ProDave

I wondered that. It does not appear to meet any of the exceptions to the no building in the countryside that we have here.

We bought a Bosch direct drive. After about 5 years the drum bearings went. I looked at replacing them but it really is a major strip down. I still have the motor and all the controls from that which I keep meaning to put on ebay one day. Since then we have bought cheap from the local refurb place and if a £200 machine lasts 3 years we have had value from it (a lot better value than paying £17 per month for an extended warranty) Presently using a Becko that is about 2 years old from the refurb place. We had one before, I think it was Indesit, where the drum started splitting in two at a seam. That seems one to avoid again.

Another option that some of us have done that seems to generally be approved of, is to wire a 2.5mm ring circuit from the end of the 6mm. It has become known as a "lollipop circuit"

I have just light the stove. Proving it was a little too early to turn the heating off completely. At least wood is free.

Too late now. The reduced flow would get noticed. I keep trying to say the knob does not have to be turned on all the way.

THEN you will be able to get a dirt cheap brickie to work on your site.

Why won't a bricklayer work right now? it's an outside job with plenty of opportunity for social distancing.

I used 15mm on both my showers (different make but same principle) to keep the volume of water and hence time for hot to arrive, to a minimum. My only regret was I used full bore 15mm isolator valves. I wish I had used the normal slightly restricted bore isolators to act as flow restrictors and reduce the maximum flow rate a little.

It's a separate room on a separate floor so the presence of the shower below in irellevant. It should still meet accessible heights etc.

It was me that bought a 110mm to "50mm" adaptor from ebay. When I got it I found my "50mm" solvent weld pipe (which is actually about 56mm) would not fit, not even remotely close. I then found the fitting was made to take pipe that was 50mm outside diameter, and I never did find any UK pipe that was actually 50mm diameter. The ebay seller got shirty when I left negative feedback saying "This does not fit any UK size pipe and should not be on sale in the UK. Avoid"

Safe zones only apply to walls so anything is allowed above the ceiling. I don't understand your "consumer unit above a ceiling" question. There are rules about accessability and "above a ceiling" does not sound the right place. To create a safe zone you need an accessory in that wall. So if you plan to run cables round a room at socket height, you need at least one socket on every wall.

I was given some 4" square oak posts from a customer I did a job for (potentially I might be able to get as load more) They had been stored in the worst possible way, outside, not covered stacked up in a big pile of the same size beams with no gaps so soaking wet. They looked in a sorry state, black, some had fungus growing on them. I thought they were only fit to chop up for firewood. I put them in the grage under the car to dry out for a few months. They actualy looked fine. I have used them as the base for my bin store, and when sawn to length they are fine in the middle with any rot or wear limited to just a very shallow depth.

Looking at the last 12 months. 26% of my electricity usage is heating, 17% of my electricity is DHW, 57% is everything else.

I am working on the basis that we self use about £250 worth of electricity per year from out 4kWp solar pv, which should give a payback time of 6 years. I really must tackle our general energy use as we use 2-3 times as much on "stuff" as we do heating the house.

Thanks. I will be interested to see what you build when you do it. and if you find a reasonably cheap source of non slip decking for the ramp.

All I can say is with no hot water being heated overnight, is the morning hot water is still plenty hot. It may have lost a few degrees in the tank, and there is no doubt less of it, but it has not gone all luke warm.

Not my findings. The water only starts mixing when you apply some heat input that starts convection. Perhaps my Telford tank has an inlet difuser but they don't mention it.

No with no heat input, the water stays in layers so as you draw water off, it stays pretty much the same delivery temperature until it runs out. It is only when you start putting heat back into the cylinder that convection starts and the contents get mixed about. We have a 5kW ASHP. An 8 or 9kW would do you well. Mine was sized using @Jeremy Harris heat loss calculator that showd a maximum heat input demand of just over 2kW. 5kW is about as small as you can buy.

Just reached a high of +10 just now but sharp frost forecast tonight. It was a lovely sunny afternoon for our walk with light wind.

I DID order the material but the supplier messed up the delivery and then shut the day before the revised delivery day. Yes habitable but I really want it completed. and no, not doing another one. I enjoyed the building, I despise the financial hell it has put us through.

En-suite bathroom to finish (ran out of materials and can't get them) some internal joinery, and the sun room then to do. So plenty yet, as we still can't afford the windows for the sun room so may be a while yet.

Well done. It is nice to move in, even when not finished. And another one here sharing the frustration of not being able to get materials to carry on.

My compromise is a 300L UVC heated by the ASHP. I have the ASHP timed to start heating DHW at 11AM to ensure reasonable solar PV veneration by then so a good chance solar PV will power it. The ASHP only heats the tank to 48 degrees, still allowing plenty of headroom for surplus solar PV to heat it hotter on a good sunny day. Most of us usually shower in the evening so not much HW demand in the mornings. To cover the eventuality of a cool HW tank for any reason I have a 10kW modulating steible eltron instant water heater in line with the UVC output. that too is set to 48 degrees so nromally does nothing. But if the tank is cool, either for an unexpected early shower, or simply too many people have used up all the hot water faster than the ASHP can recharge the tank, you still have hot water.

Hi and welcome, sounds an interesting project. [humour] Where is "Brighton and Hello" ? I thought it was Brighton and Hove. [/humour]

Definitely, at least all the hot pipes need lagging. Apart from anything else it will reduce the standing heat losses from the HW tank.