ProDave

But what are the actual as measured flow and return temperatures measured on the flow and return pipes in and out of the boiler? And what is the measured temperature of the water in the buffer tank? To me is sounds like the boiler can heat the water a lot quicker than the UFH can use that heat, so you would not expect the boiler to be firing all the time would you?

The subject of weather compensation for ASHP's somes up from time to time. The principle seems to be the less cold it is outside, then the lower can be the flow temperature to the under floor heating to meet the needs of the building and so improve the COP of the ASHP. That all sounds fine. BUT lowering the temperature of the water will just result in the ASHP running less hard but probably for a similar period of time. I have been looking at how ours works (without weather compensation) and have thought of an alternative idea. I have the heating timed to come on at 6AM, so by the time we get up at 7:30 there should be some warmth in the floor and the house will be warming up nicely (not that it cools down over night very much, even when very cold outside) But when it is not very cold outside, by say 8AM the rooms are all up to temperature and it has shut off. It would seem to me therefore, that rather than traditional weather compensation it would make more sense for the morning start up time to be the thing that varies according to how cold it is outside. So when we are in a typical (for here) spell of -10 nights then a 6AM start is fine but much above 0 and a 7AM or even later start would make more sense. It would certainly help self use more of the solar PV generation. So I throw it open to the forum, to find an off the shelf programmable timer for the heating control, that can vary the morning start time according to how cold the outside temperature is. I strongly suspect such a thing does not exist, but you never know. It would be quite simple to build such a thing but I have tried to present the "user controls" as a standard boiler programmer, so looking for ideas that don't make it complex to the average user. Of course the same variable timing could also be applied to the evening turn off time as well,

There are multiple "control loops" in operation here. 1) the buffer temp and it's 2 thermostats and this easy relay "calling for heat" All that means is the buffer tank needs some heat input to keep the UFH working, so it calls for heat from the boiler. 2) upon getting the call for heat the boiler will turn on the pump and fire up to heat the water. The boiler has an internal thermostat to set the water temperature (this is the temperature of the water that leaves the boiler on the flow pipe not the buffer tank temperature) Once the water leaving the boiler reaches the set temperature, the burner shuts off. 1) and 2) are asynchronous meaning they operate completely independently. So all that is happening is the boiler can heat the water quicker than the buffer tank can disperse it, so the boiler will not be on all the time, it will turn on and off to maintain the temperature it needs. All sounds pretty normal, apart from I doubt the boiler temperature needs to be anything like near maximum.

I think the summary was in a poorly insulated building where you only occasionally want to warm a person, they make sense. e.g. often found in a church above some of the pews or in a workshop. In a well insulated house or where you want to warm the person for a lot or most of the time, they make no sense at all.

You have a lot more there than just one, or a pair of wires coming out of a hole in the wall to a socket. There are cables inside the trunking, cables outside the trunking, cables going along the top of the wall. A lot more to unravel and understand before you can devise a solution. Is the garage being rebuilt or something else happening.

In our last house we had a power cut lasting many days after a storm. When we came to examine it of course just about everything in the freezer had thawed. but surprisingly little got wasted as most of the thawed stuff got cooked in one mammoth session and then re frozen as ready meals.

Definitely contact your insurer. They should also cover any emergency work like getting someone to lay a tarpaulin over it and tie that down to prevent any further damage until it can be repaired properly.

In our first self build 18 years ago we had not long moved in when there was a big storm. We were sat in the living room that had a pair of double glazes sliders, watching the glass in those physically bend inwards with each gust of wind. We then decided it might be better to go and sit in the other room without such a set of doors, just in case. They never did fail, but the amount they were bending was surprising. Our wood burning stove would produce all the heat we need in a prolonged power cut and we have an LPG gas hob that would boil the kettle and do enough cooking. We would have to use a box of matches to light the hob without power.

I think when they were casting the "hull" they had problems with the shuttering bursting so may not have poured the concrete as high as originally planned. but even George commented on the water level being very close to the doorway.

My advice is buy one with ducted air intake so it makes it a room sealed stove with no need for a vent to let cold air into the room. And make sure that duct supplies both primary and secondary air (not all do) and if the house is well insulated you won't want a big stove. Armed with that specification we spent a day visiting all the stove shops within the locality. We saw a huge range of stoves, some with what looked like "numbers out of a hat" price tags with no particular reason why that one was 2 or 3 times the price of another one. We ended up with a Mendip Stoves Churchill 5kW because it looked nice a blend between traditional and modern, and it was at a sensible price being sold as ex display, so it was there to take home the same day. We have been very happy with it.

I was talking to someone about the guitar the other day and said "I'll go back to my fingering and plucking" and he spat his mouthful of drink all over the kitchen Whatever you use i think the important bit is the air gap between the shield and the wooden wall, so even if the shield gets quite hot, that won't convey to the timber. So I don't think tiling direct to the wall would be any good, but tiling onto a non flamable board mounted off the wall on spacers would be good. Of just find a metal merchant and buy some sheet steel and paint it.

Just watching tonight's episode. A couple are making a floating home by casting a concrete hull around the bottom of a shipping container. They have just launched it and it floats, but boy oh boy, with nothing actually fitted in the container yet, the freeboard is minute. Why do i get the feeling once it is fitted out, it will have almost no freeboard and be incredibly vulnerable to getting swamped and sinking?

Has it EVER worked properly or has it always been like this? My guess is common return pipe for heating and HW and convection flow when hot water is circulating to the HW tank and only a couple of upstairs radiators getting hot.

Take the matter up with head of planning to ask why they do not implement the Scottish Building Standards correctly. Get your councillor or MSP involved?

DON'T go directly to your council Submit a request here https://www.ebuildingstandards.scot/eBuildingStandardsClient/custompages/formwizard.aspx You want application to occupy a building before a completion certificate has been accepted. There is no fee, so just submit the proposal and see what they say? It was the certificate of temporary habitation that we used for our VAT claim. Council tax valuation came later after the completion certificate in our case. (we were paying council tax for the static caravan)

If you go with that 2021 letter, you will be time barred (within 3 months of proof of completion) You need to ask WHY Glasgow city will not issue a temporary habitation? If they really won't then it is wait for completion ot wait for council tax valuation.

I have a sunny Boy inverter. It is supposed to have an app that accesses data via blue tooth, but in spite of trying several blue tooth adaptors for my PC I just could never get it to connect for more than a few seconds at a time. So about as much success as you. My home made PV diverter simply logs the "on" time of the immersion heater (it is pulsed on or off) and by simple maths tells me the total kWh sent to the immersion heater. It doesn't do fancy graphs though no doubt if I wanted to put in more effort I could log the on time in a better way rather than just a total. I did wonder is a simple electricity meter in series with the immersion heater might work but it probably would not like the pulsed nature of the power sent to the immersion. Perhaps an old school spinning disc one might work?

BBA said they cannot comment. I have posed that question (and others) the the CEO of Baumit. Awaiting their response..........

If those 2 holes line up, then a self tapping screw will secure the hinge. What I found irritating when i was looking for an (electricity) meter box, is they all seemed to be made to the same rubbish design with flimsy hinges and door catches. It is as if someone has drawn up a "standard" that prohibits the use of substantial hinges and door catches.

Yes absolutely, it is not rocket science, but you DO have to be able to read a manual. I keep finding what should be simple system boiler installs here that are not working, and have never been right from new. There are plenty of installers that have no actual understanding of things work, can't think through the flow of water through valves or electricity through switches and other controls. and just wire a system "the way they have always done it" turn it on and leave without making sure everything actually works properly. Concepts such as pump over run, frost thermostats etc completely baffle them, so not much hope for getting an ASHP install right.

This is not constructive help, but I find it sad to see that water meter boxes seem to have been designed down to the same low standard as electricity and gas meter boxes. I would struggle to design a more pathetic, flimsy door hinge and catch mechanism if I tried. It seems like they have designed it down to being a piece of rubbish as much as possible. I would suggest you look at alternative, proper hinges that can be screwed or bolted to the existing box and door instead of just replacing the piece of rubbish you have with an equally rubbish replacement.

It makes the controls more complicated. It would have to be S plan only NO Y plan and no mid position valves. It would only be able to do heating OR hot water. This is exactly how my ASHP works, but to achieve this, the motorised valves are controlled directly from the ASHP so the HP decides which to do and when and sets the flow temperature accordingly. It is all perfectly possible and there would be many different ways to arrange the controls but it would be very different to what most present heating installers are used to doing with a standard system boiler and a wiring centre.

You do have them on a heatsink?

I found the acoustic to be bulky, and the fret board too wide so I find it hard to reach the top string with my short fingers. The electric has a much slimmer neck and easy to reach all the strings but of course that means they are closer together, so harder for chords, which is why I am experimenting with this sort of music to generally avoid them.

If you mean you have a Fused Connection Unit at the immersion heater, best replace it for a 20A double pole switch. 13A fuses get hot at close to 13A and in some makes of FCU they get hot to the point of destroying it when on for a long time. If ever you smell a fishy smell check your FCU's for overheating. If you have a 16A MCB at the consumer unit, no additional fusing is needed.