u/langdalenerd

Whilst the floor is up, I'm going to put the cable down.

Don't know what EV or charger yet, but ordered 6mm2 twin & earth cable for a 32A / 7kW charger at some point in the future. Run is about 10m. Cable will be clipped to wooden suspended floor without insulation.

It's not going outdoors, and I'm going to wrap the cable up on both ends (one by the meter, one by the exit point of the house). Will obviously get pro to install the charger when I get it fitted.

Just checking a 6mm2 twin and earth (and separate cat6 cable) is suitable? And also whilst I'm at it a 4mm2 twin and earth for a future multisplit airconditioning

I was going off https://intrelec.co.uk/2020/10/21/cable-sizing-charts/

I am, sadly, asthmatic. And all the prepping in the world can’t avoid the fact I need inhalers to live.

So interested if anyone has an idea for becoming more resilient in this regard?

I currently request more than I need, and try and store some but I’ve only ever got a few months of buffer.

I live in a rural property with split phase (230-0-230) and 2 60A supplies.

I want solar and ESS installed, a Victron system because it natively supports split phase and grid isolation, but I’ve contacted 28 installers in the South West and most of them don’t reply, the few that do won’t install the system because they’re not familiar with Victron or split phase.

I’ve been working with a friend who is a solar system designer and have a fully designed system. I’ve installed an off-grid version of this (same system, albeit smaller in a agricultural barn) and I am highly confident that I can install the system (excluding PV on the roof, I’d find someone to do that for me and connect it to the DC isolators) I want in my home with the help of the designer (in person). This would all be after the grid isolation.

I’d need to notify building control and then get it signed off after. I’m willing to forgo the MCS certificate as I don’t plan on exporting (or I’d go with octopus).

But I’d want an electrician who can check the installation (both AC and DC side) before it’s energised and I get building control sign off.

Am I living in fairy land with the idea I’d find someone who’d be willing to check my work before the local authority signs it off? I’m not asking for a formal sign off, just a thorough inspection and a verbal “yeah looks good” before I get building control sign off.

I have no problem paying someone to do this work, it’s not about saving money. I’ve spoke to a few installers on the phone who say “it’s just not worth it for the extra effort of a bespoke system when we can install a 10x Sigenergy batteries a month”.

If so, anyone else got any advice? Clutching at straws at this point 🙃

Edit: Or even potentially get the AC side connected by an electrician while I install the DC side.

I’m planning on installing a custom Victron system but every single installer I’ve contacted (upwards of 15 now) won’t install a Victron system in the way I need it. They just want Sigenergy / Fox bog standard installs (which I get, better business model for them).

I’m planning on contacting some MCS installers to install the solar array and terminate it at the DC isolator and then installing the Victron / Battery side myself and then getting Part-P sign off from a qualified electrification.

I’m interested in thoughts on this approach? I’m pretty well versed with Victron gear but all off-grid. I have a friendly electrician who’ll be willing to help me and sign it off. But I want the MCS certification for the solar so I can export, plus neither I nor my friend have installed panels before so whilst we can spec the panels, the actual install exceeds what I’d be willing to try myself.

If you’re an installer, would you install to the DC isolator, MCS certify your scope up to there and then hand it over?

If you’re an enthusiast, do you think I’m nuts?

NGED are quoting me a genuine split-phase supply upgrade (two 60A legs, 180° apart, not three-phase). Does this get metered as one MPAN, or two separate MPANs with two standing charges? Anyone had this done?

NGED are quoting me a genuine split-phase supply upgrade (two 60A legs, 180° apart, not three-phase). Does this get metered as one MPAN, or two separate MPANs with two standing charges? Anyone had this done?

TLDR: heat pump feasibility on home with 20kW+ of heat loss?

We’re mid-buying a 4 bed 207m2 stone house in the country. I’ve been planning on having a heat pump installed and have been super excited about it, but have started to question whether it’s feasible (economically) due to the construction. I thought I’d ask for advice from actual humans with experience as opposed to relying on Claude / ChatGPT at this point.

It’s a pre-1900 stone house with ~450mm stone, double glazing, 150mm attic insulation. The EPC puts the heat demand for this property at 35mWh a year. Heat Geeks estimated the loss at 13.8kW but Claude, given the floor plans and building material, puts it closer to 20kW with one upper estimate being 26kW.

We’d planned on expanding the loft insulation with an additional layer, and draft proofing the house. We also only need 2 of the 4 bedrooms heated but that optimistically gets us to 18kW (according to Claude).

We want to upgrade each room with IWI as finances allow, but that will be a multi-year project. Each of the rooms have been recently renovated so tearing them apart so soon just isn’t an option.

Before we offered, I’d just used the heat geek estimate of 13.8kW loss and a Vaillant Arotherm Plus 12kW but having researched more about the heat loss it seems this was an excessively optimistic figure.

I’m becoming concerned that a heat pump isn’t feasible until we do IWI, which isn’t feasible for a few years across even the minority of occupied rooms. By which point my political skepticism says the BUS Grant will have been removed from middle-income households.

We’re going to get a survey as soon as we move in, but I want to be in a position of knowledge prior to that to ensure whatever the output of that survey is I can verify it to ensure we’re not left with a cold house, excessive run costs (or both).

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s got experience (either as a consumer or installer) in a similar situation.

Thanks.

I want a large Victron energy system installed in my home in Somerset. I want Victron Energy for multiple reasons, but primarily I have a split phase system which Victron supports, plus being able to provide additional AC supply (by way of a backup generator).

I’m also looking at getting a Fogstar rack battery at 40kWh with 10/12kWp of solar.

I’m taking a punt here asking if anyone knows an installer / has experience with Victron installs to share.

Thanks!

I’ve always been a “back of head prepper” in that I take reasonable precautions like having a few days supply of food, water, candles, medication etc. I’m also very outdoorsy so this is relatively easy for me.

My partner and I are looking for our forever home and over the past few months I’ve been going deeper and deeper on the resilience angle.

I’ve now ended up with multiple different planning scenarios, documented with mitigations.

I’ve been using high performance LLMs to reason and refine the planning scenarios and their likelihood, especially into the 2040/2050s. For instance, the 1/3rd shortfall of water demand in 2050 compared with current supply, the grid instability we’re seeing at the moment continuing, economic scenarios, a lot of climate scenarios (and a combination thereof).

All on the pessimistic end of realistic. But I’m using that as a blueprint for our forever home, such as solar, air conditioning, water reclamation, poly tunnels etc.

Luckily we live in an area of the uk where land is “affordable”.

I’m interested as to what other folks are doing. Is it mostly back-of-the-napkin stuff or any one got runbooks per scenario?

I’d be happy to compare planning scenarios for coverage?

My DNO is National Grid. Looking at buying a rural property but want a heat pump and EV. Property only has 60A supply, want it upgraded to at least 80A, would be best at 100A but ideally three phase.

Haven’t purchased the property yet, but emailed NG asking for info about whether it is at all possible and rough order of magnitude cost.

Just wondering if anyone has a similar experience / story to tell / advice.

Thanks!

Partner and I looking at buying our second home. It's a rural cottage in the middle of nowhere. Listed in 2024 originally for £750k then taken off market, put back on late-2025 for £650k then reduced to £600k earlier this year.

Agent said they've had no offers since they've listed it (2025 listing) - we know why, it's pretty rural and quite old. Sellers position - retired, struggling to take care of property, looking to move closer to family.

Our position - house on market, verbal offer for asking price from FTB. Assuming that actually manifests....

We're thinking of offering below asking. We were thinking of offering £575k but my partner is pushing even for £550k. I think that might be a bit insulting. Will wait until we have a confirmed offer. We have signalled to them we are likely to make an offer when we have one confirmed on our home.

Interested in thoughts? How much would you push it in our position? Thanks.

I’m 32 and 11 years into my career as a software eng, currently staff. I’m on a solid salary at a fintech, but totally and utterly bored. Previously was in green tech and defence before that.

I find tech really interesting (I do a lot of side projects / hobbies) but literally so little motivation to do work for a corporate. This feeling started at my last employer so I moved, but I feel identical at my current company.

AI has also made this 10x worse as my company have AI usage targets so I basically just prompt Claude, then wait, review, repeat.

I’d say I’m doing 10-20 hours of actual work in my 40 hour work week.

I was pretty worried about being caught out when I first joined but my performance ratings have been good so I’m fully coasting - whilst a nice position to be in, it’s boring as hell. And I also feel guilty, like one day they’re going to say “you only look at your screen for 30% of the working day…” or something.

I’m looking for a startup to join, in a specific sector, but I’m waiting for something to come up. Patience is not my strong suit here. I’m also worried it might not change the feeling.

Interested if anyone else is in the same boat / had similar experience and would offer any anecdotes or advice?

In England, looking for advice on potentially dangerous solar install.

• 2023: Octopus Energy installed solar panels plus a GivEnergy battery and inverter at my parents' home. We asked for it to go in the garage in writing; Octopus refused in writing (said the garage wasn't viable as they don't offer the required DC cable conduit) and installed it in the loft instead.
• ~8 months later (2024): the inverter control panel burnt and melted due to heat. GivEnergy replaced it under warranty.
• 2024–2026: industry standards changed - batteries in lofts were recommended against and then prohibited. The install predated these and was compliant at the time.
• April 2026: GivEnergy ceased trading. The administrator has stated no further warranties or parts will be honoured and customers should revert to their installer.
• During this heatwave, the inverter has been cutting out and I eventually went and turned the thing off for fear of it melting again.

We're concerned about fire risk: it's already overheated once, sits in a hot loft, and there are no replacement parts available. There's a smoke alarm up there but that's detection, not mitigation. We've asked Octopus to sort it.

Question: As the installer who supplied and fitted the whole system, is Octopus legally responsible for remedying this (e.g. relocating the kit at their cost) under the Consumer Rights Act, given the manufacturer no longer exists? And can we insist on relocation rather than accepting a smoke alarm / monitoring as the "fix"?

I'm concerned that because 'it still functions' and 'it complied with standards at the time' that it'll just be a default no answer.

And even if the fire risk isn't at issue here, I'm also concerned about lifetime of the system.