The House Projects Thread

[Jobbo]

The doors are amazing.

[jamcg]

Well that’s a conversation starter for any guests visiting for sure

[dinny_g]

One opening in, one opening out per room???

Really strange

[Mito Man]

Yep. One bathroom was really stupid, there were doors on 3 sides so despite being a large bathroom there was only a toilet, sink and small shower fitted along one wall. The house also had other quirky things. It was extended about 20 years ago but the extension was built almost as an independent house. It had its own boiler, electrical supply (with ability to switch to a generator), water supply from a well and its own septic system.
We ended up reconnecting the water to the supply from the utilities provider as the well water had “faecal contamination”. The septic system draining about 20 metres from the well probably didn’t help

[Matty]

Anyone remember that game in Takeshi's Castle where all the doors are fake except for one?

[DeskJockey]

Had the flashing on the chimney repaired about a month ago. Just been up to look as it is bucketing down... It is leaking more than before. Great. Guess who I'm calling first thing tomorrow.

[Mito Man]

Santa Claus customer service?

[DeskJockey]

Yes. How could you guess?

[Mito Man]

My hot water recirculating pump (Grundfos thing) timer died a while ago, I’ve replaced with an identical time switch and the pump works but I have no idea what hours it should be on or off. A quick google tells me it should always be on so the pump doesn’t die from stopping and starting, it should always be off because it’s wasting heat and it should be on a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening.

So what the feck is it?

[jamcg]

My hot water recirculating pump (Grundfos thing) timer died a while ago, I’ve replaced with an identical time switch and the pump works but I have no idea what hours it should be on or off. A quick google tells me it should always be on so the pump doesn’t die from stopping and starting, it should always be off because it’s wasting heat and it should be on a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening.

So what the feck is it?

Bronze pump? Like a yellowy colour?

[Mito Man]

My hot water recirculating pump (Grundfos thing) timer died a while ago, I’ve replaced with an identical time switch and the pump works but I have no idea what hours it should be on or off. A quick google tells me it should always be on so the pump doesn’t die from stopping and starting, it should always be off because it’s wasting heat and it should be on a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening.

So what the feck is it?

Bronze pump? Like a yellowy colour?

Exactly that

[jamcg]

Wants to be on so the hot water circulates around the property so when you use the taps it’s near instant. Basically set it so it’s off overnight after your last use of hot water and back on before your first. Or just leave it on all the time if the sound doesn’t bother you. Just make sure if you ever turn your water off you also cut the power to that pump or it’ll run dry and burn out and they’re one of the most expensive pumps you can buy

[Mito Man]

Alright, just need a PHD in faffery so I can set up this immersion heater timer
Thanks.

[Jobbo]

I can understand the purpose of a pump to keep hot water circulating round so you have fairly immediate hot water from your taps - that's how hotels etc work, I believe.

However, what does your domestic hot water system look like to make this work? You obviously need to have water already heated, so it wouldn't work with a combi boiler or thermal store (which heat the incoming water on demand). But with a hot water cylinder you're effectively taking water from the wonderfully insulated store of hot water round all the pipes to cool down - seems pretty inefficient. Is that how it works?

[Mito Man]

I have an electric immersion boiler, no idea how it all works beyond that. Might just be part of the silly stuff they installed in these apartments to make them more “sustainable” because you don’t waste water waiting for the warm water etc.

[jamcg]

I have an electric immersion boiler, no idea how it all works beyond that. Might just be part of the silly stuff they installed in these apartments to make them more “sustainable” because you don’t waste water waiting for the warm water etc.

This will be the reason for the circulation, electric immersions don’t produce much in he way of convection in the tank in the same way that a heated coil from a boiler would so this will help it out

[Mito Man]

I didn’t realise that the hot water for the taps even circulated before noticing this pump

[jamcg]

I didn’t realise that the hot water for the taps even circulated before noticing this pump

That’s the basic idea, it removes the super hot layer of water that forms and pumps it back in lower down

[integrale_evo]

On the subject of heating, we are on oil, have this single thermostat and control box. As you can see, it’s ancient and ugly, but actually works fine.

Is it possible to swap to a modern all in one smart thermostat without having to mess around with the rest of the system?

Don’t really need extra thermostats, valves etc, the system seems nicely balanced as is, would just be nice to have a bit more control to drop it down when we’re away, warm it up when we start heading home, have different temperatures day / night etc

[jamcg]

It is possible. Depending how good you are with electrics and general diy plus the system setup you have depends how easy it would be for you to do it yourself