ProDave

You might want to change some browser settings. I use firefox and if I close it down, re boot, then open it again it comes back with all the same tabs I had open from the last session.

If you can remember a key phrase in the thread, use the forum search.

I like these ones https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CENTRAL-HEATING-ROOM-THERMOSTAT-WITH-MANIFOLDS-ACTUATOR-IDEAL-FOR-UFH/323866870601?hash=item4b67f84349:g:1OsAAOSwEetV8s17 Sold there as a package but available on their own for about £10 each. I have to dash no so no time to search for them.

I am pretty sure it has been colder this last week here than with any of the rest of you. I have just done my weekly meter readings and in the last week used 60kWh on heating and 29kWh on DHW Re defrosting, I don't think I have ever seen mine do that when space heating, it only does it when heating DHW. It is pretty clear to see if you witness it. you hear the compressor slow and stop, a click and a whirr as the 4 port valve reverses, the compressor starts up this time taking heat from the house and heating up the fins. It only takes about a minute and as the ice melts you see the cloud of "steam" puff out. then the compressor stops, the 4 port valve reverses again and it starts up normally again. It does push up the DHW usage as the COP will be lower, last week when it was less cold we only used 25kWh for DHW What analysis have you had done on your house to predict the actual heating requirements?

IMHO you are over complicating it. Just wire the room stats direct to the UFH controller and the UFH controller direct to the manifold actuators and manifold pump. To try and insert HA in between those bits will end up with a system nobody but you understands. If you want the HA to control temperatures then have programable room thermostats that talk to your HA to say when and what temperature to demand. You could if you want have a master on /off controlled by your HA to turn on the power to the UFH controller so your HA could act as the time clock. The UFH controller will have a "call for heat" output. Connect that to your heat source, again I do not see the HA has any part to play in that connection. P.S I wish you had asked first, I have had bad results with those UFH actuators, I very much prefer the ones where the bit that screws onto the manifold is a metal thread, not plastic.

What make and model of heat pump? Some (not all) let you set different flow temperatures depending on whether is is doing space heating or how water heating. You probably want the flow temperature about 35C when it's doing space heating, and not much more than 50 degrees for HW.

Not seen anything like that. Is that water flowing out over the top of the brown pipe? What's a blue mdpe water pipe doing connecting to a drain pipe? Ask them to explain exactly what that is, and then to finish it.

If the house is really passive house levels I am surprised it is strugling. But there's some conflicting information there, e.g. the house is at 21 degrees and lovely and warm,but you feel cold? Our room stats are set at 20 degrees and that is indeed what the living room is at just now, but at different times of day you might feel hot or you might find that a bit cool. It depends what you are doing. Our UFH comes on at 6AM and by 9AM the room stats have clicked off and probably won't come on again for several hours just to keep it topped up. Are you including DHW in your energy measurements? You might well find the ASHP uses as much to heat the HW as it does to heat the house.

Before you can fit a FF there, you need to get the gas pipe and gas meter moved. Get a price for those first, it might be £££££ Re the pipe. Listen to it with a stethescope. If it sounds quiet and "dead" drill a very small hole and see if water comes out, Once you are sure it is dead cut it out with an angle grinder with a metal cutting blade.

You wanted figures, so when our stove was on last night I got the IR thermometer out. Flue temp 200C Glass temp, 250C Stove top 75C Stove sides 65C stove back 50C Inside the firebox with the door open >500C didn't hang about there not sure if that might have been a bit hot for the IR thermometer.

Could it just be condensation on the underside of the tiles that was frozen, and thawed today? I have seen it "raining" from the underside of a box profile roof in such conditions. Still points to an issue with the felt.

If this is a "forever home" I would keep looking. I would want something with more space around it for further development. It might mean buying something that has a lower starting point to achieve that. It's a case of buy somewhere with all the fixed features as you like them, which basically means the right size plot. Everything else you can fix or adapt. I see that plot as being too restrictive for a forever home.

Yes in the summer we used to swim in the river at the ford. I have yet to find a river up here warm enough to swim in. I wonder who your friends are? PM if you want to. I lived there from 1990 to 2003

It is a requirement in Scotland for rooms with a combustion appliance (in this case gas boiler and hob) If it is not a requirement in England, it should be, and why would you not want one? Particularly as you can get it built into the heat alarm. And it is there should the buyer wish to let it.

Just for a heads up, if you fit some solar PV then you will have plenty of generation in the summer, so you can pretty much ignore energy consumption in the summer for cooling as that will be free.

Mine is a Mendip stoves Churchill 5, log store convection model. We wanted a small stove that must have ducted air intake, and must look modern. We bought this as an ex display model on sale. That was with a temporary hearth and a temporary (illegally overhanging) kitchen worktop. Here is the final worktop and hearth before the stove was put back

Yes they are good, but did he loan you the tool you need to crimp them into place?

Yes and no. My stove is only rated at 5kW but is physically quite large for a 5kW stove, so it stands to reason that for a large stove to only emit 5kW it's external temperature must be lower. We ended up with the stove we have because I took SWMBO to look at them. I was thinking of the little 3kW springdale, but SWMBO looked at it and decided it looked ridiculously small. So we set off around all the shops to see what was available and bought what is probably physically largest 5kW stove made.

We moved from Drayton St Leonard to the Highlands 17 years ago.

A method I use for estimating is to count all the "points" with a "point" being a switch, socket, light, or any other accessory, and 1 hour per point usually covers first and second fix in a timber frame new build. Is your electrician VAT registered? If not, then you should buy the materials and re claim the VAT later. If he is VAT registered it should all be zero rated.

If you are going to try and re configure the mvhr, then is should be supplying fresh air into the living rooms and bedrooms, and extracting stale air from the kitchen and bathroom. since you have it, you might as well try re piping it properly. With the mvhr correctly piped like that, I would block up the air brick in the kitchen. 2.6M ceilings is good, I would be minded to put a false ceiling in at the normal height of 2.4M and get 150mm of loft insulation up there before the new plasterboard goes on. It would also give you space to hide the mvhr ducting when re piping it.

Start with a full power down re boot, just in case it is a software crash?

It has never taken me anything like 40 days to wire a new build. Is there something complicated about it? Time for another quote.

I make a 5mm pilot hole. It is a lot cleaner than letting the built in cutter make it's own hole. They then screw in nicely. Half way in, a good smear of your preferred "sticks like...." or similar adhesive before driving them home, will ensure they don't accidentally unscrew. Some of the self cutting screws can be very tight the first time, I have known in old knackered pb for it to strip the fitting out when cutting the thread, so now I drive the screw in to cut it's thread for the first time before I screw the fitting into the wall.

My flue thermometer suggests the flue temperature should be maintained between 150C and 250C. Any lower and the flue will tar up, any higher it just says "too hot" (chimney fire?) The actual burn temperature to achieve that will be hotter and I can't see the external body temperature matters, that depends so much on the construction of the stove.