Ferdinand

That was a for instance as I read it. Which was why I mentioned a min/max humidistat to find out. I couldn't live somewhere with 72 - I would be coughing all day. Had a Ts bungalow with that problem, and condensation etc. Too many total people + dogs, and too little ventilation. Fitted trickle vents with removed closure flaps and a PIV fan, and it did it. But if genuinely something like 72 in the entire area, I would have to move house or seal it and maintain a low dampness zone inside.

There are umpteen fixes available (Sageglass, anti-solar film, reversible single-room heatpump, ability to circulate water around the ufh to spread heat around, outdoor blinds, careful design of penetration rate of the wall (decrement delay), and many more. You can also solar heat model the structure. Experience here is that MVHRs move very little heat, and that it is important to consider autumn and spring sun angles when designing the depth of the canopy. I am currently planning a veranda partly to shelter my 2 south facing windows where the rooms overheat, and I am planning a front to back depth of 4-5m at a height of around 3m. F

Excuses for not working are important 😁.

Interesting. I have a pair of double doors to my conservatory which are only 1.1m total opening, and I find them a pain - even to walk through sideways when only one is open. My main route is to the garden so perhaps I carry things two handed more often. Or perhaps I am wider than you are 😛?

My thoughts: 1 - I'd suggest getting a £10 min/max thermometer / humidistat off Amazon to investigate whether you have damp environments in rooms / areas of rooms. 2 - Are you sure that your extension is ventilating well? For example how does the air get in/out out - are there decent gaps around the doors etc? (Solution to that may be 6-8mm off the bottom of your doors) 3 - Try running a dehumidifier in the room with the excessive mould - if that improves it you know that damp air is part of the problem. (My first reaction would be to fit a PIV loft fan, but that assumes that ventilation is this issue.) F

I'm not convinced by that one - it means you need 2 hands to open both doors so have to put things down. Remember that in well insulated houses * cooling is as big an issue as warming. North windows let in a nice quality of light. One of the biggest problems we wrestle with hear is preventing houses overheating in summer, or in the spring / autumn months. Ferdinand * This may be everything now given the recent building regs changes - I had a building whinging to me last week about how all his future cavities were going to have to be 150mm not 100mm to fit enough rockwool in to meet the requirements. 😛

Had a listen. So they more or less agree with my view, through a less political lens. 1 - Any idea that fracking will make any impact in the next year or two is for the birds, due to planning and the need for local research. 2 - Existing fracking wells are a pinprick on the energy crisis. 3 - There is a confusion between Reserves and Resources, as always. A reserve being a resource that is known to be economic and feasible to develop. 4 - Work has not been to show that resources are economic to develop. Or that environmental safety claims have been proven - such as emissions of methame. 5 - Earthquakes are not a demonstrated hazard. 6 - Not mentioned in public - that this is a self-serving political mugging by people who aim to get started in the hope that the dishonest claims about helping the current crisis will get a foot in the door and they can make a "started so we'll finish" argument for 5-10 years time. 7 - Also not mentioned in public, that the opposition is like anti-GM - poison the public mind with overwrought claims, not based on science, and rely on that to make it go away. And protect the price of houses for Nimbys. F

Will listen after my bike. From the latest Energy Trends, this is quite interesting Q2 2022 vs Q2 2021. (Note this top table is *all* energy, not electricity) Look at the electricity export figure. The gas export number is so high as the Forties field was closed for maintenance in summer 2021. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1107502/Energy_Trends_September_2022.pdf The commentary: UK energy production increased on last year’s record low which saw oil and gas production affected by maintenance. Natural gas production increased by more than 50 per cent and oil production increased by 10 per cent. Low carbon energy also increased. • Total final energy consumption was 0.2 per cent lower than in the second quarter of 2021, as warmer temperatures decreased demand and offset increased activity in the economy. Transport consumption rose by 23 per cent with petrol and diesel consumption returning to near prepandemic levels. Domestic consumption fell by 28 per cent due to warmer weather and a decrease in the amount of time working at home. • Exports of gas reached a new quarterly high as imports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) arriving in the UK helped supply Belgium and the Netherlands. Electricity exports also reached a new record high with the UK becoming a net exporter of electricity for the first time since 2010. • Energy received from Russia decreased on the same quarter of last year. With no LNG cargoes arriving from Russia, Russia’s share of the UK’s gas imports fell from 7.6 per cent last year to 0. Russia’s share of the UK’s oil imports fell from 15.1 per cent to 3.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2022. • Renewable generation rose 12 per cent on the same period last year due to more favourable conditions and increased capacity. Renewable’s share of generation rose to 38.6 per cent, with low carbon’s share increasing 2.1 percentage points to 55.0 per cent with stronger output from nuclear. Fossil fuel’s share of generation fell by 2.1 percentage points to 41.9 per cent. • Renewable generation capacity grew by 6.5 per cent on the same quarter last year, with offshore wind growing 23 per cent. The growth in renewable capacity has increased in recent quarters after a relatively sustained period of more modest growth. On a longer timeframe, renewable generation capacity is now six times greater than the same quarter of 2010.

Suspect that the prices need tracing through to see who makes the money, *if* this is the reason, and then we need to determine how much the UK benefits from tax etc. Perhaps I'm mistaken anyway. As a Brexit supporter, I think shale gas in current circs is vapourware. A little bit like the flares thrown out of Russian helicopters making no difference to a Starstreak missile, or a dog chew given to a toothless old spaniel while the family all eat hot dogs. 🙂 F

Here is the same graph one day later, which is about half the rate. If I had to punt for the cause of why it was double on Thursday vs Friday, I'd point to the French electricity workers strike on Thursday which closed down 4GW (=approx 10%) of French electricity production. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/french-nuclear-production-lowered-due-strike-2022-09-29/ Thank God that this country is not consumed by chaos ! Ferdinand

That's interesting. I was with Avro when they went bust (and the b*stards defaulted my account whilst I was in a dispute with them which has damaged the credit rating seriously), but the transfer to Octopus was smooth - perhaps because the process was regulated. Unfortunately for that one 80% of my solar is East facing ! I only have 1.75 kWp facing West. F

The new thread is called "Understanding Octopus Outgoing Tariffs."

Following my previous thread about getting onto an Octopus Outgoing Agile tariff, I am now on it so this thread is about understanding how to use it. The previous thread has been closed. I'll be asking a few questions to start it off. Ferdinand

Since my monthly payment is £65, I am now apparently on a "payment holiday". However my Octopus Outgoing Agile kicked in on Monday, and I am apparently owed about £8 on top for that (32 kWh at an estd 25p each). This is the price profile it is giving me for today:

If you go to Octopussy, do let someone know and the £50 or £100 could be donated to BH, or spent on whiskey.

Well the letter arrived today. Lots of different prices depending where you are in the UK and what sort of billing you have. I have the most expensive billing, quarterly and I am in one of the poorest parts of the UK, so I pay more for my energy. You all ready: Daily charge: 59.10p/day Day Units: 64.10p/kWh Night Units: 33.99p/kWh. If I had gas, with EDF, it would be 33.53p/day and 15.644p/kWh. The "typical household" usage which is the number the lumpen-media usually quote is based on 12000 kWh of gas and 2900 kWh of electricity. https://www.ukpower.co.uk/home_energy/average-household-gas-and-electricity-usage There are slight changes recommended from a review some time ago, but they have not yet been implemented. Not sure what game they are playing you quoting rates so far above the price cap. The £400 reduces a typical bill from £2500 to £2100 under the price cap. Ferdinand

The 5 degrees was from the manufacturer, unprompted - I just asked for the minimum angle. But I'll check in more detail of course.

@Hastings. I have the musical answer to all your questions 😛.

Sounds like you have a door to block, other considerations not intervening. Or see if it meets the definition of "porch". But do look up "covered yard" in Scotland. In England it is something which exists in law, but is not precisely defined anywhere - so very useful. I made a similar "covered way" - basically what here we call a "lean to", which is a weather protected wide walking route. Then added the door into the house 2 years later to give my tenant a laundry / dog space. Saved a lot of form-filling. and some fees.

I'm not very au fait with this except that I added a secondhand conservatory to the back of a house, with a real tin roof and more insulation. So it was no longer a conservatory - no idea what it was, as everyone calls it a conservatory. My considered strategy was that it was behind the house so no one could see it, and nearly exempt from PP as was except that it was 4.2m deep - just over the 4m limit, and therefore not to tell anyone anything, build it well, and keep stum until enforcement became impossible. Which has now happened. Given that the knowledge is out, can you argue that it is something else, or arrange for that to be the case, eg glass porch or covered yard? Alternatively you could brick up or otherwise seal the door so it meets the defn of a greenhouse, and unblock it later after any inspection. Something like a light wooden framework and cladding plus a few shelves would do it. F

Listening to this programme by Maddy Savage: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct316s Which is linked to this article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62798950 It came up with Finnish using a sheet material called "gypsum board" (in the context of cross-laminated timber: At the upper secondary school, gypsum board, which is made from limestone and not flammable, is used to add an extra layer of protection on the interior walls on higher floors. "We need to take fire safety seriously," says Ms Airaksinen. "We also did a lot of simulation about evacuation and durability in case there will be a fire." Is this just plasterboard? The thesis of the programme is about sustainable construction, and it seemed to me to fit the not uncommon BBC pattern of something perfectly common being framed as a worldwide sensation because it is in a foreign country reported by a non-specialist reporter. F

Well, my Octopus Outgoing Agile starts from 1st October, and I am now told that I am in the cooling off period. I am also informed I am on a "payment holiday", whatever that means. Is that because I have a credit balance of £100+? Anyhoo, in a day or so I'll close this thread, and start a new one about Understanding Octopus Agile. Thanks for all the comments and further comments. Ferdinand

Your call of course, but if you are not up to speed with how much repairs will cost you can't ask them for the sum on top to put you where you would have been had they not failed. However, a clean resolution that you are happy with is the key thing.

I'd also be asking them for a sum for damage done to the brick ie cost of reinstating. Have an estimate handy. You could be going after them for more, but TBH I'd be satisfied with a clean walkaway. What are your alternative plans? Can you just go with a system with intermediate stainless posts between panes?

I'd start off with BCO, sending them the video. Who may come out and tell you it is unsafe. Get that confirmed by email. Also the Chief Exec of the installer, and the senior and technical people at the UK Office of the manufacturer, if such exist. In any case you should be refusing to pay a penny until the install is safe. Make sure that you document carefully, as you will need to prove it. F