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My understanding is that if you fit a single flow mixer tap (kitchen or bathroom), i.e. where the water is mixed in the tap, then you have to fit single check valves (non-return valves) on both the hot and cold supplies (in addition to service valves). The check valve on the cold side prevents...

Good points Arty. It's also worth remembering that us island dwellers don't get that many really cold days. I used to live in Northumberland before I moved to Shetland and whilst, overall, Shetland is colder, Northumberland had many more extremely cold temperatures (e.g. -10) than you get on a...

Calson - tried to reply to your message but it won't let me due to your inbox settings. I think that your inbox may be set to only allow messages from friends. AA

Hi Calson. I live on Shetland and am going through the same decisions. For some reason, Nibe seem to be getting a bit of a foothold up here. I was speaking to the owner of a building firm here last week who installed a Dimplex unit a couple of miles up the road. He didn't go into details but...

I was reading some instructions about pressure testing the underfloor heating circuits and it explained how to fill them up through the ends of the manifold. Given that they are on the same closed circuit, this sounds like it ought to fill the whole system but it doesn't sound like a good long...

I am currently planning a new house (for me) with underfloor heating powered by an air source heat pump. The heat pump will be installed by a professional but I am trying to understand how it is all going to work. The circuit from the heat pump will go to the hot water cylinder or the UFH...

What are tomb walls?

There is certainly lots of confusing advice around about buffer tanks. Some sites say don't do it because it reduces the overall efficiency (just make sure that there are enough open circuits) whereas some of the manufacturers say that you absolutely must have a buffer tank. The ability to...

I am planning a new house (for me) and I am trying to work out how my heating is going to work. I intend to have wet underfloor heating (UFH) powered by an air source heat pump (ASHP). The ASHP will be connected to a buffer tank for the UFH to stop the heat pump cycling and will also be...

Thanks for that, chaps. Some of the British suppliers, e.g. Broxwood are now getting in on the act as well. They are expensive, but I hate painting! I am really trying to get a feel for what the aluminium powder coating looks like after, say, 10 years.

Quite a few of the window manufacturers now offer wooden windows with the exterior covered with powder coated aluminium. The idea is that they are virtually zero maintenance for many years. The frames are made of wood and so you can have a natural wood finish on the inside and any colour you...

Thanks for that. I am only looking at putting one unit in from which I hope to do all my underfloor heating and most of the hot water. What make did you go for, Corgigrouch?

Thanks for the replies, chaps. I would love to go and listen to some but I live in Shetland and I haven't tracked any down yet. As Corgigrouch says, decibel figures don't mean a lot so comparisons such as "It's about the same level of noise as a typical boiler flue" are exactly the sort of...

This is a question for anybody who has or who lives next door to an air source heat pump. How noisy are they? I live in a fairly quiet rural area and I am thinking about installing an ASHP. I am wondering whether I need to go for an indoor mounted unit because an outdoor unit would be too...

I am currently planning a new house and I would like to use LED lights but the price is putting me off. Because of their low power consumption, LED lights seem to need special transformers and dimmer switches. You can't use the standard transformers that you would use for halogen lights - you...

Thanks very much.

I am planning my new house and would like to use touch sensitive switches in a few places. The only ones that I can find are touch sensitive dimmers (e.g. Crabtree 400w touch sensitive dimmer). Can anybody tell me how these work? If you just touch them do they work as an on / off switch...

Has anybody here used the Nu-Lok system for putting a roof on? In particular, have you used the Nu-Lok ceramic slate effect tiles? It looks good on the web site but there's no substitute for real life experience! I live in Shetland and the growth of algae and lichen can be a real problem...

I am planning to build a house using the ICF system (probably Quadlock). I have read in a couple of places that electric cable should be run in conduit because the ICF foam can cause some sort of deterioration of the sheathing of standard electrical cables. Has anybody come across this?

Cheers guys. Very helpful. Thanks very much. AA