Author: stephen (Page 10 of 61)

RHI approved

September 1, 2014 / stephen

We seem to be on a bit of a roll with the ground source heat pump. Last week we finally sorted out the leak in the ground loops that had been plaguing us for the last 6 months. Today our application for the Renewable Heat Incentive got approved. We applied for it at the end of July and it looks as if our first payment will be at the end of October. The incentive is paid on a quarterly basis, so this means that the approval today means that our first payment is exactly 3 months from when we first applied.

The current tariff is 18.8p for every kWh generated. According to our EPC, it has been estimated that we will be generating 35,405kWh per year. A quick bit of mathematics will show that this generates a payment of around £1,660 per quarter. These payments are for 7 years and by the time we reach the end of this period, it should have re-couped the capital that we invested in the ground source heat pump.

We have installed our own electricity monitor (Owl Intuition) so we know exactly how much electricity that we are using. While we are going to have to wait to see how the heat pump, and the house, performs over the winter, current indications are that we are using between 150kWh per week in the summer to around 1,000kWh in the winter (this includes all of our heating, hot water, lighting and cooking). We will have to see how it all pans out…..

Bottom field looking better

September 1, 2014 / stephen

Now we have our own means of mowing the bottom field, things seem to have improved dramatically.

We have mowed the grass 3-4 times over the last month. On the first couple of occasions, we raked up the worst of the grass, but we are now getting to the stage where we can just leave the worst of the clippings to rot back into the soil. The grass in the bottom field does not grow as fast as the new grass in the top field.

Not quite a stripped lawn (and it doesn't look like much of a slope), but I did it on my own (and I haven't used a tractor before).

Here’s the bottom field as it looked like last year!

The guy riding the bike in the background has two paddles strapped to the top bar of his bike. He cycled back a little later, but this time he had only one paddle strapped to his bike. What happened to the other paddle?

This was the bottom field only a couple of months ago. We borrowed a tractor and topper to take off the worst of the grass. We are now using our John Deere Z425 to get a better (and quicker) finish to the grass.

This is looking a lot better than it was a year ago – or even 4 months ago!

We repaired sections of this wall last year and now you would never know that it has been repaired.

The grass in the bottom field is starting to look good. We have also had a go at sorting out the young trees in the far corner. We have removed the lower branches (essentially lifting the crown) which has meant that we can mow around the trees with the new mower.

Ground loop leak finally fixed

August 23, 2014 / stephen

This time last year we were installing the ground loops in the top field. And it looks as if we have finally located and fixed the leak. It was only a slightly leak, but over a two week period we would lose all of the pressure in the ground loops.

The ground loops themselves were put under pressure once they were installed and while the ground was being back filled. This would have enabled us to detect if there were any problems. In the end, the ground loops were under pressure for a few months without losing any pressure. So we knew this wasn’t going to be the problem. We had checked (and rechecked) all of the manifolds in the manholes. Again no problems. This only left the large pipes that feed the manifolds.

The leak was on one of the compression elbows on the large 63mm pipes. Unfortunately, the leaking elbow was not in one of the manholes and this meant digging a hole – a big hole. Once the joint was exposed, it was cleaned and tightened up. We haven’t lost any pressure since Tuesday (4 days ago). We will give it a few more days before gently backfilling the holes. It is a great relief all round that we have finally located and fixed the leak.

Leak in the ground source loops

August 18, 2014 / stephen

We have had our fair share of problems with the ground source heat pump. At first, it kept tripping out with low pressure alerts. The ground loops were flushed 3 or 4 times and eventually the alerts abated – we have only had one in the past 3 months.

However, there seems to be a leak on the ground loops and the end result is that we lose pressure in the system. This is a bit surprising since we had the ground loops on a pressure test for a few weeks after the ground was back filled – we didn’t lose a drop during this period. However, the larger pipes that connect the manifolds were back filled later and we believe that the joints on these larger (653mm) pipes may have worked loose. In hindsight, we should have made sure that all the joints in the system were accessible from inside the manhole, however, we now have no choice other than to dig them up.

This one was dug by hand. It was decided it was time to order an excavator after this one.

Unfortunately, not all of the joints are accessible via the manholes. This means if you want to check them, then a hole (a big one) has to be dug. This one was dug by hand.

The task here is to dig holes alongside the existing manholes so that we can access the pipework that runs alongside them. The majority of the digging was done by machine. The last 300mm was dug by hand.

Grass cutting

August 18, 2014 / stephen

Now we have re-seeded the top field, we seem to have an awful lot of grass to cut!

The bottom field has always been a bit of a challenge – it is fairly lumpy and has quite a slope to it. We have ended up borrowing a tractor and topper a couple of times a year, but this means that the grass only gets cut when it is 4ft high. The topper ends up flattening more grass than it really cuts.

The top field is fairly flat with some good grass on it. It was only sown about 6-7 weeks ago, so it will be next year before it fully thickens out.

These two fields are about an acre each. Then we have the orchard which is full of trees and the occasional tree stump. Up until now we have been using a mulching mower to cope with the grass in the orchard, but now with the top field re-seeded we have decided that it is time to invest in a ride on mower. Once we have a mower of our own (rather than having to borrow one), we suspect that the grass will get cut a little more often.

After quite a bit of research, we decided to invest in a zero turn mower. We haven’t been very impressed with the tractor and topper – it feels very unstable on the slope in the bottom field and the quality of the cut has been pretty poor. While a zero turn mower is going to be less versatile than a compact tractor, it is going to be quicker and make a better job of cutting the grass. It is also going to be a cheaper option.

We had a good look around and ended up on deciding on a John Deere Z425. Although John Deere kit is expensive, it is very well made and should cope well with the size of area that we are cutting. We have always opted for slightly more commercial equipment because of the size of the property. We arranged for a demonstration through our local dealer (Bob Wild in Hebden Bridge) and were so convinced by the machine that we decided to buy it there and then.

Over the weekend we have cut the grass in the bottom field a couple of times. We have raked the grass in-between each cut (don’t forget it was 4ft high a couple of weeks ago) and hope that we will get this into a decent state before the summer is out.

Adrian from Bob Wild Grass Machinery demonstrating the John Deere Z425 on the slope in the bottom field. This machine is a lot more stable (and a lot quicker) than a compact tractor and topper. Adrian actually demonstrated that it is possible to cut along the slope with this machine. The slope doesn’t look much in these photos, but it feels steep when you are on it!

If Daleks could mow grass, this is what it would look like! It feels a bit like driving a large motorised wheelchair. We need to shoot some video and post it.

Log burning stove for the hall

August 12, 2014 / stephen

We have finally had a log stove installed in the hall. Ever since we moved in, we have had the fireplace boarded up and the stainless steel flue tucked up out of the way.

Since we have been delighted with the Firebelly stove that we installed in the snug, we have decided to install another Firebelly stove. This time it is the slightly larger FB2 model. This outputs about 12Kw, so it should be more than enough to heat the hall, stairway and landing. They come in a variety of colours – this one is sky blue.

We have had absolutely no trouble with our existing FB1 stove – it is a dream to use – easy to control and clean. I am sure the FB2 will be just as good.

This was installed in the hall today and looks great. It is a Firebelly FB2 supplied direct from the local manufacturer based in Elland (Halifax). They are an absolute pleasure to do business with. Highly recommended.

These stoves come from a local manufacturer and come in a variety of colours. This model (FB2) is in sky blue with a matching stove pipe. This outputs around 12Kw.

RHI application submitted

July 31, 2014 / stephen

RHI (renewable heat incentive) is an incentive paid by the government to encourage people to install renewable forms of heating. This covers ground source heat pumps (like the one that we have installed) and the incentives are intended to enable users to recoup the upfront investment involved in installing the systems. The incentives are calculated on a 7 year repayment period.

RHI is covered in depth elsewhere on this blog, but today we managed to submit our application. The process is all online and administered by Ofgem. You will need to have your MCS registration number (your installer should provide you with this), your EPC reference number and your GDA (Green Deal Assessment) number. Other than that, you just have to answer a few simple questions. It didn’t take more than 30 minutes to fill in the online form. Now it is just a matter of waiting for the application to be reviewed.

Although the application process opened in April, it has taken us a few weeks to sort out the EPC. The RHI payments are based on the heating requirements calculated as part of the EPC. I haven’t really paid that much attention to EPCs before (you need one if buying or selling a house), but when a payment depends on it, it gets a lot more attention.

We had a problem that the first couple of EPCs that were done bore little resemblance to the original calculations before by the system installer. The original estimates were that the annual heating and hot water demand would be in the region of 50,000kWh. The first two EPCs were in the region of 30,000kWh. The current RHI payment is 18.9p for every kWh generated, so a 20,000kWh difference equates to around £3,780 per year, or £26,460 over the 7 year payback period!

The main problem with the first two EPCs seem to be the unique nature of our property – some areas are double height, some parts of internal insulation on the original solid stone walls, even the heat pump itself seem to cause some head scratching. The first assessor failed to produce an EPC at all! He did the initial visit, asked lots of questions and then we never heard from him again. The second assessor did his best, but our property didn’t neatly fall into many of the boxes that needed to be ticked.

Eventually, on the third attempt, we got an EPC assessment that was close to the original heat calculations. The annual heat demand is still below the original calculations, but it is close enough. The RHI application was submitted this morning and with any luck we should hear in the next week or so.

First cut for the top field

July 24, 2014 / stephen

Well, it has been almost a month to the day that we sowed the grass seed in the top field. Today’s the day to get the lawn mower out. According to most of the gardening books, as soon as the grass gets to about 3 inches long, you should cut it taking just about 30% off. This works well with our lawn mower on the highest setting.

It took a good couple of hours to cut the grass. The lawn mower is only small and although the field is largely flat, there is still around an acre to be cut. Today, the temperature is around 28C, so it is hot work pushing a lawn mower around. I can’t helping feeling that a push along lawn mower is not the right tool for the job! But it is the only one we have. Ideally, we could now do with some rain, but I think we are going to have to wait until Sunday for any rain.

We have just run the lawn mower over the new grass. It was about 3 inches long and we just took the top inch off. It was sown 4 weeks ago to the day.

The grass is starting to thicken out. We are not short of sunshine at the moment, but a drop of rain would be handy. There is some forecast for the weekend.

Winter cabbages planted out

July 24, 2014 / stephen

And this time, I have planted the cabbages under some netting. The last lot of cabbages (and broccoli, for that matter) were eaten by the wood pigeons. They made quick work of polishing off a dozen cabbage plants and about the same amount of broccoli.

We have planted these cabbages where the early potatoes were planted. We have harvested these and are now onto the main crop of potatoes. We have also planted more leeks and sown some carrots. We have just about finished all of the carrots that we grew earlier in the year in the polytunnel.

The onions seem to be doing well, but not as well as the weeds!

Now the early potatoe crop has been harvested, it is time to plant out the winter cabbages. There are two varieties here:

This time we are going to try growing cabbages under netting. The pigeons ate all of the summer cabbages. Last year, the cabbage fly ate most of the cabbages in the polytunnel (which was the wrong place for them anyway). Hopefully, we will have a bit more success with these.

In there, amongst the weeds, are 6 sweet corn plants. We would have had more, but for some reason I had problems getting the seeds to germinate. Goodness, whether these will flower, but we shall see.

Cutting the grass in the bottom field

July 18, 2014 / stephen

The grass in the bottom field as reached waist height and we really should have cut it before now. With rain forecast for this weekend, it seems the right time for us to cut it.

We borrow a tractor and grass topper from a neighbour in the village which makes quick work of cutting the grass. We do have to make two passes though as the grass is so long. The slope on the bottom field also means that you need to mow up and down the slope (and definitely not sideways) otherwise there is a risk that the tractor might topple over.

A couple of hours work and the job is done!

We really should have cut this grass before now. We really have let it get a bit long. It is up to waist height. There is nothing else for it, but to get the tractor and topper out!

The grass was so long that we had to cut it twice. This just made the task twice as long! Still it looked much better once done.

The guy riding the bike in the background has two paddles strapped to the top bar of his bike. He cycled back a little later, but this time he had only one paddle strapped to his bike. What happened to the other paddle?

This always looks like good fun when someone else is doing it, but it isn’t really. There is too much of a slope on this field (although you can’t see it in these shots) and it feels as if the tractor is going to topple over. You can avoid this to a certain extent by mowing up and down the slope, but it still has its moments!