More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

Air source, ground source and associated systems for heating homes
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nowty
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#51

Post by nowty »

Well the outdoor core hole was even easier than the indoor part. Still managed it with the battery drill, took longer but was smoother, the trick is to let the diamond core do its work by slowly filing away the brick. I am hoping to be able to put the pipes into a drainpipe down the wall.
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And finalised the position of the outdoor unit and screwed it down with stainless steel screws and washers.
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Then worked out the torque on the flared connections to the indoor unit. Different manufacture's of aircon units and flared connectors give differing values for the same size connectors. :?

Eventfully worked out that using a 6 inch wrench (or pushing 6 inches up the wrench), I needed to push 8kg to 11kg for the 1/4'' pipe and 18kg to 25kg on the 3/8'' pipe. Some datasheets had the torque even slightly higher so there is quite some range to be in the zone. I reckoned the 18kg to 22kg is very similar to a checked in airline flight bag with the smaller similar to a heavy hand luggage bag. The flared connections are quite different than plumbing compression fittings, in that with compressions fittings there is a lot more tightening travel, whereas once the flared connection's are hand tight, they only go another 1/4 turn and get very tight, very quickly, which actually makes them easier to do unless I have screwed them up. As you have two wrenches, its up to you whether you hold one and pull or push with the other so its very similar to lifting a similar weight like a flight bag.

Then came the pipe wrapping, the two copper pipes, the electrical interconnection and the condensation pipe. First with a plastic wrap, then with some heavy duty duct tape. I marked the point just past the connections which is the first point that the pipes can be bent once through the wall.
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18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
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nowty
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#52

Post by nowty »

Hardest job today was painting the lounge wall.
Its a two person job getting the bound pipes through the wall and SWMBO helped.
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The indoor unit easily just sits on the mounting bracket.
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Well, I'm not going to be using that 90 degree drainpipe bend I bought. :?
Going to have to find some sort of cover for that.
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The most exiting job today was mounting the new TV. :D
SWMBO has been complaining of no main TV for a week. :roll:
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Bit of a problem with the sound bar which is supposed to fit between the bottom of the TV and the lower insulated square panel.
I had measured everything perfectly with a few mm just in case. But the TV measurements don't include about 5mm from the on/off led at the centre bottom of the screen ! :evil:

So tomorrows job will be shaving off a few mm off the top of the lower square insulated cover with a planer. :twisted:
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18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
richbee
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#53

Post by richbee »

nowty wrote: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:42 pm Its a 12,000 BTU one but what the hell does that mean. :evil:
Thank goodness the spec plate has Volts, Amps and Watts which I can understand. :mrgreen:
But don't get me started on Mega pascals, I grew up with 3 to 15 psi (or 0.2 to 1 bar) flapper nozzle systems. :twisted:
Image
At least MPa to bar is easy - 1Mpa = 10 bar, none of this 14 or 16x table going on ;)
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nowty
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#54

Post by nowty »

I had to adjust the length of my drainpipe, so took the opportunity to add a drainpipe extender socket into the wall. :oops:
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Wrapped the pipes and connected up to the outdoor unit. :D
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Playtime was about to start. :twisted:
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But playtime was halted because I need a 1/4 male to 5/16 female adapter for my vacuum hoses to fit the charging port on the outdoor unit. :evil:
Last edited by nowty on Fri Jun 24, 2022 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
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Joeboy
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#55

Post by Joeboy »

Great work, looks excellent, unlucky on the x over. Can you source locally?
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
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Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
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nowty
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#56

Post by nowty »

Joeboy wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:54 pm Great work, looks excellent, unlucky on the x over. Can you source locally?
No, but I managed to order from Amazon and paid an extra £5 to get it tomorrow before 10pm.

Its not the sort of thing you get from screwfix, etc.

Still, I had a nice play with the vacuum pump and gauges, really quiet operation and vacuums down to 5 pascals, now I know what they are. :lol:
That's 0.05 millibars or 0.00005 bar. So as normal pressure is around 1 bar, that's pretty low pressure. :ugeek:
18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
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Joeboy
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#57

Post by Joeboy »

Worth the money just for the learning curve. Nice one. :D
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
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nowty
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Location: South Coast

Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#58

Post by nowty »

Joeboy wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 7:27 pm Worth the money just for the learning curve. Nice one. :D
Aircon units (well maybe they need to be the heatpump type to work in reverse), are now like PV and batteries, you can now get 0% vat for the unit and the fitting if you get them installed. And you also only get a 5 year warranty if you pay for it to be installed AND pay for an annual service !, circa £200 or more to have the filters cleaned and the gas pressure checked and they probably only check the pressure if its not performing too well. :roll:

In some places like appliances direct, they are charging £750 for the fitting (and that's with 0% vat) and it has to be a really easy install for that price with no electrical work, so you typically get only £100 off the actual unit, sound familiar (MCS), (RHI), or the new airsource heatpump scheme ?

The main reason though why I am doing this is to learn more about the technology and what's involved, if you put it in your self and you later have a problem, more likely you can work out what's gone wrong and how to fix it, and I can see a need for one or two more units over time. I put my own GSHP in, in some ways harder because of a lot more plumbing involved, but as it was a monobloc heatpump, no vacuuming down and re-sealing refrigerant gas lines so easier in other ways.

I can understand the F-Gas requirements if you are going to decommission, re-claim and recycle the refrigerant gases. Also if you are going to flare your own pipes, which looks like a bit like an art and you need a fair bit of practice. But using pre-gassed units and pre-flared pipes ?, and considering its legal to re-charge your own car aircon, I just don't understand the reasoning for some of the rules regarding split units other than for job monopoly and profiteering. :twisted:

Then again, it might yet still go tits up and wish I paid for someone to install it. :lol:
18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
spread-tee
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#59

Post by spread-tee »

I guess you have planned to support that loop of pipework, it will thank you if you do.

Desp
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nowty
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Re: More Renewable Shenanigans at Nowty Towers

#60

Post by nowty »

spread-tee wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 11:30 pm I guess you have planned to support that loop of pipework, it will thank you if you do.

Desp
I knew someone would point that out as its not obvious from the picture. :roll:

So I have had to go out in the dark with my floodlight to show you the double cable tie around a stainless steel hook. :mrgreen:
Yes the pipe loop is quite heavy, and with the inevitable vibration, metal fatigue failure or gas leakage at the connector is likely over time without support.
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18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
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