Tiny

Hi, We have a Viessman W200 system boiler and 300Lt UVC, with weather compensation, and priority hot water, with UFH on the ground floor, UFH in the basement, towel rails upstairs in bathrooms. No thermostats in the building. The boiler controls the pumps and flow temps on the three circuits/zones. It keeps each zone to within one degree of the set temp. No big swings in temp up or down. We removed the pumps and mixers from the UFH manifolds. The boiler has touchscreen controls and an App for remote access so long as you have WiFi in the house it can access. It works really well.

Hi Folks, Has anyone got a hot wire cutter that they no longer require, or are about to come to the end of using? We are about to order the EPS to EWI the outside of our build and it would be a lot better quality of job and less mess with a hot wire cutter. Happy to buy a used one.

Hi i have managed to borrow a pressure gauge and the water pressure measured at 5.1bar. the flow rate was 17lts min Boiler is a Vallient Ecotec Plus 824 Look forward to being able to move it forward

Hi Nick Thanks for the comprehensive reply. It is a full house renovation with extension, three bedrooms, two with ensuite showers, plus a ground floor shower in a utility room. All existing pipe work is being removed and the boiler needs to move also. Our mains flow rate is circa 17 Lts per min, not sure of pressure need to acquire a pressure gauge and will report back. Just trying to have a system that is efficient and effective. UFH is appealing as one floor is open plan, not much wall space for rads I only thought about zones as some rooms will be unused for long periods, so do not need to be at 21deg. As it is a refurb I am pretty sure we will not achieve the level of airtightness and insulation that others on the forum have achieved with new builds. It will not be for lack of trying! I only mentioned the Sunamp as thought it would save having a large TS or UVC, which apart from taking up loads of space appear to have larger standing losses, and the extra service cost if UVC So as I am effectively starting from scratch, more than happy to take your advice on the best way forward, the thoughts I had mentioned where as a result of reading other posts and trying to do the donkey work myself. same with the combi, will buy another boiler if required, but thought if I could utilise what we already have it is £1000-1500 to spend on something else. So if I drop the requirement for simultaneous showers, does that make it easier. I hear what you are saying about keep it simple. thanks for taking the time to reply, really appreciated, I have so many plates I am trying to keep spinning, I could do with bottoming some out! thanks

Hi, Still trying to resolve my heating and DHW, I would like the ability to have two thermostatic mixer showers running at the same time. Plus have UFH on the ground floor and small rads/towel rails upstairs. Hoping to re use the existing Gas combi boiler. Open to using a Sunamp. I have seen they have a new range just launched. Question is how to connect everything and what to use to control it Would like to keep the boiler modulating, Also would like some remote control similar to the Heatmiser Neo set up if poss without blowing the budget Do I just turn down the temp at the boiler to ensure modulation? Will the Sunamp trigger the boiler Is it a good/bad idea to run the DHW and the UFH from the Sunamp? was hoping to have four zones downstairs and three upstairs Set off looking at ways to utilise modulating room thermostats to modulate the boiler, am I right to think the above method using a Sunamp will negate their need. was going to use a manifold system for the rads I presume each of the four proposed UFH zones will need a thermostat, do these just open the actuator on the manifold? What makes the call for heat? I can see that with the above method the Sunamp will remain charged to enable DHW on demand, I know it has low standing losses but seems wasteful. Most of the time there is only two of us in the house, so reverting to the combi makes sense, however when we have friends stay over or holiday rent the house I would like to run the Sunamp. Is this practical in real terms? Apologies the all the questions, tried phoning Vallient earlier today to ask about their V Smart controls, would only discuss with a qualified engineer! All the plumbers I have contacted so far have not heard of Sunamp and only one had heard of a modulating thermostat, so I am trying to learn myself. My head is hurting with all the options and conflicting advice

Hi Triassic did you find anyone that has used Chapelhows in Cliburn for Windows? I am in Cumbria and would be gat to use a local manufacturer. I am going to visit them on Friday.

Hi Peter Thanks for your comments, was not trying to heat the crawl space with the MVHR, more to keep some ventilation, in a controlled manner. I have good access to the underfloor space at the moment, it looks like I could fit 50mm of EPS between the beams after knocking off the casting overhangs, this brings me flush to the beam. So could bond 100mm PIR to the beam face and seal as good as poss with foam at joints and edges. I have space to fit EWI to go past the wall/floor interface. Also plan to fill the cavity with eps beads from foundation to beam and block floor level. Do you think UFH is feasible? It would have to sit on top of the 50mm screed, so means heating the whole floor build up. Or will there be too much heat loss down through the floor. Any advice on what grade/spec of plastic sheet g to use for the vapour control barrier onto the soil in the crawl space. Sorry for all the questions, but it is a lot of hours to invest so want to as good a job as possible, I currently have the time to invest.

Hi Peter Thanks for your reply. It is a big void to fill with beads! What do you think of insulating the exterior walls and connecting the underfloor space to MVHR. Would really like to utilise UFH as moving to a more open plan design. So trying to explore all potential ideas to mitigate heat loss. Cannot understand why uninsulated B&B floors managed to pass through BC, but I have to work with what we have.

Hi. about to start ground works on extension and whole house renovation. Still not resolved how to improve/solve insulating and improving airtightness of existing exam and block floor. House is built on a slope so crawl spica is from 1200mm down to 400mm at front of house. Somewhat unbelievably there is no insulation present! This is a 70's built house, buildup currently is laminate floor, 3mm cork underlay, 50mm screed, beam and blocks. Underside is bare earh with ventilation bricks. House is draughty and cold, never gets above 16deg in winter. We have mains gas ch with reasonably sized radiators for space. One thought was to dig off the screed and fit 60mm cps and clip ufh pipes to it and use 40 liquid screed. Floor to ceiling is currently only 2200mm so cannot afford to lose much. Second thought was to treat entire crawl space as part of the house, fit Val over bare earth, fit XPS onto walls down to footings and connect Mvhr to this space and hopefully gradually heat the beam and block up. Place low build up ufh onto top of screed. Also possibly fit EWI to external wall of crawl space, digging to footings and backfilling. Is this a viable alternative to digging the screed up? Or will there be too much heat loss at the edges? was thinking could knock off internal plaster and edge of screed and fit perimeter insulation around edge of screed where it meets external walls. or has anyone managed to retro insulate a beam and block floor? my trial dig with a lump hammer and bolster to see how the screed came up resulted in two blocks cracked right through, so concerned at how many I would damage attempting to remove the screed. plus it is time consuming. hoping others may have overcome this problem thanks Tiny

Hi Nick Thanks for your reply, I am currently staying in a mates house in France for a few days, it has a UVC of 200lt heated electrically. It appears to handle two showers running and does six people showering every evening. I appreciate it has all night to warm up again before being required again. If I fit a large TS could I run the radiators and DHW from it? I would like to ensure that the boiler ret temp is such that it condenses. How do I ensure the return temp is correct? The total whole house heat loss is 11.3kw I was looking at Emmetti manifolds with electrothermic heads, could I use Heatmiser thermostats and wiring centre with it? what do you think Trying to build an efficient, responsive system as simple as possible Sunamp looks expensive and we have no solar panels at the moment, and not much sun!

Hi Alex Thanks for your reply, the Jaga radiators are lightweight, low water, but more importantly for us, heat really quickly. The Sunamp looks an expensive way of solving the issue. There must be plenty of houses with two or more showers. Am I on the right track with the heating controls and set up do you think

Hi I am working my through planning a refurb and extension and have arrived at the heating system and DHW. Plans viewable at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d08qpdimnntxh7g/AABxGcrJOqAJJbgrLYXuB4Ega?dl=0 Currently only two of us and one bathroom and we have managed with a gas condesning combi boiler, we have a thermostatic shower and it has good pressure. However once the extension is completed we will have three showers plus a bath. So what is the best solution that will allow at least two showers to run and a hot tap or washing machine/dishwaher simultainiously? Plan is to replace all the radiators with Jaga Strada low H20 of various sizes. Is a TS or a UVC the best solution? should I pipe it in Hep20 and radially with a manifold? I would like to have four or possibly five zones, is a digital thermostat in each zone and zone valves the way to go or should I just fit TRV to each rad ideally would like a degree of remote control as house will become a holiday rental for part of the year and figured I could use the Heatmiser thermostats and wiring centre any suggestions gratefully received as I am drowning in a sea of choices, plumbing being just one! I set off thinking houses where simple thanks in advance

Hi Folks trying to make sense of window quotes, as they range from 62k down to 19k, for Ali clad timber, triple glazed target u value below 1. In an attempt to check the market, I came across Synseal Warmcell a UPVC Ali clad with 44mm triple glazing. Has anyone any experience of this product? Also when fitting large sliding doors, what takes the weight if trying to sit within the insulated area, which is the cavity effectively. I am using concrete blocks with 150mm cavity fully filled with Dritherm 37. Thanks in advance

Thanks for the warm welcome folks, yes, thought long and hard over demolition, what with the vat saving and a clean sheet to work from. Just could not bring myself to knock down what is a workable house. Probably regret that decision. But hey ho will win through in the end I hope

Hi Folks I am currently trying to plan a renovation and extension on our home. Managed to get the plans approved late Dec. So hoping to start work in May. I am hoping to improve the insulation and airtightness of the whole building as this is for the next 20 years hopefully. House was built in 1982 and is built into a slope. It has beam and block floors with no insulation, and a void underneath of between 600 and 1400mm straight to earth, no oversight. Walls are dense block with slumped cavity insulation, roof is slate covered with 25mm of polystyrene as insulation. The living room is double height up to the underside of the pitched roof. It is draughty, mainly through the floors. We have a gas condensing boiler so was planning on keeping this. So I have many challenges, as hoping to do as much of the work as possible. Current layout gives us about 1.5 floors, as the bedroom is in the apex of the roof as is not really full height. So I am raising the roof level to create normal ceiling height, which will give an extra bedroom. Downstairs will be one open plan room for living, dining and kitchen, with a separate utility room and bathroom. my first challenge is deciding the best method of insulating and making the beam and block floor airtight, anybody done this successfully from underneath. looking forward to getting stuck in, but really conscious of the value in good planning before starting thanks Tiny