29 September 2022 – Trooli scheduled works keeps coming up on One-Network but their is no sign of any activity yet.
4 October 2023 – Trooli scheduled works in Station Street, maybe its getting closer 🙂
8 January 2024 – Infrastructure work started!
Trooli
Well 2022 is a very busy year for broadband in Chatteris, Openreach now deliver Ultrafast broadband with fibre to the premises (FTTP), Virgin Media are expanding their 2017 network in the town to include homes and business not previously included, Netomnia started work in May to lay down its own independent FTTP infrastructure and now Trooli are making a presence all with their own independent network.
What is interesting is that Trooli have an agreement with UK Power Networks to run their fibre optic cables across certain power poles, enabling them to reach many more customers. The write up on this can be found HERE.
I just wonder where all these customers are coming from to give payback on the huge investment these companies are outlaying?
Screen grab from www.one-network 10 Aug 2022
Work Commenced – 8th Jan 24
Checking on Onenetwork, Trooli works were highlighted, (telephone symbol), from the 8th to 15th Jan at:
Wenny Road
Old Huntingdon Road
Huntingdon Road
Iretons Way
I knew that Trooli had been working in Sutton, so checked the Wenny Road location first as the fibre to Chatteris comes from there on route to Warboys, and saw the fibre engineers van, I obviously must have missed the earlier fibre pull from Sutton and the one on route to Warboys.
Chatting to the guy who was very cordial, he told me that a 48 core fibre runs from Sutton, and from this they splice off into either pole or footway box Connectorised Block Terminal which Trooli refer to as an ‘FPs’.
The lockable FP used has an inbuilt optical splitter, splitting a single fibre into 16 customer ports.
FP in the process of being spliced into the main trunk fibre before being placed into the footway box for customer connection at a later date.
In chatting, it appears, (at this stage of my understanding), that the Trooli topography is different to Netomnia or Openreach where they have either aggregation nodes or differing levels of fibre dissemination with plenty of spare fibres taken to the exchange.
Trooli seem to simply reduce the trunk fibre by one each time they connect a 16 port FP, I must be missing something otherwise that will give a maximum customer number of 46 x 16 = 736, leaving 2 fibres to pick up Warboys.
In 2022 I decided to invest some time and effort in getting the lawn in shape after years of neglect, so I followed a number of lawncare YouTubers, and with their advice, the lawn has never looked better even in winter.
11/12/22 -4.2c
11/12/22 -4.2c
Unfortunately July 2022 was the hottest (currently) temperature ever recorded in the UK, and lawn watering was needed to keep the lawns (total area 117m2) in good shape, this took ages to do as my mains water pressure is poor and I have three separate sections of lawn, so the idea of an irrigation system tailored to my lawn layout was formed, I did have some experience, as I installed a simple Gardina pop-up sprinkler system at my last house in 1997, the difference being that the pipes were laid before the topsoil for the lawn.
I jumped back onto YouTube to start learning about irrigation system technicalities, and this blog is about how I installed my system.
Safety before you dig
As the irrigation pipes in my system needed to be buried rather than an above ground system and I’m digging near the pavement , I checked with Line Search before starting any works. This is a free online service, using this portal enables multiple interested parties to let you know if they have a pipe or cable near where you are working.
Not all companies are signed up to Line Search and during my hand digging I did exposed an Openreach telephone duct just inside my boundary which I did not expect!
Line Search did identify close proximity to Gas and Electricity services:
Anglian Water and Virgin Media services are also on my property but not identified by Line Search, I did make sure I knew the path these took before digging.
Irrigation Design
Fortunately a lot of information is readily available on the internet from manufactures, the two key players seem to be RainBird and Hunter, I downloaded the Hunter guide, so it made sense for me to deign around the guide and use their products.
Following the guide, I needed to find out was the static water pressure and water flow rate available to me, using a Toolstation pressure gauge connected to the outside tap which is fed directly of the incoming rising water main, here I recorded a spot reading of 2.7bar (40psi).
Chatteris is at the end of the water supply pipeline and the pressure can get quite low at times depending on upstream demand.
Flow rate was also measured at the outside tap, the flow rate was calculated at approximately 35 litres per minute, (timed bucket method, (I did confirm this later using a weir cup).
A quick glance at the Hunter products indicate that the optimal water pressure is 2.8 bar at the sprinkler head, therefore, I knew I would have to use a break-tank and pump to give me assured operation without dependency on the incoming water pressure.
Using Visio, I drew out a scaled drawing of the house and garden in order to work out the spray head coverage, pipe runs including pipe lengths and types of fittings needed.
It is important to work out pipe friction losses so that the pipes used are not undersized which would give an unacceptable pressure drop at the furthest sprinkler head.
Digging Plan showing pipe routes, head placement and predicted water consumption, a full parts list can be extracted from this.
Drawing showing scaled spray coverage pattern confirming head types.
Drive dig underway, to Zone 3, the 20mm water pipe will be inside a 32mm duct (waste piping).
Digging Method: I first marked the sprinkler head locations on the lawn with a blue spray in positions from the dimensioned drawing, using string as a straight line to follow, the Lawn Edging Knife was used to cut a section of lawn approximately 12cm wide by 14cm long (4.3/4″x 14″), using the trenching shovel to get under the cut grass and levering it out for replacement later.
The width of the trenching shovel is 10cm (4″) about the same as the width of my boot which is handy for compacting the sand and soil later.
The depth of the trenching shovel is 20cm (8″) which in my case is adequate as water will be removed from the pipework over winter and also my aerators hollow tines are 12.5cm (5″) in length so I should avoid damaging the pipes when I aerate.
The builder left all sorts of bricks and debris everywhere before they put a layer of soil on top for the lawn, this made digging very difficult in places and the crowbar was superb in making a hard job easier.
Once the trench was cleared of stones and the trench bed flat, a layer of sharp sand was added to bed the pipe on, the pipe, even thought it was only 20mm needed pining down with stakes to keep it straight, a second layer of sharp sand was put on top of the pipe, then a marker warning tape followed by a bit more sharp sand, all compressed at each stage by a size 9 boot.
I used Levingtons essential top soil to fill the remaining trench, the first layer is compressed well down, the second and final layer is loosely laid so that when I place the cut turf back and ‘persuaded’ it down with the back of my shovel, the soil has somewhere to go.
When the turf was re-laid a sprinkling of top soil was added to fill the joins and brushed in, then liberally watered.
The tools used to dig were :
Silverline lawn edging knife
Roughneck trenching shovel 48″ from Toolstation – code 57538
Bulldog chisel and point crowbar, model 60-BCB60CP from Travis Perkins.
Above images are after a month of the sprinkler feed pipes being buried, showing just how resilient grass is.
Break-Tank & Pump
I bought a used Wydale Plastics 500 litre upright water tank from Facebook Marketplace for £40 , this is perfect as my break-tank.
The term break-tank means their is no direct connection to the incoming water supply, the water filling float valve is positioned to maintain an air gap to eliminate any cross-contamination risks with the incoming drinking water supply.
On my system, the break-tank can be filled in two ways, the primary method is via a 22mm feed from the incoming rising main to the float valve on the break-tank, this feed has a full bore isolating valve, double check valve and drain valve in-line for maintenance.
Valve 15 is the 22mm feed to the break-tank.
The second means of filling is from a submersible pump connection in my vehicle inspection pit, in normal use, the 15mm line from the break-tank to the pit will act as a break-tank overflow line.
Break-tank overflow into pit, the pit holds 4,476 litres (1,183gallons), so very useful storage for pumping back to the break-tank, the grey pipe is from my gutters so I can harvest rain water.
If the pit requires pumping out or if the tank needs filling without using tap water, the submersible pump will be connected to the 15mm overflow line, and this will be used in reverse to fill the break- tank, to catch any debris, a ‘Y’ strainer is fitted inline at the tank connection.
The inspection pit holds approximately 4476 litres or 1183 gallons.
Break-tank in position before the pump and valve box are installed.
At the base of the break-tank is a 3/4″ full bore lever valve feeding a small 22mm manifold off which the sight glass is fed, actually is clear plastic pipe, but sight glass sounds better 🙂
The manifold also connects to the Clarke SPE1200SS pump suction via a ‘Y’ strainer, the pumps delivery feeds the valve-box manifold assembly via a 80 mesh inline filter at 4bar pressure (58psi).
The thread pitch’s are quite course so a good sealant is required, I used a combination of PTFE tape and pipe thread seal (Screwfix 4373J).
Pump positioned inside an Argos Toomax 90L Patio and Balcony Chest 265/4351 to keep it out of the elements, ventilation grills were added as I found the pump runs warm. An 80 mesh inline filter is used to try and protect the sprinkler heads from blockages and the automatic Air Vent keeps the system primed. Finished pump and valve assembly, pump enclosure has had a side vent fitted, a sight glass tank level gauge installed and the water supply to the break-tank is now metered so I can check on how much the system costs to run .4 Oct 22 – 0 -6 Bar pressure gauge added to pump delivery to monitor the system performance.
The last stage was to eliminate sunlight getting to the break-tank in order to stop water borne algae growth which will eventually block the water filters, I decided at this point to insulate the break-tank even though it will be empty over winter.
I used 25mm polystyrene sheets to insulate the break-tank and to weatherproof this, I used black opaque floor protective sheets from Wickes which was perfect all held together with Lidl black duct tape:
Revised Tank Piping
I’ve made a few changes and additions to the break-tank pipework:
Added 22mm drain valve to lowest part of tank feed pipe
Added 15mm valve above overflow line isolation to enable me to place the tank on circulation
Added 15mm and 22mm flexible hoses to enable pipe movement without damage
Sprinklers & Water Usage
The sprinkler assembly comprises of the spray body, sprinkler head and a water inlet, I opted for the Hunter PRS40 body with an assortment of MP Spray Rotator heads to suit my application.
The benefit of using PRS40 body is that it has an inbuilt pressure reducing valve giving me flexibility on the pump pressure, the body limits internally the water pressure to the sprinkler head to 2.75 bar (40psi) which correlates to the sprinkler head data for spray patterns and water usage, this means that as long as the water pressure is greater than 2.75bar to the body along the pipe run and at the furthest point, everything should work as designed.
The spray bodies water inlet is a female 1/2″ BSP, in order to connect to the irrigation main line, I used a Sprial Barb fitting – 1/2″ male elbow (Stock Code SF-SBE-050), two are needed, one on the spray body, the other for the 20mm pipe fitting.
A semi-flexible pipe links the spray body and main feed pipe, this pipe is called Swing or Funny Pipe (no idea why!), the code for this is SP30. Part codes used are from Sprinkler Irrigation.
My system uses 15 sprinklers with MP rotators:
1 x MPSS530 – Side Strip pattern
1 x MP2000 – 900 – 2100 pattern
1 x MP1000 – 2100 – 2700 pattern
12 x MP1000 – 900 – 2100 pattern
Water consumption per sprinkler head is dependent on the adjusted coverage pattern, the rotator data sheet enabled me to work out the expected water volume, data also exists on the Growinsane website regarding emitters l/m, again this is dependent on adjusted flow at the specific emitter.
Total front lawn – design usage 19.2 l/m, measured usage 21 l/m
Rear planters and pots – measured @ 16.6 l/m
The Hunter MP Rotator data I used can be found HERE, however, a revised Metric version is HERE.
The rear garden has a number of the following emitters, the l/m value is for each emitter:
I ‘tweak’ and constantly review the ‘run times’ now I understand how effective the sprinkler head patterns are at delivering the required volume of water to the lawn and plants
Water gauge from AliExpress – £6.73 for 10.
The volume of water filling the gauge drives the watering run time as I’m looking for an average total of 25mm per week on the lawn, (this is a cumulative total and will include rainfall).
The MP Rotator heads deliver a soft watering pattern to avoid runoff and enable the water to soak in, using water gauges placed at random places across the lawns, the average water collected over a 10 minute cycle was approximately 4mm.
This means that just over an hour of irrigation will give me the weekly total of 25mm, however, I spread the watering periods over early mornings each day as a minimum, if the lawn shows signs of distress, I increase the watering frequency as the whole topic is a ‘black art’ and along as my moisture meter is happy, so am I.
2023Lawn Watering Cost – Budget for it!!
I started a watering schedule in April, this schedule, (duration and frequency), varied based on when I over-seeded and if we have had rain, another consideration was the lack of rain coupled with high temperatures, lots of variables all contributing to evapotranspiration!
The actual cost for running my 15 sprinkler heads for a 117m2 lawn for 10 minutes costs £0.65p per day, this cost is made up of water charges and sewage/foul costs.
To water my lawn for 7 days to give me >25mm costs £4.55 per week.
Where it started to expensive was when it didn’t rain, obvious really :-), Example – June 2023 was a dry, warm month, with only 5mm of rain measured, so with a bit of over-seeding and to keep the rest of the lawn growing, I used 26.8m3 of irrigation water from the 4th June to the 22nd costing £4.54 per day.
The costs used are based on Anglian Water, June 2023 charges, 1m3 (1000 litres) costs £1.68p, add to this the sewage/foul costs which are based on 90% the water used and cost £1.71 per m3.
I’m estimating the irrigation system will incur additional water charges of £220 per season, (April to October), I will revise this once the figures are in, so please check back.
Update – 27 June 2023
I have taken advantage of the water authorities ‘New Lawn’ allowance before but I didn’t know until a chance conversation that you can request a ‘Sewage Abatement‘ for that does not use the drains, e.g. Irrigation & swimming pools. So instead of a 90% levy, this drops to 10% per 1m3.
I spoke to Anglian Water and they simply record the fact you have called and at the end of the season you let them know how much water you have used on the lawn, I have a sub-meter for my irrigation system, but I double check this against my main meter, once the readings are given to them, they will calculate the rebate.
I don’t know if I will have a problem at the end of the watering season with the Sewage Abetment process, as its all verbal, rather than formally documented, watch this space!
Pipe Sizing
This is probably the most critical element, if any of the pipes are undersized, then the pressure drop at the furthest point may make the system unusable at worst or poor forming at best.
The information I had was, as a rule of thumb, that a 20mm pipe will pass 1000 litres/minute (l/m) and a 25mm pipe will pass 2000 l/m, as I had independent zone control, with the highest water demand zone taking less than 9 l/m, I went with 20mm MDPE pipe as the flow rate, pressure and pipe length all worked out fine for my lawn.
It turns out that the sprinkler head water volume is when the head is at its full design pattern, a number of the heads in my system have had the coverage tailored to my lawn, therefore the water consumption is lower, allowing me to have Zones 1 & 2 on at the same time with no adverse effect on water pattern coverage as the pump pressure is healthy.
Pump delivery pressure profile based on which Zone/s are in use.
As stated earlier, the Hunter PRS40 bodies have an integral pressure reducing valve so they operate at their optimal water pressure which is 2.75bar (40psi), it is important therefore, that the pressure reaching the spray body is => than 2.75bar.
Readings were taken from the pump delivery, the static pressure (no load), was noted 4.6bar and with Zone 1 only ON, the dynamic pressure (under load), from the pump drops to 3.8bar with Zone 1 and 2 ON which is fine.
Initially I had the system setup so that Zones 1, 2 and 3 came on together, this did not appear to have an adverse effect visually on the rotator head pattern, but with a dynamic pump pressure of 2.6bar, which is below the optimal minimum sprinkler pressure of 2.75bar and it will be lower at the point of utilization due to pipe pressure losses.
Armed with this information, I have reconfigured the Sonoff scene so that Zone 1 & 2 are ON together, and after a pre-set watering time, both of these valves close and Zone 3 opens for its watering duration.
In order to be thorough, I ordered through a friend in the US, a MPADAPTER which allowed me to measure the dynamic pressure reaching the furthest sprinkler heads on each zone, determining if => 2.75bar pressure is being achieved, which it was :-).
The majority of pipe fittings were from waterirrigation, MDPE pipe 20mm compression fittings require pipe liners (inserts), to stop any deformation of the pipe in the fitting, I was told it was ok to omit this, but as the liner are cheap, I didn’t think it was worth the risk of a leaking joint at some point in time.
Getting a clean, square cut on MDPE pipe is important as it gives a good face for the liners lip to sit against and also it makes insertion past the fittings ‘O’ ring easier with a reduced chance of seal damage, to get a clean cut I used pipe shears from Lidl for £9.99.
For the greatest flexibility and water consumption distribution, I decided on 4 zones, (from left to right in the valve box):
Zone 1 – Left Lawn Upper (4.82 l/m)
Zone 2 – Left Lawn Lower (8.76 l/m)
Zone 3 – Right & Centre Lawns (5.65 l/m)
Zone 4 – Line/Drip Irrigation (1.75bar pressure reducer fitted)
123456
The valve box roughly laid out to ensure ease of working on and that it left room for the pump enclosure.
Irrigation lines roughed in and trimmed, also the correct depth dug to accommodate the valve box ensuring that the lid would be at the correct height above the ground.
I used a wooden baton with pipe clips spaced at the valve outlet centres to keep the irrigation lines in the correct position without causing any strain on the valves.
After the pipe were connected to the valves and the valves to the manifold, the valve box body was notched to accept the pipes and then placed over the completed assembly, rather than work with the box in place.
Valve box all levelled and backfilled with pea gravel, decorative white stone is inside the box as I think it looks good, a 25mm conduit was ran from the controller to the valve, through this passes a 5 core 1.0mm2 cable, one core for each valve solenoid and a common return. All connections were made in an Wiska-Combi 308 IP66 rated enclosure.
All tested and ready for closing up.
Control
Water to each irrigation zone is via Hunter PGV solenoid operated valves, these need 24vAC to operate, applying 24v will open the valve, with no voltage present, the valve will be in the closed state.
1″ valve, Male threads, part number – HPGV1FCM ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS 606800 • Minimum opening/operating voltage: 19 VAC • Maximum recommended voltage: 28 VAC • Current at 24 VAC: • 370 mA inrush, 210 mA holding, 50 Hz • Maximum operating pressure: 15.17 bar; 1517 kPa • Wire leads: 45 cm of 0.8 mm2 UL-approved wire
Hunter do make controllers for their range of valves but I decide to make my own using a 4 channel Sonoff Pro2 as the valve controller and a Sonoff Basic as the pump control configured as a ‘scene’.
Version 1
The Sonoff devices are paired to home WiFi and operated through the eWeLink App or dashboard, these are extremely flexible devices and ‘scenes’ can be setup, so that the actions of one device can effect the operation of another.
The channels of the 4 channel Sonoff controls the solenoid of that valve, initially I had the Sonoff set to ‘interlock’ mode, meaning that only one of the 4 channel relays can ever be ON, but once I was able to test the pumps pressure and monitor the sprinklers performance, I decided to remove the interlock enabling greater flexibility of operation.
Sonoff Scene
As this is a new system, I’m working through the best watering times, the ‘scene’ I have currently set, (a ‘scene’ is a pre configured set of events that automatically run when triggered), at 04:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday , valves 1 and 2 open for 40 minutes, then valves 1 and 2 close, then valve 3 opens for a further 40 minutes, valve 3 closes and valve 4 opens for a further 5 minutes.
At the end of the 5 minutes, valve 4 closes and the pump turns off.
Before going live with a scene configuration, I use a test rig to confirm operation of a scene before making it live.
The scene below is to manually operate the watering schedule and can be easily ‘tweaked’ using the eWeLink dashboard:
The scene breakdown is as follows –
The irrigation sequence is triggered by manually operating the app
1st action is for the Sonoff Basic Smart Device to turn ON and supply power to the pump via a contactor
2nd action is to enable a short delay of 3 seconds before the opening of the control valves , this allows the pump to prime
3rd action is for the Sonoff 4Ch Pro relays 1 & 2 to turn ON, this in turn supplies 24vAC to the control valve solenoids allowing water to flow
4th action is the Delay of 40 minutes, this is the period of time to elapse before the next action i.e. the valves are ON until the next action
5th action, at the end of the 40 minute delay time, Sonoff 4Ch Pro relays 1 & 2 turn OFF and relay 3 turns ON
6th action is the 40 minute duration that water will pass through valve 3
7th action is that after the 40 minute delay time above, relay 3 turns OFF and relay 4 turns ON
8th action is a 5 minute delay time before the Smart Device Sonoff Basic – Irrigation Pump turns OFF
9th and final action is for relay 4 to turn OFF.
I found quite early on that it was important to set up a ‘scene’ to turn OFF the Irrigation Controller relays and Pump as, in my case, access to physically operate Sonoff devices is not possible as they are within an enclosure.
The Sonoff Basic has an internal relay switching 230v, this is used to operate a 20A contactor, which in turn is connected to a 230vAC 1700w water pump.
The reason for the contactor switching the pumps load is to remove this burden from the Sonoff.
A 230v/24v – (3.75A Max Output) Toroidal transformer is used to supply the operating voltage to the Hunter valves via the 4 channel Sonoff.
Version 1
Reverse side of controllers lid with information label.
Version 1
Front panel label, LED lights are from AliExpress, the ‘Pump Running’ LED is switched via a AC current sensing relay with the light only being illuminated when a pre-configured load is being drawn. This gives confidence that the pump is actually running, rather than simply powered up.
Modified Irrigation Control V2 – Jan 23
The original control version worked fine but it could benefit from two major improvements, these being:
Detection of water tank low level
Detection of rain
The above is the amended version of the irrigation controller front panel, I use Visio to make the image to scale and print to A4 80gm paper, this is then covered in a self-adhesive transparent book covering affixed to the enclosure with double sided tape.
The front panel has the addition of two override button and two red leds. each led corresponds to either the rain or tank level sensor, pressing the appropriate override button will illuminate the button and disable the input from stopping the irrigation pump from running.
The drawing for the sensor circuit is below:
The step down converter and relay module are contained within an IP rated Wiska box:
The relay module has two inputs, one from each sensor (rain and tank level), when the sensor activates, the associated relay activates and provides the controller with volt free closed circuit.
Version 2
The additional parts in the revised controller version are 2 x 24vAC slimline relays and a Sonoff Mini2, the operation is the same as version 1 with the addition of a pump interlock if the tank water level is low, or/and the rain sensor has been triggered.
Planter/Pot Irrigation
This was the most difficult part of the whole project as I did not have an understanding of the parts, only an idea of what I wanted, fortunately the cost of parts is quite inexpensive, so if I bought the wrong thing it wasn’t so much of a big deal.
The rear garden system starts at the water control valve, the pump pressure of 4 bar is too high and must be reduced, I used a Hydrosure 1.75 bar pressure regulator connected to the 1″ control valve outlet with a 1″ BSP female to 3/4″ BSP female reducing socket, the pressure reducer has a throughput of between 0.4 – 30 lpm.
The reduced pressure irrigation water was fed to the garden via 20mm MDPE pipe, with branches made using Hydrosure compression Tee fittings with 1/2″ female offtakes.
Into the 1/2″ female offtake a Hydrosure Director 13mm x 1/2″ BSP male is screwed in, and from this 13mm LDPE pipe is connected, this is the line into which the micro irrigation parts are pushed into.
At each planter or main branch I fitted inline isolation valves, sprinkler emitters and shubblers simply push into the thin walled brown LDPE pipe, the use a key punch to make the holes is recommended.
To the left of the picture you can see one of 20 Potstream emitters connected to the main line with 6mm OD x 4mm ID micro PVC pipe.
Pipes can be buried and spray heads are very discrete.
Picture shows a Shubbler 180 emitter connected directly into the LDPE pipe, unfortunately the clematis is struggling as the dog thinks its a lamppost.
The micro irrigation emitters do not come with water usage data, I estimate that my system uses 27 litres per minute (lpm), this is just below the pressure regulators maximum throughput of 30 lpm.
Winterisation
The system will be drained during the winter months to avoid any issues with freezing, hence I was happy with the pipes buried depth and also the lack of below ground lagging.
I have adjusted the original installation to include a fence mounted bib tap so I can benefit from the pumps pressure when watering the lawn, plus the water is separately metered, so I can claim back the sewage abetment payment, the byproduct of this is a connection point to blow all the water lines out.
Although the break-tank will be empty over winter, I decided to insulate the tank when I was boxing the tank in.
I already had a compressor (15CFM), so the parts needed to blow the system out were fairly inexpensive, these being a pressure regulator and adapter for the outside tap where the compressed air will connect to.
The regulator was £9.95 from eBay, the tap and adapter parts are listed below (Screwfix):
Bib Cock outside tap -590FA
3/4″ Female Socket – 52588
3/4″ to 1/2″ Bush – 98427
1/2″ to 1/4″ Bush – 79207
1/4″ Male Adapter Airline – 2015H
With the above, I connect the regulator, set to 2 Bar (30 psi) to the compressor with the regulated output , via an airline to the tap adapter on the outside tap, this worked really well for me.
Instructions on my process are in the files below.
2023, Thank you to everybody who has found this blog useful, got in touch or commented, I’ve tried to keep this blog up to date with things I’ve done to the system as you can always ‘tweak’ the system and continue to play with it, especially after the hard graft of fitting it.
Watering the lawn and tailoring it when and how long is now a simply press of a button and I would defiantly recommend investing the effort as the payback is more time for other things, year on year.
The system required very little maintenance, blowing the lines out for winter was straightforward, I did however, waste water by leaving the winterisation process a bit to late, meaning instead of using the water in the tank for the lawn, it went to drain as I didn’t want the risk of freezing damage to my tank, even though its insulated.
Bringing the system back online for a new season was very easy and non of the sprinklers malfunctioned or got stuck in the retracted position.
The main additions to my system since I initially blogged it are:
Rain Sensor to avoid watering when rain has been detected.
Tank level detector stops the pump to avoid it running dry if the water level is too low.
Dedicated bib tap for my garden hose fed directly off the irrigation pump, this gives me a higher pressure than the mains for washing down or using an impact sprinkler should I need to.
Tip – Know when your going to use the sprinklers for the last time, isolate the filling water to the break tank in order to leave it empty over winter.
Tip -Unplug the pump at the same time as draining down just in case it gets activated by accident and is damaged by running dry.
Tip – A number of my sprinkler body’s had moved from the vertical or sunken since installation due to the ground settling requiring the spade to come out for readjustment.
I have now hammered in a supporting pin parallel to the sprinkler and fastened with cable ties the body to the pin in a hope that this will keep things level.
Tip – One of the jobs on the lawn is to aerate and I really struggled finding the sprinkler heads without turning on the system, so I bought a pack of Survey Flags from Amazon and marked where they are and the buried pipe runs, so I know where I have to either avoid or go easy when plunging sharp tines in the ground 🙂 .
June 2023
I’ve installed a Venturi Injector from Amazon, the idea is that I can introduce a water soluble liquid fertiliser into the sprinklers feed water. pipe work modification involved installing 3 gate valves, 1 for the inlet to the Venturi, 1 for the Venturi outlet and the final valve is a bypass of the Venturi.
The idea is balance the water flow through the Venturi in order to maximise a negative pressure at the pinch point of the Venturi and in so doing, cause a suction to draw up liquid fertiliser to mix with the outgoing water to the sprinklers.
For me, this turned out to be a failure, as to get a decent suction, the flow through the Venturi was so low as to not operate the sprinklers.
I might give this another go with a different brand of Venturi in the future.
May 2024
After refilling the break tank after winter I noticed that the valve box was filling with water and the tank kept trying to fill when the system was not in use.
After checking for pipework leaks, I determined it was down to the irrigation valves not being fully closed and water was syphoning out of the tank, (the irrigation valves need a differential pressure across the internal diaphragm in order to assist in closing which isn’t present with the pump off).
To isolate the break tank water from the irrigation valves, I fitted a normally closed solenoid valve to the pump outlet after the filter in the pump box.
This is plugged into the same supply as the pump, so when the pump runs the valve opens and this has solved the problem.
After deciding on a permanent irrigation system and researching options, two brands were of serious consideration, Hunter and Rainbird, both excellent, however, it was ease of access to documentation, product range and product performance which made me decide on Hunter, specifically the rotating spray head patterns.
Where are you going to get the water from is the starting point, if you have good water pressure and flow (by measuring it), it may be possible to drive the irrigation system directly from the tap, if so you have saved a lot of money.
If you have poor water pressure, then you will need somewhere to store the water, (unless you have a well or watercourse), and a pump, as you cannot connect a pump directly to a tap.
This is the daunting bit, but it is something you can do, I used the Hunter Design Guide, which is full of useful information and the steps to follow.
I tend to overthink everything and you could throw in a few heads, linked with hose pipe connected to a tap and it might work perfectly, I on the other hand need to work everything out before I commit to effort and spending money.
Find your water pressure and flow rate.
Make a scaled drawing of the area you need to irrigate.
Look at manufactures literature and determine the appropriate head pattern and number needed to give overlapping coverage.
Total up the water consumption of the heads or the water consumption per zone if you logically can section your lawn.
Draw in pipes runs and work out pipe lengths.
Using the calculators in the FAQs or online determine pipe and pump size (if needed).
With the above info you will now know how much water you need and if you can supply that from a tap, if you can't, consider water storage and how quickly the storage tank will refill as this will be the limiting factor for how long you can water for at a given flow rate.
I've not touched on how the irrigation system will controlled as I made my own, however, these are readily available and simply send a 24v signal to a solenoid water valve to open or close at predetermining time and sequence of your choosing, some are linked to a mobile app for even more flexibility.
Pumps need to push a volume of water (output) at pressure, these are measured in Litres per minute (L/m) and Head respectively.
The pump used in this blog for example has an output of 61 l/min, so theoretically I can supply 19 x MP1000 360 degree rotator heads, with each using 3.18l/min at the same time, obviously this does not take into account sprinkler pipe and fittings friction losses.
Head relates to the pumps pressure and mine is 46 meters (46m), the easy way to roughly convert this to bar, (a bar is 14.7psi at sea level), is to put a decimal point in-between the number, so 46m, becomes 4.6bar.
Handy converter for Head pressure is HERE, (SG - Specific Gravity of water is 0)
Earlier I mentioned pipe friction losses, to put this in perspective my longest run is 37m of 20mm pipe and my pump pressure is 4.6bar, if I had 19 heads taking a total of 61 l/m then the pipe losses would reduce the pressure at the end of the pipe to 2.35bar, well below the pressure required for the heads to operate effectively.
Residential irrigation controller use 24vAC outputs to power water valves, whereas pumps need 230vAC.
If the controller you choose has a 24vAC output to switch a pump on, you will need a relay to switch the higher voltage and current, these are about £6 on eBay, search for AC24V Coil 8 Pin DIN Rail Electromagnetic Power Relay 10A w Base.
If the controller doesn't have a pump auxiliary output then you can use an automatic pressure switch, such as the Smart Press.
What this does is monitor the pressure from the pump, if the pressure drops, such as when the watering valves open, the pump automatically turns on and will continue to run until the watering valve/s close, also this device stops the pump if it runs out of water to protect the pump.
No, these are bought separately due to the extensive range of spray pattern types, the heads simply screw into the PRS40 body, the other bit you will need is a connection elbow to the base of the body.
From the solenoid valves to the sprinklers, I used 20mm blue poly MDPE pipe with inserts, the final connection from the poly pipe to the sprinkler body is with 1/2" flexible hose.
20mm was fine for my setup as its based on how much water it will pass in litres per minute over the total length of pipe at the correct pressure, the longer the pipe, the more pressure is dropped, hence sometimes its easier to go up to 25mm if your not sure.
This relates to how high the sprinkler 'pops up' out of the ground, either 4" or 6", the range of the water pattern is greater the higher up it is, but this is based on the design, I manage fine with a 4" lift.
The main consideration was how long was my aerators tines as I didn't want to damage the pipes at a later date, I buried mine 200mm (8") down which is the length of the trenching shovel I used.
The pipes are blown empty over winter so I have discounted any freezing risk.
Since installing my system, I did see a guy on YouTube who used a reciprocal saw to cut this trench and it worked really well as a great idea as long as you are sure you have no buried services.
The cost for my system was under £900, but I made mistakes, so this blog should save you money in unnecessary purchases, the installation was hard physical work but incredibly rewarding when finished.
The main benefit is that I can sit back and the lawn will be watered to a consistent standard, every time, allowing me to do other things, like sleep 🙂
For me it was the line irrigation to planters and drip feeders, the terminology is difficult to understand so I ended up buying lots of things which are now sat in a box, fortunately the bits are relatively inexpensive.
8 June 2022 – Netomnia press release regarding full fibre broadband to Doddington – details HERE, (doesn’t mention Chatteris, but in the current infrastructure works permission from Cambridgeshire County Council, Netomnia have used the Project Reference as – J032025-172553-Doddington).
Letter from Netomnia
Dated 13th June 2022, addressed simply to ‘The Occupier’, warming people up to minor disruption due to civil works, with the end advantage of FTTP Ultrafast broadband.
I was informed on the 28th June 2022, that the Youfibre website was allowing certain Chatteris postcode areas to pre-order the service, this early tranche looks that the selected properties have connectivity to the buried Openreach duct system, those properties with overhead or directly buried cabling are not included as yet.
I used Postcode Checker to determine service eligibility at the moment.
If you want to ‘dip your toe’ in the Youfibre pool, you can sign up for a ‘no contract’ service, instead opting for a 30 day rolling renewal option.
1 July 2022 – For Info: Direct Debit set up with my bank using the name of “GC re Youfibre Limited”, the GC stands for GoCardless the company they use for Direct Debit collections.
30 June 2022, I’ve pre-ordered 150Mb service and received my confirmation, the key points are:
Pre-order early and get 6 months free
150Mb package costs £25 inc VAT for 18 month contract
As its a pre-order, no monies are taken until service is delivered
As this is a pre-order, I can cancel my intention for installation without penalty
I can take up this offer, at this set price for up to 24 months into the future, this will allow time for my existing service contract to expire and it will also allow me to let people know of my gmail email address, rather than the one tied into Talktalk.
19 June 2022 – Youfibre ‘door to door’ canvasser called, informing me that Youfibre is coming to the area and was looking to see if I was interested so that I could receive a’ follow up call’ and newsletter, I did say I was already signed up, but I think she needed my details for her ‘quota’.
20 February 2023 – I decided to renew with TalkTalk for a few reasons:
Uncertain that Youfibre will be live when my current TalkTalk contract expires, meaning the loss of any bargaining power,
TalkTalk offered 150Mb service for £23 per month on an 18 month contract, which is cheaper than I was paying for 65Mb,
I reflected on how I felt ‘locked in’ to the TalkTalk email service, for example the number of accounts where my password resets link to this,
My home network would need a static IP from Youfibre at an additional cost of £5 per month making the overall cost unattractive,
Youfibre in the town helped me negotiate a competitive price from TalkTalk.
23 February 2023 – Netomnia network is now live to certain parts of Chatteris as the roll out continues.
FTTP Rollout
Yet more choice for broadband provision in Chatteris, with the rollout of XGS-PON. 100% fibre to the premises, (FTTP) supplied by wholesaler Netomnia, whose mission is to become the third largest national, full fibre infrastructure operator.
The main difference with Netomnia is that it is a totally independent network, synchronous or symmetrical speeds, (same uploading speed as the downloading speed), resilient fibre optic design and with speeds up to 10Gbps(10,000Mbps)!!.
Netomnia sister company, YouFibre, are the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for this Ultra Fast Broadband FTTP, although it is expected that other ISPs may take advantage of the services that this wholesaler offers and partner with Netomnia.
Unforeseen Delay to Delivery
The expected go live date was September/October 2022 and availability and rollout details can be checked HERE, this has been delayed due to unforeseen duct blockages or lack of duct capacity necessitating significant civil works.
PartialGo live for Chatteris is February 2023 as I understand it.
The Openreach duct route from Doddington has been extensively damaged over time due to it being made of clay, this has led to investment in repairs and new ducting to be installed.
The above images are just one example of what Netomnia are up against, the installer of the street lights in a section of Doddington Road have damaged and blocked the clay Openreach ducts, meaning that the main spine fibre cannot continue to Chatteris until repaired (Taken 1/12/22).
Infrastructure Enabling Works
Flurry of broadband activity in the town, as Virgin Media are expanding their existing infrastructure at the same time as Netomnia are installing theirs.
Netomnia infrastructure works started in early May, with the installation of Netomnia double size footway boxes to house either the Level 1 (L1), Level 2 (L2) or both splice enclosures for there dedicated fibre network around the town.
These will be interconnected by sub ducts which will ultimately connect to the main spine bringing the fibre service into Chatteris via Doddington.
Details from – https://one.network. The telephone handset symbol shows areas of of work by both Virgin Media (Orange circle) and Netomnia (Green circle) contractors for 26th to 30th May 2022
The fibre sub ducts are being drawn into Openreach’s existing ducts as a result of OFGEMS Physical Infrastructure Access agreement which permits Communication Providers access, this means there is not a lot to see as the splicing nodes will be in the cable chambers in the pavements as I understand it.
By using Openreach ducts, just like Virgin Media are doing, the micro duct which brings the blown fibre to your house, uses the existing duct which is used for your landline telephone. If the service is via an overhead line, a fibre cable can also be used, Netomnia have, in other towns, installed telephone poles where otherwise customers would not have been able to get a service.
The ducts Virgin Media use are Green in colour, whereas Netomnias ducts are Purple and Openreach are Grey, all for ease of identification.
Netomnia are using Opals Group to undertake the work of installing the physical infrastructure to allow the fibre cables to be blown in at a later date.
24th May 22 – Fiber optic sub duct being drawn into Openreach footway joint box.
24th May 22 – Second sub duct being pulled in to chamber
25th May 22 – Sub duct through connection point using push fit coupling.
25thMay 22 – New Netomnia Footway Box installed in the verge, very neat job with the area re-seeded, this box is ducted to the Openreach footway box to allow interconnection. The two grey boxes belong to Virgin Media with the nearest one also being ducted to the Openreach footway box by the Green Openreach cabinet (PCP – Primary Cross Connection Point).
26th May 22 – Linking of an Openreach footway box with a new Netomnia footway L2/3 node point.
23 January 2023 – Purple Netomnia main spine micro-ducts looping through footway box.
27th May 22
Another new footway box going in, connected to an existing Openreach box, this activity is being replicated in many places across Chatteris and demonstrates considerable investment in infrastructure.
Netomnia network backbone fibre microtube link to carry a single fibre optic cable with 288 cores, being pulled in from Chatteris to the Doddington local head end ,or Level 0 which is in the Telephone Exchange.
Doddington Telephone Exchange
The microtube journey is in Openreach existing duct routes along Doddington Road, when Virgin Media followed the same route in 2017, they had to dig a new trench all the way, this is the massive benefit of the Physical Infrastructure Agreement.
Guide on installation of fibre cables by blowing – HERE.
6 July 2022
Opal engineers installing a Connectorised Block Terminal (CBT) in Farriers Gate footway box, the CTB which is stood up. belongs to Openreach, (I’m connected to it!), whilst the one lying on its side, belongs to Netomnia.
6th July 22
What is interesting to note is that both companies are using the same manufactures CBT, this must mean that the consumers installation process will be the same as that used by Openreach and described in my Talk Talk Future Fibre Blog.
6th July 22
8 August 2022
Civils contractors have started to excavate pavements to install new ducts (or tracks as Opal refer to them), where the existing Openreach ducts are either blocked or congested.
Blockages/congested routes are indicated by a red ‘B’ and direction arrows have popped up across the town ready for remedial works:
New Road, Netomnia ductwork infrastructure being installed where the existing Openreach route was congested.
13 September 2022
Installation underway of Netomnia Connectorised Block Terminals (CBT) on the existing telephone poles where the duct to the local footway box is available, this will enable subscribers with overhead lines access to ultrafast fibre optic broadband.
This images show two different versions of Netomnia installed standard 8 port CBT’s, details on fibre equipment can be found HERE, it is interesting to note that Openreach install up to 12 port units.
Pole evolution
Pole mounted splice enclosure, the two fibre cables on the right are from CBT’s, one on this pole, the other on another pole linked by an overhead connection.
One down, loads left to do
May 2022
Jan 2023
Jan 2023
All around town a number of footway markings are appearing at the base of telephone poles, indicating that a new duct link (pole bend), to the nearest footway box is due to be made if no existing duct exists, or if the existing one is blocked or damaged.
The last three picture in the slide show above show the existing copper telephone cables feeding the pole are above the surface of the pavement, causing Netomnia to install a new pole bend bend:
Advance notice of civil works in New Road to the pole pictured in the slide show above.
Netomnia advance notice indicating new poles are to be installed:
I contacted Netomnia on 16 September to gain further information, confirmation of 5 new poles to be installed was provided by Opals Senior Project Coordinator on the 28 September, the proposed ROUGH locations are:
Corner of West Street and Gibside Avenue
Newlands Road
St Martins Road – Installation delayed – new pole application 13 Feb 23
Victoria Street
Pound Road – Installation not required, used long overhead span
Update 27 October 22 – Netomnia Pole Installed, Gibside Avenue
Installed 27 October 2022
31 October 2022 – Newlands Road –
Ian and Steven were the technicians installing the 9 meter high pole working for Instalcom Ltd, they did a great job, were really friendly and customer focused. Brilliant ambassadors for Instalcom Ltd.
1 December 2022
With the imminent fibre spine link to Doddington being established after several delays due to duct damage/blockages meaning extensive civil works to rectify, their are at least two teams installing CBTs on existing telephone poles and a fibre technician has started splicing works from the CBT (Level 4) to the Level 3 node.
The image above is a fibre splicing enclosure (Level 3 Point), this example has 5 fibre cables, these are broken down as follows:
Two fibre cables are from two 8 port pole mounted CBTs (Level 4 ), depending on the CBT manufacture, of which Netonmia use two, either there will be one fibre spliced supplying all 8 ports due to an inbuilt optical splitter in the CBT or 8 fibres from each CBT port will need to be individually spliced to the fibre cable from the upstream Level 2 splicing connection.
Once completed, the enclosure will be stowed in a footway box making for a neat installation.
For clarity as I understand it, Level 0 is the origin of the fibre service which is Doddington Telephone Exchange, the main trunk cable from Doddington comprising of 288 fibres is terminated in a number of Level 1 hubs in Chatteris, 7 in total, 4 on the journey from Doddington and 3 in Chatteris.
Level 2 branches further sub divide into multiple Level 3 connections as above, before final connection to individual 8 port CBTs, Level 4.
8 Port Netomnia Connectorised Block Terminal ready for pole mounting.
From the CBT, this is the last leg of the fibre cable before it enters your property.
Each trunk single fibre can accommodate 32 properties, therefore the maximum number of properties served by one trunk cable is 9,216!
23 January 2023
The Netomnia network in Doddington is now LIVE and there is a real push to get Chatteris online after significant investment in installing new ducts due to the existing ducts being blocked/congested/damaged.
Technician fibre splicing the 288 core trunk fibre cable from Doddington exchange mid-way to Chatteris, the design of the system will allow for future expansion, to illustrate this, the whole of the current Doddington and Chatteris scheme only use 60 fibres in the exchange!
26 January 2023
Start of the Level 1 Chatteris core distribution fibre splicing to other L1 nodes, not all fibres are spliced through, only the ones required for this phase of the scheme as this saves both time and money:
L1 node being through spliced for distribution linking other L1 nodes to the network.
29 January 2023
Level 2 (L2) Distribution node being spliced in the rear of a specially adapted vehicle, in the picture you can see a 44 core fiber which is black with a yellow tracer, this is from a L3 node, the other two black fiber cables are 288 cores linking further L2’s.
The L2 node will be located in a new Netomnia installed double footway box which was installed in May 2022.
1 February 2023
Caught up with the second splicing team who were working on the Level 3 (L3) terminations:
The picture shows two black with yellow tracer cables, each of which has 48 fibres, these are the interlinks to other L3 node fed from the L2 distribution node.
The tiny coloured tubes in the picture contain 12 fibres and each 48 core has 4 of these tubes.
The four clear tubes in the enclosure are from the pole mounted CBTs (L4), looking closely, one of these is a smaller diameter than the other three, this is due to the smaller tube only has one fiber in it as the 8 way pole CBT has an inbuilt splitter, whereas the other three have 8 fibers in the tube, one to each CBT port.
I did ask the reason for two differing types of CBT and the chap said is was due to how the network was designed.
Footway hardware ready to mount the completed L3 node so it can be neatly stowed.
9 February 2023
Plenty of continued activity by Opals Group, Netomnias infrastructure contractor, in New Road a footway box CBT was being relocated to another footway box due to the original box being over congested and not meeting the space requirements required by Openreach.
Further down the same road, a splicing technician was busy with a complicated L3 node.
10 February 2023
Notification of new pole installation in St Martins Road posted on the 10 February 2023, the first notification of a new pole in this location was on the 13 September 2022, but installation could not proceed as the proposed location did not give the required amount of room to pass on the pavement.
New pole position is on the opposite side of the road to the originally proposed location, position marked on the ground, (circle with a cross in it), next to the Virgin Media cabinet.
Around town, I also noticed a new sign dated 8 Feb 23, has been posted indicating the installation a new pole in Station Street.
14 February 2023
Lots observed today, L3 splicing by Aldi, fibre being blown in New Road, Level 2 (L2) splice being made off at the top of New Road and preparations being made by St Peters Drive/New Road for another L2 splice..
Big push to get Chatteris online me thinks!
Picture taken in May 2022 just after the Netomnia Footway Box had been installed.
Taken 9 months from the installation of the above footway box in New Road to L2 splicing.
Further down New Road, scoping for a L2 spice to be undertaken over the next day or so.
Junction of St Peters Drive/New Road.
The above picture shows the In & Out main 288 fibre core cable from/to other L2 splice enclosures (blown in purple duct), also you can see two 48 fibre core cables from L3 distribution splice enclosures all ready to be dressed ready for termination.
17 February 2023
Level 2 splice feeding Farriers Gate being undertaken, the fibres are live from Doddington, so as each fibre is spliced the light continues onto the next L2 /L3 & CBT.
Network deployment is progressing well in Chatteris, a few duct blockages to clear before the L3 fibres can be drawn in and connected.
In another part of the towns deployment is delayed due to scaffolding being built directly on top of a footway box, the Netomnia infrastructure team need to get a spine sub duct pulled through this in order to connect a Level 2 node.
Netomnia progress halted due to scaffolding in London Road.
The testing team for my area is due on Monday 20th February, where they will confirm satisfactory light levels at the CBT’s ready for customers connections.
19 February 2023
Sunday and three splicing teams are on the go in town, by Spectacular a Level 2 node was being spliced, the picture also shows a completed Level 1 node which feeds the Level 2 being worked on.
In the footway box is two empty purple sub ducts ready for the spine fibre to be blown in once the obstructing is cleared as written about on the 17th February.
23 February 2023 – NETWORK LIVE
The Netomnia network in Chatteris is now officially live after testing.
Netomnia technician removing a dust cap protecting a port on a CBT prior to connecting his test equipment.
Plugging his Exfo Optical Power Meter into the port he noted the reading of -20.35dB which was a pass, anything greater than -22.75dB is a fail.
His test confirms the correct optical signal level at the CBT from the Doddington exchange enabling sign off with the next step being canvassing for subscriber uptake.
1 March 2023
Opals engineers working to unblock a duct route to Fenton Way business area, the equipment costs £10k and is designed to push a heavy duty rod through obstructions, but not in this case 🙁 meaning a civils team will need to excavate and manually repair the ducting.
Just before coming across the guys rodding, I saw a Youfibre ‘door to door’ sales representative hard at work selling the benefits.
16 March 2023
Still lots of civil works bring Netomnia’s fibers to parts of the town once the duct restrictions have been resolved, as parts of Chatteris are now live, a mail drop has occurred enclosing the following leaflet:
This is probably the most important section of the blog as customer satisfaction in such a crowded marketplace is crucial, as bad news travels fast.
I’ve attached, (with the authors permission and my thanks), unabridged Facebook comments on their experience and performance using YouFibre:
Mr Green
Mr Naisbett
Mr Thompson
My order was delayed by quite a bit, (original install date in September last year) but it finally got put in a couple weeks ago. There was the big hold up at the other end getting it connected but once things were rolling and I got the all green, they came and did the outside line (annoyingly without prebooking, but whatever) that took like 10 minutes. Much less faff than Virgin Media. And then their install lads came and sorted me out a few days later of an evening.
Polite and friendly on all occasions, they made it clear they don’t actually work for YouFibre though, and that at times they don’t get all the information they should have, so please do be patient with them if they don’t have 100% correct info, that sounds like it’s on YouFibre’s call centre.
I wasn’t aware of them using a strange NAT setup so thanks whoever it was pointed that out, I was hoping to avoid getting a static IP but if I need that to break through a forced NAT then sobeit.
Speed has been excellent so far, I got their YouMesh thing with the 1Gb Service, which is a bit paradoxical given you can only get 250Mb from the ‘Nodes’ even if you use a cable, which is a bit silly, so I’ve unplugged those and just use the Eero main hub for now. I’ll be plumbing it into my own Mesh later once I’ve got the time, but for now, happily getting 750Mb + both ways via WiFi on a WiFi 6 connected device that’s not exactly right next to it, so pretty pleased with that.
Haven’t tested the latency extensively, given I’m on WiFi currently that seemed pointless to do yet, may report back with findings at a later point.
Definitely recommend them, they’re less than half the price of Virgin Media and that’s excellent for a symmetrical line in the UK. I just hope they prove to be as popular as they should be and spread to other areas, the UK needs more competition in the broadband Market, BT only do the bare minimum and VM are just pricing things stupidly.
18 April 2023 – Another New Pole
Two new poles were installed today on behalf of Netomnia, (Park Street and St Martins Road), these will be used as transit poles to reduce the overhead fibre span distance to the next pole/other poles having CBTs fitted.
Guys setting up for the installation, the difference between these poles and the one installed in Newlands Road is that it came complete with pole hardware already fitted, (steps & top ring), and it also bears the name of the provider.
11 October 2023 – New Poles
Two new transit poles have been installed today carrying overhead fibre optic cables to enable service connections to be available on existing poles:
Corner of Railway Lane and Horsegate Gardens.
New pole outside The Ship, a further pole is due for installation in the town but I do not have the location at the time of this update.
Their are only two options, the fibre either goes above or below ground!
Netomnia are able to use existing Openreach underground ducts which brings your telephone line to your house, these same ducts are used to draw in a new fibre optic cable which terminates directly inside your home.
It might be the case that your existing telephone cable does not use a duct and the cable is ‘directly buried’ in the ground, I’m not sure how Netomnia would tackle this if you wanted the service, they may opt to install a new telephone pole, and use overhead lines to your house from this.
Above ground junction box is a typical indication that the phone lines to properties are directly buried.
Virgin Media use ‘directly buried’ micro ducts from the pavement ‘Toby boxes’ to your house external wall to bring their fibre to the house, but they are the only provider to do so as I understand it.
If your telephone line comes in overhead, then a fibre optical cable will use the same method, as long as the pole has been enabled with the network hardware.
This telephone pole is nearest to where I live so it was quite easy to monitor its progress:
25th May 22, Sub Duct installed to upstream footway box
26th May – 29th May, New double footway box installed near pole DP262
11th June, floor markings appear indicating the pole needs a new duct installing
22nd August, Opals civils install new duct to pole DP262
11th October, pole CBT installed
17th February 23, L2 splicing to make pole live for testing on the 20th February.
24 August 22, work to install new duct to pole
Opals engineer installing the CBT, no ladders are used on the pole, all work was carried out from the vehicles bucket.
23 January 2023, fibre cable being blown to L2 node in New Road.
For a sense of scale, the Chatteris scheme including DP262 is fed from Doddington Exchange.
23 January 2023 – Netomnia trunk fibre being spliced through in Doddington Road, you might just be able to make the technician out in the copse.
Pole Mounted CBT Connection to L3
The fibre cable to the pole CBT in the above image was neatly clipped down the pole and ran in a new duct to a footway box for splicing and this method is adopted where duct access is available.
Another method Netomnia employ to get a CBT fibre cable to a pole or number of poles is overhead, this could be due to duct blockages, duct capacity issues or financial considerations based on time.
The above picture is of an existing Openreach Pole in Fairway with three telephone lines fanning out to the right, the horizontal cables at the top of the pole are fibre cables to other pole mounted CBTs, from this pole you can see that six CBTs will be spliced here.
Another example from New Road where the fibre for five other pole CBTs are fed overhead and will be terminated in a footway box near the base of the main pole in the picture.
14 December 2022, external temperature -5oC and fibre splicing continues.
Technician splicing 6 fibres, (5 plus 1 from the poles CBT), New Road.
Fibre/Broadband equipment in the home
Based on information from forums on Youfibre installation, the feedback is very positive in other towns.
Very little information regarding Youfibre installations exists currently on the internet, probably due to the company only relatively recently formed.
The fibre can get to the property either via the existing telephone duct or via overhead from the same pole as your phoneline,.
The externally graded fibre is spliced in an enclosure to a fibre cable suitable for installation into the property.
Youfibre standoff bracket designed to bring an overhead fibre from the nearest pole whilst coping with the gutter overhang.
Images of different Customer Service Points used by Netomnia.
Simon kindly sent the image of his YouFibre CSP which was cabled from a footway box CBT.
Flurry of broadband activity in the town as Netomnia are installing their infrastructure just as Virgin Media are expanding their existing network. A blog on this is HERE.
Please Note – I’m not employed by Virgin Media and this Blog is based on my observations and assumptions, I have no insight into where, when or the extent of their program including properties to be ‘Openreach Duct’ ready.
Virgin Media – Phase 2 Infrastructure
In June 2017 Virgin Media contractors began the infrastructure works in Chatteris, digging over 37 miles of trenching to lay the microduct bundles which bring fibre optic cable to the home.
In late April 2022, I noticed that Kelly Communications on behalf of Virgin Media, were installing a number of BT marked footway boxes in front of existing street cabinets and this was due to the following :-
“In 2019 a Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) statement was issued by OFCOM enabling other service providers (Alt-Nets), to use Openreach’s ducts and poles at a cost (Openreach Pricing)”
So this is the start of Virgin Media taking advantage of this arrangement in Chatteris enabling consumers to have a greater choice on service provision.
I’m assuming that as the cover had BT embossed in it, further civil works will be needed to duct to a nearby BT footway box.
While out and about in New Road, I noticed the new installation of a Nodal Cabinet, BT marked footway box and signs of interconnect works to a Openreach footway box by a Principle Connection Point which tweaked my interest :-).
I wondered why a Nodal Cabinet (right hand side) had been installed, then I remembered that a development of 52 dwellings in Lancaster Way were not included in the initial Project Lightning rollout and therefore did not have any ‘Toby’ boxes or microduct infrastructure installed.
The conventional way of getting a Virgin Media to your property is by a microduct (Virgin workers refer to these as ‘Straws’), from a Grey street cabinet directly to a ‘Toby’ box’, which will usually be on the pavement near the property boundary, once service is requested a fibre optic cable is blown down the microduct and terminated on the outside wall of your property.
With the duct sharing agreement in place, the lack of a ‘Toby’ does not necessarily now mean you can’t have Virgin Media installed, which is great news.
I’m not sure if Virgin Media are going to use telephone poles or stick to only using ducts at this time.
Due to the nodal cabinet in New Road, I had a look around Lancaster Way on the 4th May 2022 to see if any above ground infrastructure had been installed, and by pure chance Kelly Communications were installing a fibre to a property using Virgin Media assets within an Openreach footway box and they kindly allowed me to take a few pictures.
Emtelle OFDC – Click image for data sheet
It looks like a single microduct has been installed from the Virgin Media street cabinet in New Road (AF0409), using the Openreach ducts to cross two roads in getting to the footway box in the picture, a total distance of some 193 metres, (the advantages of Virgin Media sharing the ducts are obvious as the civils cost would have been considerable).
The fibre, via the microduct from Cabinet AF0409 is connected to an Outdoor Fibre Distribution Closure (OFDC) which is a ruggedised splice tray giving a 12 fibre outlet ports.
The OFDC is housed within an original Openreach footway box (Type 4), from when the estate was built, the OFDC uses a hinged, bespoke bracket, and shares the space with an Openreach Connectorised Block Terminal used for Ultra Fast Fibre Broadband by BT and other providers, (further details can be found in my blog on Future Fibre).
In the picture you can see a black with green strip microduct, this was installed by the Engineers and uses the same duct to the property as the telephone cable, the green microduct with a yellow label is ready to be joined together with a ‘push fit’ coupling.
The OFDC has the green microducts ‘tails’ already installed to make the process ‘standard’, mimicking a traditional, non shared duct installation.
Once the microduct was in the footway box and the connection made to the OFDC ‘tail’ , the fibre was blown from the property through the microduct and connected to the first port on the OFDC.
The ‘push fit’ coupling is a ‘Gas Block’ designed to prevent any dangerous gasses (if present), leaving the footway chamber via the microduct and causing a hazard.
John Guest Gas Block – click image for data sheet
The OFDC hinged lid was then clipped closed, the assembly then folded down and the manlid refitted, so their are no visible signs that Virgin Media is available in the area, unless you spot a physical Ominbox on the wall of a connected property.
Microduct emerging from the Openreach duct to the Omnibox.View showing the footway box fibre equipment.
The pen markings on the OFDC (AF040903) indicate that it feed originated from Cabinet AF04 and sub fed from cabinet number 09, I would presume the 03 represents that their are at least two other units OFDC’s in use here, and would expect a few more to provide estate coverage.
The picture above shows neighbours, one with a BT Customers Splice Point (CSP) for fibre, with this system the fibre connects to a Optical Network Termination (ONT) box inside the property, whereas the Virgin Media fibre terminates in the external Omnibox where an ‘optical to coaxial media converter’ is located, before the coaxial cable enters the property.
Joint Footway Type 4 ( 55cm x 100cm) containing the ODFC serving a property to the left of the picture.
Looking around Chatteris there are signs that Virgin Media are looking to try and include those properties which could not be traditionally served with a microduct service to the property, simply due to the distance from the boundary ‘Toby’ to the property.
Utilisation of existing Openreach ducts is the perfect solution, as per the example below:
The 4 ‘Toby’ boxes were installed in 2017 and the footway box was installed on the 6th May 2022 by Kelly Communications. The next stage will be to link the footway box to an Openreach footway box which contains the telephone ducts from the properties that the original ‘Toby’ boxes were provisioned for.
Once the Openreach footway box is located, an OFDC will be installed, ready for a customers connection should they place an order, if an order is forthcoming, the installation will progress as per the one in Lancaster Way.
It is difficult from this picture to show how far away the prospective Virgin Media consumers are, but you can see that if a ‘traditional’ microduct were to be installed directly from the ‘Toby’ to the property, it would involve a lot of Pave Block lifting and replacement (disruption and cost), not too mention gaining Wayleaves if required, so the use of existing Openreach infrastructure is ideal.
The distance from the ‘Toby’ to the furthest property is approximately 100m
This is another example of where 4 ‘Toby’ boxes have been installed ready to supply customers in 2017, but the block paved drive would make service provision costly, and this scenario is replicated multiple times in Chatteris, hence, the sharing of the existing telephone cable ducts will open Virgin Media to many more customers.
I’m not sure how Virgin Media will let you know you can have their service, probably a promotional leaflet through your letterbox or a knock on the door, but you can check availability HERE.
This is a comprehensive continuation of problem resolution of the ESi thermostat which can be found HERE.
Update
Due to the imminent installation of a new boiler with Priority Domestic Hot Water, I will be able to control the water temperature using the unvented cylinders integral thermostat making the ESCTDE/B redundant and therefore I have removed it.
Problem
After the cylinder thermostat was installed, I noticed that the boiler would fire up outside of any scheduled times, checking the programmer settings and wiring, I deduced that the supply to call for heat to the Hot Water Valve was being controlled by the ESCTEDE/B.
I spoke to ESi technical and they confirmed this to be the case when the cylinder thermostat was configured for legionella mode. In this mode, the internal timer of the ESCTEDE/B will call for hot water, (irrespective of the time of day or programmer setting) until the measured water temperature is at or above 60 deg C for 1 hour in order to kill water borne bugs.
As a result of this, I reluctantly disabled the legionella function.
After I received the prompting comment from a blog reader, I thought I would look at a circuit which would only allow the hot water to call for heat based on the programmers scheduled time setting, however, should the legionella mode timer be internally activated, this would proceed as normal, but only within the programmers scheduled time slots.
The simplified schematic below shows this can be accomplished using an interposing relay as a switch for the motorised valve trigger.
Solution – Method of Operation
When the programmer calls for Hot Water, a switched live is sent to the ESi controller HW -ON -COM terminal and also to a Normally Open terminal of a 230v AC Relay contact, the common of the relay contact is connected to the motorised valve (Brown Wire).
When the ESi receives a switched live to the HW-ON-COM, the ESi LED illuminates and an internal connection is made and a switched live appears on the HWS N/O terminal, this output is now wired directly to the relay coil, rather than the motorised valve.
The result of this modification is that when the HW programmer calls for heat, the relay will energise and supply the motorised valve with a switched live from the programmer, should the ESI enter legionella mode, the relay will energise or remain energised depending on the programmers time setting, however, if the programmer is not calling for heat, the switched supply to the motorised valve will no longer be present and the valve will close turning off the boiler.
The advantage of this arrangement is that the boiler firing is dependent on the programmers scheduled times set by the user, rather than the ESCTEDE/B doing this at random times.
The main thing to note is that the legionella setting from the ESCTEDE/B will not reset unless the water, reaches and maintains, a temperature of 60 degrees for 1 hour, this means that the programmers time window must be greater than 2 hours making the assumption the tanks contents will reach temperature in the first hour and maintain this in the second hour.
Obviously the boilers hot water temperature setting must be greater than 61 degrees for this to work.
Modified ‘S’ Plan Wiring Schematic to include Relay Control
My existing central heating wiring centre was the original one and modified when I fitted the ESi and as you can see it was a little bit ‘busy’ and desperately in need of a tidy up!
Looking around for a replacement wiring centre, I saw that a local Screwfix had one in which uses Wago connections rather than traditional terminal strips, the main benefit of this is the tool less connection of wires and a greater number of connection terminals avoiding doubling up of wires which makes installation messy and fault finding difficult.
The Screwfix part number is 621HV and the product is a Wago L32 Terminal Junction Box.
Even though the L32 had a lot of connections, I still needed additional connections for the earth wires and a cross connect marked as connector ‘A’ in the schematic.
Old wiring centre removed and cables marked up ready for re-termination.
The completed Wago L32 wiring centre is considerably neater than the one it replaced, the schematic terminal connections are faithfully recreated within the L32 to aid fault finding or future modifications if required.
Once this was done I changed the legionella setting to operate every 7 days, the installation guide on how to set this up is HERE.
ESi showing the cylinder water temperature of 50oC, the hot water is calling for heat as my setpoint is 55oC.
I’ve not done anything to my front lawns, other than mow the grass. This year (2022), I thought I would invest some time in trying to get them looking better without the weeds and moss, by the way, I’m certainly no lawn expert!
After treating the lawn with a moss and weed solution and after scarifying and aerating, I needed to level out the surface of the lawn by using a Top Dressing comprising of a sand and soil mix in a 70:30 ratio.
Their are a number of tools which can be used to spread and level the lawn, these are a Drag Mat (or variant), and a Lawn Lute.
Manufactured Lawn Lute, the one pictured is made from Stainless Steel and costs £130
The cost of a manufactured Lawn Lute can be well over £100, so I decided to make my own.
Dimensioned cutting plan of my lawn lute.
The tools needed were:
Welder
3.2mm 6013 Welding Rods
Angle Grinder – Metal Cutting Disc
Tape Measure
5.3m of 25mm x 25mm x 3mm Mild Steel Angle Iron
2.2m 25mm Galvanized Conduit
25mm Galvanized Threaded Coupling
Hinge assembly
The construction was fairly straightforward, once the angle iron was cut to length, the outer frame was welded and then the internal cross pieces were added.
The cross pieces are welded so that the ‘V’ is on the inside, meaning the ‘sharp’ edge is in contact with the ground when in use.
‘Old Faithful’ – Weldmate 140 Stick Welder.
The hinge was made by using a small length of angle iron with the ends cut to allow a flap to be formed, this was then bent over and welded, 6.5mm hole was drilled in each end to the hinge and this was then lined up the two other lengths of angle iron which sit on-top of the cross pieces.
Once all ‘square’ everything was welded into place, the last step was to weld a 25mm coupling onto the hinge, as these are galvanized I needed to grind off this coating due to the fumes when welding.
The handle is a 2.2m length of 25mm galvanized electrical conduit which screws into the coupling when needed, but unscrews for easy storage.
The cost of construction was £44
Welding rods (I did buy a big box for other projects) – £22
Angle Iron – £12
Cutting discs – £10
Coupling and conduit already had
If you do zoom in, please don’t crucify me for my poor welding 🙂
I have always struggled with water temperature control on my Trevi CTV thermostatic shower valve, typically it was always too cold and we ended up running the cold sink tap at the same time as having a shower, in order to reduce the cold water pressure, this then allowed warm water flow.
My first thought was that the problem was within the mixer tap, I downloaded the manual and disassembled the mixer to check that the hot water strainer was clear and nothing obvious was wrong, what I did notice was the temperature limiting plastic ‘stops’ were missing.
These ‘stops’ are a means of maximum temperature regulation and also act as an ‘anti scold’ devices, so the removal of them meant the installer knew of a problem 🙁
I went on the UK Plumbers Forum to ask advise about this and the answer came back almost immediately.
In order to explain, I need to show how my domestic hot water is plumbed:
Looking at the diagram above, the high pressure mains water supply enters from the right into a balancing valve, this valve performs three functions:
Reduces the incoming cold water pressure to 3.5 bar to feed the unvented cylinder
Provides a cold water connection at the same water pressure as the unvented cylinder
Contains a Pressure Relief Valve which will discharge to drain if the pressure exceeds 6 bar.
Monoblock/Balancing valve.
My unvented cylinders reducing valve doesn’t have a cold water take off, so instead of fitting one, the original installer simply took the cold fee to the mixer shower valve directly from the incoming supply, which is at a greater pressure than the pressure reduced hot water, so it would never have worked properly from day one.
The person who fitted it must have known this, so removed any overtemperature controls, what an idiot!
In order to fix this, I needed to either fit a balancing valve and re-pipe the shower to the cold take off, or, fit a 3.5bar pressure reducing valve (PRV) near the shower, this is what I did.
The plastic pipes from the shower mixer run under the landing floor, so I used a multitool and cut an access hatch in the floor to locate the pipes, turning on the shower for hot water whilst holding the pipes, soon identified the hot one.
The PRV needed to be fitted to the cold water, so the stopcock wat turned off and water drained by turning on the kitchen taps, once drained the plastic pipe was cut and inserts fitted.
I used a short length of 15mm copper pipe tails from the PRV inlet and outlet compression fittings and made the connection to copper/plastic pipe with ‘push fit’ sockets.
The hatch cover was then screwed down and marked up, so anyone lifting the carpet back will know what’s under the hatch.
It was not an expensive fix, and its made a huge difference, don’t know why I put it off for so long.
On the 18th February 2022, Storm Eunice arrived bringing disruption to many parts of the country and a record number of Red weather warnings being issued by the Met Office.
I recorded wind speeds of 52mph and this was enough to dislodge a roof tile which slide off the roof and smashed,
We are lucky in this town to have a distributor for the make of tiles I have, and they ordered a replacement for me.
The type and description of the tile I needed :
Sandtoft concrete double pantile right hand cloaked verge tile Rustic
The tile cost £11.50 and the roofer is due any day to fit it.
Update
15 March 22
I got let down by a roofer from Sommersham who promised they could do the job and in the end just didn’t bother coming or contacting me.
So I called the company I bought the tile from on the off chance they knew a roofer they could recommend, they gave me Matts number, and by 4pm on the same day, the new tile has been fitted.
While he was there I noticed a gap where the ridge tile meets the roof tiles, Matt said the plastic infill is missing so he nipped up and mortared this up, so we are watertight again 🙂
Matt did a great job and charged a very reasonable fee.
Very pleased with the job, the tile I lost was due to it not being secured with a nail, as nailing the replacement would mean removing all the preceding tiles as they overlap each other, so the workaround was to use an adhesive to bond the tile down.
I saw this article on hiding the reCaptcha v3 badge which automatically displays on the bottom right hand corner of the screen if reCaptcha is enabled in your Contact Forms.
I needed to hide the v3 badge was as it clashed with the location of a ‘Scroll to Top’ button, the implementation of the code to hide the badge was very simple:
Locate Appearance on Dashboard
Select – Customise
Click on – Additional CSS
Add the text in the box and save, then check you can send mail.
Google does allow the badge to be hidden, but their are conditions which the linked article above refers which need to be implemented.
In my case I added the statement – ‘This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply’, to my left hand sidebar, directly under the Contact Form using the Wiget menu.
I laid my first block paving path over 20 years ago at a different property, so I knew the basics when we needed to give my existing path a makeover.
Broken flags due to delivery lorries delivering materials.
We knew it was going to be paving blocks, but the colour and pattern needed to be worked through. We did know that only pedestrian traffic would use the path, so the block thickness only needed to be 50mm.
Looking online. the colour of block which is in sympathy with the house brick is Buff, Wickes turned out to be the most competitive at the time of purchase.
Block Setout Plan
Drawing a plan, gave the overall number of blocks required and we went for a very simply laying pattern to reduce block wastage to an absolute minimum after comparing laying options, (my previous attempt used a ‘Heringbone’ pattern which looks really nice but is very cut intensive and generates a lot of waste).
Materials
After ordering the pave block, I needed the following:
Concrete edgings
Metal edgings
MOT1 hardcore
Sharp sand
Kiln Dried sand
Skip
It was time to get the shovel out and get rid of the old path!
Yellow arrow indicate lighting cable duct.We decided to widen the path to allow for a bench as this is a sun trap in the afternoon.
Once all the path was dug up, it was time to run a string line out for my straight edge, the width of the path isn’t that critical at this point, as I can take space from the lawn to add width.
Concrete edging cemented into place, taking time to follow the string line for both height and straightness.
Getting the sand level correct
Once the edgings had set, we laid MOT1 and used a friends ‘Wacker Plate’ to compact this, before applying a 50mm layer of sharp sand.
My spirt levels height was the same as a pave block (50mm), the base sand was compacted and I used two lengths of 25mm galvanised electrical conduit as runners which were embedded in the sand.
The level was then used to scrape the sand using the conduit as rails, adjusting the depth until the sprit levels top edge was 10mm proud of the edgings top, this was to allow for the bricks compaction at the end of the laying process so they lay flush with the edges.
Where the blocks butt up to the lawn, I used Corten steel edgings, as these are very thin, strong and will last for decades.
With the blocks laid, the ‘Wacker Plate’ was again used, after a liberal layer of kiln dried sand was added, to vibrate the sand into the gaps and effectively ‘lock’ the blocks in place.
The lawn was then reseeded, hence the mesh.
One good thing to come out of this apart from a path, is that the house builders had simply filled an air brick hole up with gravel which was below the paths grade, so hidden.
This was sorted very quickly with a new air brick installed, but the builders should have known better, but the quality of construction in certain areas is questionable!
Conclusion
The weather was very kind to us when we were doing this project and their was no rush, so it turned out to be a pleasant job to do, still physically hard work, but it does look good for an amateur job, (although I do say so myself :-))
A blog about stuff that interests me or I have done.
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