ProDave

Ah yes the Ferry to Jura can be interesting on a big spring tide. The midges there when I was there (25 years ago) were savage, the worst I have ever known. There has long been talk of a direct ferry from the mainland but I don't think it ever got beyond talk did it? An air source heat pump will save you having to get a drilling rig over to the island. I am guessing even simple things we take for granted, like getting timber and plasterboard delivered from a builders merchant are not trivial? I suspect a decent size trailer you can take over yourself will be very handy?

Hi and welcome. I wonder which remote island you live on, I am guessing one of the smaller ones? Connections and ferry costs will probably play a big part in deciding how to build.

Okay an off the wall suggestion. If it works, but is the wrong way round you, could switch a relay with the valve output from the heat pump, then use the NC contact on the relay to energise the valve, so the valve would be on, when the HP output is off, and vice versa.

Every self build seems to go through a low, not just those on Grand Designs. For us it was 18 months in, with a part built shell when the realisation hit us that the old house was not about to sell any time soon, and we were faced with a build we could not afford to finish. Once you get past the low point, accept things are not as you would want them, but they are where they are, you have to re group and re plan. We are now on course to finish the new house without the sale of the old one. It has taken longer than planned and I have done more of the work myself than originally planned, but one has to find a way to adapt and move forwards. Just talking to others and venting your problems helps a great deal.

You probably can't reverse the way the valve works so swap the plumbing over. Heat pumps do seem to demand a high rate of water flow. I had to fit a second external pump to mine to get enough flow rate, and I bought a flow meter so I could see what flow rate I was achieving. Another stupid thing, nowhere in the installation manual does it actually tell you what the minimum flow rate is.

Just be careful that any thermostats / controllers you connect really are volt free dry contacts.

This once again shows how the firmware in these things is somewhat clunky and needs another level of development. Perhaps you should go through every parameter and change it, even if that means change it, then change it back (if it was correct to start with) That would surely ensure all parameters are stored properly. My own HP has several "stupid programmer errors" like it will not allow you to change the hot water temperature set point, unless the heating is actually on and running. So if the room thermostat has turned the heating off and you want to change the DHW setting, you have to go and turn up the thermostat to bring the heating on, make the change, then go and turn the thermostat back down again. Imagine the palava to change the hot water temperature in the summer when the heating is not on at all.

Sounds like time to raise a complaint....

Not wishing to be picky, but isn't that a little close to the wall?

When we got our connection from Scottish Water, we paid for an "all works" contract with them making the road crossing and taking care of any legalities associated with that and digging up the field the other side to make the connection. Even so they were an awkward bunch to deal with. but on the day it was a subcontracted company that did the work and as is usual, the guys on the ground doing the work were fine. The did fail us on our first "track inspection" because I had not fitted the tripple non return valve to the standpipe and the caravan.

It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be but we got there.

Following a request, I have moved the discussions about using a Willis heater as a backup to a new thread here

I am surprised they specified ducting as small as 38mm. but you should be okay. The usual incoming supply cable is a concentric cable, and it seems to pass thtough a 25mm conduit without problem.

What he will have gained from that is he will be your plumber of choice for anything else and you will recommend him to others.

These things are in essence just a mains extension lead. I would no more plug a hot tub into one than I would the typical multi way extension lead you find behind tv's or computers.

Why would a hot tub plug into a pop up socket in the kirchen?

I fitted that CPC one (though I paid more elsewhere because CPC's search fcility is so rubbish I could not find it on their site) I chose it because it had to retract down into a 70mm wide gap between the back of the units and the island back panel. That one fits into a 60mm diameter hole. Most of the others I looked at typically needed a 90mm hole or even larger. My advice is buy the socket now, so it is available to see when they come to template for the worktop.

That's called a "security screw" a bit like the torx ones with a hole or a pin in the middle so a standard torx won't fit. Also 3 pronged "philips" screws are quite common.

I was a bit shocked when I found SWMBO's car had a torx drive sump plug. I did try it with a standard socket set, a hex socket, and the appropriate size torx bit and it became apparent that something would break if I applied enough torque to undo the thing. I had to go and buy a 3/8 drive with the correct size torx bit to finally get enough grunt to undo it.

I did the same but just fitted blank plates, and the other end of the cable is inside the CU but not terminated to anything yet.

That just illustrates how stupid our planning system is. You can't get permission to build a properly designed house in your garden, but you can get permission to convert a completely unsuitable redundant water tower into a house.

Then don't tell your EPC assessor that you have them, tell them the house is so well insulated they are not needed

Have you read my description of my system? I haven't put the satellite receivers with the tv's I want less clutter particularly in the case of the wall hung tv. My satellite boxes are in the under stairs cupboard with everything else, conveniently within reach of 10 metre long hdmi cables to each tv, and a wireless IR remote control extender so you can still control them from the living rooms. As well as the coax, cat5 etc, I ran 2 long hdmi cables and a long component video cable to each tv. But I do have the spare runs of coax in case that changes and there is a need for satellite boxes at the tv's.

First picture of the guys assembling the scaffold. They have it so the transoms (cross pieces that the planks sit on) are on the high set of pegs. Every single upright should be rotated 90 degrees so the transoms are on the lower pegs. That would put the ledgers (the long poles parallel to the planks) on the same level as the planks. As it is they are lower than the planks. It probably won't make any difference, it certainly won't fall down, but it will be hard to fit toe boards, which may be why they haven't? I would have expected better from the professionals. Anyone else share my view or am I in the wrong?

I hate to say it, but the scaffolders have put that lot up wrong (all the uprights need rotating 90 degrees) Not to mention the missing toe boards Us diyers don't get bothered abut toe boards but you would expect it from the professionals.