ProDave

And your slippers and your pipe.......

Most old school plumbers took the vent pipe as high as possible before turning back down. A new bit of pipe and a coupling or 2 would be a very easy and cheap way to achieve that, far cheaper and quicker swapping random pumps etc in the hope of finding the "fault"

I did my own experiments a couple of years back. By catching the water as high up and piping it down to the end of my land I got just over a metre head but low flow rate due to small pipe used (what i had) I calculated it should generate about 12W, yes that is nothing, and my attempt at a water wheel to catch it using just scrap I had, and trying to use a dc motor as a generator, most of that 12W was lost in mechanical losses. To do something useful, I would need about 100 metres of much larger pipe, and just the cost of buying that would make the payback time way too long, even if I could generate 100W that would be 2.4kWh per day saving about 50p per day, or £180 per year. even ignoring when the flow is too low in the summer and in flood in winter (and would have to be lifted out to avoid self destruction) I do have an old washing machine direct drive motor that might make a low RPM direct drive generator so would avoid gearing losses and I might give that a try some time, but unless I can source at about 100 metres of some decent diameter pipe at next to nothing it's a non starter.

The important thing is not so much the flow but the fall. Ours only has a fall of about 1.5 metres across our plot. In Scotland you are supposed to get an extraction licence from SEPA even though 100% of what you extract goes straight back in again.

First I have heard of a "frost mode" on an MVHR unit. Ours just continues as normal regardless of outside temperature.

Stay with the owner who was present and on board the yacht when re floated. Just a bunch of fellow sailors helping out, and hope we would similarly be helped if we were in a spot of bother. Boat re floated

This one is intact and we are hoping to re float it rather than letting it get wrecked.

Lightweights. -2 is nothing. That's about the forecast high here for the next few days. Shortly I am off to defrost and sweep the snow off the truck then off for a very cold day trying to recover a stricken yacht off the beach.

This was the original article 10 or more years ago highlighting the issue with the very old valve transmitter and lack of spare valves to keep it going forever. It seems nobody has the appetite to build a new modern replacement transmitter. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/09/bbc-radio4-long-wave-goodbye This summarises the current situation. https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2024/03/long-slow-goodbye-of-bbc-radio-4-on.html

Google "The long wave goodbye" if you want the full story all about obsolete valves.

I liked the old square D QOE boards because you could hot swap the clip in MCB's to save shutting down a whole office block. Not that I would admit to doing that.

Well done.

I put the direct air feed in early, and the penetration through the roof for the flue much later on when we actually fitted the stove. Don't let the nay sayers put you off. As long as you have the ability to open some doors so the stove heat can spread around the whole house, you won't instantly melt when you light it and if you have a good supply of wood it can be free / cheap heating.

Is that a type of boiler where the front case forms the air seal for the inlet air? (and you should not run it without the cover on) If so is there a blockage on the outer part of the flue that draws the air in? Works with cover off (drawing air from room) starved of air with cover on?

I flush mounted a 20 way Hager in our house, all RCBO. I like Hager, mainly because they don't keep messing about with the design of their mcb's. you can fit a new Hager MCB or RCBO in the oldest Hager board you can find and it fits and looks the same. Now try that with Wylex. MK etc

That won't be a "constuctional hearth" but will be okay if you choose a stove where the manufacturer certifies it for use on a (usually) 12mm hearth, which usually means the stove is raised off the floor a bit. Lots of stoves like that available and all you need is a 12mm or more thick hearth of some sort that can even be laid on top of wooden flooring.

On the basis I hate wearing clean, good clothes because I will rapidly make them dirty or ruin them, so I normally wear "work clothes" then I must be Compo.

Were you present when they "located" it? What did they use? Care to post some sort of sketch or drawing showing where your electricity meter is in relation to the location they have given to you?

My heat loss at -10 is only a little over 2kW and my 5kW ASHP is working well to heat the house and hot water. I bought one cheap and self installed, I doubt I could have bought the the A2W kit for what i spent.

What is heating the house? If you have a boiler or ASHP then an indirect cylinder would make a lot more sense.

Well done, i forgot about those. https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-self-cutting-tap-15mm-x-3-4-/21250

I proved that years ago working in an office at a constant 20 degrees. Sometimes you were in shirt sleeves and loosening your tie as you felt too hot, other times you put your pullover on as you felt cold. Same at home, we always feel warmer after a meal.

The fan motor in most ASHP's is considered a non servicable item and the only option from the manufacturer is a new fan motor, list price about £400 they are a variable speed motor with the control electronics built in. In my case, I found it was possible to remove the front plate, pull the armature out and gain access to the 2 bearings, so it cost £5 to fix mine. A neighbour had a fan failure, his was an electronic failure and in these fan motors the electronics are potted into the plastic housing. I did not even manage to get the front plate off his to get to the bearings even. We found a "new old stock" replacement motor for his on ebay for £200

One thing never discussed in a "heat low and continuous" strategy is the ancillery items. For instance, when my heating is on, I have four circulation pumps and 2 zone valves on. At a rough estimate say 200W. That is power not contributing to heating but used to push water around the system. I can't help feeling that is a significant proportion of the heating power a lot of the time so perhaps an argument for heating harder for a shorter time?

It sounds like the downpipe was leaking. Fix that and the damp will go away. If the wall was getting regularly splashed above the DPC level then the best DPC in the world will not stop the damp entering.