Author Archives: davidl

Optimisers

This is not a happy story but it needs mentioning. As earlier posts have noted, Porter’s is equipped with two strings of 9 Solar PV panels, adding up to 3.96kWp. There were problems with one of the strings back in … Continue reading

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Let’s look at Solar PV again

If you look back through the posts to 2011 and 2012 the solar PV system on the house was installed as the house was built. It is an “in-roof” system, rather than “on-roof”. Apart from anything else, it save tiles … Continue reading

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Revived!

It’s time to bring this up to date. I see that it has been a full two years since I wrote something about this house and our living in it. The frequency fell away because, well, the house went on … Continue reading

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The Last Barrow

Been heavy on wood, this winter – lots of grey days – so this morning I brought in the last barrow-full of wood from what had been a 6 deep stack that I’d built last summer.  To be fair, it … Continue reading

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Will the wood last out?

Been a grey winter.  Lots of fires, lots of wood burnt! We started the winter with six stacks. Admittedly, four of them were almost entirely of weeping willow – and that’s very light and burns quickly.  We could get through … Continue reading

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Three year logburner record

In these posts I’ve argued for some time that the Solar PV is a “nice to have” but is not really part of the performance of the house – that is due to the air tightness and insulation. So whether … Continue reading

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Now – Porter’s is a certified Passiv Haus!

Hurrah!  We’ve just received formal agreement that Porter’s meets the Passiv Haus – Passive House – standard. So now we’re passive house ID5042.  And the PH organisation across the country is holding Open Days, on Friday 11th to Sunday 13th November. … Continue reading

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Now 2016 and just over 3 years

Yes, over 3 years now and still going strong.  Now starting to burn some of the -relatively little – left-overs from building the house which I cut down to size and stacked last spring. The off-cuts from the cladding – … Continue reading

Posted in Cladding, Log burner, Solar thermal | 2 Comments

Will we make it to . .

. . the end of August? It’s been pretty grey these last few days and today, 31st August, the forecast is for rain all day.  We had a fair bit of sunshine the day before yesterday and the thermal store … Continue reading

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Update for Summer 2015 – and the PV story

A few words to report what has been happening since the beginning of this year.  I suspect that visitors to the site are now as few and as intermittent as my posts on to it.  But the house is built … Continue reading

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