Professionals around Cambridge area

[JayC]

Hi,

 

Can anyone recommend a professional close to the Cambridge are? 
I'm specifically looking for someone who can inspect a 'green' new build and report on its design and any failings/strengths.

 

Some background: My son has recently moved into a new build c/w ASHP, solar PV and MVHR. 
The house is constructed using, what looks like, a type of SIP panel with an additional 50mm of graphite EPS; to take render. Marketing material claimed 50% more air tightness than a traditional build, but his permeability test shows 5.41m3h @50Pa. (Technically better than BS but not really in the spirit of the development) EPC is A (for what its worth)

 

1st issue: His electricity bills, for hot water, seem quite high @£200 per month (2 people) He has been advised to leave the HWS flow temp at 44degc
2nd issue: The house is hot on the West side and rarely drops below 24degc and were not even close to the hottest part of the year -I feel it should have had some shading?
3rd issue: The controls are a mess - Its all based on Samsung Smart Things but none of the devices seem to communicate. He has no idea what, and when, his solar PV is generating the room thermostats are basic with no comms back to the hub, and they have installed some standalone sensors to track temp/humidity etc.

 

Many thanks,

 

[SteamyTea]

23 minutes ago, JayC said:

new build c/w ASHP,

 

24 minutes ago, JayC said:

His electricity bills, for hot water, seem quite high @£200 per month (2 people)

Is his water heated by the ASPH??

 

My DHW bills is around 3 kWh/day for just me.

That costs me 45p/day on E7, but if I had a heat pump, on a standard rate electricity, about 35p.

[JayC]

Hi,

 

Yes, ASHP is for hot water and heating (UFH on the ground and rads on 1st flr)

Looking through his O&M pack, I get the impression there were several contractors no coordination.

 

The site is still being developed and responses to my sons' issues have been slow... I don't want him to threaten legal action but I'd like him to be armed in case he has no choice.

 

[SteamyTea]

First things first.

Get him to take meter readings and update his account, if he is on direct debit, the £200/month may be just bad estimating.

Then get him to read the meter every morning for a week. to see what is actually happening.

It is quite possibly the legionella/disinfecting heater coming on and just gobbling up juice.  Make sure that any immersion heater to the cylinder is off.

[Temp]

Clean the MVHR filters?  I have seen clogged filters cause an MVHR to blow a 1A fuse implying it was drawing perhaps 250W. That would be about 0.25kW x 24 x 30 = 180kWH a month costing 180 * 0.34p = £60 a month.

[SteamyTea]

4 hours ago, JayC said:

The site is still being developed

 

4 minutes ago, Temp said:

Clean the MVHR filters

 

Good spot, building sites are dusty 

[JonBATConsult]

Sounds like something is off. Lets talk more

On 11/05/2023 at 14:20, JayC said:

Hi,

 

Can anyone recommend a professional close to the Cambridge are? 
I'm specifically looking for someone who can inspect a 'green' new build and report on its design and any failings/strengths.

 

Some background: My son has recently moved into a new build c/w ASHP, solar PV and MVHR. 
The house is constructed using, what looks like, a type of SIP panel with an additional 50mm of graphite EPS; to take render. Marketing material claimed 50% more air tightness than a traditional build, but his permeability test shows 5.41m3h @50Pa. (Technically better than BS but not really in the spirit of the development) EPC is A (for what its worth)

 

1st issue: His electricity bills, for hot water, seem quite high @£200 per month (2 people) He has been advised to leave the HWS flow temp at 44degc
2nd issue: The house is hot on the West side and rarely drops below 24degc and were not even close to the hottest part of the year -I feel it should have had some shading?
3rd issue: The controls are a mess - Its all based on Samsung Smart Things but none of the devices seem to communicate. He has no idea what, and when, his solar PV is generating the room thermostats are basic with no comms back to the hub, and they have installed some standalone sensors to track temp/humidity etc.

 

Many thanks,

 

 

[Kelvin]

Yes something is wrong. £200/month just for hot water is more than our entire electricity bill. If it has an immersion heater as a backup to heating the DHW make sure it’s not permanently on. Using Samsung SmartThings to control the automation is a bit cheap. It’s ok as a retrofit product. I have some familiarity with it so can maybe help with that. 
 

Given it’s new and they are still there puts him in a powerful position. Compile a detailed list of ALL the issues not just what you’ve listed here. Refer to them as a defects list not a snagging list. Pay particular attention to what the sales particulars and sales pack say and the as designed performance against what he’s bought.

 

Also look here: 

 

https://www.nhos.org.uk/about-nhos/

 

For example, the last house we bought was a new barn conversion with a 1.5 acre paddock. The sales particulars described this as a beautiful grazing paddock for horses and went into some detail about it. The sales pack we had as part of the selling contract also had this detail. I pointed this out to them during the conveyancing process and they were pretty vague about it but verbally said it would be tidied up. We concluded the sale and the paddock was left looking like a builders yard. They’d used it for their welfare huts, storage, machine parking, and dumping area (they’d chipped an entire tree in the field then spread the chippings over several square metres to 10cm deep) After a bit of a battle with them they eventually agreed to remove the rubbish, plough the field, bring in some top soil for the worse areas, machine harrow it, and seed it. Our defects list for this house ran to 158 items and every one of them got fixed eventually including replacing a front door and a set of patio doors. We were the first buyers of what was 8 barn conversions. Most serious prospective new buyer for the others came to see us and we made it clear to the builder they did this. I also identified the most amenable builders that were on-site and was able to talk them into fixing defects directly rather than going through the building company. About 60% of the defects got resolved this way. I got on well with the site manager too and he was really helpful. It would be worth identifying who these people given they are still on the development and see amenable they are.