pstunt

Thank you all for the comments and views. I always love how this forum comes together to share their collective experience and knowledge. As much as I would love to save heat and block off the vents ( and insulate the cavity ) I am very risk averse and will leave the outside vents open.

This is the very logic I agree with but I don’t have the knowledge and experience like many on this forum. If all the vents are blocked off, remembering there are none on the front wall just the back, then how can the inner leaf get wet. I am left with the conclusion these vents were for practical purposes when stabling horses. Ideally I would remove the air bricks but once I have opened up for windows and extensions, there won’t be that many left. So visually it’s not the end of the world but I would guess it’s a big source of heat loss.

Thanks for the responses. So can someone help me understand what is different to a modern cavity wall with concrete floor / slab ? I didnt think airbricks were typically used nowadays ?

Thanks foe that advice, although I must admit it's probably not what I wanted hear. They are both at the top and bottom of the wall so would you think I would need both ?

We are converting an old mining pit pony stable and we cannot knock down the building and rebuild it, even though it's in a poor state. Thas said, we are allowed to cut out large windows and 2 reasonable sized extensions on the rear, which means there wont be much of the original rear wall anyway. The building has many air vents, both internally and externally, on the rear and we will be blocking the internal ones but we are uncertain on the outside ones. I have asked the question of my architect but he isnt really sure. The cavity wall gap is about 5 cm and in the interests of preventing issues down the line, we will be leaving the cavity empty and insulating form the inside, despite my desire to insulate as much as possible. My feeling is that the vents are more for venting air whilst it was used as a stable. There are no vents on the front of the building, purely on the rear. Any thoughts on blocking these external vents ?

I am looking to get the forum's views on whether or not to insulate an existing cavity wall or leave it as an empty void. We are at the foundation stage of converting an 1940's ( ish ) brick stable which was built probably by the National Coal Board, as it's related to an old coal mine. We are not allowed to knock down the main original building for historical interest reasons, but we are allowed to knock down and rebuild some extensions and put 2 new extensions on the rear of the building. The agreed plans on the inside of the existing walls are to install 70mm Xtratherm SR/TB (foil faced) insulated dry lining finish with a lightweight plaster skim, to achieve a U-Value= 0.22 W/m2K. We would like to achieve better than this but the main building is very thin at 4.6m and therefore we dont want to use up internal space on insulation. We are considering the idea of filling the current cavity wall with insulation ( Possibly blown in ? ) but my concern is that it may be left as a void for ventilation moisture reasons. My builder is going to discuss with our architect but hopefully someone here may have some informed opinion. The walls have airbricks on the outside and inside but certainly the inside ones will be sealed up. Not sure what the plan is for the outside ones. I will assume they will be blocked off. 1820487583_Cavitywall.jpg

A1kgHWF3UjS.pdf (media-amazon.com)

Excellent. Thank you all for the suggestions. Looks like I have new project to keep me entertained whilst I wait for my builder to start again.

Thanks, Temp. Your recommendation makes perfect sense although it appears that would need soldering skills ? I am willing to try but my past experiences have been shocking.

I am not sure. All I can say is that it works fine using a powerbank such as this one ( Anker Power Bank, PowerCore 26800mAh Portable Charger with Dual Input Port and Double-Speed Recharging, 3 USB Ports External Battery for iPhone, iPad, Galaxy, Android and Other Smart Devices : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo ) Albeit a much earlier version. Is a regulator likely to be a super expensive addition, if needed ? How would I know I would need one ?

I like this idea, and whilst it probably isnt the most cost effective way to go it would be an interesting project for me. I would need to do some research on how to set this up so can anyone recommend any sites that I can get some guidance. I have plenty of space so would probably ground mount the panel for now. I would happily buy new and decent kit if it was something I can use afterwards. I do have a very large shed nearby that could do with some lighting but thats a whole different project. The point being, is there any recommendations as to what type of panel or controller ? I see the victron name used by others for the controller.

No, that is running on it's own batteries.

The router states it's 9v and .8 amps. and the powerbank was 26000mah.

Thanks, I do have an old phone I can try but I am doubting the hotspot signal will be strong enough or reliable but I am charging the phone now and will give it a go. My experience on my phone with hotspots is that they often disconnect or dont reconnect if you move away and then come back, which is something I do all the time.

Thanks, that's what I have been doing up until now but I want the wifi router to carry out two main functions. The first to allow me to carry out my day job when I am on site. Using a hotpsot of a phone is not as convenient as an always available wifi connection. For sure, the car solution would work but the other reason for the router is for a security camera which is connected to the internet. I have a spare Ring camera which is currently hooked up on site and works fine.

I need to power a wifi / 4G router on my plot, which is in a rural location, for a few months until I get mains power. As an experiment I have connected up the router to a 12V powerbank and managed to get over 24 hours of connectivity, which is a worst-case solution, as I have a few of these and can replace them each day. Although I am on site most days I would like to come up with a better solution. I was considering possibly a leisure battery ( or 2 ) which could either be taken away and recharged or perhaps a solar panel solution. The geek part of me wants to go down the solar route but I have to remember that it should only be for a few months and the outlay wont be worth large expense. I appreciate the term "large expense" is subjective. I would appreciate any suggestions. The router states it's 9v and .8 amps. Thanks

Thanks, that's reassuring to know. We are also in talks with our local supplier about them, who also manufacture them in the same way, but I was concerned that I couldnt find any reference to Aluprof on the forum. Their specs do seem to be pretty good for the cost. We have only just started working with the supplier but even lesser range ( MB-70Hi ) is coming back with ok overall U values when triple glazing is used.

Has anyone had experience or heard anything about Aluprof windows ?

Thanks for the responses to my question. I think I will also then go with them even though the general consensus is that any warranty is virtually worthless from a claims perspective. I start my build in 2 weeks, hopefully, and it will be touch and go as to whether I will need a mortgage. Hence the need of a warranty that's accepted by the major banks.

Hi All, Did anyone ever go with CMLC ? I am in the same boat as others here and they are not only the cheapest but others have been so challenging to even get a quote, I have given up with them.

Ok, great. When I get chance I will dig away at the mud to get to the plug and see how to unscrew it. I haven’t studied it to closely yet. We waited a few minutes and no water came out the unscrewed cap shown in the picture but there is what appears to be a ball valve in that hole blocking it. I will try and get more pictures. When we removed the source pipe, it did gush back as though it had compressed the air and then fixed it back when it decompressed.

The blue tap end ( bottom of the picture) is the inbound connection of about a 200 meter blue poly pipe which is currently not connected to anything. This 200 m away unconnected end is where the meter will go. I have turned the tap and expectedly nothing happens. I then connected the “to be” meter end to the adjacent fire hydrant ( its on a metered connection for other work going on ) and whilst I can here the water going along the 200 m pipe, nothing is happening when I open the blue tap. There is some sort of plug / lug in the outbound hole on the top of what I think is being referred to as a Toby. i need to either get this plug out somehow and if necessary get a suitable connection on it or get something where the meter would go.

Ok thanks. So purely for testing purposes it would seem I have to get a connection on the outbound hole and forget about connecting something where the meter would go ?

Sorry I probably haven't explained myself very well. I have unscrewed the cap and there seems to be some sort of screw fitting with a ball valve underneath. With the cap off I have connected the other end of the pipe ( 200m away ) to a high pressure water source. I have then turned the blue handle 90 degrees but no water flowed out. My guess is that this ball valve is stopping the water and it needs a particular connection to allow it to float. I was sort of hoping that someone could tell me what this connection might be so I can purchase whatever I need to allow water to come out.

Yes, I have turned the blue tap with the other end of the pipe connected to a high pressure water source but neither air or water came out. So I am assuming either the plug needs to be removed or a suitable connection on the top.