ProDave

No it was earlier than that. Maastricht & Lisbon treaties that both moved the EU from a "Common Market" towards what it is now. We were promised a referensum on at least one of those then never got it. Perhaps, just perhaps had we had that referendum and rejected it, then it would have to have been toned down and re negotiated and the EU might not have become so dominant and might have been acceptable to the majority in the UK?

Yes but if you get PP for a single storey timber clad dwelling that just happens to be within the legal dimensions of a caravan and you then built it by agreeing with building control that it was a caravan and so exempt from BR. Then you submit a VAT claim using the council tax valuation as proof of completion. Will hmrc come back and ask you "is it a caravan" or will they just process the claim?

That depends if you want it to move, or just want it to look like it could be moved. A caravan has to be within the design weight of the chassis and suspension and have brakes etc to legally be towed on the road. But a garden office on a caravan chassis just has to not collapse. It would not matter if the weight bottomed out the suspension and the tyres were over their weight limit. I just has to look like it could be dragged onto a low loader to be transported.

That "contract" graphic is the best I could find in a hurry. There is a much better one that I have seen but could not find in a hurry that sets out the exact statement made and the date it was made by all the politicians declaring what we would get if we voted for Brexit. Most of those are still MP's now and strangely none seem bothered that we are unlikely to get what they themselves promised before the referendum. Whatever your view of Brexit, it bothers me greatly that nobody is accountable for anything they say in public office.

A reminder of what we were promised (and how it looks like it will turn out) Before you are quick to blame Brexit voters for destroying the country, take a look at what many politicians promied us would happen, that we could keep free trade etc. It now looks like those promises are not going to happen. the question should be why not? Were we promised something that was impossible (lied to)? Or did the people negotiating or deal not actually want a deal (we were lied to in a different way)? The result of all of this, (quite apart from the fact Brexit looks to be very damaging) is we are now ruled by a party that told us a bunch of lies, are going to deliver something very different to what we were promised, and yet nobody seems particularly bothered by that fact. It SHOULD both worry and anger you the depths that UK politics has sunk to, where the ruling party can promise any old rubbish they like, deliver something VERY different and very worse, we don't (or didn't last year) have an electable opposition, and scarcely anyone seems bothered by the dire state that UK politics is in.

Pictures to show context? Is it only wet because it has been exposed and the rain has filled it up, or is it wet because it has no DPC and is wicking water from the ground?

I wired one like that. It was on a static caravan site, but in the middle surrounded by other vans with only pedestrian access. They had to cut up and remove the old 'van and then the new one was built in situ. No way it could ever be moved without moving a lot of other 'vans first. Onto a different subject of reclaiming VAT. If you built a "caravan" as a permanent dwelling and got it assessed for council tax, the VAT reclaim will allow you to use the valuation certificate as "proof of completion" Has anyone tried that?

I would disagree with that. So my HP has just finished heating my DHW to 48 degrees, and that means the water circulating out of the heat pump is perhaps 56 degrees. The motorised valves change over and that 56 degrees water still in the pipes is now heading for the UFH. Thankfully the blending valve will take care of that and it won't just sent that very hot water down the UFH pipes. But it would without a blending valve.

They will ask the simple question, is the inverter G98? and what is it's model number.

For a tall lift, erect a "bracing tower" from the side:

1: Yes fine, If anything ledgers right on the bottom pegs can be hard to remove as not enough room to swing a hammer to knock the peg out. 2: Technically yes, I have done it, but hard to erect, you have to stand on something to reach. 2M lift can be done much easier. If you have enough metalwork, put a set of metalwork at 2M, put the planks up, then another set of metalwork at the next lift and lift the planks up. 3 Yes they do. Not only doe the transoms support the end of the planks, the ledgers stop them wandering off sideways.

I bet if @Jeremy Harris was still posting here his would be the best.

And all totally avoidable. What does not get much air time on the news is before the referendum a whole string of politicians stood up and told us we would retain a free trade agreement with the EU. IF as looks increasingly likely that does not turn out the be what we get, will people be complaining, protesting on the street about how we were lied to? if not WHY NOT?

My brain works at domestic level finances. But tell me what would be wrong with this: The Government collects tariffs at WTO rates on all that we export. Someone pays tariffs on all that we import. Is that the importer or the government? I always beliveed it was the importer? So could the government not spend some / all of what it collects on exports to give as a subsidy to importers to offset the tariffs they pay to effectively neutralise them? I must be missing something blindingly obvious that would make that not work?

All very interesting BUT it does not tell you exported power as well as imported. You could have one such monitor on your import meter and one on your export meter and make that calculation ONLY if you check the meters operation first. Not all meters behave the same. My present import meter goes to solid red when we are exporting. BUT my export meter, and the import meter in our previous house both the red lights still flash when power is going the wrong way, but the displays do not count up. They would be useless for determining direction of power flow. Arguably the best way to make your own bidirectional power meter would be using an electricity meter chip and some DIY hardware, such designs have been published for DIY solar PV dump controllers.

If you can get it at a decent price I would be inclined to do nothing straight away, re seal it, an monitor for more movement. Is it really worth completely demolishing and re building just for a small crack in a single storey annex that is not likely to make it collapse? You might dream up plans in the future for a better, more ambitions extension and then it would be worth demolishing to start again with something bigger and better. My BIL lives in a 300 year old farm house. Every summer a small crack opens between the original house and the 200 year old extension and closes again in the winter.

Cheapest I can see on ebay at the moment is £20 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Approved-230V-Single-Phase-Electric-Solar-PV-Generation-Meter-100A/324383422000?hash=item4b86c23630:g:J6QAAOSwFn1fuQjX

Confirmation of it being a "qwality job"

42 degrees won't feel much more than "warm" The body is a poor thermometer, anything 37 degrees or less (less than body temperature) feels "cold" Usually there is a thermometer of often two on a UFH manifold, obviously an "expense too far" for this job.

Yes it does, and my own meter now alternates it's display between the consumption reading and reD standing for Reverse Energy Detected, which was a feature originally meant to detect anyone trying to wind back the meter, but a feature that does not sit well with solar PV generation. Edit to say, the meter at our last house still flashed the red light even when exporting though the export did not count up on the display.

On a good day you will see the peak 5.2kW at mid day. I have a nominal 4kWp split E/W and I definitely see the inverter limit of 3.68kW on a sunny day. You need to first ask your DNO. This seems to be a lottery, SSE for instance wanted to charge me money to do a survey before they would even tell me how much I was allowed but I got the distinct impression they were going to want to upgrade the network for anything more than 3.68kW Up to 3.68kW output you can install without prior permission and notify afterwards. If going that route you need to get an inverter with limited output but you will need to confirm that it can handle that many panels, it might fail on over voltage for instance.

I assume you have some form of solar PV diverter to automatically send surplus PV generation to your immersion heater? That is pretty much a "must have" to ensure maximum self usage. Roughly 1/3 of what we generate ends up in the immersion heater and would be "wasted" otherwise. Next thing is run the big appliances in the daytime close to mid day, one appliance at a time, here I am talking Washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher. I have the timings on my ASHP to only start DHW heating late morning on the basis that is more likely to self use solar PV generation rather than start the DHW heating very early. As to how to measure it. In theory a smart meter can do that, but they don't seem to present that information to the user. What I did was install my own export meter. This us just another electricity meter just like the generation meter you have, but you wire it after the suppliers electricity meter and wire it "backwards" Here is mine: This will show what has been exported. In an ideal world it would stay at 0 meaning you have self used everything. Mine is currently up to about 240kWh over 2 years. Most of that is on a really sunny day when nothing is on to self use and the PV generates more than the immersion heater can consume (3.68kW generation, 2.8kW immersion) If I was eligible for the new export payment, at about 5p per kWh I would have earned about £12 in 2 years. You can see why I think it would have been a waste to pay for an MCS install just so I could qualify for that tiny payment. I take weekly meter readings of total import, total export, PV generation, and I also have metering that measures ASHP consumption for heating and DHW separately. They all get plugged into a spreadsheet so I can see heating, DHW and "other stuff" usage for the week. If you want a similar export meter setup, just buy another generation meter, usually available cheap on ebay, and any competent electrician should be able to fit it. Probably worth labelling it as I have done to avoid any confusion.

Our extractors all had the backdraught flaps. They just clattered and banged annoyingly when it was windy. I agree changing the fans for those with an iris would have helped a lot.

A lot of what I would call sub standard UFH setups seem to be popping up here. This is another one that is missing a temperature blending valve so the HW flowing through the pipes is at whatever temperature the boiler or other heat source provides with no means to adjust it. Can you feel heat in the pipes? Where is it fed from is there some temperature control upstream?

I ask the simple question. How will I personally benefit from a smart meter. Every time I have asked that question the answer has been I won't. So I say no to a smart meter. That might be different if you WANT a tariff that charges variable rates throughout the day (and can work around the silly high afternoon / early evening price) in which case you might have a valid reason for wanting one.