ronaldgibbons

I just mean for information.

The kit is being supplied by Fleming Homes to our design. I have details of what the panels in their system claim to provide but as our design has lots of large windows, some large rooms, open spaces, a flat roof and large areas of roof terrace I've assumed the calculations could be relatively complex but will obviously need to be provided in the building warrant drawings. In the meantime I'll be absorbing as much info as I can. Tomorrow I'll be contacting some ASHP installers.👍

I agree. The kit designer/builder supplied expected insulation values when we chose the kit style and with the triple glazed windows and doors they've specified I'm expecting to see very high levels of insulation.

I'll definitely take your advice. I'm not demanding but I think so far our kit designer has been attentive and informative however I have noticed a drop of since we paid the deposit.🤨

Sorry, the architect friend with the apparently outdated advice on heat pumps is not involved in the build apart from some early creative input. The house will be built of insulated panels. I've got info on the expected insulation values but I don't have technical or engineering drawings yet.

I don't have that info yet but I'm assuming it's going to be high end.

The Cowal Peninsula on the West Coast of Scotland. Although it's Scotland and we do get wild weather, temperatures are mild here compared to inland areas. The house is (will be) on a South facing slope with large South facing windows.

I'll need to speak to those installers again (or different ones). I was told that an ASHP wouldn't be able to provide the amount of hot water required throughout the year for all the heating and hot water.

Thanks, I've got lots more enquiries to make and research before I make any decisions.

Thanks, we're still gathering all the info we can. She wanted an outside sink as well.😄

Thanks for that. I'm absolutely open minded about our options and looking for useful info to make the right choice. It was the conflicting information on ASHP's regarding their performance, especially in winter that put us off but I'll be having another look before making any decisions. The quotes for the borehole were £11000, £14000 and £18000. The larger quotes including accommodation and long distance transport. Regarding my original post, you seem to be saying there could be a crucial difference between using two shallower bores or one deeper?

Our quotes for borehole and all external works up to the plant room were £11000, £14000 and £18000. The two higher quotes are from companies that required overnight accommodation and one had huge transport costs. The plant room, underfloor heating and all internal works came in at £13000 and £17000. Again the higher quote involved accommodation costs.

Thanks for replying. I don't have details of heat loss calculations yet. The house is 220 m2, 1 bath, 4 showers, 6 sinks, 4 toilets and underfloor heating throughout. The GSHP option was recommended by an architect friend with experience of them and the ASHP was advised against because of the amount of energy needed and the conflicting information about their performance, particularly in winter. However we're not signed up for anything and are still open minded.

Thanks for that, I'd thought it was the ambient temperature in the rock that provided the warmth. So is it better to go deeper with one bore? It was the heat pump installer who recommended the borehole but we had said it was our preferred option based on advice we'd been given from an architect friend with experience of them. We'd been put off the idea of an ASHP by some conflicting information and reviews. Particularly regarding their performance in the winter.

Hi there, thanks for replying. We basically made our decision based on the advice of an architect friend who had experience with GSHP's. I did some Internet research on different heat pumps and sent enquiries to a few heat pump installers with details of the house design. We can't use the trench type because of ground conditions and there was a lot of conflicting advice on ASHP's so we went with the borehole but we're not signed up to anything and are still researching.

Hi there, thanks for replying. I'm in the early stages. I don't have any accurate calculations. The house design is still going through the initial planning process so I don't have engineering drawings. I sent enquiries to a few heat pump installers with design details. Floor area (220m2), number of baths (1), showers (4), toilets (4), sinks (6). There's 2 floors with underfloor heating throughout. There's large triple glazed South facing windows in 6 of the rooms.

Thanks for replying. It's only for heating and hot water so we won't be accessing any water within the ground. We've been told an air source pump won't provide the amount of energy we need and we had to go with a borehole rather than the trench type because the plot is mostly bedrock just below the surface. The contractor says if we can use two boreholes instead of one he will use a smaller machine that won't need as much ground prep and a police escort during transport. Thanks, Jonathan.

Hi there, I'm having a borehole installed for a ground source heat pump. I've been told I can save money on transport costs if I can use 2 x 100m boreholes instead of a 1 x 200m borehole. I'll be doing some research later but I just wondered if anyone knows if it makes any difference? Many thanks, Jonathan.

Stop the bus!!!! For anyone who's still interested. After becoming frustrated with an ongoing issue between our drainage contractor and our surveyor that was delaying our planning application I spoke with another drainage contractor who has installed septic systems in our area recently. I know they all have their favourite methods and they look down on others but his immediate response when I told him we were using the EcoFlo system was "no." 😆 He says that he recently had to replace the filter medium on one that had only been in use for 7 months as the septic tank flooded and overflowed into the EcoFlo. This completely puts it out of action and all the filter medium has to be replaced at great expense.

And one more.....OM0004 Ecoflo Operating, Maintenance & Installation Guide Rev 6.pdf

More info......Certification-ECOFLO-Part-3 (1).pdf

I've found Premier Tech, the company mentioned by Dunc in his post above to be a very good source of information about the system. I was sent a load of technical info including the brochure I've attached.Ecoflo-GuidePro-Brochure_UK_EN_20210617-LR.pdf

Hi there, has anyone installed an EcoFlo septic system. I'm going through the planning process just now and they want some information on the system. Is it generally something they approve of? The company I've spoken to about installing it claim it's going to take over from traditional soakaways and planning officers are in favour of it. Having said this the company have delayed handing over their design for the planning application for over a month. I'm starting to think they know the Planning dept will have issues with it.

Hi there, so if anyone's interested the estimate for connection was £3500. As someone mentioned before this is for connection only. There's around 70m of trenching to be excavated and trunking laid by me with the digging to be done by hand 9m from the pole. I'm happy with this, hopefully there's no surprises when I'm assigned my engineer to give the detailed quote and the landowner is okay with the trench running along his side of the road for 40m. He owns thousands of acres in the area so hopefully he'll be reasonable. One interesting thing I found out was a quote I got for impact moleing the cables under the road 4m to the plot which was £1800 and an estimate of £15,000 to take them underground the full 70m.

I've driven around the area to have a look at the poles and cables. Mostly there's a pole every 40m or so along the roads here, each pole serves 1 or 2 houses each, criss-crossing the road whenever it's needed. Sometimes the poles carry the broadband cable too. I'm guessing that if SSE are going to continue this method and there's capacity then they'll use another 2 poles to bring the cables up level to my plot then cross the road, put a pole on the plot and run the cable for 30m underground to the house site. Any ideas of the cost for this? The land on the other side of the road is privately owned by a large landowner, it's used for forestry and he owns thousands of acres. It's unlikely he would object but I'm wondering if the verge of a road where the poles are is public land anyway so there's no need to worry about wayleaves?