Ferdinand

I rest my case .

Can't use the same measurements, as then people would understand it!

Have we not done cats? Anyhoo, my cat popped its clogs at 18 and three quarters recently and is now either pushing up asparagus or in pussy heaven tormenting Schrodinger. Can anyone lend me 64 iguanas?

I think you want a device to turn your shower cubicle into one of those air-fly towers. Body drying would come for free.

I have Tenants who have had White Knight. The experience seems to be that they are inexpensive to buy but not so inexpensive to run. That was some time ago, though. Appliance World let you filter your appliance search by exact width. HEre is one for freezers 540mm to 560mm wide. 45 models, which you could buy elsewhere. http://www.appliance-world.co.uk/freezers?perpage=36&sort=na&price_slider=£159+-+£4345&opt[]=23_4815&opt[]=23_5387&opt[]=23_4183&opt[]=23_5487&opt[]=23_5390&opt[]=23_4401&opt[]=23_5236&opt[]=23_4190 F

So a day later the flow and return temperatures have stabilised at about 38-40C and 27C, and the thermostat in the hall says it is at a temperature of 18.5-19C. I think I need that thermostat to be at about 20.5C for comfort, but I will give it all another day to stabilise.

@TheMitchells That sounds like quite a lot of hard work cutting tiles round sockets - I am no good at that. I left the sockets in paintwork, and cut the holes in plasterboard. Best pics I have to hand at the moment I am afraid. Best of luck.

I now have my EPC numbers back, and the estimated energy usge for heat, light, water is actually 8283 kWh (6577 space heating, 1706 water heating) which is down from 13443 kWh (8424 space heating, 5019 water heating) = 38% less. The estimated cost over 3 years is down from £3537 to £1620 = 55% less, which equates to an estimated saving of £50+ per month. Even that is not quite right because he has called it a "solid, insulated" not suspended floor, and missed out 25mm of celotex , and also the PIV ventilation, so I will have to get that corrected or the record will be incorrect next time. Ferdinand

Cheers all. So I have now set my flow temp at 40C or just over, the return has dropped to about 28C, but I have dropped the pump to setting 2 to slow the water down so the return temp may be lower and I may be able to reduce the flow temp a little more - boiler can modulate down to 35C flow temp. I have turned all the flow valves full except the conservatory connections that are just stubs. May need to adjust the upstairs radiators in case we are hot or cold. And now it is to wait. Ferdinand

I think the single most important point I would make is to take your time to get it right. It is a big project, and you have a fair bit of time on your Planning Application left, judging by the above.

@LadyBuilder Since you seem to know pretty well how to go about it, just a check are you on top of the self-build CiL exemption? In London there is a lot of CiL. Ferdinand

There was recently a Grand Designs in East London where they had a disastrous contractor for their basement, who they then replaced with somebody competent. Perhaps you could find the competent replacement. Episode here with link to supplier list: https://www.granddesigns.tv/east-london/ Since that whole site was 38sqm, presumably they would find yours spacious.

What does a bypass valve do in a ufh system? This pic at the end is the list of components from the ufh specification drawing. Also a pic of the full drawing. Won't that slow down the flow, which (I thought) was supposed to run at between 1 and 2 on the telltale indicators on the ufh circuits? I hid this in the previous post, which should do that. Should I put the rest of the system (my office plus a study bedroom plus the utility) on the flow adjusters, which will kick in another 240+m of pipe-run in on 3 lobes on top of the probable 350m I currently have running ie do I need it all on for this exercise? Cheers Ferdinand

I have excavated in the filing cabinet, and behind the manifold and - ai caramba! - there exists a pump and even a pressure vessel (so why is it short cycling !), The building spec does not look very impressive by BH standards (conversion was done to 2009 planning permission by previous owners). Floors are 75mm screed containing ufh over 85mm of polyurethane insulation and a slab (membrane somewhere). Walls are (outside-in) Facing brick, 100mm rockwool, 100mm thermalite blocks, and (I am assuming) service cavity then plasterboard. That is the specification on the drawings. Floor area covered by ufh is probably roughly 105 sqm. The approved ufh drawing contains the statement "Mean Water Temperature 30-45 degrees. I make that a wall U-value of 0.26m, and a floor u-value of 0.26. The ufh system is Eco Therm Plus 9, There is 600m of 16mm pipe - I have a total of a little under 400m currently turned on in the flow controllers. At 200mm centres except in the bathroom, where it is at 100mm centres. Out and return temperatures on the manifold thermometers are now 42C and 28C. Presumably if I add in the rooms currently shut off that will narrow a little more. Piccies. The boiler is an 18 month old Bosch Greenstar 42CDi Classic ErP, which should be capable of dealing with anything I can throw at it. Wider view View of pump and tank. Mixing Valve (?) set to 50 (degrees C?) Top of the Pump, was specified as a GrundFoss 15-60. ] This one looks to be up to 90W, and to be set to High. Ferdinand

Flow temp dialed back to 40C via the boiler control, now reflected on the input side temp guage, and I have opened the controls on the circuits to rooms currently in use - lounge, 2 x in kitchen, bathroom, utility. We also have 2 bedroom circuits which I have left closed for now. Each is now showing flow of around 1 (litre per minute?). I have also set the indiivdual room stats (mechanical dial) high, and the programmer to "Manual" to stop them interfering. Is the pump the grey box in the first pic? Do I need to look for a switch to set it to fast? Cheers F

Do those white boxes contain any auto-balancing gubbins, or is it just room-stat connections to the actuators? I am trying to get to grips with mine for the first time and all of my flow meters show zero. Does that mean that autobalancing is happening, or that the system is in some kind of lockdown, or that they are stuck, or that someone set them to zero before we bought the house ? We certainly get heat through it, but the flow and return temps are 20C different (50 vs 30 with the boiler at current setup) - which seems high. This is my install:

Is there a thread for questions about the @JSHarris heat loss spreadsheet? Might be useful to collect answers in one place, so that Jeremy does not have to comment umpteen times. I have decided to get to grips with my UFH, which feels as if it needs rebalancing and is definitely short-cycling though the boiler is proeprly condensing, and may be about to do a similar exercise by putting my house (and the LBB) into the ss, and I can ask lots and lots of questions.

That is actually a persuasive argument for a service cupboard where there is no room to stuff anything else. Glad you caught it.

I can't call this. I think I might make sure they are easy to installed make sure the roof structure is exactly ready etc, then do it afterwards if I knew I would have PD rights. The easy way to eat an elephant is one piece at a time. But your circs may suggest otherwise.

eg eg from about £6 https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xlaser+thermometer.TRS0&_nkw=laser+thermometer&_sacat=0

Cheers. I think the case for the fan ones is perhaps if it needs to be directed - eg to a wet spot on the plaster while dehumidifying. Ferdinand

Alternatibely, convector heaters for £12 recommended by @ProDave I bought 3 convector heaters from CPC for not a lot http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-elec/pel00022/convector-heater/dp/HG0091607?ost=hg0091607&iscrfnonsku=false&ddkey=http%3Aen-CPC%2FCPC_United_Kingdom%2Fsearch I don't like fan heaters for unattended use. It's not pretty if the fan fails.

Screwfix thermostatic fan heater £12.00. 40% off. Screwfix have a couple of OK inpexensive compact fan heaters, with thermostats, if you are after one This fixed one for £11.99, reduced from £20. I paid £20 as a drying heater and it was fine. This one is "Trade Rated". I will pick up a couple of these for future needs I think at that price: https://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-fan-heater-2000w/2963P And this oscillating one at £20. https://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-oscillating-fan-heater-2000w/2147P

@CC45 Best of luck with all this. Screwfix have a couple of OK inpexensive compact fan heaters, with thermostats, if you are after one This fixed one for £11.99, reduced from £20. I paid £20 as a drying heater and it was fine. This one is "Trade Rated". I will pick up a coupel of these for future needs I think at that price: https://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-fan-heater-2000w/2963P This oscillating one at £20: https://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-oscillating-fan-heater-2000w/2147P I think we all know the answer to that one. If you had been fully prepared now, it would have waited until you had stepped the prep back down :-o . Ferdinand

One thing you can do is to get an informed opinion quickly (you, architect, possibly Planning Officer) as to whether the objections are 'material planning considerations', then make a response as a comment on the Planning App, with legal / policy references from National Planning policy / local policy, Local Plan, evidence etc. ("This is b*ll*cks because it is in keeping with these 6 houses across the road and that amount of overlooking is to be expected in a village centre" etc, phrased more neutrally.) There is much to be said for going in and inspecting all the objections, and try and get the PO to be the one to show you file, and mention it all face to face. You may need to frame your comments as innocent questions about the Council policies. You could also do that as a phone call. Then you know it will all be considered in the Planning Officer's Report. Who knows, you may find things the P/O has missed. Ferdinand