ProDave

When you see on the weather the statement "colder in sheltered glens" that is us. We are 3 miles inland from the Cromarty Firth and in a glen with hills rising in all directions. When it is still, as it is now, we do indeed seem to be a frost pocket, though if you think it is bad here, take a walk down to the river at the bottom of the glen it's even colder down there. Last night it was only -11, the night before -14, and it has only been above 0 for one day in the last 2 weeks. This is pretty normal to get a few weeks like this each year. And throw in a bit of snow just for fun. But the new house is coping well and it's warm inside and the ASHP is handling the cold weather okay.

Yes I read the import meter weekly, and I have a meter measuring heating and hot water usage, so anything else is "stuff" mvhr and treatment plant each use about 2KWh per day constant. I suspect Fridge, WM, DW and tumble dryer are the biggest culprits. I must get a plug in KWh meter some time so I can monitor each individually for a week at a time and see how much each really uses.

That looks to be a 9KW heat pump, I would have thought that was enough, depending on the insulation levels etc. Have a look at the under floor heating manifold, there is usually a thermometer on them to show the water flow temperature. Post a picture of the manifold if you can.

How well insulates is the house and how large? How does it heat the house UFH? We are heating our new house with a 5KW ASHP and UFH downstairs only. In this cold snap (-14 here last night) we are using about 100KWh per week for just the heating so 400KWh per month. When it is less cold than this present very cold period, the usage is a lot less. Start by telling us the size of house, typical U values of wall and roof etc if you know them. Type of heating, and if under floor heating the flow temperature, and what make and size of ASHP.

I marvel how you do that. My "non heating & non DHW" usage is running at about 14KWh per day and I just can't seem to find a way to get it down.

The risk would appear to be mortgage fraud? You have to say why you want the loan. To build another house may not be acceptable to the lender. To tell them something else is mortgage fraud. Withdrawing from a pension may come with a tax liability so that is another cost to factor in.

How does that work? How with a single rate meter does it know what to charge when? or does it require a smart meter? More importantly how do you as the consumer know when it is cheap so you can turn on the big appliances?

Our electricty usage is interesting. We don't use much for space heating (ASHP) and even less for DHW (also ASHP) What is more annoying is we are racking up on average 90-100KWh of electricity each week on "stuff" which basically means everything except hot water and heating, The "stuff" using more than heating and HW combined. So don't get hung up on your expected heating load. If you end up like us you will be chasing other things to find out what is using so much. PV will reduce the daytime consumption of the "stuff" no doubt. Like @JSHarris I have thought about E7 but it does not make sense for us at the moment. My preference is to use as much in the daytime to self use as much PV as possible with nothing on at night (I like a silent house at night)

Just double check you really have wired it correctly. Some have the switched L after the sensor connected into a spare terminal. If you have connected the L there by mistake it will stay on.

I was always lousy at spelling, Now corrected.

So clear varnish? Who do you normally buy from?

It's that time to blow a bit more of the budget and buy all our internal doors. Because this is our last house, we want it to be right, no cheap tat. So We have settled on XL Joinery's Salerno doors, some glazed, some plain. They are not cheap, £211 plus VAT for the plain doors and £260 plus VAT for the glazed ones from a local merchant. However I find them on line at this one particular supplier for a lot less £126 plus VAT for the plain ones and £170 plus VAT for the glazed ones. e.g https://www.building-supplies-online.co.uk/gosal-xl-joinery-salerno-internal-oak-door-with-clear-glass.html Before I hit the submit button, anyone any experience of these particular doors, or that particular on line supplier, who seem to be a good deal cheaper than anywhere else I can find? Related question: They only do the size we want (2040 by 826) unfinished. Would it be best to oil or varnish these?

That's a thermal mixer valve to limit the temperature of the hot water delivered to the taps. Nothing to do with heating. I assume you plumbing is not finished yet? No discharge pipe work from the over temperature relief valve yet.

That looks like the same manifold I used in my first house, so once you unscrew the grey / black adaptor it should leave the correct fitting for eurocone fittings Roughly £2 each on ebay depending who you buy from and what quantity.

You should have asked SEE. A neighbour here had a massive tree very close to the lines that he wanted down. After a bit of asking about he contacted SSE ans they came round and felled it for him for free.

Must be Rolo's mum

I would say 100% yes worth doing. Our last house was quite well insulated, but with standard extract fans, it had something like 8 "holes" in the building for all the required ventilation. The result was on a windy day it was noticably colder as the place was massively over ventilated. Our new house has mvhr and is way more energy eficcient. Partly as a result of better insulation, but also as a result of much lower ventilation heat losses due to the mvhr.

Just had the coldest week of the winter so far. Don't give the midges any ideas about coming out early. I am a bit like @Ed Davies finding it hard to get motivated to do much other than potter about at the moment. Still waiting for any meaningful sun to illuminate my solar panels for more than 5 minutes at a time.

Yes this was quite a heavy window as well, I could not lift it on my own. Surprising I can find no mention of these grub screws on any Velux publication. I can't be the only one to have struggled with this?

Okay now solved. I post the solution here for others struggling. I solved it by removing a hinge from the window and then offering that bare hinge up to the corresponding part in the frame. Unencumbered by the bulk of a window blocking the view of the workings, it was obvious what was happening. On each side of the window is a curved "arm" that you slot into a curved slot in the frame bracket. There is a grub screw through the end of this, which is a little longer then the thickness of the arm. It was set so the screw thread protruded a little through the outer edge of the "arm" and was flush with the inside. What you have to do is when you get the window to the position in the above photographs, you can still access the head of this grub screw. You now have to turn it inwards a few turns until the outside end is flush and the inside end now protrudes past the thickness of the "arm" This is the mechanism that stops the window accidentally falling out when you open the window fully. The window now closes correctly. I assume by the fact that there is no mention of this screw on the current velux installation instructions, that this is an old no longer used method of securing the window in place. I hope someone in the future may find this useful if trying to remove or re fit an older type Velux window.

The split level thing needs some thought / internal reorganisation. I did some work in a house where someone had created a semi basement, but to get upstairs from the semi basement you needed to enter on the entrance level, go down half a flight to the semi basement, then up a full flight to the upstairs. It was just so disjointed and clumsy. You appear to have a bit of that. What is needed is the the entrance to come in on the "middle" level, from where you stay on that level, or go up or down to the other levels. I think what I am saying is the floor from the entrance needs to be level up to the stairs, from where you go up or down to other levels, so some re jigging of the staircase.

I am trying to fit a second hand GGL 4 Velux window as a shed window. The only "unusual" thing being it is fitted as a vertical window in a wall, not a sloping window in a roof. I start to fit the window into the frame as per the instructions it looks like it is going, but it turns this far and then hits a complete and solid stop and will not go any further. Any ideas? I just cannot see what is stopping it? As far as I can tell both sides are hitting the same dead stop, so it must be a case of doing something completely wrong rather than just an obstruction.

That new entrance certainly looks a lot better. A floor plan might make more sense of how it would connect to both floors.

No it's a matter of seeing how it is physically wired and maybe changing some of the wiring.

DHC-E 8/10  Detailed in this thread