Ajn

MH-z19 for co2 and BMx280

You don't ... or my wife doesn't. But I do, it is fun to play, learn new stuff. Need something to do when the football results or strickly come ice skating is on.

Sorry not been on for a while. Elswhere in the build we used a couple of special tile trays (they look good but) from Topps tiles. These were new stock to them and while ok they did also provide a waterproof paint substance that is intended to be used under these shower tiles when installing on a wooden floor. So while the timber frame was glued to the concrete we put libral coats of this on the timber frame. We also used tile board on the frame.

I designd ours around the smaller version of the Domus HRX. The spec said it would do 150sqm. Always found this a strange number as it should be about volume. That said it works well as our L shape annex is 98sqm. The unit is in the utility area as we don't have a loft. Main pipe work is 125mm dia galve spiral steel for the main runs and 100mm onto the room inlet/extract. All the extract pipe has rubber sealed joints. All joints both inlet and extract are also sealed with rubber tape then ducked tape. Main lounge/kitchen has two ins and outs. two bedrooms and long hall have one in and out. All these provid flow across the room. The on-suite and toilet off the hall only have extract terminals with a 10mm gap under the doors. The unit runs at 75% for boost, about 30% for CO2 purge and about 15% for normal operation. I set the flows from the terminals to give the building regulation requirements. this was at 30%. There is a C02 monitor in the system so I rfuced the fan to 15% and with 2 or even four people the CO2 is stable around 400. I think the purge comes in around 600 which has not happened yet. The kitchen, toilet (shower) and on-suite (shower) each have a umidity and temp sensor. Rh seems to be maintained around 45%. Towels in the bathroom dry quite nicely without any heat. Efficiencies vary from about 93 to 98% dependent on outside temps. 8 and above outside it is around 95-98%. Below 3 outside it drops off quite a lot as would be expected. Now the downside: I can only descibe the so call "Bluebrain" controller as shite. The clock is not maintained after a power cut of any sort. If you miss a short one in the night it can be days before you spot it. Next is the filter timer, that is it, it is just a timer nothing more, no cheking of reduction in air flow. The filters do need to be cleaned every couple of months. A simple task if you can get to the unit. The 100% bypass stated is not in reality in terms of temperature 100% bypass. While thay may say the heat exchanger is 100% pypassed but the unit as a whove it is not. Air still goes in and out of the unit and as for the most it consits of a big block of polystyrine. So on bypass the incomming air always gains a few degrees. Less is gained on boost. Getting around the "bluebrain" problem: Using my own sensors (based on D1 mini micro controller and ESPEasy) sending data to a Raspberry pi with MQTT and node-red I have added a D1 mini in the Domus controller as it fortunately has a number of inputs and outputs that can be switched/monitored. This added D1 also has a temperature sensor in each of the four pipes going to the Domus as well as the CO2 module. The bypass proccess takes much more account of the outside temp and time of year giving nice cooler night time flow unless the underfoor heating comes on and bypass is stopped. So while the original controller is still 100% in the backgroud to meet the "what if anything happens to me" requirement. My controller overlay allows much more control.... and a clock that is always correct. Finally you do need the set the terminals correctly after working out the flows for each room, the standard building regs can be used to do the calcs. Just work out what each room needs, (allowing flow under doors if needed) add them up and set the unit to provide that flow. Then a cheap airflow meter and some cardboard works fine. Once you have the terminals in the ballpark you may need to adjust the overall air flow and go around the terminals a couple of times. Then set to boost and see if your bathroom/tichen extracts are above the minimum. We have eleven terminals and it only took a couple of hours. Remember to record your data ech time so you know how it is looking and a final set with calculations that looks posh with a dated and scribbled signature that the building inspection can look at and put a tick in his box. Just my view...

We bought a D3000 Black & Decker 3 way ladder back in 1978 ish. Still got it and would not part with it.

One of our many conditions was for an archeaological survey. There had been some medieval finds within 300m of our site. We looked at vaious options but went with the county archeaological services. They also wanted a lot of photos of the building and barn we were converting. They specified the trenches they wanted and where. they modified them to only include parts we were digging. We had to provide the man and digger but he did other stuff at the same time (which they also looked at). One of them got excited about a pit with bones at the bottom under a clay layer. The bones were chicken and they decided the pit was a tree root ball that had been removed prior to the clay being brought in for the walled garden. Cost was about £1700.

Well yes and no. We had problems with the weather side wall. Heavy rain at an angle of 45deg didn't come in it just ran off until it hit the dpc then came in. Not a lot but if we didn't have to have the dpc then it would be no problem. Durisol will not hold water in any form and would work without a dpc. Key tips though. 1. don't let a builder anywhere near it. 2. a battery grinder is good for removing the odd nib as you lay them. 3. Use string that is not bent for your lines

So they are offering 28 panels of 1.7m x 1.1m @405kW each... on the flat roof of a building that is 14m x 4.5m 12 panels on a building that is not built yet Then there was stuff about a 10kW single phase inverter. and a 5kW battery oh and a 5kW inverter for the 12 panels. Would this be a G99 application then? oh no it would be limited to G98. Would you not use the 3 phase then? That would not change anything. Then he said we can give 30% discount. I did say I thought this was solar and not double glazing we were talking about.... Lets see what the next one brings.

We had the same problem even though the plant room attached to annex fed the rest of property that was 10m over a driveway. They said it could not be separate so we ended up knocking down a 200 year old heated garden wall to join the annex to the barn and then they were happy..... idiots. #

We fell foul of this one. The "professional" fees and insurances would have been six times the price of our first house we bought 1977. The build loan insurance was the worst. One wanted 12k, we paid 4k in the end.

Yes we do from the not so smart meter. I would have liked to see what each of the phases used but it is just one reading. They did the meter last September (on the second visit) so we have values for the winter period if nothing else. We know what the heat pump did from its log so we can extract that from the total. We do seem to be using a lot of electric £12 a day but it is five years since I paid a bill. our annual bills were around £500 for electic at the old house (4 bed detached late 70's) and £1200 for gas. I did have 3.5kw on the roof. The current place is 320sqm for the main bit and 90sqm ish for the annex but all electric. We do have a solar survey man comming on friday to identify our needs and give us a quote. I just hope he is a bit better than the man who phoned to book the appointment. He asked a few basic questions including heating type... "it is electric and uses a GSHP" his next question was why do you need solar if you are getting the electic from the ground...... So we will see what Friday brings... looking foward to it.

Ok.. while this thread seems more about "how they are going to tax your EV" than the "what would you do differently" of the original question. So we are looking at PV again. Had full FIT on the old house, just paid for it's self and a full year of it was paying for our electic and gas bills ... then we moved... dam.. So this new project is signed off and we are thinking about PV. We have currently one south facing elevation 14m x 2m that is at 36 degrees. Later we will have another 12.5m x 2.8m of elevation split 50/50 south and west that will be available. So around 4.5kw for the first bit and 4 ish for the later bit. We have 3 phase so G98 will do. We have a GSHP. Just need to work out the battery size to cover out use plus a bit of peak time export if we can. Need to work out what we are using and when but the not so smart meter just gives a total per day. I am thinking to size the battery, if we can use 100% of our needs from the battery and top it up with off peak and solar it will be a saving whatever. Then on my 160th birthday we will have 100% free electric.

That can happen any time.... for reasons you may not expect.... However we have one of the Dunster sheds/garden rooms we used as extra lounge space for the touring caravan during our five year restoration project. ( well for us and not the caravan) We had a couple of advantages at this site. a) The six to eight inches of top soil gives way to a compact sand/gravel subsoil. b) We also had access to various bits of earth moving kit that we had bought as part of our diy renovation project. So we removed all the top soil and replaced it with six inches of road planings/scalpings. We gave it a good go over with the wacker plate and using a home made water level got it to within a couple of mm. Overall this provides excellent drainage. It is a 5x6m shed. The bottom logs were specific and appear to have some sort of treatment which I suspect is skin deep. The build is easy for two or more people but two is a must. We added 50mm of insulation to the roof along with a thin layer of 6mm osb. Then the felt singles as provided in the kit. The door is a bit of messing to set up and the provided hinges are crap. We used 25mm insulation under the floor with T&G as provided over the top. Electrics by myself were done in conduit on the outside all at the one level then through the log/plank to the steel socket box on the inside. Flexi conduit was used on the corners and for the verticals to the 3 way consumer unit on the outside under the eve. Two mistakes were made nine double sockes was not enough and I had to change the vertical conduit from the light switch to a flexi one as the logs settled / shrunk nearly two inches in the first year. Now I would say there is an inch of movement over a year. The incomming feed is by way of a plug in connection similar to those used on caravan sites and boats etc. This means that the power can be removed without doing anythin in the main building and the shed becomes an extension lead. Obviously isolators and trips etc are rated to the supply cable. Part P is not needed for an extension lead. Having poked the bottom logs with a bradawl and sounded them with a 1lb hammer there is no singn of any problem with these logs yet. With a bit of care it should last 20yrs plus. If it does, that would be an all in cost of £342 per year for each of the twenty years. So with perhaps some improvement in the doors they are not bad value and can be put up in a couple of weekends.

Are you trying to watch the latest outdoor WI calendar shoot?

I asked ours if he wanted salted or dry roast..... I still have the limp.

We have a licence for our telehandler. It maybe a TV licence but it seems quite effective.

As one who five years ago didn't need a handrail. I now need wheels or sticks to get around. Don't dismiss a handrail because today you and yours do not need it! Make it a clean feature and you all win.

Very interesting section on your findings with the use of the particulate sensor, I think I have just found a new project to add to our MVHR system. Our MVHR (Domus HRXD) has been in just over a full year now, through two winters. I have a little issue with it's operation around temps below -1 and that the controller is a bag of poo The clock needs to be reset every time there is even a minor power failure. I have set the controller to a background mode so if my added on system or more likely me myself fails then the other half can use the original system and not my toys as she calls them. I am a fan of the d1 mini micro controller, node-red, mqtt and the Raspberry Pi. So my system is built around these. The bathrooms and kitchen have d1's with humidity, temp, PIR and light sensors. There is a d1 in the MVHR control box that has a temp sensor in each of the four MHRV pipes (as well as temp sensors on all underfloor heating returns. It also looks after the co2 sensor that is in the room extract pipe. This same d1 also switches the MVHR fan speeds and inhibit function. The control comes from a Pi3 running mqtt and node red. mqtt is the message hub for all the sensors while node-red provides all the control functions. For example, boosting the MVHR if the humidity exceeds a limit in any room, introduces a mild timed boost should a bathroom be used for a period but humidity remains the same, reminds us if the small bathroom light has been left on. Switches the MVHR to bypass mode dependent on the outside temperature, the internal temperature, time of year and time of day. The co2 monitor allows the MVHR to run at half the supposed level required. Should the co2 go over 400 it goes to a "normal" rate and boost if over 1000. Eight people in the building will push it to 400 and above. For something else to keep it busy it posts data to a database on another pi. Things like, what fan speed and how long to calculate running cost along with the various temps to calculate savings. Not to mention it's use in control and monitor of the shed heating and ventilation.... all OTT but a good bit of fun... now, must order one of those particulate monitors. Can't wait to tell the wife exactly how many particulates are getting up her nose and are causing her sneezing... I can see lots of brownie points for that one... not.

Realy don't understand the point of that statement as it's an avarage anyway. What point are you trying to make?

walls just 38mm timber, roof has 100mm, floor has the same. This is just a temporary location for my activities so no plans for any structure improvements untill the whole building is moved in a couple of years.

An observation for those that need to heat a work/office shed during the self build process. We have a timber garden buiding, 5mx6m, that we used as a lounge room duing our restoration while living in the caravan. This had a 6kw log(s) burner which worked very well over a couple of winters provided it was lit early, had more than one log on it, didn't let it go out and had plenty of logs ready. Last winter this fire was moved into the main building inplace of the intended log burner that was now out of scope for the budget. I was intending to use part of the garden room as my hobby shed. With a budget of around 200 quid, we had a choice of either finding another log burner, using an electic fan heater, staying in bed or finding something else. The something else is a 8kw Chinese diesel cab heater. I put the heater on the inside with the burner air intake and the exhaust through a couple of proctected and sealed holes to the outside. The 10 ltr fuel tank and pump also on the outside. These heaters are 12v (24v available), I used a 240v to 12v 20A supply set at 13.8V foating a used mobility scooter battery. These heaters require a shutdown process, the battery provideds that should we lose power. It will also run the heater for a few hours. Key thing for here though and the reason for this post is the cost of running it. It says 8kw on the box but it is not. It is six at the most. From 5 degrees C it will get the temp to 19 in about an hour. I have run it on heating oil (kerosene) for just over 100 hours and it has used 0.505 ltrs per hour avarage over that period. The oil cost £1 per ltr. So 50p for 6kw per hour does not seem bad given 34p kw of electric would have been £2.04. All in cost has been less that £160. The power unit, a fuel cutoff and second filter included in this cost. Much better than a LPG heater as it does not fill the air with water.

The first time is a practice .... never a mistsake.

Did you order the windows from a schedule supplied for the purpose by the architect? If you did you may have a good case for a claim. If you took the details from the plans then you maybe on your own. The reason I say this is because our architect had a number of services from basic dimensioned drawings for planning to builders/BC drawings and then schedules for windows etc etc. The price for each element went up quite a lot in relation to the level of ownership. Ours was a restoration with extension so needless to say we went with the basic drawings. Many things were uncovered during the build process that would have been wrong on a drawing with information known at the time.

A wet thumb in the air can be better than some of the so called companies with experts.

All the options may do but may not be complient. The DNO may have someting to say about extended earths depending on what they have supplied you with. I would talk to whoever is doing your part P testing unless you are going to remove it by that time. Don't forget if you have trades on site using your electric it has to be complient. However if you plug it in then it is just an extension lead.