Ferdinand Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Most of us calculate Design EPC numbers using the free FSAP software from Stroma. This is a thread for help and questions, since I may be about to ask a few. Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Do you not only get 30 days free so better hurry up and get those questions asked. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ActivePassive Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 If you are posting questions about FSAP 2012, its helpful to also post your FSAP 2012 project file *.sts2012 (renamed as a uploadable file type if you are attaching it e.g. pdf). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 29, 2017 Author Share Posted September 29, 2017 4 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said: Do you not only get 30 days free so better hurry up and get those questions asked. I guess that would be a good first question . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ActivePassive Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 I think its a permanent free license. I have had my FSAP 2009 and then FSAP 2012 free license for at least 5 years; not come across any 30 day limitation. The only drawback of the free version is that reports end up with 'Draft' watermarked across them - and you can't use the free version for filing EPCs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 14 minutes ago, ActivePassive said: The only drawback of the free version is that reports end up with 'Draft' watermarked across them - True, but it's on a separate layer and, from memory, can easily be removed using Acrobat or another PDF editor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 17 minutes ago, jack said: True, but it's on a separate layer and, from memory, can easily be removed using Acrobat or another PDF editor. Yes, I can confirm that the "draft" is just a graphic on a separate layer. Any decent pdf editor will be able to remove it. If you have a problem finding one, you can use PDF Pro online to edit it: https://www.pdfpro.co/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ActivePassive Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 I wasn't going to mention that the watermarking is easy to remove given Stroma might read this and change their restrictions.....now the cat is out of the bag......! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 The cat's been out of the bag for years, as I remember finding out how easy it was to remove back in 2013, and it being discussed on the old Ebuild forum. I may even have mentioned it in my blog, and suspect I've posted a copy of my de-watermarked design EPC either here or on Ebuild in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Yes, you've definitely discussed it elsewhere @JSHarris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 7, 2017 Author Share Posted October 7, 2017 Also in LibreOffice, which can edit PDFs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissoejosh Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Can this software be used for the projected EPC/SAP submitted as part of building regs? I understand that the as built one required for completion needs to be lodged through an approved assessor but I'm unsure on the initial one. I've re-drawn and submitted the majority of my reg documents as part of a redesign but I need to modify our original SAP - If I can do this myself I'm happy to try and learn the software this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogman Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 @bissoejosh yes you can. As JSH states above there is a graphic across the page that can be removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) I'd actively encourage everyone to do the design SAP themselves, if they can. The main reason is that spending a bit of time learning how SAP works gives you a bit better understanding of the things that impact the EPC. The EPC score is far from being the Holy Grail, though, as you can have an appallingly energy inefficient house with an apparently very good EPC score. SAP is really optimised for conventional new build houses that "just" meet building regs and that don't have a lot of renewable energy generation. The latter is a significant flaw, as any house that has been trimmed back, in terms of overall energy efficiency, can be made to meet the building regs requirement by just sticking a few solar panels on the roof - not exactly what was intended when the legislation was framed, the idea was to encourage builders to build more energy efficient homes. Finally, I would take any heating requirement figure that you get from SAP with a pinch of salt, if you're building to significantly better than building regs standard. Our as-built SAP worksheet shows a heating requirement that is just over double our actual heating requirement, for example. If I'd been daft enough to use the SAP heating requirement to size our heating system it would have more than double the capacity, and would consequently have cost a fair bit more. Edited October 22, 2017 by JSHarris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissoejosh Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 Apologies if I'm being daft but how do you actually access the download? All I can find are options to join the Stroma DOCEA scheme... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted October 29, 2017 Share Posted October 29, 2017 1 hour ago, bissoejosh said: Apologies if I'm being daft but how do you actually access the download? All I can find are options to join the Stroma DOCEA scheme... https://www.stromamembers.co.uk/downloads/fsap2012/publish.htm Should work OK, I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissoejosh Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 On 10/29/2017 at 12:14, JSHarris said: https://www.stromamembers.co.uk/downloads/fsap2012/publish.htm Should work OK, I think certainly did - many thanks. I needed to dig out an old windows PC but I've almost completed the basic calculation. I'm going to try your heat loss calc tonight and see how things compare... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bissoejosh Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Just to say this worked a treat, not too tricky to learn & all approved by BCO with the 'draft' layer removed. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 On 22/10/2017 at 08:41, JSHarris said: I'd actively encourage everyone to do the design SAP themselves, if they can. Jeremy, it was a worthwhile exercise for me, but this comes with a heavy health warning: the house building going on in our area (MK / S Northants) is crazy at the moment and local SAP EPC consultancies just aren't interested in the hassle of doing the as-built if they can't do the as-designed / as-built bundle. So finding someone involved research and ringing around, and in the end I took up @PeterW's referral. This wasn't a cost saving for me, and I still have to follow through to submission. I don't care what the result is so long as we hit minimum Part L compliance. I don't want to waive a A rating round or whatever. I am going to be living in the house hopefully for decades, so the certification itself is purely a tick-in-box exercise for me. I know how my house performs in reality and this is in the top %1 of housing stock in the area. I also really object to my house getting marked down because our planning officer told me that we wouldn't get planning permission if we put PV on our roof because it wasn't in keeping with the street scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 I have the contact details, as I offered to send you via PM if you wanted it on the other thread, for the chap that did our as-built SAP. I just emailed him the Stroma file plus some other documents, like a copy of the air test report, and he did the as-built and lodged the EPC for me. He's in Manchester, so just did everything via an exchange of a couple of emails. He turned it around in a couple of days, IIRC, and charged £100 plus VAT. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryE Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 (edited) Too late for me, now. Sorry. I had to toss the dice, and chose. Peter had already given me the contact details for his guy, and he was willing to do the work, so I agreed. It wasn't worth wasting their and my time to shop around further. I've just sent him the data pack. I guess it depends on the individual BInsp, and no doubt some will be hot on double checking, but for ours this seems to be more of a tick on the box exercise. I just need the EPC lodged and the reports need to show Part L compliance. What I find so frustrating here is that the likes of the main construction firms use internal company-employed inspectors and template based SAP and EPCs: this a type 22 house so the EPC is X (even though a third of the insulation might be missing). Anyone taking even the most cursory look at our house can see that it will be top percentile performance, so the certification is simply a paperwork formality. I know that we try to avoid overselling vendors and professional services so some of use tend to PM these sorts of contact info, but especially in this sort of case it would really make it easier for new self-builders to find out a list of SAP/EPC assessors who are willing to work with self builders who have done their own as-designed or whatever. I know how to use the forum search features, and did do a trawl of post topics on this and to be honest a lot of the useful stuff came up in off-topics where the thread wandered into "you will need your SAP / EPC" asides, but just being able to look at an aggregate summary would be great. Edited December 21, 2018 by TerryE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Good idea, I can't see a reason not to post the details for the chap we used, so here they are for future reference: Dan Watt at Ashmount Consulting Engineers Ltd 151 Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury Manchester, M20 2YA email dan.w(at)ashmount.net (replace the obvious anti-spam change) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 (edited) i am resurrecting this thread as i am going through this process, very simple question to start (i couldn't find a user manual for the software). In the dimensions, i am presuming that the areas are the building footprint including external walls, and the 'total living area' is the internal habitable areas (no garages) not including external walls (though for ease including internal walls?) Also my house has a flat roof, does this mean i need to tick the room in roof box? Edit these are internal areas in regards to a flat roof, the room in roof box should be unticked Some really good guidance as below; https://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/SAP/2012/SAP-2012_9-92.pdf Edited March 10, 2020 by Moonshine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Well when i thought i was getting somewhere, i have hit a brick wall. After putting all information in i end up with a EPC of 76 and 73 (Efficiency / Impact), which is quite surprising. Also the DER is 27, where as the TER is 17, so its miles over. So the question is, what is the problem with the house design, or how i have entered the information. U-values as follows; Walls - 0.17 Floor - 0.12 Roof - 0.12 Windows - 1.4 Do these need to be reduced, or are they in the right ball park for a decent EPC? One thing i have noticed in one of the reports is that the space and water heating requirements is nearly 18,000 kWh's per year, based on a 89% efficient gas boiler for CH and water. That seems very excessive, and could it be an indication of an error of input information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADLIan Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Difficult to tell. TER looks to be in the right ballpark for gas fired heating. Read the SAP document carefully as most answers are in there. Possible errors are air infiltration rate, treatment of linear thermal bridges, thermal mass, boiler efficiency, heating controls...I’ve not used the Stroma software for a long time but would imagine it would give an error message for anything totally out of step with SAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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