Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'electric'.
Found 16 results
-
Back in Feb/March this year we completed our small (71sqm internal) single storey holiday home in Wales and I've been checking the meter regularly to record our electricity usage since then. It's been pretty steady at about 29kW per week. We are only using the building at weekends and it seems to make very little difference to the overall power we use. I reckon our background electric load must be about 150 Watts per hour (IE the load when we are not there). I was wondering if any of you have data on the background electric loads of your houses that you could share? Does 150 watts seem high to you? I was surprised when I did a list of the various bits of kit that get left on all the time: Burglar Alarm Sewage Treatment Plant air blower (on 50% on a timer) Edit - this uses 2.7kW per week Combi Boiler WiFi + Hive thermostat controller (don't need this on now we're in the summer) Nest smoke and CO alarm Clocks on oven Fridge Various bits of kit on standby such as Dyson rechargeable vacuum, dishwasher, washing machine
-
Following the Govs decision to give more time to introduce net zero. I kind of had it in my head we were to be stuck with ASHP with underfloor heating, although the installation would be hideously expensive and the usage not very much more cost effective than other heating types. It seems now we may not be stuck with one option given the extension and a longer time scale to make the changes. We are quickly sliding into our pension years and im now confused as to which system (no gas available) we should employ. Is there anywhere truthful where you can compare how economic all systems are. Ive googled and thats hopeless, one says ASHP another said Electric and ive even read that oil is!!! If I ask a plumber, of course they say the systems they supply are the best. Has anyone found any honesty? -
Ive had a good read of some of the issues of delays and high costs involved in moving poles, or cables. Has anyone had any positive outcomes with little delay and at reasonable expense. This Rooky self builder is having second thoughts about a perfectly placed plot which because of its perfection wasnt cheap. Now I know because of possible soil issues caused by historical trees that we maybe in for some robust foundations which will sting, but to now find the woman who lived in the rikkety house had signed a deal with the devil for a few quid to have a pole in the garden and comes with an easement. I can live with the pole, its the line feeding just one neighbour (who has a pole of her own at the front of her property btw) that runs diagonally across the front garden. NPower regs needs to be 5 M away from buildings, construction. Its crushed the idea of what we would really want as the budget is tight and reading the nightmares of costs and timescales is worrying. If anyone has had good experiences, please share your tricks of the trade for speed and savings. TIA
-
Hi, I have got a date for our electric connection from Western Power Distribution (WPD) to be completed, and need to arrange for an electric meter from an electricity supplier. Hoorah. This is to a build site with no registered address either with the council or the post office. First question is, does this need to be installed before the electric supply? Looking at pictures of meter boxes in other threads it would seem it is. Next question, based on the couple of phone calls I've made, I need an MPAN number which can't exist without a registered address (or so I am being told), so I appear to be in a catch 22 situation. Should Western Power be able to provide me with an MPAN number? Last questions - How quick should the electricity supplier (not WPD) be able to install the meter? Who's best? Cheers Stuart -
Hi I need to provide power to 3 external buildings - a small flat and 2 barns - without the need for 3 separate SWA cables. In the main house, I already have a 100A 2 pole isolator switch between the meter and a Henley block. From the Henley block tails supply the power to the CU for the main house. I plan to have a 16mm2 SWA also from the same Henley block to feed power to the flat. In the flat, the SWA will enter a Henley block. From this Henley block, I will then have a feed to the CU of the flat and the other feed to the first barn. Same in the first barn where it has a Henly block and again 2 exits from it to the CU in the barn and the other providing a feed to the second barn. In the 2nd barn, the SWA simply goes directly to its CU. So, there is a "continuous" 16mm2 SWA cable that provides power to all 3 buildings with a feed into each CU per building from a Henley block (I have estimated the expected total load to be lower than 75A, which is the operating limit for 16mm2 underground). I would like to know if this sounds acceptable? I may even add an additional 2 pole isolator switch in each building to isolate each without affecting any other building downstream. The other query I have is earthing. The main house is a TN-C-S system. The flat is brick and the barns are wood (all on concrete bases). There is a water supply to the buildings and therefore 10mm2 bonding will be used. I assume it is fine to use an "exported PME" - to use the earth provided by the supplier (the earth in the house), rather than using a TT earth local to the buildings. Sorry if not clear, I can provide a drawing if required. Thanks Dave
-
We have wet UFH (in the bathrooms) in a Passive house and wonder whether I need electric UFH in the two downstairs bathrooms? Reason being we will probably do the chunk of the wet UFH in the night if we go down the Willis heater route so there will be no form of drying the floor when we shower although I have no experience of how the slab will work when we eventually get in!! The showers are wet room type and measure 1.9m x 0.9m with a glass screen measuring 1.3m wide and 2.0m high but I fear we will have water getting outside the wet zone and do I need to be thinking of drying it by some other means? We obviously have MVHR so not so sure how effective this will be at drying out the rooms but do people think it is worth putting an electric mat in place? TIA
-
In the parents new wet room (the foundations are being done tomorrow), we shall have a concrete floor over insulation. As its for elderly folks who feel the cold, I need to make sure the room is warm enough for them. We only have electric in the bungalow and no central heating (its a warm air system). So my plan is electric mat UFH, tiling over it, and an electric heated towel rail on a timer to come on in the morning about an hour before they have a shower. I am looking at the following for the UFH. https://www.theunderfloorheatingstore.com/electric-underfloor-heating/underfloor-heating-loose-cables/warmup-loose-wire-underfloor-heating-kit the room is 2.7m by 1.8m with units along one wall so am looking at a system to cover about 3.5m2. But Dad is worried about the cost of running it. What can I tell him? Presumably it only heats when it needs to come up to temperature so it will not be on all the time. Any advice welcome!
-
Following on from a number of threads discussing electric UFH Can anyone recommend a particular make for 1.5m2 of under-tile electric UFH. The easy-to-get ones would be the Klima kits from Screwfix but I know nothing about them. Any other suggestions ? http://www.screwfix.com/p/klima-underfloor-heating-mat-kit-2m/54047
-
Well with the trench blocks in its time to sort out my services and stuff for drainage and waste i basically COPIED the paths from an identical house but as I am doing the pipework and paths myself (as much as i can anyway) I wouldn't mind a bit of the usual good advice from the sages on here ! In your guys (or girls) honest opinion 1. does the waste and rainwater make sense ? ....do you think i need to add anymore feeds for RW at the top left? 2. The services (sadly) enter the house on the wrong side (see blue arrow) ...I have to get virtually EVERYTHING to the Blue cross as this trench carries it all 30m to the road Sewage, Water, Electric, Gas and Telecoms (too possibly) How would you lot do it ? ..as in what way? I have some pics below that could help you visualise it a) planned water paths b) roofscape ( the bit on the right is a single storey sunroom c) example of identical house built a few years ago any advice is appreciated
-
Got our first electricity bill the other day for which I'd had to submit the reading because the supplier we are with (Good energy) don't "do" smart meters yet. The bill seemed rather high - we knew it would be because of the current situation we are in with the window company letting us down so we are having to run fan heaters 24/7 , but it seemed even higher. So I added up the monthly totals the meter records and compared this figure to the overall consumption figure it gives - and they don't match. The month-by-month consumption comes out a lot lower than the supposed total. When I queried this our supplier says that this is why they are not yet using smart meters electronically for readings as they think there are a lot of teething issues still to be resolved & they are waiting to see which models work best (but since they themselves don't actually install meters I'm not sure how correct this is), hence why I had to physically read it and call the reading in. Anyway, naturally they want the highest figure to be right and I the lowest, but given that if the meter cannot do simple addition then indeed *both* could be wrong, Ive queried it with them and they insisted they won't check it unless I produce photographic evidence (because naturallly I'd lie over a few quids worth of electricity! Which slightly peeves me tbh ). So instead I videoed it. Currently they are "deciding if it needs to be checked or not". Has anyone else had such basic issues with a smart meter as it being unable to add up properly?
- 16 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- smart meter
- electric
- (and 1 more)
-
Looking to cast a slab this weekend for a permanent electric kiosk to sit on. How does the hockey stick work if the kiosk is surface mounted? What size kiosk do you reckon? Does this look reasonable? https://www.meterboxesdirect.co.uk/electric-ip-43-rated-kiosk-750-500-300-mm.html Completely new to this sort of thing - anything else we need to think of when doing this? Thanks
-
I am having a 'discussion' with our BR supplier about what sign offs are included, what I can certify myself to their satisfaction and what I have to seek elsewhere. I guess its about having all the paperwork completed before sign off. I have my list but I am not sure it is complete so thought I would put it out there by way of checking: Windows install - so do not need installation by FENSA certified team. Electrical install - so I do not need electrical sign off by electrician (as it happens I will get this done by my brother-in-law) but for completeness it is included here. Gas install - don't think this is ever in the BR peoples scope as needs gas safe qualification. Oil fueled install - I don't have one but it is here for completeness. Solid fuel install - I don't have one but it is here for completeness. Pressure vessel (UVC etc) install - so I don't need a plumber to sign it off. Water install from meter. - not sure there are any regs here but just in case. Sewerage connection - so I don't need involve the water company, other than inform them. Waste water and general plumbing, flows & trap sucking ect - always assumed this was part of the sign off by BR anyway but could be wrong! Ventilation system balance - so I can do it myself. Ventilation system compliance - always assumed this was part of the sign off by BR anyway but could be wrong! Air tightness - So, assuming I can trace the pressure and airflow sensors to national standard, I don't need a third party to do this. Sound insulation - not sure even how to test this but can't be rocket science, can it? So I don't need a specialist again. CO2 Energy Performance certificate - I wanted to do these but as I needed the pre-build one quickly I have already paid for this and the final one. Water use certificate - I wanted to do these but as I needed the pre-build one quickly I have already paid for this and the final one. What have I missed - probably something glaring!
- 4 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- builing regs
- electric
- (and 2 more)
-
Just wondering what the normal protocol is for who cuts the holes in the plasterboard? We have fixed all the back boxes in and wired, plasters want to board and skim over everything, then electricians find and cut the holes, obviously the electricians vice versa... What is the norm?
-
My recently completed self build in Wales is used as a holiday home mainly at weekends. The building is only small (net 71sq.m) and with the intermittent use my electric usage is very low so the £100 annual standing charge is inevitably a very large percentage of my overall bill. I've therefore been looking around for a supply option which doesn't have the standing charge element. I thought this may be of interest to those of you who, like me, have low electric demand. This weekend I've switched to Scottish Power's "PowerUp" tariff. The idea is that you pre-pay for your power up to a year in advance. The further ahead you pre-pay the lower the kWh unit price. If you buy a 6 month package the unit price is only about 0.5p/kWh more than the standard variable rate but the big advantage is there's no standing charge. I should therefore save about £90 a year. Ian
- 3 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- electric
- standing charge
- (and 2 more)
-
In the process of specifying our house lighting switches. We'd like to use as many occupancy sensors as possible (back door, loos, boot room, store room and maybe stair well). We'd also like to use those light switches that are switched by (say) a hand being placed near the switch - ie. no moving part in the switch. I have heard rumours about tiny LED lights which have PIR in built: strikes me as a perfect system for those of us who need a Precision Approach Pathway Indicator System (PAPI ) for the loo at night. When it comes to specifying in this area, I don't know what the Hell I'm on about.... you get the picture. Is there a Ladybird book for electric switch specifying? Or an online resource for neophytes like us? I want to avoid the scenario in which the electrician ends up doing our specifying for us. We're both prepared to put in the leg work. Thanks in advance. Ian
-
Excerpt from a previous thread. A member asked..... Following on from discussions regarding the desirability and availabilty of low output room sealed wood burners I have been looking at the alternatives. I need something that will satisfy our desire to have a "real fire" while at the same time having a controllable output of around about 2kW. Has anyone looked at using bioethanol burners as a compromise solution in this situation ? Do I need to make any special allowances for flue-less fires in the house or should a standard MVHR system be able to cope ? Are there any building regs to consider ?
- 5 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- bio ethanol
- gas
- (and 6 more)
