ProDave

An E7 or E10 supply has a single dual rate meter so you should be able to switch to any supplier that offers E7 or E10 But the rate they are charging you you might just as well have a single rate ordinary tariff? Does your boiler connect to a buffer or thermal store? The ones that work best with E10 are storage boilers.

small 2 step ladder is good for hopping up onto trestles.

Wait until you get the supply (arrange it's connection sooner rather than later) then you will know.

I am guessing you must be on Total Control tariff to get a 24/7 "cheap" rate for heating? That is a long discontinued tariff and I thought it came with a high standing charge. E10 may well be a better bet if you align the boiler times to the off peak times which come as a morning, afternoon, and late evening burst. The only problem time with E10 is early evening where if you need a boost then it's peak rate. I did predict a while back that this cap would spell the end of a lot of the cheap deals, a case of "be careful what you wish for" I would also be having a stern word with your supplier, explain a "cap" means that is a price that you cannot exceed (and your tariff was not exceeding it) It is NOT a price you have to raise all tariffs to reach.

Dehumidifier and mvhr on if you have it. We were painting 2 days after the plasterer left it dried so quick.

But does that not assume it is always delivering the rated 9KW? I would have thought the actual output would vary somewhat so you can't really measure the COP unless you also measure the output (which you could do knowing the flow rate and flow and return temperature)

Why open? so inefficient. How about an enclosed wood burning stove and twin wall flue system?

Are you on your own or near other houses? £12K even with a new transformer sounds very steep. A local near here paid £10K which included undergrounding about 200 metres of 11KV overhead line, provision of a new transformer and the supply. If there is an existing transformer can you avoid the need for upgrading it by accepting a lower KVA supply rating? I accepted their offer of a 12KVA supply as I am sure if I had asked for more there would have been a cost for upgrading the local transformer.

How can you calculate COP only knowing the input power?

With the new chain saw?

Congratulations, Enjoy the new house and that long planned holiday. I get the feeling your old house is probably not the best rental prospect in terms of yield but that is not your concern.

An en-suite does not increase the amount of cleaning. We use the en-suite instead of the family bathroom, so that needs cleaning less often. It's like the argument if you have more toilets you must use more water, No you don't you just use whichever toilet is most convenient at any particular time. We like to spend time in bed with a cup of tea in the morning, a good view with nobody overlooking us is important. If you don't like an en-suite how about a Jack & Jill?

look out for a batch of joists on ebay very soon....

That's a relief. It will cost you time, but not money.

Embarasing question time: WHO got the measurement wrong on the order?

The 3 year living room refurbishment?

He might be finishing that with only 1 arm....

I am far from convinced about economy 7 Usage so far shows heating and DHW is a minor part of my electricity usage. I use more per week on "stuff" and can't find a way to reduce that. So even if I could do all my heating and hot water on the cheap E7 overnight rate, the penalty is the day rate is a lot more than a standard tariff so I expect the E7 saving would be wiped out by the extra daytime cost.

I would make an en-suite to the master bedroom in both, e,g in the right hand barn, turn th bathroom into an en-suite leaving the shower room for general use. What is upstairs in the left hand barn?

The conversation I have had is he prefers to sell by the pallet of 27 panels and if you buy 2 pallets he will pay for the delivery.

Yes mine is from stairbox. It is going to be carpeted so mdf / ply risers and treads and white wood stringers. It is going to have the Burbidge Fusion system handrails hence just the dwarf newel posts http://www.stairpartshop.co.uk/acatalog/fusion_system.html

No variable speed either and I suspect the average angle grinder runs way quicker than a petrol chain saw so the thing would be bloody lethal.

Here is my stairbox double turn stair (handrails not on yet) This is what I would do in your case. A straight stair would seem odd as it would end nowhere and you would turn 180 degrees and walk back. Make it with most of the stairs on the first flight, then just a few on the return flight, and you should still get a lot of usable hanging space under the stairs.

20 degrees here. Heating goes off at night, but that is just because I want the house to be silent without the UFH circulating pumps running (the nosiest bit of our heating system) It does not cool down a lot over night. We are getting into a routine where a couple of times a week we "indulge" and fire up the WBS, it's currently 25 degrees downstairs (the stove has gone out now) . I would never pay to heat it that hot, but wood is free. It will probably be late tomorrow before the UFH comes on again so a burst from the stove will save some electricity. Temperature is a funny thing. I have worked in air conditioned offices fixed at 20 degrees, and you can sometimes feel cold and even with a pullover on feel cold, other times you were rolling up your sleeves and loosening your tie you were so hot.

A few general comments in no particular order. The "save water" thing is mostly applicable to highly populated conurbations with huge numbers of people in one place and limited water resources. Up here water is so plentiful and population so sparse, it is never going to be a problem. Modern WC's that are designed to flush with a low volume work very well indeed. I recall fitting a "water hippo" kindly provided free of charge by Thames Water to an old WC in our 1930's house. It was an absolute disaster. "things" just did not clear from the old WC when the amount of flush was limited, so you had to wait for it to fill and flush again and again and again. The only answer is a WC actually designed for a low volume flush. For some reason there was a time when dual flush WC's were discouraged. Why? You don't need much of a flush when you have just had a pee. Showers. A decent flow rate shower lets you shower quickly. I am still amazed at how little time SWMBO now spends under her rainfall shower head compared to how long she spent in the dribble of a shower when we were in the caravan. Apparently it took ages to get the soap out of her hair under the dribble. For some odd reason water Co's and planners seem to think if you have 4 WC;s and 3 showers the same familly of 3 will use more water than if you only had one of each? Much more saving can be done by simple education. Don't leave a tap running when not in use etc. Only put the dishwasher on when it is FULL that may mean it does not go on every day. You don't need a restrictor to limit flow from a tap. A tap is not a binary device, it can be anywhere from full on to full off and anywhere in between. See above, people need to learn when to turn a tap down, rather than be forced to have a tap that will only ever run slow. I am sure a lot of water is wasted waiting for the hot water to reach a tap. I made layout changes and careful pipework choices to minimise that. In areas where water supply is restricted (another way of saying the population has exceeded sustainable levels but still they squeeze more in) there might be merit is catching grey water and using it a second time for flushing the WC. Rainwater harvesting will only in the grand scheme of things limit the water getting to a river and deplete the already available supply, so really it just saves the water Co some treatment cost, it cannot have a big impact in solving a shortage of supply.