Omnibuswoman Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 We had our first air tightness test today and achieved 0.25 ACH!! 🎉 Absolutely chuffed to bits with that. We have spent a lot of time taping every possible penetration, but I was still anxious in case we hadn’t quite been as scrupulous as needed. 18 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Very well done you 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Yes well done, a result anyone would be well pleased with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Great effort, well done. Our first test was 0.88 and we got it down to 0.43. Haven’t done the final test yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AppleDown Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 19 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said: We had our first air tightness test today and achieved 0.25 ACH!! 🎉 Absolutely chuffed to bits with that. We have spent a lot of time taping every possible penetration, but I was still anxious in case we hadn’t quite been as scrupulous as needed. Well done! Out of interest what tape did you end up using? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnibuswoman Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 We used Tescon tape. The wide one was handy for window reveals, and the split one was good for the fiddly bits. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Very well done! I'll stand down my tape then!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Blobby Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 51 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said: We had our first air tightness test today and achieved 0.25 ACH! Top result. Please tell me what construction is your build? Timber, ICF, block cavity? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnibuswoman Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, Mr Blobby said: Top result. Please tell me what construction is your build? Timber, ICF, block cavity? Thanks. It’s timber frame 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalvinHobbes Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Brilliant result. Well done. Do you mind me asking, have you used a recirculating cooker hood or is it vented? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceverge Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Well done great news. Blown cellulose? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnibuswoman Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, CalvinHobbes said: Brilliant result. Well done. Do you mind me asking, have you used a recirculating cooker hood or is it vented? We haven’t installed the kitchen as yet, but our cooker hood will be a circulating one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnibuswoman Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 1 hour ago, Iceverge said: Well done great news. Blown cellulose? Yes we have used blown cellulose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Laslett Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Well done. Great result. You should be very proud. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Great result! You'll benefit from all that taping for years to come. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceverge Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 4 hours ago, Omnibuswoman said: Yes we have used blown cellulose Top class. I love cellulose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Brilliant. When @joe90 had his done, I watched the meter recording it as Old Joe ran around with a tube of silicone. I found one leak (air intake to the WBS), but forgot to mention it, but that is because I am a bastard. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omnibuswoman Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 Thank you all!! We are absolutely delighted. Very much looking forward to low electricity bills, especially as we also have solar panels that will meet our hot water needs for 2/3 of the year. What we need now is a masterclass from @SteamyTea on how to further reduce our use so that Octopus are paying us to live there!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 12 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said: reduce our use so that Octopus are paying us to live there!! If I remember correctly our Jeremy even had his council tax paid for by incoming PV payments over and above his outgoings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 19 minutes ago, joe90 said: If I remember correctly our Jeremy even had his council tax paid for by incoming PV payments over and above his outgoings. He was one of the last able to sign up to the FIT, sadly gone by the time I was ready to do so. No such golden goose for us now. Until the end of last year I was still getting the FIT from our old house, that paid for all our electricity used in this one, but that went with the house. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 46 minutes ago, ProDave said: Until the end of last year I was still getting the FIT from our old house, that paid for all our electricity used in this one, but that went with the house. Same here 😞 1 hour ago, Omnibuswoman said: Very much looking forward to low electricity bills, especially as we also have solar panels that will meet our hot water needs for 2/3 of the year. What we need now is a masterclass from @SteamyTea on how to further reduce our use so that Octopus are paying us to live there!! Unless you go down the @SteamyTea route of unplugging everything, then the key to lower costs, now there is no FiT, is to make sure you use as little normal rate lekky as possible. The PV for 2/3 of the year for DHW is a good start. If you add a diverter that can schedule a nightly cheap rate boost of the DHW then there's a saving there. Doing the DHW at night with an ASHP reduces that again. Installing say about 15kW of batteries also allows you to shift your daytime use to the night time tariff. All of this can be done on Octopus Go which is cheap rate for 4 hours at night. Moving to Octopus Go Intelligent (you need the right kind of EV point for this) get's you onto 7.5p for 6 hours at night as well as 15p for export. So there's longer for battery charging etc. at night and from about now, for 6 months, you should be exporting enough to cover what you've imported and on good days, also the daily standing charge. There are ways to self install the PV and get onto Octopus Go to avoid the MCS surcharge. And you don't really need to own an EV to get onto the Intelligent version of Octopus Go. All you need to do is to connect an EV to get the charger recognised. So if you haven't got one, borrow a friends for 30 minutes. You can do all of the above in stages, we did. Last week, we didn't cover the standing charge but we did earn enough on the export to cover all of our usage. We're all electric, so that's all the house energy needs, heating (yes, it's still on a bit), cooking, washing, dishwashing, hot water etc. Moving onto Octopus Agile should better what you can do on OG Intelligent but it's another level of complexity in terms of controlling when things should charge etc. Simon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 5 minutes ago, Bramco said: There are ways to self install the PV and get onto Octopus Go to avoid the MCS surcharge. Do you know anyone that has actually done that? It was launched then there seemed to be delays and problems and mention of an upfront payment to join? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) 11 minutes ago, ProDave said: Do you know anyone that has actually done that? Yes - we did. Get an electrical cert which includes the PV. Ours was in the garage, so on the garage elec cert, then go through the application process with the DNO. Ours was with NG. You obvs have to fill in the forms and your inverter needs to be G100 compliant. You can find the certificates on the inverter database. On the forms you can put down that it is a self install, there's no requirement for MCS. Then just apply for Octopus Go - I think they still have the admin charge but essentially they contact the DNO to make sure you are registered with them and then it should go through with no problem. I think I put a link to a Victron forum about this on another post a month or so ago- from that, I think that suppliers are not allowed to insist that the PV is an MCS install. If you need the link, I'll try to find it again and repost it. Simon Edited April 23 by Bramco 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 7 hours ago, Omnibuswoman said: a masterclass from @SteamyTea on how to further reduce our use 6 hours ago, Bramco said: route of unplugging everything That is basically the secret. Don't leave things on standby that don't have to be, and if they must be on 24/7, make sure they use as little as possible. For me it is easy as I am all electric resistance heating with mechanical, or very low energy, time switches. I have a couple of web servers, but they use under half a watt each when running, and when I leave the house the laptop lid gets closed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramco Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 1 hour ago, SteamyTea said: Don't leave things on standby that don't have to be One good thing about technology is that things get better over time, so devices on standby use less and less. Is there a Moore's law that says that every 2 years new devices on standby will use 50% less? Some of them certainly get smaller, e.g. the Sonoff or Shelley wifi or zigbee switches. In the new house, we've got a lot more of that kind of device but we're still using about the same as in the old house which had a lot fewer... But fundamentally yes, if you want to use less, don't use things that are on all the time. Simon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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