Guess I should have mentioned that this place was commissioned by the BBC as part of the World Home Expo in 1981 as an example eco home of the future in 1981. No surprises that all the original kit - including the boiler are still going strong whereas all the 2009 mods are falling apart!
Suffice to say, it's an interesting house for an engineer to live in!
Today I mostly .....
Re: Today I mostly .....
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
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Neil Chowney
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- Posts: 2641
- Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:34 pm
- Location: Whitchurch, Hampshire
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Re: Today I mostly .....
Boiler! See told you.....Zelandeth wrote:Guess I should have mentioned that this place was commissioned by the BBC as part of the World Home Expo in 1981 as an example eco home of the future in 1981. No surprises that all the original kit - including the boiler are still going strong whereas all the 2009 mods are falling apart!
Suffice to say, it's an interesting house for an engineer to live in!
Neil Chowney
Land Rover Discovery Sport (just sold the Freelander)
Cube Agree HTC Di2
Land Rover Discovery Sport (just sold the Freelander)
Cube Agree HTC Di2
Re: Today I mostly .....
Heating has been off since March. Biggest issue with turning off the HW provision is that it's a house of four so turning it off inconveniences a lot of folks. Plus the water in the tank stays hot for aaaaaaaages.
This allowed me to confirm it without having to confirm stuff without bothering people. ...plus was an excuse to play with the camera. Will probably also take a recording of the engine in the Saab starting up from cold as that should be interesting to see in thermal.
This allowed me to confirm it without having to confirm stuff without bothering people. ...plus was an excuse to play with the camera. Will probably also take a recording of the engine in the Saab starting up from cold as that should be interesting to see in thermal.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Well in our case the solar was here when we moved in, so no cost to us really! It's a passive system which pre heats the cold water to the cylinder taking some of the load off the boiler. Probably why it seldom seems to wake up on sunny days wheras it's far more likely to be seen running on a dreary day. With reasonable amounts of sun though it's managing to get the water to the cylinder up to 40-50C, so is certainly doing something useful as that's gas we aren't using.
Fact is it's solar circa 1981 so the tech was a lot newer back then!
Fact is it's solar circa 1981 so the tech was a lot newer back then!
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
This is all stuff that was installed back in 1981 when the house was originally built. The reason that we don't have a clue what the effectiveness of the system is that we only moved in a couple of months ago and have only had one gas bill so far...and we didn't know for certain whether the system was working. So we didn't have any baseline data.
As to why I was struggling to ascertain whether hot water was coming out of the panels - this would be why. I needed to measure the temperature of the a pipe which runs between the white panel in the roof and the wall...and I don't have a ladder that long (yet).
A large A-frame ladder is something we're going to need here at some point as there are currently two lamps out in there and I'm about 15 feet too short to get at them! Wouldn't really want to prop a ladder against the wall there anyway in case I marked the wood.
...Also need to get up there so that I can reinstall the thermally controlled rams that should open the roof windows in there as some numpty removed the kit for that in the past!
Not certain who made these units originally, though quite possibly they were custom jobs even I guess given the specialised nature. Have all the technical specs on them, but no manufacturer! Pretty much everything in the house was made by Thorn (including the original Thorn Apollo boiler that's still in use - let me see one these days manage 33 years service) aside from the solar control kit which is all Satchwell.
We may consider installing some PV panels at some point, though given how rubbish the feed in tariff is these days and the fact that we don't actually have any south facing roof space means that it's not something we're likely to follow through. The only place that may be a possible contender would be on the vertical surfaces above the atrium roof, which face south and west respectively - but that would look horrendous! ...The scaffolding necessary for that would cost an absolute fortune as well as the panels themselves. To be honest, we've got many things that are higher up the list than that, A/C probably being the next big project as that we know at least will be happening at some point.
As to why I was struggling to ascertain whether hot water was coming out of the panels - this would be why. I needed to measure the temperature of the a pipe which runs between the white panel in the roof and the wall...and I don't have a ladder that long (yet).
A large A-frame ladder is something we're going to need here at some point as there are currently two lamps out in there and I'm about 15 feet too short to get at them! Wouldn't really want to prop a ladder against the wall there anyway in case I marked the wood.
...Also need to get up there so that I can reinstall the thermally controlled rams that should open the roof windows in there as some numpty removed the kit for that in the past!
Not certain who made these units originally, though quite possibly they were custom jobs even I guess given the specialised nature. Have all the technical specs on them, but no manufacturer! Pretty much everything in the house was made by Thorn (including the original Thorn Apollo boiler that's still in use - let me see one these days manage 33 years service) aside from the solar control kit which is all Satchwell.
We may consider installing some PV panels at some point, though given how rubbish the feed in tariff is these days and the fact that we don't actually have any south facing roof space means that it's not something we're likely to follow through. The only place that may be a possible contender would be on the vertical surfaces above the atrium roof, which face south and west respectively - but that would look horrendous! ...The scaffolding necessary for that would cost an absolute fortune as well as the panels themselves. To be honest, we've got many things that are higher up the list than that, A/C probably being the next big project as that we know at least will be happening at some point.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
True...Not a cheap prospect though! Plus there's still the question of where the heck we'd put the panels.
...To be honest I reckon this probably isn't one that that we would take anywhere, will just stick to the current HW circuit boost setup. One thing I may well do at some point is install some temperature probes on the flow/return lines now that I think I know where they actually are in the mad scientist's invention that is our plumbing in the loft, so I can see what temperature gain we're getting on duller days as well, just out of sheer interest if nothing else.
Really is lovely to see some of the installation here though, stuff properly done to industrial standards in many cases. Valve identifier plates on every valve, all tidily loomed wiring within the control panel and pipework everywhere actually being neatly arranged etc. Just get the real impression that the installers actually had pride in their work.
...Fair contrast to the plastic rubbish that's been installed more recently which is just scattered randomly all over the place.
Going to be interesting to see what we end up doing when we do actually need to replace the boiler (because let's face it, any failure beyond the pilot light thermocouple is likely to be effectively terminal at this age), as I really don't want to have to replace all the control hardware as well...though currently there are a total of two wires going to the boiler. Power and a feed to a relay (12V I think...) to tell it that there's demand for heat! Bit different to these days where there would probably be some overly complicated multiplexed comms running into it...
In other news...Today I mostly...
Had a crawl over the C5 now that it's got a few more miles on and have ascertained that there is some play that needs addressing in the bearings in both the front fork and the handlebars. Given that these areas are perfect on the tidier one, pondering whether it might just be quicker to transfer the control box, pod and rear axle over to that one. Will ponder that further tomorrow.
...To be honest I reckon this probably isn't one that that we would take anywhere, will just stick to the current HW circuit boost setup. One thing I may well do at some point is install some temperature probes on the flow/return lines now that I think I know where they actually are in the mad scientist's invention that is our plumbing in the loft, so I can see what temperature gain we're getting on duller days as well, just out of sheer interest if nothing else.
Really is lovely to see some of the installation here though, stuff properly done to industrial standards in many cases. Valve identifier plates on every valve, all tidily loomed wiring within the control panel and pipework everywhere actually being neatly arranged etc. Just get the real impression that the installers actually had pride in their work.
...Fair contrast to the plastic rubbish that's been installed more recently which is just scattered randomly all over the place.
Going to be interesting to see what we end up doing when we do actually need to replace the boiler (because let's face it, any failure beyond the pilot light thermocouple is likely to be effectively terminal at this age), as I really don't want to have to replace all the control hardware as well...though currently there are a total of two wires going to the boiler. Power and a feed to a relay (12V I think...) to tell it that there's demand for heat! Bit different to these days where there would probably be some overly complicated multiplexed comms running into it...
In other news...Today I mostly...
Had a crawl over the C5 now that it's got a few more miles on and have ascertained that there is some play that needs addressing in the bearings in both the front fork and the handlebars. Given that these areas are perfect on the tidier one, pondering whether it might just be quicker to transfer the control box, pod and rear axle over to that one. Will ponder that further tomorrow.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Thanks for that.
Will probably be Lithium Polymer at some point in future when I do upgrade the battery in it. You can fit a 60Ah LiPo battery in the casing of the original Oldham battery, which gives you a ridiculous real world electric range of 50+ miles. Weight is in the region of 7-8Kg as well rather than 15, and slightly higher voltage (14.4V if I remember rightly) gives a bit of a performance boost and obviously makes hills easier.
Only thing you need to do for the vehicle electrics is stick a slightly bigger heatsink on the 5V regulator in the control box and remember that the "fuel gauge" won't give a realistic reading. Though to be honest, with that sort of range it's never likely really to be an issue for me.
...Would definitely be bolted down though given what packs like that cost!
Will probably be Lithium Polymer at some point in future when I do upgrade the battery in it. You can fit a 60Ah LiPo battery in the casing of the original Oldham battery, which gives you a ridiculous real world electric range of 50+ miles. Weight is in the region of 7-8Kg as well rather than 15, and slightly higher voltage (14.4V if I remember rightly) gives a bit of a performance boost and obviously makes hills easier.
Only thing you need to do for the vehicle electrics is stick a slightly bigger heatsink on the 5V regulator in the control box and remember that the "fuel gauge" won't give a realistic reading. Though to be honest, with that sort of range it's never likely really to be an issue for me.
...Would definitely be bolted down though given what packs like that cost!
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
What is going on in that picture? 
Re: Today I mostly .....
looks fun
Re: Today I mostly .....
I'm going to go for either some form of re-enactment or LARP...Either way, looks like fun was had.
Today I mostly...scratched my head over the growing green algae problem we have with our pond, think that I'll pick up a separate aerator tomorrow to try to get the oxygen levels up further and see if that helps. Seems that the filter/fountain can't quite keep up at this time of year. Need to get some more plant life in there as well as there's hardly anything at the moment so that really won't be helping.
Also finally got around to looking at some of the photos I took the other day...would have been rude not to snap some things like this wouldn't it?
...Will try to get the focus right next time!
This evening I mostly made sense out of the spaghetti that was the wiring outside by our pond. Discovered that the switch was housing no less than five snails, and that three out of the four screws were knackered. Decided to change that...then found another junction box buried under the tree which never had the breakout holes in the back sealed and containing about an inch and a half of water. How the RCD hadn't tripped I have no idea...may test that tomorrow.
So that got cleaned up, mounted to a nice solid wooden post, sealed up properly and the new switch was mounted to the other side of the post. Much tidier and hopefully now weatherproof!
Getting fed up of finding bodgery here left by the previous owners now!
Today I mostly...scratched my head over the growing green algae problem we have with our pond, think that I'll pick up a separate aerator tomorrow to try to get the oxygen levels up further and see if that helps. Seems that the filter/fountain can't quite keep up at this time of year. Need to get some more plant life in there as well as there's hardly anything at the moment so that really won't be helping.
Also finally got around to looking at some of the photos I took the other day...would have been rude not to snap some things like this wouldn't it?
...Will try to get the focus right next time!
This evening I mostly made sense out of the spaghetti that was the wiring outside by our pond. Discovered that the switch was housing no less than five snails, and that three out of the four screws were knackered. Decided to change that...then found another junction box buried under the tree which never had the breakout holes in the back sealed and containing about an inch and a half of water. How the RCD hadn't tripped I have no idea...may test that tomorrow.
So that got cleaned up, mounted to a nice solid wooden post, sealed up properly and the new switch was mounted to the other side of the post. Much tidier and hopefully now weatherproof!
Getting fed up of finding bodgery here left by the previous owners now!
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Today I mostly...
Spent the day at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Seeing and hearing the likes of the Napier Railtonn, Le Mans racers, not to mention F1 cars through the years in motion...and at full chat...never gets old.
The Jag XJS Touring car definitely won the award of angriest sounding car of the day though...The 80s Le Mans Jags the award of most musical I think.
Spent the day at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Seeing and hearing the likes of the Napier Railtonn, Le Mans racers, not to mention F1 cars through the years in motion...and at full chat...never gets old.
The Jag XJS Touring car definitely won the award of angriest sounding car of the day though...The 80s Le Mans Jags the award of most musical I think.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Spent the day at Croft Racing Circuit for the BTCC race meet there. Good day, even the weather held out for us.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Indeed. The junior class Ginetta race in particular was mental.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.
Re: Today I mostly .....
Could have been worse - his first name could have been Chuck!
1979 Leyland 998 Automatic Mini. Don't ask...
Re: Today I mostly .....
What does that have to do with anything?