Small things matter

[Fintray]

NB, that is a shocking install by the sound of it and anything that you do can hopefully only improve it.
The guy that came round to my house to confirm my heat loss calcs. just wouldn't consider any plastic piping for the system. I asked him if he reckoned I needed a manual thermostatic valve in the existing UF heating to replace the automatic one that was fitted, he said don't bother as the whole system should run at the same temperature to give best efficiency.
The only compression joints were on components that had them the rest were all Gerberit Mapress fittings, they even swapped out the diverter valve that came with the heat pump as they had found that they occasionally stuck.
So I would recommend them anytime, the only fault was a loose connection (not one of theirs) on one of the HP PCB's that they resolved the following day.

[NoraBatty]

Sounds like you found a good installer Fintray.
I just sent Joe a PM saying i dislike plastic, but it has its place in heatpump installs.
I will be replacing the long runs with plastic, to cut down on unneccessary joins that will disturb flow.
What i am ripping out will be replaced with bigger pipe where it makes sense anyway, and remove excess, so likehood of copper joints making much difference on the overall flow, which will increase, is low, but it will make it alot easier to feed speedfit through joists and bend in a nice radius at the same time, than copper. Not to mention cheaper and easier than trying to contort, to solder.
A crimper would be nice and ideal, but im not forking out for one so plastic will be perfect for the harder areas.

From what ive seen under the first floor boards, theyve just hacked away at joists to notch for 22mm pipe.
In fairness, It may not have been them, but the wood notchings do still look fresh, which ties in to their 18 month ago install.
Ive not seen all of them so far, only those needed to be ripped up to repair the screws driven into the pipe.
Deepest notch measured, whixh runs quite close to the middle of the joist span, is 40mm. On a 150mm joist!!
I sistered it and the others with all i had ( 4x2 ) and wedged in a chunk of wood to reduce size, knowing i will come back this summer and do it properly.
I know they have also notched the joists at the radiators on the outside walls in at least 1 room, given the position the pipes run off to the rads. I doubt the notches there are minimum distance from the wall plate, but i may be pleasantly surprised.

Looks like ive written enough throughout a couple of threads to do a whole thread on the subject.
So when im free il have a go.
The more i talk about it the more issues i remember finding. Im way past the shock.
Luckily my other half has no clue or interest about such things. If he did, deapitw the fix, he would worry about going upstairs!

[AGT]

Remember to watch the internal diameter of plastic pipes, quite a difference compared to copper

[NoraBatty]

Thanks, its something im aware of, especially with inserts for the pipes creating choke points.
The plan is to replace the copper under the floor that is jointed, for the larger bore plastics in 1 long run.
So going from 5m of copper 15mm pipe run from the 22mm backbone, to a 4.75m 22mm plastic run, then only needing 15mm tail to rads.
Under the floors only the backbone goes through the joists, so making the parallell runs larger will be easy, and help alot.
Where i can easily run copper, it will be in copper.

Easier for me to see the plan as its in my head.

il put it on paper so people can scrutinise.
If the joist notches are fixed, i can easily get away with 28mm plastic under the floor for the backbone through drilled centre holes, and stay within limits.
Its not really needed, but as it comes in 25m coils, if i have enough of it left from everything else i may as well use it where its possible.

[Fintray]

A crimper would be nice and ideal, but im not forking out for one so plastic will be perfect for the harder areas.

Deepest notch measured, whixh runs quite close to the middle of the joist span, is 40mm. On a 150mm joist!!

I just hired the press tool for the work I carried out, great way to make joins, beats soldering any day.

The guys were very particular about notching the joists, measured them to make sure they could get away with the depth and set the cut depth on the circular saw so it was just enough and made sure the pipe runs were in the middle of the floorboards to reduce the chance of them being damaged by screws when fixing down.

[NoraBatty]

Hire you say
Didn't even cross my mind

Yep, cowboys.

[Joeboy]

Half 5 before the WBS was fired up today. 18 degs in home just from solar gain.

Found a brand new 1ltr whistling kettle and a 2 part induction hob friendly pasta pan (built in collander). Fiver for the pair. Happily it is mac cheese & gammon steaks tonight so I'll do what I can to raise water temp then transfer to induction hob.



I really enjoy these wee victory moments. Very much a fan of recycling gear.

Found new homes for a dozen coathangers, a salad spinner and some storage solutions while over in Turkey. That was nice to be giving. Sadly the gin was a one way non sharing solution.

[Andy]

Hire you say
Didn't even cross my mind

Yep, cowboys.

Ha, yes, just let my brother know after reading this. He is doing his bathroom but its probably too late.

[Joeboy]

Did the WBS service today. Got away light. Replaced one vermiculite brick, repaired one. Particle filter is still in good nick after 1 year in service.

Gave it a clean and airflow.



A few minor bits and Bob's then a blacking. It'll be a year before it looks this good again!



While cleaning the flue and raincap/bird guard SWMBO was of course singing chim chimeney. An excellent moment!

[Fintray]

While cleaning the flue and raincap/bird guard SWMBO was of course singing chim chimeney. An excellent moment!

Weren't you concerned she might fall off the roof?