Marvin

Yes we have the doors to the kitchen and acceptable size and position windows for fire exits

Hi @ETC Yes we have also looked at regs. Awaiting official email from BC. P.

This is the layout that BC consider the living room an inner room:

Hi @nod BC was saying as its a habitable space it effects the rest of the building because it makes the front room an inner room! I spoke about brick, cavity, and timber frame wall, and said I would be using fireboard standard plasterboard, to which he said it was not necessary! I told him this was required by BC to all the timber framed external cavity walls to my bungalow and all inner load bearing walls! WTF!

Building control came today and stated that the 2.8 meter by 2.1 meter porch is a habitable space and therefore the fire safety requirement to the building and means of escape need to be reviewed and increased. Is this right??

Hi @Dunc I believe that if you have digital thermostats and protect all electric cables through the insulation you can increase the insulation around the tank. Well, actually that's exactly what we did on our vented cylinder 2 years ago. But as @ProDave just commented about: we found out that insulating pipes to within an inch of their lives made a surprising difference. We have no problem with pump noise with either the primary or secondary circuit pumps. The recommendations are to keep everything, except the box with the fan, INSIDE the thermal envelope. I would recommend insulating external pipes really, really, well. Will you need a buffer tank? Your biggest running cost going forward will probably be for heating the building. The design of heating systems has become more and more complicated and more and more exacting over the last 100 years and ASHP's are at the forefront of this. In the middle of winter you may have the outside temperature at -5°C and you want the water heated to 55°C. If the only things between these temperatures on the outside pipes is a layer of copper and 13mm of foam good luck with that! Keep the external pipework to a minimum. I would design a section of the garage at the back right to be within the thermal envelope and fit the ASHP on the garage back wall connecting to all the heating, hot water gubbins there and get rid of the plant room and make an airing cupboard in the rearranged area with a small radiator. Good luck. Marvin.

Hi @jon-lee Bit complicated for several reasons. Piles to support the ground before MSE: Depending on ground conditions they may need to be anchored. Availability of steel? vibration and depth considerations including what they are being driven into for final support. Blocks. Before you start work you would need to know the slip angle of the concrete bed of the block wall. Depth of made ground may be lower than the wall foundations. Composition of made ground: any asbestos content? If there is a foot path at the base of the wall it will be a no dig area! Will there be any services? Gas water electricity communications, lighting cables, drainage, footpath kerb line to be put in or a road or future foundations? This may need the design to be altered. Too many unknowns for such a tall wall in made ground. You have no real choice in my humble opinion with either piling or a MSE wall: Bore holes first, samples to lab, await lab results, results to geotechnical for design. Check design with site design. Good luck M

https://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/smells-caused-plumbing-faults/

As every Tiktok contributor will tell you

Bless! https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/japan-1990s-credit-crunch-liquidity-trap.asp#:~:text=Japan's "Lost Decade" was a,down the real estate market. A problem with raising interest rates sharply is the time between interest rate rises and the effects, not only for homes but business and therefore the economy as a whole. Prices will generally go to where people think they can afford, and generally people all over the world have just had a slap in the face. I expect that interest rates will start falling before the spring but by then the damage will already be done. Completely different dynamics but look at China now. No money, no growth, even less money, even less growth..... ad nausea. What are China's interest rates now? Be careful what you wish for....

Good to use geotextile on the formation before the Type 1. This also helps to resist the fines in the soil below rising through the type 1.

Hi @CloGanga I would be considering how the surface would drain. Standing water below the finished surface can undermine the ground strength

Or is it the gravel migrates down? @SteamyTea?

I would always use flexi hoses.

Hi @SteamyTea This is not sunlight data, only PV energy production based on my set up over the years 2011 to 2020 using PGIS data. Figures are kWhs Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year 2011 179 241 600 800 856 773 780 690 569 420 248 180 6,337 2012 221 286 612 689 775 702 812 647 585 310 258 185 6,083 2013 182 269 426 695 764 801 920 782 522 393 251 182 6,187 2014 222 353 647 679 795 886 931 744 573 382 228 188 6,627 2015 237 274 546 787 710 843 777 624 662 401 174 155 6,190 2016 207 312 538 707 826 706 805 785 528 460 272 190 6,337 2017 236 264 474 736 795 852 771 727 501 372 267 171 6,167 2018 191 380 431 635 883 879 927 685 611 470 289 147 6,528 2019 235 379 514 731 862 807 911 800 582 327 225 197 6,570 2020 195 286 576 816 971 821 806 737 620 341 235 184 6,588 For someone who has no PV you take a great interest...

Energy production is as variable as the weather. 🙄 But how much does it change the results in a month or year? Based on calculations using the PGIS data over 10 years I thought I would share the results. In one calendar year the energy produced can vary from the average by +/- 5%. In one calendar month the energy produced can vary quite widely! From +24% to -28% from the average! Here's my summarised results: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Yearly hi/mid percentage 12.73% 24.94% 20.62% 12.17% 17.89% 9.83% 10.29% 10.72% 15.01% 21.15% 17.98% 10.59% 4.18% Mid/ low percentage -15.0% -20.7% -20.6% -12.7% -13.9% -13.0% -8.6% -13.6% -12.9% -20.1% -28.8% -17.6% -4.4% Worth considering when relying on PV results.

😄 Not necessarily what you wanted to know. How does the Arotherm plus deal with freezing? Can the water circulate through the ASHP and a tank of some description if the ASHP decides to circulate? Were you considering frost protection drippers or antifreeze? The primary circuit will all need antifreeze (if that's your choice) including the UFH, rads, thermal store and associated pipework.

Hi @steveoelliott Yes this sometimes happens... Otherwise search on ebay for Basin waste ball joint. - a few choices...

Hi @steveoelliott The pin that goes into the waste has a ball on it. The nut with the green on in the photo tightens up to seal it. Undo the nut, wipe any gunge off. petroleum jelly around ball. Refit nut. Do up a bit and feel the resistance on the sink plunger system: to easy need tightening. Too stiff undo a little. Good luck M

I see the way forward for thermal stabilisation to be individual home independence, probably using a sand thermal store below the floor slab.

Hi @pocster Impressed with your outlay to yearly repayment! How do you heat your home? We can't manage that!

I assume you mean charging the DC batteries directly from the PV? : True. but don't expect much of that during the winter...

Hi @SteamyTea and @pocster I see no mention of the losses converting AC to DC and back again. Allow 10% for conversions and losses via cables? The whole thing is a great idea but don't be drawn in to thinking it's simple to understand savings. That's just sales talk.

Yes power into hot water is only good for the next 3 days really even with our equivalent 200mm PIR insulated storage. The biggest energy demand for a typical home is temperature stabilisation. So really, the first on the list for anyone should be thermal resistance and then energy storage.

Well at least this part I totally agree with.