ProDave

Build a really well insulated house. My annual ASHP heating usage is 1220kWh for the last 12 months. It is still hovering around 0 here, slightly above in the day, often a lot below at night, was still snowing today. Normal winter weather up here.

Definitely do this, backdated to the date you took the roof off. It would be poetic justice if the greedy council that is trying to fleece you then got nothing, rather than the 100% council tax you were happy to pay up to the point they got greedy.

Minimum is 0 but I doubt anyone has achieved that yet. 0.5 is very good, anything under 3 means it must have MVHR (and also does not need trickle ventilators on windows etc) What are you hoping to achieve? A really well built house that is comfortable to live in and costs little to heat? Or the cheapest build you can get away with that scrapes through building regs?

Why did you do that? deemed export assumes you export 50% of generation. With a PV diverter you probably export less than 50%, so you will loose out.

Yes my plan is just to do small jobs for customers I know. I already turned down even looking at the wiring for a new build on the West Coast scheduled to happen later this year. I could do with just one more year of NIC contributions after the end of the 2022/3 tax year. What I have not been able to find is what is the minimum I can earn as self employed to qualify for that? and then set that as my target, and when I reach that target, stop completely.

I hope it won't be too long before 2 move out, but I want SWMBO to stay.

I don't have my own weather station, I just look at the data from this one, about a mile away, same valley. https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IALNES1

It shows how much the House uses, vs the Person. We are using about 7MWh per year for 4 of us. But if the other 3 moved out, usage would NOT drop to under 2MWh

Yes happy new year everyone. This should be the year I retire and get more time for leisure. It will be interesting just how easy it is to retire from self employment, I suspect I will still do some work for a while, but nowhere near as much. Nobody is going to present me with a carriage clock and thank me for my dedicated service to the business. So here is to more time on the water, sailing, and rowing.

Your last paragraph sums it up. You spend more on motoring fuel than house fuel. I am at about 8K miles per year, and that is expected to go down this year as I am retiring. Though it remains to be seen if I do more leisure driving instead of previous work driving. Retiring is probably the best thing we could all do to help the environment.

To claim an export payment the install has to be MCS, so that rules out DIY. If your existing system is already getting export payments you could (cough) just install the extra and see if anyone notices the amount of export has gone up? But my view is you already have (I assume) 4kW of existing PV so it will be hard to self use any extra above that, and funding it on export payments I don't think makes sense. So I would be looking at the additional system being connected to battery storage entirely for self use outwith the times the main system is generating.

I have never seen a built in fridge door coming that close the the ceiling?

What is fundamentally different to a timber frame with insulation in the frame, and a SIP panel, that makes SIP panels prone to sole plate condensation and timber frame not so?

My static caravan sits on 12 pillars of concrete blocks, so a well spread load, but it is only about 2 tons of caravan son not a lot of weight. I don't use the puny wind down legs at all. For a more substantial build I would probably do a number of concrete pads a decent depth.

I think it depends of it is literally a static caravan, which tend to be quite lightweight, or are you building a properly engineered well built well insulated "house" that happens to fit the legal definition of a "caravan" (it does not need to be on wheels to legally be a "caravan") which might be very much more substantial and heavier?

I am talking of cutting a square about 4 inches /100mm square, with one edge of it at least on the centreline of the joist. You can than connect properly with maintenance free terminals in a junction box. Push that up into the ceiling, thread your new output cable to where you want it then screw your square of plasterboard back to the joist, or if you have some spare offcuts of PB cut a new square the same size that won't have the original hole in it. It is easy then to fill the gap with sandable filler, and end up with an invisible repair that can be painted. I very much doubt there will be enough slack on the existing cables to move the whole bundle over.

Great progress. Just a thought on furniture (before you buy the stuff for cabin #2) Would it not make more sense for most families to have a double bed and a pair of bunk beds? I would not have wanted to share a double with my sister even as young children!!!!!!

Just to clarify. is the joist running parallel with the light fitting? or crossing it perpendicular? The number of cables suggests it is wired "loop at light" can you confirm? If so I would cut a small hole in the plasterboard straddling a joist. Yes really. This will give you room to terminate all the cables with maintenance free terminals in a suitable box with just one outgoing cable to the light fitting. Screw the square of plasterboard back to the joist, easy as it was cut straddling the joist, fill the gap where it was cut and paint.

Ok dumb question. both those vans are "Psv'd until ....." What does that mean, google does not help me.

Ovens take surprisingly little so I would go with that. Click make this handy double appliance cooker connection unit, swap the existing one for this to connect both the oven and the hob. https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/AA45DCOP.html

In a house close to passive house levels of insulation and air tightnes, yes, in a 1920's house, almost certainly not.

Probably not. Induction hobs are usually high power. Are there any other rating plates or other info, even a make and model number.

Change the cloakroom extractor for an icon fan https://www.airflow.com/products/icon-range That has a mechanical shutter that closes when not in use. With one source of draught closes that might be enough.

But the OP says he has four 2 port valves, so that would need some plumbing changes. Agreed, an off the shelf solution otherwise. Just another example of a system being "designed" with no proper thought.

That's a different flow switch to mine. If no obvious issue, i would be tempted to buy the same switch head but with a lower flow rate to make it less fussy. Even if the flow rate is a bit on the low side it would trip on a different error if it was really an issue.