Jump to content

Down the big long lane...


dpmiller

Recommended Posts

It's a cold-roof build. All the radial pipes will be within the ceiling insulation (200mm between joists, 200mm over, with the ducts in-between) and there's a foiled fibreglass wrap to cover the galvy ducts with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting thanks. So pipes/ducts covered in insulation then lagged where they come up to meet the unit. Do you have to insulate the unit in any way? What about the ducts which bring in fresh air and expel air?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

NIE arrived today to connect the official crocodile clips. Only slight issue was the lads had been supplied a cut length of concentric and it was a touch tight for our trench route. We considered playing tug-o-war with the cable but instead chose to fire up the digger and cut a corner off the trench. With both ends terminated off it was a case of "plenty o'blinding and don't forget the tape"; they offered to stay and help but I could tell manual labour wasn't high on their list of priorities on a sunny day...

DSC_0767.thumb.JPG.44abca23c5905045c6743e44afa07b8d.JPG

 

Swapped buckets to backfill, to find the quality inspector hitching a ride.

DSC_0770.JPG.6cc10e62f4612e4082e7b18200b24853.JPG

 

 

So that's that for now. Meter should be installed in the next couple of days now, we're awaiting some of the scaffold being removed, and the roof is so close to finished I can smell it (but maybe that was just the slurry off the next field...).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slowly being revealed

DSC_0778.thumb.JPG.08aa264df7ce4345d112981e44a613e5.JPG

 

and no, the electric isn't on. Blokey arrived to fit meter and made reference to a new edict from management that permanent supply is only allowable after second fix is complete for the whole house, and can I fit a commando socket in the meter box instead?

Grr.

And the reason?  Apparently it's to negate the possibility of someone working inside a live CU. Not much of a spark then, I said...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

and no, the electric isn't on. Blokey arrived to fit meter and made reference to a new edict from management that permanent supply is only allowable after second fix is complete for the whole house, and can I fit a commando socket in the meter box instead?

Grr.

And the reason?  Apparently it's to negate the possibility of someone working inside a live CU. Not much of a spark then, I said...

That is totally bonkers.  I could not work like that.  I would be fitting the commando just to get past the stupid system and then connecting the CU once he had gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The number of supposedly trained electricians who seem to baulk at working on a CU that has live connections (as they almost all do with the cover off) seems to be growing, if some of the forums are anything to go by.  It seems the (mainly good) emphasis on checking that stuff is dead before working on it is now being taken to mean that even the tails into the CU should be dead if working with the CU cover off.  Either it's a sign of the ever more safety-Nazi times we live in, or it's a sign of a poor standard of education and training. 

 

I'd love to see the expressions on the face of some of them if they'd been around when my brother and I were rewiring a house years ago.  He's an odd individual with very dry (and I suspect thick) skin, so he barely feels mains.  When we were functional testing the lights, his party trick was to poke a finger in the lamp holders whilst I flicked the switches.  He could just about feel mains voltage, no jolt or other reaction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If NIE did what SSE do (or did) and fit electrcity meters with a built in output isolating switch, there would not be a problem.  SSE just connect the meter and leave the electrician to connect the output to the consumer unit.  On the rare occasions they fit a meter without an isolator, then they fot a separate 2 pole isolator in a REC2 enclosure.

 

Oh and one of the rather important things missing from the smart meter spec is an output isolator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've lost the meter isolator having switched to an E7 meter, as that doesn't have one either.  It's a great shame, as that screwdriver operated isolator seemed to be a very useful thing to have.  Although I have an isolator on the tails that feed the SWA run into the house, I didn't think to fit one in the supply to the small CU that runs the outside stuff;it just didn't occur to me that the E7 meter wouldn't have one.  Now I'm tidying up the installation and getting rid of the old temporary site supply box, with its commando socket, I'm going to have to pull the fuse to fit new tails to the Henley.  Luckily the SSE meter guy was helpful, and left me a few spare seals and wires.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daft thing is that because of the length of the "tails", isolation and protection at the meter box is mandatory. 

Yup a 16A socket is now fitted, although I did cram a small RCD garage CU in there as well for a degree of protection as I couldn't stomach zero overload and 100mA type S only...

 

Suffice it that the submain could end up with a commando plug on. But only until they revisit to do the permanent connection (at which time they'll apparently want to re-do the earth test, do polarities etc. Apparently.)

 

But at least the earth tested out well.  I'd originally got 68ohms on my 50v tester , and on a subsequent retest 51. NIE's full-loop live test from the Head vs neutral came out at 97ohms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 29/05/2019 at 21:06, dpmiller said:

new edict from management that permanent supply is only allowable after second fix is complete for the whole house, and can I fit a commando socket in the meter box instead?

I got caught with the same. Earthing was then a bollocks, 3 spikes later to get a good enough reading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, vfrdave said:

I got caught with the same. Earthing was then a bollocks, 3 spikes later to get a good enough reading.

 

Earth tape is always an option for peeps digging trenches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lekky on.

Just after meter guy left left (colour me unimpressed, their fancy polarity sensing device was a Martindale plug), the commando socket fell off in my hand. I didn't want to risk that happening again so replaced it with the split con submain. Just in case, y'know. [grins]

 

And I ran up the MVHR.I tried to a couple of weeks back after finishing the ductwork, but sadly Vent Axia control boards don't play well with inverters and lose their magic smoke in a tantrum; so one PCB later...  Yup, it works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

First-fixing away merrily. As part of that I've got the PV on-line and today is the first full day of generation. The morning was pretty overcast but it looks like 0.8 kWh from 10-11, 2kWh from 1-2, and about 1.5kWh from 4-5. I'll see what it's reading in the morning but it managed 2 overnight last night (6pm to 10am) so that looks like it'll be 13 or so for the day.

 

Any of the PV gods have an opinion on that performance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

First-fixing away merrily. As part of that I've got the PV on-line and today is the first full day of generation. The morning was pretty overcast but it looks like 0.8 kWh from 10-11, 2kWh from 1-2, and about 1.5kWh from 4-5. I'll see what it's reading in the morning but it managed 2 overnight last night (6pm to 10am) so that looks like it'll be 13 or so for the day.

 

Any of the PV gods have an opinion on that performance?

I have 18.7kwh  today so far and it's still sitting at 450w now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Airtightness just about complete. I'm going to schedule a test for sooner rather than later a that way I can be content before the PB goes on. But in the interim, playing with the settings on the MVHR (one fan at 100%, the other at minimum, no ducts sealed off in any way) I can pull the house from + to - 15Pa. According to the fan charts in the manual that looks like better than 1ACH even with the ducts open?

 

Screed booked to be poured upstairs next Thursday. Much to do before then...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...