Search results

Same thinking, but many consider it "a bit too clever for it's own good" compared with basic weather comp/occupancy sensing and *you* setting the target temperatures rather than having the thermostat guess them for you. At $249 + shipping + VAT I'd be looking for flow temp control too. Nest...

You want one of these I think: http://www.theowl.com/products/intuitionc.php Wireless room stat, but also weather-compensating (for start time at least) When it's cold it'll whang the heating on at 6am to make sure it's ready for 8am. When it's warmish it'll wait until 7:30 before...

You can, but you won't get the RHI subsidy. ;-) Most domestic ashps are indeed just that though. An a/c system with a new mcs accredited sticker. Notice the complete absence of even manufacturer certified performance numbers on the daikin case studies, let alone independent verification...

I appreciate it wasn't the original question, but it is worth asking "does this make economic sense?" and "does the person I trust to answer that and specify the system have a clue?" bat some point! Personally I'd retain the oil system regardless, in the same way I keep a fan heater in the...

The engineer will specify multiple smaller pumps and run them in parallel. A 16 kw compressor would be part of a 50 kw total installation. You might use 4,4,4,2 or 8,4,4 on a lower output system. Look at the graphs of cop vs load and source temps for a given output temp and choose operating...

In the summer the solar thermal will supply 100% of the hot water anyhow. Heat pumps are a little like car engines - good efficiency at say 70% load, but rubbish efficiency at 20% load and at 100% load. Cheap and nasty systems use single compressors and throttle them for modulation. The...

No. The EST report wasn't particularly biased, just not particularly useful. Stated the results of the field trials without attempting to explain them. If you think a little more rationally about it, the nuclear industry ought to be *pro* heat pumps. :wink: AEA Consultancy was split...

You will achieve a COP of 4.5 (seasonally adjusted) with a best-practice space heating installation in a UK climate using 2010 technology. COP 3.5 seasonally adjusted is "ok" for space heating, but much less than that and the specifier/installer is a moron. Hot water provision is more...

You've been to the kitchen fitters annual convention or the guild of master jobbing builders then? :lol: (I just found a buttress/pillar for an end gable that's got no bricks at the bottom any more courtesy of a kitchen fitter. On top of a purlin with a 2 foot chunk removed to make way for...

ASHPs were always good. Domestic / light commercial UK installers are the problem: MCS accreditation means diddly squat about competency... Most gas fitters also haven't got a clue how to design a heating system, but gas boilers are far more forgiving of bad system specification/design...

Terminal blocks and water - great mix! :D You've got to try hard to make the shed explode. Add some soap and crank up the current. (voltage is irrelevant) The bubbles hold the hydrogen/oxygen in close proximity in a perfectly explosive mix, whereas if you bag it the hydrogen escapes...

As I understood it: cost. They'll pay for a hole in a lawn, a JB, and a new cutout. (you provide PIR/EIC for main bonding first mind - they won't do it without this or check this - and you buy the grass seeds!) They won't pay for a hole in the road or relaying driveways even if you...

UKPN man came. Where you're fed with TNS via a lawn, they'll happily dig up your front garden and join N&E together just outside the house, then fit a new cutout with an earth terminal connected to the neutral. Subject to loop impedance tests. Also subject to an EIC for the main bonding, even...

IME most domestic alarm fitters are chimps - and everything that isn't as-built is a prime suspect. Has the owner stuck any screws/nails between Neutral and earth? Damp/dead spiders inside outdoor sockets/lights?

I've had success with a thin bingbag tied to the end of a piece of light string and a good vacuum cleaner. Sucks the binbag through, then pull a draw rope with the draw string, and your cable/wire with the draw rope.

You can ask local authority building control to "sign off" on it for you. Cambridge City charge 190+VAT to inspect and give their nod of approval, or 234 (no VAT) if you were to just go ahead and seek forgiveness later. Charges vary by local authority though: some are very reasonable (234 is...

And we're in... ...it would appear that the chimp who fitted it didn't secure the control panel. Thanks for the tip! Now to decide whether to utilise it, or tear it out to fit something with a GSM autodialler that also covers the (more vulnerable) outbuildings. :?

A lot of the plug-in stuff isn't 0.75mm^2 and can be (usually is) daisy-chained so far that I think it really wants the 3A fuse supplied with it rather than 6A. IKEA sells gear that isn't suitable for connecting to a 6A circuit, for example. Something to check anyhow, and very easily fixed...

To confirm; no restrictions on bootlace ferrules on 2.5mm^2 and 6mm^2 (or imperial equivalents) With regards the comments on cables that got vapourised in the moderation, a brief history of the property is as follows: Built 1950s (I think), back when the council didn't treat tenants with...

Use lighting sockets: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MKK0771.html Plugs here: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLPT5.html Beware though: many cheap and nasty lights aren't rated for 5 amps. If it is fused at 3 amps or less from the store, then you'll need to use a...