ProDave

This week I have been getting our touring caravan ready for the season. First job was fix the battery charger / monitor / control system that had died over winter. Simple and boringly monotonous electrolytic capacitor failure. that is not the question. Now the 12V electrics will turn on I find the car radio is dead. Withdrawing it from it's slot and a small amount of rusty brown coloured water dripped out. It seems the water has entered a leak at the roof mounted aerial and ran down the inside of the coax and entered the radio through the aerial plug. Inside the radio there was an area of dried up rusty water on the PCB. When I cleaned it off, it revealed that several of the tracks were missing, simply gone. Water won't dissolve copper. So I am wondering what compound has been created here that did dissolve the copper? I know Ferric Chloride is the normal chemical for dissolving copper. Is that what has been created by rainwater running down inside a coax cable and then rusting the steel aerial plug on the end of the cable? Or what other compound may have been made that dissolves copper?

That really does sound like boiling water to me.

How hot is your hot water? Normal temperature or scalding hot? That energy has to have gone somewhere.

I am looking for recommendations where to buy bioethanol from please? Not for the house but for the spirit burning stove on my boat. Currently using meths and I want something non stinky instead.

100kWh in 24 hours and something is going to get hot. VERY hot. Was your hot water normal temperature or scalding hot? Any sign of discharge through the tundish. That's over 4kW continuous over that 24 hour period, i doubt the HP would / could consume that much it sounds more like the immersion heater with a failed thermostat and boiling the water in the tank? Keep the supply to ASHP and immersion isolated until you have a proper chance to get it looked at. Electrician is more likely needed than plumber.

On the rare occasions that happens, they have only been interested in looking at the meter to confirm the serial number and confirm a real up to date reading. They never even looked at the inverter (in the garage) or looked up at the panels on the roof. Since Covid no meter reader has been, we were instead asked to send a photograph of the meter.

Where is "over here"? It would be handy to add your location to your profile so everyone knows where you are and what regulations apply.

My reading is if you are not changing the total installed capacity you don't have to do anything. So new panels of broadly similar size to the old and operating with the same original inverter I would just do it.

I like the open plan feel of that but think the rooms are disproportionately sized. I think the living room at the front will fill tiny compared to the huge open space at the back. Make the living room encompass what is currently laundry, and shrink the large open plan room a little to fit the laundry in that space somewhere.

The original UK grid was indeed centralised generation. But a major change now is very much more renewables, in particular wind, is being built in Scotland. The original grid had little generation north of the Central belt. Now there is more and more wind farms in the far north, meaning it is the high voltage gris that is struggling, not just local issues.

Another Octopus benefit is YOU can set your monthly payments at the correct level without someone else telling you what to do.

Why should you have to manually submit smart meter readings? Mine is not a smart meter, and nothing I read in this thread is making me want to have a smart meter.

I don't have this issue with Octopus. I submit a monthly reading on the last day of the month and they produce a bill based on that reading. Why does it have to be difficult?

Don't be too casual about it. A DC string can be a lethal thing to get wrong.

Our previous house had the soakaway in the field behind the house, that did not cause any problems. But I am not sure I would want the actual TP there, what if the field became used for stock? Would you want cows walking over the top of your TP?

Do you know anyone that has actually done that? It was launched then there seemed to be delays and problems and mention of an upfront payment to join?

Yes it can. With those voltage readings you will be fine. Lucky the original person properly sized the cable for the length. It is surprising how many sheds you find wired with a bit of wet string. I was asked to check a DIY garage conversion complete with electric panel heating, electric water heating and an electric shower. The whole thing was fed with 2.5mm cable.

I would walk away. There is no way you can build a garage on top of next doors drainage field, even before you think about distances to the house. Unless an off site drainage solution was available for both houses I would say the plot is not viable. The minimum needed is permission from the land owner to the south for drainage fields for both properties to be installed under that field (assuming it is a field not other houses). If I was the vendor I would be looking for such permission, and then thinking of installing a large TP to serve both houses and the drainage field for it, then sell the plot as a serviced plot. That is about the only way I think it is viable.

Yes that looks like 25mm. At 16A (typical 4kW PV array) you are likely to get about 3 volt drop over that cable, which should be fine. Remember that will be voltage rise when it is generating. So as long as your mains voltage is no higher than 250V (it should not be) you will be fine. Most inverters trip or start limiting when they reach 253 volts.

If it really is 25mm armoured cable, then you are okay, but only 6 strands per core it is far more likely to be a lot smaller. Can you post any kind of picture of the ends of the cable, e.g. where it terminates at either end? Or get an electrician to measure Zs at the shed and post the reading he gets here, from that we can work out the likely volt drop (will be volt rise with PV generation)

He was one of the last able to sign up to the FIT, sadly gone by the time I was ready to do so. No such golden goose for us now. Until the end of last year I was still getting the FIT from our old house, that paid for all our electricity used in this one, but that went with the house.

I don't see the problem. The stopcock is on the supply side of the meter. In any event it would be the water company removing the meter for any reason so let them worry about isolation for that. As I understand it, your issue is a leak. You need to dig down to the customer side of the meter box to check for your leak there. If you di find a leak and want to fix it, you turn off the stopcock in the meter box to isolate it.

Not needed. worst case a little water drains back from the house pipework if you remove the meter. But the house stopcock should contain a non return valve.

Check when the CH goes off that the pump stops (assuming no DHW demand also) and the boiler stops. My guess would be the feedback switch in the CH valve has failed and the pump is still running because it has not opened and the thud is the water diverting to the bypass valve.

That spindle is for the stop cock handle. There is only ever one stopcock. Why would you want 2?