emissions has grown rapidly over the last year and now covers around 70% of global emissions of CO2. This is a huge step forward. However, most pledges are not yet underpinned by near-term policies and measures. Moreover, even if successfully fulfilled, the pledges to date would still leave around 22 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions worldwide in 2050. Investment will have to triple by 2030 at least.In the end I suspect it's going to be governments that shoulder the burden, not private investment, even though they're likely to reap the rewards unless the governments take proper equity stakes like some sensible ones do.

But it won't. RE investment is already too low to transition in time for 2050 and all that would be accomplished by supporting suppliers but paying the generators and extractors etc. is further transfer of wealth as it will result in bigger bonuses, happy hedge fund managers, increased dividends and more. It would merely amount to further FF subsidies over and above the existing ones. (Although Uniper in Germany has suffered over $12bn in losses and has been bailed out by the German government) Capping prices and dislocating gas from electricity prices is a good start but there has to be a re-configuration of the whole energy market as it's dysfunctional.