Stones

I need to renew the silicone around the shower tray base/wet wall junction. Just wondering if anyone has used UPVC quadrant (fully silicone in place) as an alternative to a simple bead of silicone. My thinking is this may well prove more robust to cleaning. Photos would be appreciated.

A lower power air pump ? Our treatment plant uses a 60W Secoh air pump. At the price cap that works out around £120 per annum. The capital cost of buying a new pump would pay for itself in a year.

Perth & Kinross were (may still) be doing the same. In areas where school provision was stretched and new capacity required, they would very kindly demand around £8K for a single house development. If you didn't have the cash, you had to sign a bond. If you didn't, no planning permission. The justification for all this was one ward where they said there were no capacity issues and consequently were not applying the charge in that area. Interestingly, when our local school subsequently tried to tap into this growing fund for some work at the local primary school they were told that they could not access it and there was no requirement for the money to be spent on the local schooling provision, even though that was why they extorted it in the first place. They really should just call it what it is, a planning gain tax.

Ditch the drier, air dry overnight in room vented by MVHR. We've worked with that set up for years. If need be speed up drying time by adding a half hour blast of heat via a fan heater into the closed drying room.

@John Mckay What kind of heat emitters do you have - underfloor heating / radiators / fan coil unit? Generally speaking the lower the flow temp, the higher the CoP. I'm currently achieving a CoP of 4 with flow temps between 26/29C. Over the course of the heating season 3.5 CoP. When you say constantly defrost mode, I assume you mean seeing frost on the evaporator fins melting and water dripping from the unit? How often does this happen as it is part of an ASHP operation, especially when working hard/higher temps (DHW)? To get your energy usage on the line of four buttons on the controller, press the right hand button. That should bring up energy use for both consumed and delivered. Divide delivered figure by consumed to give you a CoP figure.

In my case concrete paving slab, home made (wet mix, vibrated). I'm also wondering how useful a sealant would be on my garage floor to prevent water that drips off the car from soaking in. Concrete has not had any treatment or paint applied and has been there five years.

Very timely question. I'm likewise seeking an answer - I was assuming something like this- https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-path-patio-driveway-sealer-5ltr/49885

As you're putting in the UFH anyway, I'd go with a Willis heater and circulation pump connected to your UFH. Nice as WBS* are, processing endless amounts of timber will eventually lose its appeal! *assuming of course the government doesn't prohibit them in pursuit of net zero

Is that input to ASHP or output from ASHP (ignoring the top up from your WBS)?

Absolutely. Engage and stick to the facts. Difficult as it may be, emotion and thoughts of 'fairness' should be put to one side.

Only a court can convict. If a fixed penalty is issued it is a conditional offer - by paying this fixed penalty we will not report for prosecution. Ultimately, the purpose of an enforcement notice is to remedy the breach in planning control.

Indeed. Planning Authority have powers to issue fixed penalties or report for consideration of prosecution.

@Susan61 Is the dormer cladding on the house adjacent white - appears so from the photo? I would suggest this would be something to use in any discussion with the planning authority.

There has to be at least 28 days between service of any notice and it coming into effect. This gives the person on whom the notice has been served the opportunity to appeal the notice, and puts the notice in aspic until the appeal has been determined. The appeal may be upheld and notice dismissed, the notice varied or appeal rejected. Compliance timescales are not fixed and can vary, be staged depending on the requirements of the notice. Enforcement appeals are determined by planning reporters. You would have to go to judicial review on a point of planning law to get a Judge involved.

So in effect, your heat pump could be asked to come on by only one thermostat sending a call for heat, let's say the bathroom. The volume of water that the ASHP has to heat in those circumstances will be low, as the other zones will be closed off. It will heat up to your target flow temp and due to the low volume, will quickly reach parity or near between flow and return and shut down. One thing you could try is decoupling the heatmiser from the FTC6 controller, and let the heat pump run on the target temp function. Heating would come on / off according to the temp as measured at the FTC6, with individual zones opening and closing depending on what you have the thermostats set at. Hopefully after settling down you would find enough zones were open at any one time to prevent short cycling. As set up you need more volume in the form of a buffer of some sort I think. You should have the ability to set change the economy setting on the circulation pump so it stays on for longer after the heat pump has switched off. I have the FTC5 controller, so it may be different, but you will find that parameter under Aux settings in the service menu.

Are your room thermostats linked into the controller at all or simply operating the respective actuators on the manifold?

You have nothing to lose trying a few different configurations before going back to installer and being charged for the privilege. Assuming you have thermostats for every room, crank them up so they are always calling for heat, but leave the bedrooms off.

@owh2021 You have three circulation pumps on the cylinder, one for the DHW plate heat exchanger, one for the primary circuit between ASHP and cylinder, and one for the heating circuit. You could try turning up the speed of the heating circulation pump (as pictured the one lowest on the left). I appreciate you say the way you live. Why not try an approach of all zones other than bedrooms always open. Might just be enough. I take it you are using the Mitsubishi master controller and set your target temp on that?

I think you have correctly identified the problem, not enough volume when only a couple of zones calling for heat. 2 options really to increase the volume: Run the house a single or dual zone, i.e. set the thermostats so that when the heating is on, all the loops in the zone are open. The obvious for dual being GF and FF. If dual doesn't work, try as a single zone. Install a buffer tank in the primary circuit to allow heating as per your current zone set up. We have an 8.3 kW Ecodan and preplumb cylinder like you, 155sqm of UFH which we operate as a single zone, temp set by master controller. The house simply settles at the target temp we have selected. For the past four years we have returned seasonal COP of 3.5 for heating, and do not have any short cycling issues. Heating as a single zone may seem alien or wasteful, but I've found its the optimal and most cost effective way of running things.

@Al1son 4 years is the short answer at which point the development is immune from enforcement action. The onus is really on you to evidence that the development has been there for that period, because the development is unauthorised (i.e. no planning / PD) However, just because it is immune from enforcement action doesn't change its status. It is still unauthorised. This may be an issue for you in terms of insurance (something an insurance company could use to deny a claim) or if you have debt secured on the property. If the planning Authority do not accept the evidence you produce, they may well proceed to an enforcement notice requiring removal. You would have a right of appeal which would be dealt with by a reporter. Just bear in mind that if a notice were served, anyone with an interest in the property, inc your lender (if you have one) will be served with a copy of the notice. Best advice I can give is to engage with the Planning Authority.

This is really a very important point - the law of diminishing returns. As you say, significant gains possible from small investments. I can't think of anything I've read in the climate debate which considers that.

My understanding was that the attraction of 'green' hydrogen production was the use of 'excess' electricity production generated by renewables. As more renewables are brought online, so the potential for more excess, and rather than turning the turbines off, you use that extra energy to produce hydrogen, which should in theory, bring the cost of it down. On the lobbying side, we have just returned from holiday, back to Glasgow airport. The first thing you see when you walk out of customs through the arrivals door is a huge hoarding promoting Hydrogen (sponsored by Ineos, who have of course just announced a £2bn investment)

Well done! I made my own silencer for the same reasons as you, and it has proved very effective. Didn't think of the multi holed baffles. Has it reduced air flow at all?

We have a 300l UVC heated by a 8.3kW ASHP, water heated to and stored at 48C, legionella cycle every 3 weeks to take it over 60C. Similar pattern of use, 2 long showers in the morning, 2 in the evening. We can comfortably run a deep bath and run one shower from the tank before it runs cool. Showers flow at 16l/m. We have never run out of hot water. Your main challenges are recovery time, i.e. how long to heat the UVC up - with an ASHP it will take longer and therefore a bigger (300l) UVC makes sense. Previous experience from a rented property with a 200l UVC was it always ran cold after two showers, and being direct electric took ages to recover. Second challenge is when you choose to heat the UVC - if you only heat during the night, e.g. E7, then ideally you'd be looking to heat all your water then and need to store enough until the next heating cycle, and therefore a bigger (400l+) UVC. Top it up through the day and you can reduce the size. And just to add another variable, are you planning solar thermal or PV?

We had a low temp radiator system running off a heat pump in our last house. Radiators were a lot bigger (surface area) compared to the size required for gas/oil system. Pipework was IIRC 22mm ring with 15mm feeding each radiator. Microbore would in my view need replacing. The customer feedback above is I think a little misleading - unhappy with heat - what exactly do they mean? Are they are trying to use a HP system like a gas boiler only coming on for a couple of hours in the morning/evening? Living with a low temp system is very different to a gas/oil rapid response system.