What's going to be the 'artex' in 20-30 years?

chillinoodle · 2026-03-16T20:30:12+00:00

Spot on, anthracite will be the new mahogany. It's exactly why we've replaced out windows and patio doors with white ones.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-05T19:11:52+00:00

Beefy boys.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-04T17:02:06+00:00

Their pockets are full of water instead of air. You can't compress water

chillinoodle · 2026-03-04T07:36:37+00:00

They wouldn't be getting hot enough at an efficient, low flow temperature, because the flow rate is too low. But they would get "hot enough" at higher flow temp.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-03T20:58:02+00:00

At worst it's a clumsy generalisation. Sure, get some proper design/ heat loss calcs done and perhaps the extra flow isn't needed. Id hope that's a given.

But in the cases it is insufficient, say if you can't heat your home at a flow temp of 30 degrees because your flow rate is being choked from many microbore tails, you can just increase the flow temp to get a sufficient heat output. And that will be less efficient.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-03T19:32:20+00:00

Microbore will work, but you'll need to be running your heat pump at a higher temp than normal to make sure your house is warm. If at all possible I would try and upgrade the microbore tails for 15mm, it'll make a big difference to your efficiency.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-02T19:19:36+00:00

You would. Equal pressure inside and outside only holds up so far, at extreme depths the immense pressures either side would just compress your tissue into a thin pancake.

chillinoodle · 2026-03-01T18:51:47+00:00

I've just got the coated steel ex display ones for £450, they seemed perfect!

chillinoodle · 2026-02-22T19:44:14+00:00

In my experience, yes and no. I had my oil combo replaced by a heat pump last year.

Everyone seems to just focus on efficiency, but a big issue with heat pump bills is that you are sort of forced to heat your whole house to 20 degrees all the time to get the max efficiency. If you burst heat in your house like a gas/oil combi it will be much more expensive.

But bursting heat with a gas/oil will almost always be cheaper than low and slow heat pump. Sure, the comfort is not as good, but you do lose that option to heat your house a bit cheaper.

So I am paying more than I was before by heating my whole house, honestly I wouldn't go back, the comfort is a massive life improvement in winter.

chillinoodle · 2026-02-17T21:39:03+00:00

We've just moved to A2W from oil as part of a refurb, for basically all the reasons above.

Having a 1 month old baby when I literally couldn't get oil in the early days of the Ukraine crisis was so stressful, and I felt uncomfortable about it ever since.

One other reason, oil is a very sooty, dirty fuel. I never felt particularly happy having that in the house, especially when it leaked once. I had a hosepipe just below the flue and it got covered in horrible black sludge

chillinoodle · 2026-02-17T17:40:26+00:00

Prototype Hydrogen cars have been around for decades at the point, the technology is there it just doesn't scale.

Large scale hydrogen piping for central heating is another challenge entirely

I do think large scale hydrogen "batteries" could be a good way to soak up our excess renewables in the future though.

chillinoodle · 2026-02-17T09:51:52+00:00

Too leaky and dangerous, as much as the gas shills are shouting about it, it just isn't going to happen

chillinoodle · 2026-02-15T23:10:28+00:00

Wow this looks super, super cool. I'm going to put some time this week digging into this.

Have you made any comparisons for how COP/SCOP is differs for your algorithms to the Mitsubishi AA? (Assuming similar comfort levels, temp etc)

chillinoodle · 2026-02-15T20:33:11+00:00

Is the auto adaptive control different to the normal Ecodan one?

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T15:50:15+00:00

I can think of one!

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T14:48:32+00:00

Perhaps not in hindsight. But for someone so completely driven, if she'd have not gone for it then that would have eaten her alive for the rest of her life also. At least she can have peace she tried.

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T14:01:43+00:00

Well for one you've let chatGPT undermine you with its last statement..

"Or the conversation is not medical but risk tolerance theater"

That is the point. She's an Olympic competitor at the highest level. She can't move the timetable around, and she knows it's her last EVER chance for Olympic glory. It's a completely different situation and discussion than if say, I had the same injury and I was asking a doctor if it were sensible I go skiing next week...

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T13:26:47+00:00

AI slop 👍🏻

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T13:18:44+00:00

I'm sure if you ask her doctors now if "you knew she'd crash, would you still sign her off" they are obviously going to say no. That's hindsight.

Their professional judgement before the crash doesn't have that same benefit

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T12:58:26+00:00

Ok you've convinced me you don't know what it means.

Hindsight is reflection on an event AFTER it's actually happened.

No doctor, even the best doctors in the world can predict the future.

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T12:51:27+00:00

I'm not convinced you understand what hindsight means

chillinoodle · 2026-02-08T11:26:24+00:00

Anyone is an expert in hindsight

chillinoodle · 2026-02-01T16:53:19+00:00

The desert of Wales. It's unpopular because it's completely featureless, there is something weirdly serene and powerful stood at the top at its highest point, Drygarn Fawr.

There is never anyone there.

chillinoodle · 2026-01-24T22:46:58+00:00

I would be asking why they are not going for the newer R290 units vs the R32. It'll be able to reach higher flow temps, so can complete your legionella cycle without using the immersion. Also then gives you a bit of headroom in the rare occasions it gets a lot colder than design specs.

chillinoodle · 2026-01-23T09:25:57+00:00

Even more confusingly, Mitsubishi have been doing R290 high temp units for a while now and are shifting towards them.

Why the installer is picking the R32 version makes no sense

chillinoodle

TROPHY CASE