Stones

Just thought I'd add a picture of the pre-plumb cylinder originally talked about; Ours has just been fitted so we could get the UFH up and running. I will of course have to get all the pipework insulated. Installation was quick and simple, especially on the electrical side (our electrician actually commented on how straight forward it was in comparison to other makes of ASHP installation he deals with). Chatting to my builder after the cylinder had been installed, he said he was seriously considering switching away from Panasonic to the Mitsubishi package, as the reduced installation times and simplicity of it all would save him money, time and the difficulty of getting plumber and electrician on site (granted this might not be the case if you were installing on a DIY basis). I'll report back how it performs in due course.

All my wiring is in - cat 6 to every room, but reading through this, it's occurred to me that I have two devices which would benefit from its own connection (bluray player and a games console). Would somebody be good enough to clarify how I would go about connecting the two devices to a single cat 6 point?

I ordered our sanitary ware (basins and WC) from Skybad, as they had the best price of the German sites I looked at and were at the time (bearing in mind the exchange rate) about 40% cheaper than the best price I could find in the UK. When I looked at shower trays, baths, shower doors, there was little if any saving ordering from abroad, so I took the view that I might as well source locally and let them worry about delivery / returns etc. The same applied to our brassware - I found the Grohe taps, showers and kitchen taps we were looking for on a UK site for pretty much the same price they were wanting. All I would say is don't assume that importing everything will be the cheapest way of doing it.

It's been a few weeks since the last update, but we've had plenty of activity on site. The decorator has taped, filled and sanded the walls. He was good enough to do the house in two sections, which let me paint one half of the house while he was taping and filling the other. 10 days in total of painting say me roll three coats onto the walls and ceilings. First coat was a thinned down Armstead contract matt. Second coat Armstead contract matt, finished by a third and final coat of Armstead Durable (scrubbable) matt. We have gone all white, so I didn't have much in the way of cutting in. I did take the precauation of fully masking the windows and doors, and whilst there was some bleed under the masking tape, the polythene that I taped to the windows meant I didn't have any roller splatter to clean off. I did use two different brands of masking tape, and I think it fair to say that there was a fairly big difference quality wise between the two, the cheaper 'value' roll, suffering more bleed and being more difficult to remove in one piece. I've also pre-oiled all of our oak facings and skirtings ready for the joiners to fit. In the picture you can see my use of the scaffold tower as a convenient drying rack. Having experimented with various finishes (dansih oil, varnish) we opted for Osmo Oil - (clear satin) as our finish of choice, and I have to say it does really enhance the look of the wood. Outside, the digger returned to do the bulk of the landscaping and form the rest of the driveway. I'll let the pictures do the talking here, but needless to say, utilising a 6T dumper, we shifted a huge quantity of subsoil around to the front of the house, which the digger formed into two terraces, tying the slope into the existing, We also used some of the larger stones / rock that dug up when digging out the foundations to form a mini retaining wall around the house and to line the driveway turning area; The end result of all that work; Whilst we got a fair chunk of the outside work done, we will need to revisit the landscaping in spring next year, once the subsoil moved to the front of the house has had a chance to settle and harden. One more week with the digger should finish off spreading our remaining topsoil, let us form our finished driveway entrance - something we decided to leave until all bigger vehicles are finished on site, and do final repairs / resurfacing to the track we take our access from. There is of course still a fair amount of finishing to be done inside. Completing the decoration (or at least having put on the final coat) prior to all of the other work inside being completed is of course a risk, but I concluded I would rather have to touch up any paintwork as required rather than have to spend double the amount of time painting a full final coat once flooring and joinery works have been completed. We now have all of our finishings on site ready to be fitted. The plumber and electrician came through the week to get the UFH up and running, locating and connecting the monobloc ASHP outside, and the preplumb cylinder inside; The plumber spent a day or so connecting everything up, albeit a fair amount of that time was running pipework from tails he had previously left. The electrician was there for a day as well, but again the vast bulk of his day was fitting the CU inside and bringing in the mains supply from the meter in the garage. The actual ASHP and cylinder connection took minutes - mains cable from CU to ASHP, control cable from ASHP to control module on cylinder, remote programmer connect to control module. The electrician actually commented on how simple and straight forward it was in comparison to other makes of ASHP based systems he routinely works on. The installation is such that my builder is seriously considering switching to this very set up. Whilst the UFH is now up and running, there is now a period of waiting until we can switch the UFH off, and proceed with the installation of flooring (tile and engineered oak), which in turn, dictates when we can get the rest of the joinery finishes completed. With the Christmas break just around the corner, we are not going to get much more done inside before the joiners return in the new year, with an entry date planned for the end of January.

We are going with a 300L cylinder, heated via an ASHP. Had we had the option of gas, with it's much faster recharge time, we would have gone for a 200L cylinder or do away with the cylinder completely and have a combi. A 300L cylinder lets me store the quantity of DHW we need at a lower temperature (between 45C and 50C) to suit the ASHP.

Thanks chaps. A set of flat wood bits, brad pointed bits and the Bosch multi constructional bits linked to seem a fairly reasonable selection to have.

Looking at the sorry state of my accumulated collection of drill bits, I think the time has come to replace and renew. As I'm only a light / occasional DIY user, I'm wondering what I should go for. Branded or cheap unbranded and treat as disposable? Titanium, Cobalt, Carbon? It would seem sensible to get a range of bits, so HSS, wood (brad point), wood (flat bit), masonry. A set containing some of each or individual sets of the different types? A drill sharpener - worthwhile?

Doubtless be some very minor saving doing it that way - 1p or less per unit, but if making millions of them, I guess it will add up. The samples I bought do not interfere with FM radio, and bench test no overheating or indeed any significant heat issues, so other than perhaps following peters suggestion of some heat shrink sleeve, I think I will give these a whirl. Thanks for everyone's input.

Is radio interference the (main) reason you plan to swap them out?

So have you done anything at all other than connect using the supplied drivers using a choc box or similar? Just checked mine, and as Peter says, the wires are rated 600V, 3A and 105C

@Alphonsox Are you planning to get a replacement driver for each panel or are you hoping to run multiple panels from one driver?

That's very helpful, thanks. Are the drivers that came with your panels similar to the photograph? I've just had a look at the link @Nickfromwales posted, the driver looks the same, down to the same unsheathed input wires. Useful to remind ourselves of what JSH did but ideally it would be good to be able to use something off the shelf without having to faff around.

@Nickfromwales, I don't have the driver in front of me just now, but I think out fair to say that the input and output wires are little more than bell wire - very insubstantial. I take it the ones you linked to don't have the wiring issues identified in the picture? Other question which someone may wish to answer, we have 12 lights planned for our kitchen covering a combined floor and worktop area of around 13m2. I had been thinking of 6W lights but just wondering if this would be too bright / overkill?

@ProDave how long would you suggest running one for as a test? I can certainly try replacing the input wires with sheathed flex - it'll be an interesting test of my soldering skills. If that's not going to work, is there anything else I can do, eg insulating sleeve over input wires, or is that just a recipe for disaster? Annoying thing is that these lights are perfect for what we want. It really is an absolute minefield...

Ideal, thanks.

Having ordered a few samples online, we have settled on a cheap but impressive flat panel LED lighting for our kitchen: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/I-LumoS-LED-RECESSED-LIGHTING-PANEL-15MM-SLIM-ROUND-SQUARE-CEILING-DOWNLIGHTS-/331607082056?var=&hash=item4d35528448:m:m9roqi3fZ_UkKwkwNZm1wlQ A driver is supplied (no interference with radio on those I tested) so all that remains the final connection between driver and mains cable. Having removed the cover from one of the drivers: the wires are soldered. I'm assuming a simple chocbox is the way to go to make and protect the final connection between the driver wires and mains cable?

Looks fantastic. Utterly impractical for us - would be covered in small hand prints within 5 minutes!

One of the reasons I went for the system was to avoid the need to build custom controls. How do you know / determine how long to run the open loop for?

A useful find, as you say, illustrates just how much some installers are making, and the 'fat' built into the RRP. My experience of a 24/7 weather compensated system (which this is) is based on my last house. It really was a case of trial and error (in terms of experimenting with different heating curves) to set the system such that the house was at a constant and even temperature. Once set, you left it alone. I don't intend operating the slab as a responsive heating system (i.e. whack of the heating if you are cold). It will be on all the time and do what it needs to when it needs to. We may very well have heating under or overshoots during the experimentation phase, but working from the starting point of a low 20's flow temp, I don't see this as being a massive issue. I got everything normally supplied with the heat pump package, instruction, installation manual and a disc. It should all be programmed in, and simply be a case of working through the menus to set the system up.

My plan is to use the call for heat function from the master controller / stat, but keep the heating pump circulating so that the slab temp is nice and even. As per your comments, I plan to run the slab as near as I can to room temperature. It will no doubt take a bit of trial and error to work out the optimum settings. http://www.seconsolar.com/ekmps/shops/seconsolar/resources/Other/secon-heat-pumps-v8.4-a4x6pp-jan16.pdf

Is that question for me or Dave?

I've gone for one of these packages, as in addition to the benefits you have detailed (albeit my understanding was that you could set your own DHW temperature), you can get bolt on kits for the cylinder to run a second heating circuit at either UFH flow temp or a different flow temp, it can be programmed to provide cooling, and it's seemingly possible to set dip switches to keep the heating pump running regardless of whether there is a call / demand for heat. I bought mine direct from a wholesaler, 15 % less than I was being quoted for elsewhere.

I'd put one in regardless. It may not be a requirement, but nothing to stop you submitting additional supporting information.

Looking at the plans, I would think about reducing the length of the downstairs bedroom from 4345 to 3745 (still plenty big enough to accommodate a bed, bedside tables and built in waredrobe, and use the 'stolen' 600mm to recess part of your kitchen, which you would switch from the left side of the main room to the right. You would then have a choice of an L configuration open to the room, or a galley style peninsula with dedicated dining space between the peninsula and the box window. The benefit of doing this I think would be to open up and increase the lounge space. I would also consider swapping the position of the store / plant room and downstairs shower room, so that the store was beside the front door. Use this for your DHW storage and washing machine, as well as a handy space for coats and shoes. Also think about utilising under the stairs with some form of built in storage / shelves.

Seems to be Dave, that was the first result (on Uswitch) that came up available in our area - Economy Energy, https://www.economyenergy.co.uk/Compare/TariffSummary# although checking their website direct, they are showing 12.56p / kWh (after typing in our postcode)