Mr Blobby

My thoughts exactly Interesting. Do you leave these permanently in place, or just for commissioning? Do they clip on the UFH pipes below the manifold? Are they accurate enough, and do you have any links to products please.

No, no isolators on the other ends that are plumbed so far. Call me cynical, but the way it seems to work is tradesman finds a day he needs to fill. His regular merchant doesn't have the bits in stock, so substitute with whatever is on the shelves. I texted the plumber yesterday and haven't heard back so he probably isn't very happy. But he's going to charge me twice for doing it twice so I don't see the problem. Besides, this isn't a popularity contest, it just needs to be done right. The trades already think I'm a pita so I've nothing to lose 😆

Does the diameter of the manifold matter? Maincor do a manifold that connects straight to the mlcp pipes but only the 1 inch manifold has connectors for 20mm mlcp.

Ok, so I could have been more specific, but really, specifying a manifold without valves is like specifying a car without wheels. I didn't think I needed to be that specific 😒 The problem is my trades always want to do everything at least cost because that's what they always do. It's just frustrating. Assume nothing 😬 Can valves be inserted here at the junction, or is it entirely new manifolds?

I had assumed my plumbing manifolds would be fitted with individual isolation valves. Assuming my plumber has no intention of fitting valves to these manifolds, then please tell me that (a) it doesn't matter, or (b) an alternative product with valves. Three of our HW (showers and bath) pipes are wider diameter than the rest.

I see you have shiny ridge clamps. We had this also, the roofer had ordered cheaper ridge kit than vmzinc that came in ral 7016 but the coating came off. The roofer agreed to go up on the ridge and shape a peice of roof material to cover the brackets and looks well.

I actually powder coated my clamps to be the same colour as the roof 🤪 but not sure it achieved much 🫤 My standing seam is at 400 instead of 600 centres, to reduce canning, something else for you to think about 🤔

Here's ours being installed. @Russdl's look way smarter and low profile, perhaps because of the distance from the ground. You can see the clamps being installed, they have a disk that sits 15mm above the seam. We've had no issue with birds trying to go underneath. I wish I could have fitted three rows of panels on that South facing elevation 😕

Our manifolds have no gauges. Which is a bit disappointing as I would be rather interested to see flow and return temps at the manifold. I can't see any reason not to have temperature guages at the manifolds, am I missing something here? In short, is it a good thing to install some guages at the manifold? I would have thought it would be useful for commissioning, if nothing else.

We looked at stick on panels and then decided against. After the standing seam roof went up we couldn't bring ourselves to cover it with panels on the SW front of the house so installed panels only at the rear, where nobody will ever notice. And some on the flat roof garage to catch some rays in the winter months. For the standing seam roof we used the s-5 railess pvkit. Neat enough for the back but, IMHO, too ugly for the front.

No, dense block. Approx 10 mm mortar under the skim coat. Plastered over the winter, internal temps never went below 10 degrees. Dried out very slowly, no excess heat or dehumidifiers. Took a few months for the cracks to develop, but are not along mortar lines, and given the house is on a Kore slab on hard rock underneath then I don't think this is any subsidence issue.

Sorry, forgot to say it's wet plaster, on mortar scratch coat. No plasterboard.

All my window openings are like this. Would mesh have reduced the risk of this happening, or is it just inevitable?

Openreach told me the same, that they expected the verge (the verge is part of the visibility splay from the junction) to belong to the council. They assured me they would check ownership but were quite sure it didn't belong to my neighbour and I got the impression they wouldn't even notify him of the trench they are about to dig. There is a good chance he'll be very unhappy about it. 😏 My original point to the OP's question is of course that although it is usually possible to get a free connection without registering as a new site with openreach, registering as a new site can be worth the extra dosh if, like me, you wanted options to connect to a new duct instead of the free overhead option. Not for everyone, but it's worked out as the best option for us.

Its in the visibility splay in front of their house so not their property. This is the only image I have, showing the pole next to the for sale sign, from which open reach will dig a trench across the driveway in the visibility splay, probably a few feet away from the front wall.

We are in the same position, with the fibre available from a pole across the road for free. To a site that we demolished and rebuilt. But I didn't want the fibre coming from a pole the other side of the road. There is a pole on our side of the road (connected to the pole on the opposite side of the road) about 50 yards away that feeds our neighbours houses. I registered on the open reach site and paid the (approx) 300 quid fee as a new site. Engineer came out and offered to lay a trench from the pole on our side of the road along the grass in the visibility splay and across the neighbours drive and up to our boundary for (approx) 400 quid. For me this was a really good and not outrageously expensive solution to get the cable in through a conduit instead of overhead. Open-reach will often fit a pole on your side of the road for free but I preferred the trench dug across the neighbours drive option. We don't speak to that neighbour who is insanely precious about his house and boundary. Open reach haven't dug the trench across his drive yet so this is an added bonus to look forward to.

When installing hot and cold manifolds, is it good practice to install a board on the blockwork first, and if so what? Pipes are mlcp into plant room.

Thanks. It's all oil heating here in Northern Ireland so heat pumps are a bit of a challenge. Once we get inside the house then the plumbing should be the same as any other system so I'm trusting my plumber to do all that wet stuff with his eyes closed. One last question, do you have a link to an extended ball valve 22mm, I think they are all 28. Or maybe I run 28 mm to the end of the ball valves and then reduce down to 22 🤔

So the AF valves delivered are Caleffi 108. Model 108701. https://www.advancedwater.co.uk/product/caleffi-antifreeze-valve-1-14-108701 AFAICS, no swivel on one side. On the quote the ball valves were like this... https://www.intatec.co.uk/products/k-type-extended-ball-valve/ But what has been delivered is this cheaper substitute, which isn't good: The 3 way valve is this VC6013MP6000 1 inch. Like this. https://www.kestakon.co.uk/3-way-valve-1-it-vc6013mp6000-honeywell-without-limit-switch/ Added to the delivery were 6 x 28 mm to 1.1/4 compression straight fittings and the two 28mm elbows. So I think I'll swap out the components for 22mm AF valves if I can get them, and decent, not economy, 22mm ball valves. Then it should be possible to connect the pipework from heatpump into the house without so many reducers everywhere. I think. 🤔 Perhaps the lesson here is to specify everything instead of relying on the heat pump supplier to configure the plumbing components. The people who supplied the heat pump do offer to do commissioning and sign off for the warranty but as yet have given no price for this service. I'm in no rush to ask them to do so. The first supplier we approached didn't even give us a price because I refused to have a buffer tank. I reckon our plumber can do all the wet work, our electrician the wiring. It may be that the risk of heat pump failure is too small and the cost of commissioning too high to make the the extra warranty worth it. I'll soon find out 😬

AF valves are 1 1/4. I think the plumber and supplier have assumed the AF valves connect directly to the 1 1/4 inch connecter on the side of the heatpump. Which may not be the case.

Thank you @SimonD for your response, which pretty much confirms my sentiment that they need to do it right, rather than what they always do. What pees me off is the way these 28mm components turn up without any discussion when I have already asked for 22mm connections, as per the Panasonic install guide. So the 1 1/4 28 mm AF valves are ok enough to use with reducers? I'm not sure what end of the pipe the valves sit and going 22 pipe ---> 28 AF valve ---> 22 pipe seems daft. Sorry, excuse the layperson language, I mean elbow. Two 28mm press fit elbows were added to the order, they look like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/flomasta-copper-press-fit-equal-90-m-profile-elbows-28mm-2-pack/591ak

You guessed right, I didn't really want a split unit. And also they are marketed as high temperature units, where I don't expect to ever want to go above 45 or 50 degrees for HW, much less for heating. .. and they cost about a grand more.

So the heat pump has been delivered and it looks like it may actually be anthracite, which is remarkable, though it is difficult to see without taking all the cardboard off. The heat pump manual states 22mm flaw and return. I told the supplier this and I told him I did not want to "upgrade to 28mm". The plumber subsequently spoke to his contact at the suppliers and the heat pump has turned up with 28mm bends (that were no on the original invoice I saw) and 28mm AF valves, and 28mm stop valves. The flow rate for this heat pump is just 14 l/min. I imagine that is why the external pipework is specified at 22mm to maintain the velocity and minimise potential heat loss. I texted the plumber yesterday to tell him that the pipework had to be 22mm, I guess I was too late and the supplier and plumber agreed to use 28mm regardless my instruction or panasonic specification. The holes cored in the wall are sized for 22mm pipe and insulation, which I have on site. I suppose that, with the 28mm bends and stop valves and AF valves that have been delivered, the plumber intends to install these and then reduce to 22mm. It may be that the holes cored in the wall, or at least one of them, is too low, so that the AF valve may need to be installed at the lowest point being the entry into the house, and not at the HP end, hence the 28mm valve may sit in the middle of 2 lengths of 22 mm copper. Should I put my foot down and insist on 22mm AF valves and ball valves, or is it not a big deal?

J Series mono-bloc. 5kW. https://www.aircon.panasonic.eu/GB_en/product/aquarea-high-performance-mono-bloc-j-generation-r32/

We have a concrete pad already poured for the unit to sit on. Its a few inches above ground level. Just seen this in my whatsapp from plumber/builder 🤷‍♂️