richo106

I know this has probably been bought up many times before on here but I am still toying with the idea of battery storage (I am an electrician by trade) I have no scope/plans to install PV as the house and its location (i.e. trees/ roof shape/chimneys) is just not suitable at all I am just trying to do some calcs to see if the ROI is worth it plus is it just another thing to monitor/replace when worn out etc... Has any body got an battery storage and making it work cost wise? Then there is also the sizing of storage, is there some sort of calculator to work this out? This is probably the wrong forum with this question Many Thanks

Hi @JohnMo Thank you very much for both replies regarding the energy usage and cosy tariff Regarding the cosy tariff I think it works well in the summer months so I can just do my DHW during the cheaper periods, also it has worked well from Sept to around now with just a little bit of heat required to maintain a nice temperature However in the winter months I going to run it 24/7 (with it ramping down during expensive period) I can also still programme it re-heat my DHW during the cheaper periods It will be interesting to monitor the energy usage during the milder days, as mentioned this is first time using a system like this so I am learning on the job I have attached my energy usage from my ASHP for the month so far and its pretty much spot on with what you said regarding the amount of energy quoted - quite a clear correlation with outside energy temps!

I have had my UFH on all day (apart from the expensive period 4pm - 7pm) and my electric usage for today will be around £11 (around 55kWh) compared to around £4 day all last week (25-30kwh) by timing my hot water and heating with the cheap periods Sorry for the daft question but do you think this is normal jump in usage during a cold snap. Since Monday night it has ranged from -2 at night and got no warmer than 2 in the day Would welcome some opinions on this if possible and how cold snaps effect other peoples usage etc I know usage will fluctuate during the year but i am just panicking now it will be very expensive to run during the winter months

It looks like the actuators are working correctly, when I opened a few zones upstairs there was a slight temp difference in flow and return temps to start with but soon gets back to almost the same ill change my water temp to 40 to see if that makes a difference at all

Its a new build Yes all bedrooms are carpeted but they are specific UFH underlay and carpets The bathroom is tiled and the tiles still feel cold! Regarding turning it off, I would expect to see Dt yesterday evening as the upstairs floor was pretty cold I will try remove the actuators as mentioned above, i have one area of floor (another bathroom) with no flooring yet apart from the T&G flooring so ill see if there is any warm there If not I will try upping the temp to 40 to see if this makes a difference too Many Thanks

Daft question...if i take the actuators off will the loops just be open? I will do this later when i get home

Hi All I have jumped on a previous thread but thought I would start a seperate one as I need some help/advice on an issue I think I have I have UFH upstairs and downstairs, downstairs in a concrete slab and upstairs in aluminium spreader plates below 22mm T&G floorboards. I have an ASHP with 100L buffer (set at 35deg). I have been running the ASHP hot water and heating in line with the octopus cosy tariff and has worked well like this, I know it wouldn't run like this when we hit cold snaps like now so my plan was to just leave it on and ticking over. The GF seems to be working well and the floor warms up nicely and all the rooms easily reach the temperature but the upstairs rooms are struggling a bit to get to there set point I was looking at the GF manifold and the water temp in was 30 deg and return temp was 23 deg However the first floor manifold was slightly different as the flow and return temperature was same (both 26 deg at 9pm, both 30 deg at 11pm) I have a common pump that does both manifolds I am after any kind of advice/information on this potential issue as there seems to be no heat transfer and the upstairs struggling to heat up. It all looks there is flows on the indicators I have ran this all night and still no difference in flow temps this morning Thanks in advance

Sorry for the message spam but just thought I would add another picture showing that it does indicate flow on the valves I have just looked at it again before bed and now the flow and return is both 30 deg so still no difference between them

Just to add I have one pump that pumps water to both the Upstairs and Downstairs manifolds, when a zone calls for heat the pump kicks in.

I have the Panasonic aquarea 12kW but not running it on weather compensation. However I’ve been looking into it tonight as our upstairs is not warming up properly and think there may be an issue with the upstairs manifold/actuators etc The downstairs manifold flow temp in is 30 deg and the temp out is around 23 deg and can feel the pipes slightly warm as expected However the upstairs manifold the in flow temp is 26 deg and the out flow temp is also 26 deg I have attached a pic of my actuators upstairs ( they are different to downstairs) the thermostats click in and out as they should but the actuators don’t seem to change any advice or anything to check would be very much appreciated. This is my first time with ASHP , UFH so any suggestions as simple as possible are welcome

Hi All This is the first winter in my house, I currently have an UFH with 100L buffer tank that feeds upstairs and downstairs UFH. The upstairs are on the aluminium spreader plates I am currently on the octupus cosy tariff which I have been happy with and been working well but i know this would need tweaking in colder periods (like now) My UFH buffer tank was set to 25 degrees on the ASHP controller, I forgot to check this until this morning when the house was struggling to get to the desired temp 21 degrees I have changed my UFH temp to 35 degrees but what have people found the best water temp to use? Many Thanks

Hi All I have got a query if anyone could help, as you know from post above I have now completed my VAT reclaim and received the money, this money has no allowed me to look at getting quite a few blinds installed (£3-4k) and my driveway (at least £20k) Even though I have completed my VAT return can I still ask the contractors to charge me the lower 5% vat rate? Can I them submit an additional claim for this VAT? My blinds will be done Jan/Feb time but my drive won't be done until mid-late next year Any information/advice on this would be appreciated Many Thanks

Yes I physically had a hard copy of every invoice as when I started my build this was the way i was going to do it, however since being able to do it online you can do it using the spreadsheet template found online. So didn't send any invoices to start with. The spreadsheet needs: Invoice No, Date, Description, Name of Supplier, VAT Reg No, Total amount excl. VAT, VAT amount, Invoice in your name I wouldn't say random but a selection of the higher amount ones. There was none for small amounts. I had 359 invoices and they only asked for 21

Hi All I just thought I would share my VAT reclaim timeline to let other people know current timings etc.. I completed the VAT 431c form using the online method (excel spreadsheet) on 4th September 10th September I received an email asking to submit 21 invoices, i sent these back the same day using the online portal I received a letter on 27th September saying how much they will be paying and queries they had regarding 5 invoices(not enough detail) Money received 1st October Re-sent the queried invoices with additional details on 9th October The remainder of the money received today (4th Nov) In all honesty I found this process very good with no issues, I rang up once to ask a question and got through straight away It certainly helped keeping an up to date record/spreadsheet throughout the build otherwise this would of been a mammoth task at the end and no doubt things would of been missed

Hi @CotswoldDoItUpper We actually went for liniar flush casement windows in the end, worked out a lot cheaper and had a lot wider range of colour. We went for the colour 'claystone' which is a mussel colour which was ideal for our build.

How much are you looking for a DIY battery install including inverter and batteries? How is the best way to size your batteries? I have a 5 bed house and all electric, i have only just switched and last week averaged 12 - 16kwh per day (no heating on) I am not looking to have solar panels at anytime due to my roof layout and which way my house faces so would the cost of installing a battery set up be worth it? I have just switched to cosy tariff and last week average £2.50 - £3 a day with no heating Looking forward to hearing some feedback on this as batteries is not something I have considered before as I ruled out solar straight away Many Thanks

For Info I have 12kw Panosonic Aquarea Monobloc. WH-MXC12J6E5 So any advice regarding weather compensation would be alway welcome

Thank you @JohnMo for this answer very informative/usual. My ASHP is 12kw and truthfully I have no idea what my design heat load is, one guy said he would install an 8kw but guy I went with said he would install a 12kw as he prefers not to run them flat out. I completely understand regarding timings or lack of but currently I pay 20.72p per kWh and the cosy tariff is 10.74p per kWh during the periods stated in my schedule, 21.93p per kWh day rate and then 31.79p per kWh during 16.00- 19.00. So at the minute I am struggling to see how I wouldn’t save a good amount of money if I switched, as we generally do washing and dishwasher during the cheap periods as always I come on this forum for a bit of a sense check so appreciate being corrected on this I really need to read up on weather compensation as this is something I have not heard of until I started this post Many Thanks

Thank you everyone for all the comments regarding this, very much appreciated. Some of it certainly went over my head though! The buffer tank was installed as part of the ASHP install as it was a completely new install, and there is a temp sensor on the buffer tank that feeds back to my ASHP controller After reading these comments my thoughts are now to set all my thermostats in house to the same temperature (20 degrees) and using the Octopus cosy tariff will set up my ASHP the following: 04.00 - 07.00: UFH Buffer tank and & hot water - ON 07.00 - 13.00: OFF 13.00 - 16.00: UFH Buffer tank and & hot water - ON 16.00 - 22.00 OFF 22.00 - 00.00: UFH Buffer tank - ON 00.00 - 04.00: OFF Would this seem sensible? Regarding my thermostats, would you put any time controls on them or is the energy used for the UFH pump negligible? @Andehh Yes please PM regarding octopus, I need to speak to EON first as typically I have just signed up for a year with them so need to talk about leaving etc.. As always as comments/advice must appreciated. I just want to try and make sure my system is set up correctly Many Thanks

Hi All Our renovation project has enabled us to build a well insulated and hopefully quite air tight house (not tested) we have opted for an ASHP that is used for our DHW (300L tank set at 52 degrees) and also UFH both upstairs and downstairs ( 1 manifold upstairs and 1 manifold downstairs) I have set my buffer tank/thermal store to 35 degrees. Each room has its own thermostat which controls an actuator loop. I have never had an ASHP/ UFH before so I have been trying to look at the best way to set this for the winter months My question is how do people who have lived with a setup like this set it up? Speaking to my installer he recommends setting all thermostats to the required / same temp (I.e 20/21) and ignore any time controls and just keep the house at constant temperature at all times? He feels you use a lot of energy warming up the house from cold and better to leave ticking over My wife works from home most days I would love to hear peoples opinions and experiences on this? Many Thanks

I am pretty sure it’s an error on the ASHP energy monitor, it doesn’t seem to tie up with the smart meter I have just installed. I have set a reminder in my phone to make sure I read my meter before and after

Thank you all, I have just spoken to Lawn Smith and they have been very helpful on the phone so i might go with them!

Hi All As you might of seen from my other posts I have just had my patio done, to make my patio work and look right I have had to have a quite large of the garden built up with top soil which i want to turn back into a grass lawn. Could any one recommend some grass seed they have used in the past? Also do i need to fertilise the soil first? Can you buy pre mixed seed and fertiliser mix at all? Any advice/suggestions/information much appreciated

Hi I have attached some pictures of my energy monitor As you can see I normally use around 4kwh per day except on the day my sterilisation where its above 40, it was 47.2 kwh last week Is this normal? Or do i need to speak to my installer about this? It just seems high to me Many Thanks

Also what about some kind of cement/lime plinth? I will speak to BCO but wanted to have some ideas first that would look ok