| Non-motoring > 21st Century Home | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: legacylad | Replies: 7 |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 17:04
21st Century Home - legacylad
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Following on from my CH boiler issue...it’s broken, and hot water has been sourced these past few months via the electric immersion heater. 20yo, failed once too often so it’s a new combi heading my way. A friend recommended a third Gas Safe reg guy to take a look, who duly spent an hour looking at all angles. One man band, very experienced and prepared to drive the 20+miles each way. He suggested I contemplate a Honeywell EvoHome WiFi connected thermostat pack with TRV heads to control each radiator, and, per se, each room individually. Reviews are good. Pricey, but a step up from Nest & Hive. After reading reviews, watching videos and comparing alternatives, I’m taking the plunge. I’ll never recoup the cost with lower gas bills, but when overseas for extended periods during our winter months I’ll be in control of room temps, and it will be a positive selling point when the time eventually comes. Quite a big step for a Luddite, but that’s progress. I hope. |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 17:38
21st Century Home - smokie
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I'm quite into home automation but I don't want to spend anything on it if I can help it :-) But I thought the home heating stuff fairly pointless, especially given the cost, although for sure a lot of people would look for it in a home. And so I don't blame you or scoff at you for it. I have mates who have laughed at my "laziness" for controlling lights from my phone but as someone (maybe NoFM2R) pointed out on here, how many people don't use remote controls on their telly? In terms of return on investment, your money may well be better spent on improving insulation and draught proofing etc. But thee things aren't always about the money are they... "Proper" house temp management also involves (at least) measuring household efficiency and losses, and testing the temp outside and setting the rads accordingly. I expect you'll get to that eventually and I'd be interested how you get on with it all. As an aside I am looking at a device which will talk to my smart meter and give me near-instant detail of my electricity and gas consumption, in the same way as the display device they give you with a smart meter, but I would be able to get it via a programme so can thereby do something useful with the data. Like leaving the car plugged in but only charging in the daytime when there is enough space capacity from the solar panels. There are (quite costly) devices to do that (e.g. Immersun) but this would be more in MY control. Add in other apps like IFTTT and the world is my lobster LOL. It's all just a bit of fun really, just cos I can... :-) |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 18:45
21st Century Home - Manatee
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I'll have to look at that. Following our fire, the plan is to demolish what remains of our house and build another on the plot. We would like it to be an efficient house. It will be insulated to a higher level than building regs require, and it will also be low permeability. By incorporating mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) it is possible to dispense with the most of the holes that regulations require for passive ventilation and which undo some of the good work on insulation. We have been considering heat pumps, but the fact is that the heating requirement should be modest and we might well end up with gas anyway as it is so much cheaper to install. We will use underfloor heating downstairs and possibly upstairs too. How that limits the control options, if it does, I haven't yet looked into. Currently looking at roof options. A lot of modern houses have interlocking concrete tiles (cheap) but generally round here they are covered in moss which has constantly to be cleared from gutters. Clay tiles and slates, and even slate-alike made from 60%-80% slate with cement, seem to fare much better. Anybody a roofing expert? |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 19:57
21st Century Home - bathtub tom
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| I was at a newly built (something)haus recently, it had 400mm roof insulation, 300mm wall insulation, triple glazing and heat recovery ventilation. It was recommended to be built without any heating - the owners weren't so sure and had underfloor installed. The owners had chatted to other owners, who claimed they only needed a fan heater on downstairs for a few minutes to warm the entire house. It had a very high, pitched roof whose apex was above the entrance hall. On a very hot day, windows in the apex were open and with the patio doors also open a cooling flow of air kept the place comfortable. |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 20:36
21st Century Home - Manatee
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Hufhaus? A German factory built job but very expensive. Another 'thing' is a passivhaus. It obviously has a high level of insulation is designed to capture enough heat from solar including via the windows. Easier to execute if it is well away from other buildings because the windows and roof/shading have to be designed to as not to overheat the house in summer - e.g. they will typically have large roof overhangs that will allow low sunlight thorough the windows but not that of the higher midday summer sun. If you are prepared to do a bit of heating, things get a lot easier in terms of design. I'm having a pre-application discussion with the local planners. The steer I am getting is that we will have considerable freedom to build what we want provided we consider impact on neighbours but one other rider is that approval is much more likely if it also fits in, as to appearance, with the surrounding houses. Most of them, to my eye, are fairly unattractive and they are a mixture of styles - but they are all fairly conventional boxes. There is still a fair bit of scope, e.g. render v brick, 1/1.5/2 storey, but anything that looks untypical of a rural Hertfordshire village seems to be discouraged. I don't know how much, if at all, that would change if we proposed a passivhaus. That would certainly not resemble any of its neighbours. Oddly, there have been some houses built locally that are far from conventional. The most recent three look to me like industrial units. But they are not in the middle of a street flanking other houses. |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 21:13
21st Century Home - zippy
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>>but anything that looks untypical of a rural Hertfordshire village seems to >> be discouraged. I don't know how much, if at all, that would change if we >> proposed a That would certainly not resemble any of its neighbours. >> >> Oddly, there have been some houses built locally that are far from conventional. The most >> recent three look to me like industrial units. But they are not in the middle >> of a street flanking other houses. >> The local council had a fit when someone painted their Tudor house bright pink in the local conservation area and threatened all sorts of legal action. A local historian then pointed out that the Tudor buildings were often highly coloured and the cream / wood was a Victorian idea. The council had also built a main road through the area and built horrible retirement flats that look like a prison. Sometimes councils are often of the “do as I say, not what I do” mentality! |
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New Wed 4 Sep 19 06:37
21st Century Home - Crankcase
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We are in a conservation area. The house had iron railings at the front until they were removed during the second war. We wanted to put them back, and the council said no. It didn't matter the house used to have them. The conservation order went in during the seventies, and the house has to stay looking as it did at the date of the order. They say. The neighbours put theirs back anyway, and the bloke over the road has put solar panels on his roof, (explicitly forbidden). I can only assume it will bite them when they move, if at all, as nothing else has happened. |
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New Tue 3 Sep 19 21:19
21st Century Home - bathtub tom
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| Passivhaus, that's the word I was looking for. Yes, very large roof overhangs. A between the wars house was purchased and demolished for the site. I was surprised it got planning permission, as it's in a village, in a street of '30s houses and looks totally out of context. Perhaps, because it ticks all the right boxes for energy conservation it was passed? |
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