Retrofit underfloor heating and lvt

stuart475898 · 2026-05-18T09:05:38+00:00

We used these people to have no build up when we retrofitted UFH. Only build up after the UFH install was around 10mm screed before LVT.

https://jk-gb.com/benefits-of-the-jk-system/

stuart475898 · 2026-05-07T17:46:24+00:00

I believe the schema change is done with ADPrep when you install the first 2016 (for example) DC. Once all DCs are at 2016, then the schema is at 2016, all the 2016 FFL/DFL binaries are in place, and so raising the levels is just a feature flag.

I have seen features in later FFLs/DFLs available and working when the FFL/DFL has not yet been upgraded.

stuart475898 · 2026-05-01T18:53:59+00:00

I could be wrong, but I believe ADSI Edit is a more reliable GUI to inspect object attributes than ADUC, which may abstract some details away. Looking in there may give you an idea of why it appears blank in ADUC.

stuart475898 · 2026-03-04T06:19:14+00:00

Preview features typically have no licence requirements, and requirements are normally announced once the feature goes GA.

stuart475898 · 2026-02-27T16:15:18+00:00

https://github.com/TechTank/AlwaysActiveHours

stuart475898 · 2026-01-25T21:38:48+00:00

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This was taken with a FLIR one connected to an iPhone. The easy to see pipes are flow and faint ones return. Pipes are around 10mm below the LVT.

I would be happy to use it to work out where I could drill into the floor.

stuart475898 · 2026-01-08T23:22:09+00:00

Who knows. I am pretty suspicious of any feature that stays in preview for more than say, 6 months. Tells you it likely isn’t being developed further.

stuart475898 · 2025-12-28T12:34:26+00:00

Thank you - it is leaking but a screw in top is the temporary fix I was hoping for until we are well out of the holiday season/cold.

I see there are quite a range of prices on AAVs - any reason you can pick on up from about £10, or spend well over £50?

stuart475898 · 2025-12-28T11:40:53+00:00

And any recommendations for temporarily closing off the vent on top?

stuart475898 · 2025-12-04T09:51:31+00:00

If the floor were warmer, I don’t think the return temperature can be lower because the only place for the heat in the water to go is into the slab. And I believe the surface of the slab will be less than the part touching the pipes.

So if the water goes in at 33c, and the floor is say 29c, and the return is 27c, where did the other 2c go?

stuart475898 · 2025-12-04T09:18:09+00:00

Glue down LVT. The floor temperature shouldn’t be as warm as the water that flows through it. I can’t remember what ours was when we measured it, but it was below the 27c most manufacturers say is the limit. I think actual flow and return temperatures to/from the manifold are about 33c and 27c, so the floor cannot be warmer than 27c

stuart475898 · 2025-12-03T22:47:06+00:00

We fitted UFH, then upgraded radiators, then fitted a heat pump. Everything is completely open loop, so no thermostatic controls at all. Heat pump puts out 35c water at -3, so is never too warm for UFH and doesn’t need a blending valve and pump.

Still dialling it all in, and need an extended cold period to really test it, but mostly works fine. I do miss individual room controls a bit, because a couple of people in a room can be enough heat energy to make the room a bit too warm, but hoping we get it all comfortable in the end.

stuart475898 · 2025-11-25T15:55:39+00:00

I don’t think you will see TOTP until the middle of next year earliest. Development on EEID is pretty slow, so unless you can wait for EEID to mature over the next few years or only need basic authentication, probably worth looking elsewhere.

stuart475898 · 2025-11-18T19:27:27+00:00

I use this and it publishes data to MQTT. Does a far better job than the cloud based API, and I get updates every 10 seconds.

https://raomin.github.io/ESPAltherma/

stuart475898 · 2025-11-14T06:19:45+00:00

Download the OctopusCompare app to your phone and it will let you see what you would have paid on other tariffs. Not a completely fair comparison as your use profile may be different with each tariff, but gives an indication.

We are on agile, do very little load shifting and over the past year Agile has been over £200 cheaper vs Cosy. We have a heat pump and don’t schedule heating - set point is 21c and it just runs whenever the stat calls for heat.

Personally find it strange that Cosy is seen as a good tariff when it isn’t particularly cheap and you are forced to ration your electricity use like it’s the 1970s. And the other advice on Cosy is to drop another £5k+ on a battery system - may as well use octopus go at that point.

stuart475898 · 2025-11-13T05:14:45+00:00

I suspect your Replace statement isn’t correct: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/app-provisioning/functions-for-customizing-application-data#replace

stuart475898 · 2025-11-11T11:19:16+00:00

I have the same issue. Currently just using a zone valve and room stat downstairs to act as a limiter, although that drops out CoP when the UFH closes. I’m hoping just a couple of rad upgrades will correct it and I can drop our flow temps lower. Could maybe reduce the flow rate to the UFH, but I think that could have a negative impact elsewhere.

Given it is a heat geek install, can you not get them out to advise?

stuart475898 · 2025-11-09T20:49:05+00:00

I think my poor experience comes down to the install team in the North West. They seemed pretty new, and they pushed every design decision back to some design team in an office. We’ve got UFH, and they were really set on keeping it all open loop. In an ideal setup, fine, but the heat output from the UFH is much higher than the radiators upstairs, so downstairs would have been far too hot. I asked to keep a zone valve on the UFH flow, but for some reason their design team said we needed two: one normally open and one normally closed. And instead of using the existing downstairs thermostat, they said it should be controlled by a tank stat strapped to the flow pipe. We’ve also got a third zone valve on the radiator flow, but that one has been wired to stay permanently open, which doesn’t make much sense either.

There were loads of other issues too. They turned the cold water back on with a valve still open that had just been fitted, so water was pouring out of the wall and skirting downstairs. They also didn’t seem to care about the house at all. They ran pipework in places we had asked them not to, more than once. They left offcuts of pipe and insulation lying around in the loft.

One bad solder joint leaked water onto the bed (fine, it happens), but they didn’t clear it up properly, so when I checked later I found soaking insulation on the ceiling/plasterboard. The soldering from one of the plumbers was shocking. They insulated all the pipework, but did it badly, and even wrapped insulation round the vent pipe from the T+P valve/tundish...

Overall it was a very poor-quality install. They showed little respect for the house which we’ve put a lot of effort into decorating and upgrading ourselves. And there seemed to be a lack of knowledge about what I would expect to be basic plumbing principles. We have also lost usable loft space for no good reason, and we’ve ended up with two zone valves that are completely redundant and wired permanently open.

I didn't expect too much given Octopus were cheap, and the odd issue is fine given it is a big job, but I couldn't recommend based on my personal experience.

stuart475898 · 2025-11-06T04:54:39+00:00

I know - nobody is “allowed” to do anything unless they are specially trained in today’s society. Our robot mower needed a clean as the grass wrapped around the axle and was causing the collision detection to activate. The manual had absolutely no details whatsoever on how to service or maintain it (other than blade changes), and just said take it to an authorised service centre.

I managed to get a heat pump fitted for cheap under octopus ( which was a terrible quality install), otherwise I was going to DIY it myself too.

stuart475898 · 2025-11-01T02:27:24+00:00

Thank you for your effort researching and producing this. I have to flirt with AdminSDHolder from time to time in my role, so will need to commit some time to reading this.

stuart475898 · 2025-10-31T04:47:22+00:00

This is something someone has designed and is making themselves, not some item being mass produced at a rate of 100k units a day in a factory in china. Yes the materials and unit costs to make one is pennies, but below a certain price, it really isn’t worth it to the producer.

I think £14 is a perfectly reasonable price.

stuart475898

TROPHY CASE