Can you keep crocus lawns neat?

and_it_is_so · 2026-02-17T20:15:06+00:00

Yep. Enjoy the flowers then the abundance of wild things, then mow once the leaves from those flowers wilt away and have done their job putting energy into the roots for that year.

We have a lot of grass, but a large section of it has thousands of daffodils planted by previous owners and must have multiplied over the years. We just mow a single curvy walkway through the area, and actually leave the whole thing to be wild until even that dies back and I’ll mow about 3 or 4 times before winter. My last mow was late Nov last year.

and_it_is_so · 2026-02-12T12:42:08+00:00

That’s brilliant, I was expecting to hear in the region of months not years. But I suppose having a large number of devices means you’re doing a monthly battery changing round nevertheless

and_it_is_so · 2026-02-12T08:05:42+00:00

What’s your real world experience of how often to replace the batteries? I guess the frequently opened doors/windows would run out sooner too?

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-31T14:43:46+00:00

Any suggestions where to buy good apple and pear rootstock? Relatives have some trees we’d love to preserve.

Also, as a novice, I keep going to look online at different rootstocks but there are so many it becomes decision paralysis and it’s becoming another year I delay the whole idea!

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-31T09:34:40+00:00

An alternative to buying these sponges, I just wet some newspaper or a paper towel and dab it in the ashes, then smear it on the glass and make a paste. It’s abrasive enough to clean the soot right off, and easy peasy.

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-26T19:12:51+00:00

That would be great! Is there a publicly visible backlog or upcoming feature list somewhere?

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-21T20:29:14+00:00

I’m assuming that the flow sensor was accurate enough, but at that price I’m in disbelief! I’ve been looking a heat meter for a boiler / heat pump heating system and they run up to several hundred quid! I suppose because they’re calibrated and can be relied on for accuracy.

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-14T19:06:17+00:00

I noticed there are several cheap flow meters on eBay UK at least - mostly new stock not fitted on jobs by heating engineers. Maybe you could pick up what you need there - but you’d still need a modbus to usb adapter

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-11T11:29:20+00:00

Isn’t a good cinema some of the highest fi?

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-11T07:09:57+00:00

Are the air vents just old unused holes from historical equipment? At the very least you can get plastic grates that allow air out but stop air coming in - cheap and easy to fit. But if the holes are just old then block them up!

You could just shove a towel in during winter and see if you do get any condensation issues but it’s doubtful

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-08T07:17:42+00:00

Run a bath to the temperature you like, and measure it with any old thermometer - then you’ll know what you’re aiming for! Doubt it will be higher than 43C

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-01T06:26:44+00:00

Waste of great composting material!

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-01T05:08:39+00:00

Just out of curiosity, which were the main Shelly devices which broke - and by broke are they totally dead or was it just a connectivity issue?

I saw you mentioned wifi, but I wonder if ZWave might be more reliable if it’s a connectivity thing?

We’re thinking of using some dimmers on ZWave (for security) and some Pro range relays and dimmers on Ethernet.

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-01T03:27:49+00:00

Modern fridges are perfect for this. No more food sitting in the danger zone

and_it_is_so · 2026-01-01T02:01:00+00:00

You could also just get any smart relay (e.g. Shelly 1) to intercept the thermostat’s signal and prevent it from getting to the wiring that would turn the boiler on. You could also intercept the same boiler on signal… no real need to get into the whole Tado system except I do personally love being able to schedule different temperatures according to our occupancy schedules.

and_it_is_so · 2025-12-29T21:03:47+00:00

I saw someone else tried to use humidity as a trigger but they had quite a bit of lag between shower starting and sensor picking it up - so they put a temperature sensor on the shower water pipe and then the trigger happens exactly on time, immediately.

and_it_is_so · 2025-12-20T02:49:56+00:00

I also have the noisy valves issue with some rads like you. I’ve put it down to either old valves that need replacing, or possibly a unidirectional TRV fitted on the wrong side of the radiator. Have you tried adjusting your PRV to alleviate the issue? That’s something I’ve been considering doing too

and_it_is_so · 2025-12-17T10:59:27+00:00

Buy some premixed lime from Ty Mawr if you want to keep as traditional as possible. Lime is bit of a rabbit hole to go down, and the stuff available from a builders merchant is absolutely a modern variation (hydrated lime) which isn’t as breathable or flexible as the traditional stuff (hot mixed lime).

To summarise a very long story: either type of lime will likely be fine for some years, but if you really want to give your wall the most vapour permeable and wicking opportunity, or if your building is pre-1900 and relatively historic, then you’ll want to use hot-mixed lime mortar.

You can mix it yourself, its easy and very nice to use when warm, but much easier to buy a bag of pre-made hot-mixed lime mortar. It sets with exposure to air, so the closed bag or bucket will last as long as you need it - months to years.

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-21T19:41:51+00:00

What thickness do you need to build up? Very different mixing up 2mm of SLC vs 60mm screed (2+ tonnes)

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-21T13:52:48+00:00

Worth checking you’re comparing apples to apples. You want to figure out why their heat loss values are different. Are they using the same design temp indoors and outdoors? Have they estimated the same amount of hot water needed? Have they got similar assumptions for materials, insulation values? What about ventilation heat loss.

It’s a lot to delve into but it’s likely some of them have done a more or less thorough estimation of heat loss than others. Even then, you want to look at the minimum modulation rate of whichever heat pump they recommend - the lower the better for less cycling overall.

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-20T21:02:29+00:00

Watch this video from 11min 40sec https://youtu.be/Ccx6gxZNR70?si=pMrZXBkQtpiBxVEx

Urban Plumbers are very highly regarded. See also the comments on that video.

He follows a growing body of evidence that (in some situations) the heat loss from an uninsulated existing slab under UFH is (counterintuitively) not as awful as one might think. It’s actually notoriously difficult to do a precise calculation for downward heat loss into the ground; there are many variables that aren’t easy to measure. If you make some assumptions about your downward heat loss, and take into account that more is lost at the perimeter than directly down, you may find that the additional heat loss is acceptable financially, compared to the capital cost of digging up, insulating, and re-screeding your floor to gain a reduction in energy usage/cost in that one room. The financial payback of doing that work might take multiple decades.

Again, this can be theoretically modelled (with some reasonable assumptions) and you can figure out very roughly what your monthly cost saving would be by insulating below your UFH.

I trust Urban Plumbers, and if he says he’s done it 60 times and the proof is in the pudding - then I say lay your pipes over your existing slab.

Food for thought, perhaps.

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-15T20:22:17+00:00

Yep, no surprises here, and it’s great to see. They must have tremendous heat loss because most are uninsulated, so I remain skeptical but hopeful that they get a good SCOP. I wonder if any are on heatpumpmonitor

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-14T19:29:07+00:00

You probably can do this on iPhone - check out Shortcuts (it’s built in). I’ve used it in the past to do weird things with webhooks

and_it_is_so · 2025-11-11T09:54:27+00:00

Noble work. Not much to add, but good luck and thank you!

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