u/bingobango2911

We are quite a small energy use household - currently 2,674 kWh per annum (for a 4 bed detached property). Our gas is currently LPG (we use around 800 litres a year).

However, the quotes I've had back from suppliers are predicting a mixed approach making comparison tricky. One quote assumes 2,674 ongoing.

But there's a likelihood we add Air Source Heat Pump in the future (or something that does both cooling and airing) which effectively will mean we lose our LPG tank. I've read that 800 litres with a 7.11Kwh/litre calofific value with a 90% boiler efficiency will give around 5,120 KwH of energy output. With a seasonal COP of 2.8-3.5 for a ASHP we'd be looking around 1,600KwH per year.

The other thing is that I want to give headroom for Car EV - around 10,000 miles a year (so looks to be around 3,000KwH per year).

I've assumed aircon is largely solar offset so around 400KwH per year.

So should we be asking for an estimation of around 8,000 KwH (e.g. 2,674+1,600+3,000+400)?

How have others approached this?

I could do with some thoughts on backup best practice.

At the moment I'm backing up to 3 locations -

1). Cloud drive

2). External HDD on premise

3). Internal HDD on premise

I'm happy with those 3 for now. However my issue is about backup frequency.

I have it storing 3 days (backup everyday) and then on the 4th day it overwrites the first.

My concern is that if I don't spot issues in 3 days then I've lost a way of getting back.

Ideally it would do a separate monthly backup and keep that separate to the more frequent backup (which maybe I should also increase eg every 7 days)

What do you think and can I automate the monthly backup in HA or do I need to do that manually?).

Thanks

I would like some advice on the best approach to synchronising photos.

I've gone through all photos on my local hard drive (I'm running a home server) and have the following structure:

- Pictures (top folder)

-- Memories 2026 (these are individual photos which don't fit in a folder)

--- 001-Day-Month-Year.jpg

----002-Day-Month-Year.jpg

-- Memories 2025 etc

-- 333 Folder Name, Date and Year (these are grouped photos)

--- 001-Day-Month-Year.jpg

--- 002-Day-Month-Year.jpg

-- 334 Folder Name, Date and Year etc.

Most of the photos are taken on our phones, I then download them every so often to the laptop manually, then sort them into the above. This is stored on our local server.

I am then running the Amazon Photos sync app to synchronise (for backup) with Amazon Cloud Storage (as I get free photo storage with our Amazon Prime account - although limit for videos unfortunately).

Has anyone come across a better process - feels like the process going from phone to local HDD to Amazon Cloud storage is not the best (but then I don't want phone to Amazon cloud synchronisation as it messes up the folder structure).

Thoughts welcome!

I'm in the process of purchasing a Samsung QE55S90F. I had a previous old (14 years) Samsung LED TV which was hung onto the wall.

I would like to mount the Samsung TV on the wall. I've got an existing universal wall bracket (Vonhaus) - it will need moving because it's too high up on the wall.

However, I can only see two mounting screws from what I've seen of the back of the TV.

Am I right in saying that the other two are more deeply recessed - and that there are wall mounting cubes in the box which bring them up level with the other two holes?

I've also read that it might need 45mm M8 bolts rather than the standard 30mm bolts.

The other thing is whether I can use my existing wall mount with brackets - I don't have the manual for the Vonhaus which is a bit of a pain.

Thoughts welcome - thanks.

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Hi there - I've been getting quotes for solar PV.

One of the unexpected questions that has come up is whether I want EPS or Gateway?

I'm not sure entirely of the difference between the two. I run a small home server - have been considering getting UPS so that when we have powercuts (which does happen) that either the system can continue for a bit until the power comes on or is shuts down the system in a controlled way.

Is this similar when it comes to gateway or EPS?

Thanks

I've got a number of my devices at home reserved with a permanent IP address using the address reservation in my Archer VX1800v router (using the DHCP server and an address IP pool between 192.168.1.64 and 192.168.1.253.

However, the router only allows for a maximum of 30 devies with an address reservation.

We have powercuts every so often in the area I live - I'm often finding that the power outage causes a change in IP address and given I run Home Assistant this causes quite a lot of additional work after the outage.

Is there a way around this:

- I've got a Proxmox server running (on an Intel NUC) - is there a way of me setting a static IP address via Proxmox for both my VMs and LXCs? (and can that therefore free up some space on the router?)

- I'm assuming some devices I may be able to set a static IP address on the device (i.e. in the app itself)?

I'm guessing if I do this then I should presumably set an address pool on the router outside of the IP addresses I fix on Proxmox or on the devices themselves?

Is that the best route (without at this stage investing in more kit?)

UK - Where now after GivEnergy for Solar

​

I'm looking to get solar panels installed on our house in the UK.

​

It looks as though GivEnergy Solar and Battery and the Gen3 inverter have been popular for integration into Home Assistant.

​

But as GivEnergy are now in administration where is the best place to look?

​

And any advice welcome on what I should be looking at for solar installation would be great.

​

Thanks!

I'm looking to get solar panels installed on our house in the UK.

It looks as though GivEnergy Solar and Battery and the Gen3 inverter have been popular for integration into Home Assistant.

But as GivEnergy are now in administration where is the best place to look?

And any advice welcome on what I should be looking at for solar installation would be great.

Thanks!

Well it might sound a bit over-dramatic, but we had a thunderstorm here in England this afternoon.

We had a powercut - which does happen in our area every so often. But usually a reboot of my Intel NUC will reload Home Assistant and everything loads up fine.

But this time I've got issues:

- Drayton Wiser Heating Controls - all disconnected and I'm struggling to get re-connected (trying to avoid a hard reset)

- Same with Shelley EM device

- Same with Kasa devices (smart plugs)

- Same with Tuya and Local Tuya devices (smart bulbs etc)

It's not that they don't show up in Home Assistant, but I can't get them going in the native app (e.g. Kasa app, Smart Life, Drayton app).

Any thoughts - both for fixing now and how to avoid issues like this in the future?

Thanks!

What's the best way to insulate the recess of a fireplace (when I say best I mean both cost effective and safe!).

As you will see from the photos I'm using quite a lot of heat out of the back of the recess (when they did cavity wall insulation this bit wasn't insulated).

I've had the following suggested - is this safe and is there a preference (and if I fix it to the wall then what do I put on top of the heatproof boards - if anything?).

1). Skamotec 225 - Skamo Enclosure Board

2). Vermiculite fire boards

3). Calcium silicate Insulation boards - very expensive

4). Rockwool FirePro / RW5 (non-combustible mineral wool)

e.g. could I use the Rockwool FirePro and then cover it with a Vermiculite Fire board and paint over the top?

I'm more than happy to reduce the size of the recess - it doesn't need to be as big as it is for us.

Thanks





What's the best way to insulate the recess of a fireplace (when I say best I mean both cost effective and safe!).

As you will see from the photos I'm using quite a lot of heat out of the back of the recess (when they did cavity wall insulation this bit wasn't insulated).

I've had the following suggested - is this safe and is there a preference (and if I fix it to the wall then what do I put on top of the heatproof boards - if anything?).

1). Skamotec 225 - Skamo Enclosure Board

2). Vermiculite fire boards

3). Calcium silicate Insulation boards - very expensive

4). Rockwool FirePro / RW5 (non-combustible mineral wool)

e.g. could I use the Rockwool FirePro and then cover it with a Vermiculite Fire board and paint over the top?

I'm more than happy to reduce the size of the recess - it doesn't need to be as big as it is for us.

Thanks

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