ProDave

That is a difficult and expensive solution looking for a problem to solve. Especially on a new build why would you? and most certainly not as a retro fit.

If I had received that bit of timber from the merchant, I would either have rejected it, or chosen to use that particular piece in a place where it was being cut into short lengths. Same as I do for a warped bit of timber.

I used Unistrut to build the frame for mine. FAR cheaper than any of the aluminium PV mounting rails. Some have used scaffold poles or similar.

A garage ceiling built to modern regs should be 2 layers of 15mm pink fireblock plasterboard, with the joints on both layers staggered. I very much doubt you have that much now. So best bet is take down the plasterboard ceiling you have, insulate between the joists with rockwoll etc then re board with 2 layers as above to modern specs.

The push at the moment seems to be trying to persuade people to swap gas boilers for an ASHP. A perfectly set up ASHP should be a little, not a lot, cheaper to run than a gas boiler. If not perfect it could well cost more to run than the boiler it replaced. So trying to persuade people to "invest" in a new heating system when they are quite happy with their old one and at best will only get a marginal saving, it is no wonder they are not queuing up to take up the offer. you have to WANT to do it for other reasons, the main one being reducing CO2 emmisions. So are we targeting the worng market? Why not instead target people using electric resistance heating currently, like electric panel heaters, storage heaters, or even electric boilers? Those users would see their heating use of electricity drop by about 1/3 if they swapped to an ASHP, saving them real money, not just marginal, and would reduce strain on the electricity grid which is already struggling at times. So that would give an immediate reduction in electricity used for heating, and reduced electricity use would mean fossil fuel generation required less frequently so an indirect saving in CO2 emmissions. But the point is the customer would see a very real reduction in running cost not something marginal, and rather than increasing electricity use, it would be reducing it. The boffins could do the sums to work out the CO2 reduction per kWh of electricity saved * and market it as CO2 reduction. * It IS CO2 reduction because until we reach the point where no fossil fuel at all is used for electricity generation, then each 1kWh of electricity saved at the moment is 1kWh less generated by fossil fuels. By the same token, installing an ASHP increases the electricity you use so that will increase fossil fuel generation at the moment so WILL result in increased CO2 emissions.

Under the present gas / electricity pricing, a perfectly designed and set up HP install will only be marginally cheaper to run than a gas boiler, and a poorly installed one will cost more than a gas boiler. As such the marginal saving (when done properly) is hardly a reason alone to invest money. You have to do it for other reasons, not financial saving, and therein lies the problem with persuading millions of people with perfectly working gas heating why they should change for at best only a marginal reduction in running costs. Building my new house, we had no mains gas available and I did not want a great big oil tank in the garden, so an ASHP was chosen as the only viable means of electric heating that brought running costs down to being comparable to mains gas. I never expected it to be cheaper than mains gas would have been if available, and the fact it is cleaner than mains gas is just a bonus. This has got me thinking. Perhaps trying to sell ASHP's as a replacement for gas boilers is targeting the wrong market? Why not instead target people using electric resistance heating, like electric panel heaters, storage heaters, or even electric boilers? Those users would see their heating use of electricity drop by about 1/3, saving them real money, not just marginal, and would reduce strain on the electricity grid which is already struggling at times. Reduced electricity use would mean fossil fuel generation required less frequently.

I am happy with my Rationel Aluminium clad wooden frame triple glazed windows and doors. At the time they were about the cheapest quote from the quality brands, but that does seem to vary a lot.

Ask your electrician what his plan is for terminating those cables. I assume they are for appliances like dishwashers etc.

All the holes with cables emerging will surely be finished off with a back box etc. That does not leave much else that cannot be filled with filler and as it won't be seen you don't need to be particular. Where filler will be present and painted, you must hope your decorator finished that off properly. There are many fillers that can be sanded so anyone should be able to fill a hole such that it cannot be seen once painted.

The important thing is whatever you do, you need a LOT of insulation underneath the UFH. Easy to do in an extension but a lot harder if you are thinking of retro fitting to the existing part of the house.

I can't see your neighbours best pleased with you taking the hedge down and then having a window from your gym looking straight into that gable end window (presumably a bedroom)

In cold weather it is normal for an MVHR to ice up and therefore need to defrost itself. It does that by reverse cycling for a few minutes to heat the outside heat exchanger to melt the ice. Condensation from that just drips out of the bottom. If it is dripping continuously you might have a problem but say once an hour in this weather, nothing to worry about. Temperatures close to 0 are the worst for this, when it gets really cold and stays below 0 even in the day, there is not enough moisture in the cold air to condense and freeze.

I have never been aware of the actual heat pump needing a "service" as such apart from obvious things you can do yourself like keep leaves and other debris clear of it and in particular behind it, and listen to it every now and then to see if it is making any strange noises. The rest of the heating system, particularly an unvented hot water cylinder is supposed to have an annual service which is mainly to check the expansion vessel and the safety valves are operating correctly. Any competent plumber should be able to do this, try asking a local plumber to check and service an unvented hot water cylinder? Does the heat pump documentation make any reference to a service being a condition of any warranty?

Yes, -17.5 last night https://meteostat.net/en/station/03044?t=2025-01-05/2025-01-10 I think Braemar still holds the record for lowest ever?

-9 last night here. The sun is about to pop up from behind the forrest.

Some context please. Is this a new system and you can't get it working, or an existing system that previously worked and has stopped heating the house? Have you changed ANYTHING at all? Is the water circulating pump running? It will show those flow and return temperatures even when the unit is idle. I can't be much specific help as mine is an older one with a different controller. But mine is set to heat under "room thermostat" control. How is yours set up and how do you normally regulate / time the heating?

Taping and filling also needs skill in the PB installers. Taping is less forgiving of poor boarding, in particular you need sufficient screws into solid studs to ensure joints cannot move. As above quite hard finding a decent plasterer in the Highlands and not many do it, but that is what we chose.

That is most definitely not normal behaviour for an ASHP. If it is defrosting that often there is something wrong.

How do you know the chimney does not continue to the lower flat? It looks to me that where the basin is in the lower flat could well be the stack in the corner and boxed out to make a flat wall across to the window for the basin. You will never know without an invasive survey downstairs. If this is all that worries you, forget about it.

"Efficiency" does not matter. The only thing that matters is £ cost perk kW of generation capacity. How do lots of individual roof tile size PV panels compare cost wise to fewer large panels?

The housing market needs to wake up, and surveyors place a lower value on houses with a poor EPC to reflect the extra running cost, or money you are going to have to spend to bring them up to a reasonable standard. the idea of paying the same money for a quaint old house. then spending lots upgrading it, and it makes no difference to the value is just bonkers. Re fuel poverty. If you are struggling to heat your house, then paying a lot of money to swap your gas boiler for an ASHP which at best might give you a very marginal saving in running cost, and at worst will cost you more to run than your gas boiler is not going to be a high priority is it?

Once it stays below 0 even in the day, there is little humidity in the air and I rarely see the ASHP need to defrost. I think our record was -18 one year, and a friend with a Cool Energy ASHP (that I had wired for him earlier that year) phoned me to say it was not working. Looking up the error code given it was "outside temperature too low" so I guess not all of them work in real cold. Something worth checking. It is no particular hardship at these temperatures, but that is the benefit of a well insulated house, I am not worrying if I can afford to have the heating on like many do. It only becomes a nuisance when you want to go out, and the daily ritual of shoveling last nights snow away. At least i am getting some exercise. If I was not doing that and it was less cold, I would probably be chopping firewood instead.

Interesting video. But lets be honest all they have done is turn a hopelessly poor old building up to the EPC standard of the pretty ordinary 40 year old house. No particular attempt to improve air tightness, and no testing of that. I would like to see something like this taken to the next level. Install MVHR. Lets find out once and for all does MVHR improve the energy efficiency of a not particularly air tight house or not?

34% in the living room here. It's been sub zero for several days now, not much moisture left in the air.

Yesterday the daytime high here was -5C Next few nights are going to be cold, -20 mentioned as a possibility. Nowhere near that cold yet. I expect when I take my Friday meter readings this might be the coldest week of the year. But toasty warm inside with the stove burning nicely giving the ASHP a rest (not that it needs one)