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A very helpful reality check on my original figures comes from a comment on the blog questioning the original figure of 20,700 kWhs per year. He couldn’t believe that we could be using four times the national average for domestic electricity use. This sounds right. The figure was based on electricity bills that were themselves […]
Harry the plumber is just finishing off the pretty complicated plumbing in of the heat pump – hopefully in time for the commissioning (yes, that’s what they call it) of the whole system tomorrow. Because these are quite rare systems, both Harry and Peter the electrician have to do the work by reference to a […]
A good symbolic moment as we throw out our oil boiler. Our biggest single contribution to reducing our carbon emissions. So now we’re looking forward to a cold few days until the new heat pump is commissioned next Tuesday.
I was impressed to see the solar water heating system that Franny has put in. The most impressive aspect was the cost: £2,700 total, or £800 net of the grants from Clear Skies and Camden Council. It was partly so reasonable because she’d already put in exactly the right model of boiler to work with […]
The heat pump has been delivered, but immediately presents another problem. It’s too high to be brought straight into the house on its pallet. And the otherwise helpful two delivery men say it will take 4 people to lift it. So it has stayed outside under cover until today when John, Pete and I struggled […]
Insulation has got to be the most boring part of the greening process. This is particularly so with double glazing, since it is expensive and involves destroying perfectly good old glass. We’ll know the overall cost of doing the main windows next week. But I have to agree that it’s important. The best figures I […]
The garden may look like a first world war zone, but after two weeks all the ground work is finished. Yesterday the four trenches running out from the house were all finished, with both pipes laid and covered with sand. Richard did an excellent job in measuring the trenches to ensure that the two pipe […]
The first trench loop is completed in the morning and the third and fourth trenches started from the point where the pipes will fan out. Better success in avoiding the mains water pipe (circled). By the end of the day the bottom of the trench has been smoothed (by hand) to receive the sand and […]
Kristi has been following the whole greeening process from Boston and has been over with the family for the past three weeks. Today she challenged us on recycling – shouldn’t that be part of our strategy? Tara had also been urging this, so I was made to pledge that I would commit to re-cycling our […]
And we decided that we needed a dump truck to move the sand around. Another couple of hundred pounds, and I’m not sure in this case it will do that much better than the wheelbarrow, since it has to be filled and emptied pretty much by hand.
Day 3. Digging only brought the first tench half way back to the house. 5 tons of sand delivered, estimated by ICE as what we will need for the first trench. Another few hundred pounds, but apparently vital to protect the pipe from flints and improve heat transfer.
Finally at the end of day 2 we reach the turning point for the first pipe and start heading back. So the digging alone is going to take around 8 days, even without the sand, pipe laying and testing and backfilling. All in all it’s just as well that we agreed a fixed contract of […]
Day 2. Trying to avoid cutting the mains water again, Richard asks for some wire because he uses dowsing to find underground pipes. It seems to work and he marks the grass. See if you believe it – video clip. But half a day later we end up by hitting the pipe again anyway. More […]
We knew about one pipe and managed to avoid it. But then we fractured the tiny oil feed pipe (perhaps a good symbol) and later cut through the mains water supply that was snaking strangely through the woods. That meant no water in the house for half the day and time wasted mending the pipe. […]
At last we are underway with our heat pump system. The instruction manual says: dig trench, lay pipe, pressure test and backfill. But it ain’t that easy. We’ve got excellent JCB drivers, Diddy and Richard, working with our long-time builder, John. We plan a route across the lawn and through the wood that gives us […]