I have previously fitted a MiniSun 19500 fan and was very pleased with its performance considering the cost of the unit is quite low, however, I did have a few minor niggles relating to the lack of space in the base to fit the controller and the lack of lamp dimming.
The modifications I wanted to make were:
Dimming of the lamps as the fan is being installed in a bedroom
2 way light switching i.e. switching on/off from the wall or remote control
Note: The fan I was installing was new, but out of warranty, this modification will invalidate any outstanding warranties.
Included, but not shown above, are two, non dimmable 4W LED Golfball lamps (SES/E14).
For a standard installation, the controller uses plugs to connect to the fan motor and fan lights, with the controller then being crammed into the fan base, it is doable, but tight, so be warned.
Once power is applied, the light on/off and 3 motor speeds are selected and controlled by the remote control with the fans Infra-Red (I/R) sensor being adhered to the ceiling.
Drawing showing controllers inputs & Outputs
Modification
I needed to do a few enabling tasks before the ceiling fan was fitted, this meant the removal of the existing bedroom light and re-routing of the cables, also the installation of a 3 core & earth cable and Varilight V-Pro dimmer switch to replace the existing, non LED compatible dimmer switch.
I also decided to fit a Scolmore fused isolator to make dead for maintenance, the finished arrangement is seen below:
The modification involves cutting off the controller plugs marked as 1 & 2, this allows the controller to be physically distanced from the base and reconnected using 3 core and earth cable.
The I/R Sensor wire is also cut and extended.
With the controller mounted in a suitable enclosure, a 230v AC relay is added, the relay is connected to the lamp output of the controller, and will be energized/deenergized by the light function button on the remote control.
Using the relay contacts, it is now possible to make the fan light into 2 way switching.
The 3 core & earth from the dimmer switch is wired across the relay contacts to enable the dimmer switch and remote control to behave as a 2 way switching arrangement with the added benefit of being able to dim the lights from the V-Pro.
Competed project, (lid removed for picture), the maintenance free junction box (JB) to the left of the unit is where the lighting circuit Loop In & Loop Out cables have been pulled back from the original ceiling rose, the supply to the controller is from this JB via the fused isolator.
My central heating system has 13 radiators with 12 having Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRV), and I decided a couple of years ago to replace the existing wax capsule TRVs with intelligent Hive ones which I did.
Stock Honeywell TRV Head
Hive Intelligent TRV replacement head
Installation of the Hive TRV was very straightforward, the existing heads are removed by unscrewing the knurled nut and the Hive supplied adapter is screwed into place on the valve body, the Hive TRV then screws to this and using the App is enrolled onto the heating system.
Hive TRVs have picked up negative reviews, I think this was due to launching the product before it had been fully beta tested, that said, most of the wrinkles have now been ironed out and I enjoy the benefits individual radiator temperature control and scheduling gives me.
My main issue has been that the Hive TRVs, which are controlled via a smartphone app, and this keeps requesting that the TRV’s need calibration, which I have put down to the age and condition of the existing radiator valves.
I could temporarily free sticking valve pins by ‘tapping’ and adding oil or WD40, but they would always stick again, and they did look a bit mangy, also my boiler pressure was dropping very slowly over time and I put this down to TRV valve leaks, so it was time for action!
Honeywell VT15 TRVs
The TRVs installed when the house was built (circa 2002) are VT15:
Unfortunately the valve has no serviceable parts and therefore no replacement insert is available which is a nonsense to be honest, as it forces you to either buy a complete valve assembly with TRV sensing head or search for a vendor who will sell the valve body only.
After much searching, I found a seller on eBay of VT15 valve bodies only at £6.99 each, so I bought what I needed which is a lot cheaper than buying a complete assembly for £15 each and throwing half of it away.
I had no intention of changing the valve body on the radiator as it would only introduce more work and an elevated risk of leaks from pipework joints, only the insert needed to be changed, so when I received the valves the inserts had to come out.
I had to use a 19mm socket in an Impact Screwdriver to remove the inserts from the new valves as they are insanely tight, so make sure the valve is held tightly in a solid vice before trying this.
Fitting Inserts
After switching power off to the boiler, I drained the water out of the heating system, this was easy in my case as the downstairs radiators had drain valve lockshields.
After removing the Hive TRV head, you can see the hexagonal head of the valve insert, using the Impact Screwdriver, the old insert was swiftly removed and the new insert fitted and carefully tightened with a 19mm ring spanner.
As the insert uses ‘metal- to metal’, mating face with the valve body to form a seal, I used V2-Plus jet lube jointing compound on the threads and joint face as a precaution against leaking.
Removed inserts from the heating system.
I changed 11 inserts, on investigation 1 was OK, 10 were sticking or stuck in the closed position and of the 11, 7 showed signs of leaking.
While the system was drained I changed the Automatic Bypass Valve (ABV) for a better quality Honeywell DU145, although my boiler has an inbuilt ABV for boiler protection, it is prudent to have one installed with TRVs as the external ABV is designed to maintain a minimum pump flow rate through the boiler as the individual radiator TRVs close and to manage boiler over-run when zone valves close, rather than ‘dead heading’ the pump forcing the boiler ABV to open.
When all the inserts and the ABV was fitted, Fernox F1 inhibitor was added via Magnaclean filter chamber and the system filled with water, circulated and vented.
Not being a plumber, I decided to cut open a TRV valve body to see how it work and where it fails.
Jointing paste was used on the threads and contact face of the insert just in case of a bad seal
Insert Operation.
Water from the heating system enters at the bottom of the valve body, as the valve plunger is away from the valve seat (room asking for heat), water will pass and exit to the radiator.
If the pin on the top of the insert, (which is under spring pressure to keep the plunger lifted), is slowly pressed down, this will begin to restrict the water flow to the radiator as the plunger lowers into the valve seat, eventually closing the central heating water off completely to the radiator.
The job of the TRV head is to push down on this pin based on the rooms ambient temperature.
The movement of the pin is not very much at all :
The plunger on the left is stuck in the lowered position, the one on the right is OK as the internal spring has overcome friction and lifted the plunger.
So what’s inside an insert?
Bottom View
Top View
Starting at the bottom of the insert, this is in contact with the central heating water, the first part is the plunger which has a disk of rubber, copper riveted to it, this forms the watertight seal when the plunger is pushed fully down into the seat of the valve body.
The plunger is pushed tightly onto a stainless steel pin allowing the pin to raise and lower the plunger, the pin passes through a rubber seal in the body of the brass insert.
With the pin in the body, a spring sits over the pin and a copper ferrule holds the spring in place.
The last part is the stainless steel collet which is held in place by a ribbed design, locking into the brass body when pushed in.
The action of locking the collet in to the body, compresses the spring, forcing the copper ferrule to seat against the underside of the collet and lifting the pin to the correct height to enable the plunger to be lifted clear of the valve body seat.
Where are the problem areas?
The majority of my problems were due to the pin sticking, the root cause is where the pin passes through the rubber seal at the base of the brass insert body, and no amount of lubrication will get anywhere near it.
It looks like the rubber seals have age hardened due to being subject to wide temperature variations over time, eventually the seals friction against the pin overcomes the springs lifting force.
Obvious sign of water seepage into the insert cavity.
As a result of the pin seal ageing, system water creeps into the insert cavity, making its way past the locking joint of the collet/body or collet/pin, manifesting as discolored caking at the interface, this is an area for ‘weeping’ as the gunge is damp and therefore a point where system pressure is lost.
This picture says it all, the top insert shows how a good one should look, with the pin freely moving when pressed down using an upturned spoon.
To Sum Up
Don’t waste your time lubricating or tapping TRV pins like I did, the pin is sticking at the seal and no amount of lubricant will fix it 🙁 .
If the pin sticks or gunge is evident, you are only putting off the inevitable valve change, a plumber can do what I did a lot quicker and in some cases without draining the system, however, it is a DIY job if your confident.
I bought two sets of the GL KIT16B garden walk over LED lights from TLC Electrical for my decking, each set comprises of 10 LED lights and a 12v transformer, the cost of each kit was £31.40.
I had these installed for about a year but due to an electrical problem which caused an overvoltage, the lights stopped working.
The choice was to buy new kits or try and repair them 🙂
The case does say Non-Replaceable Blue LED Lamp and this turned out to be incorrect.
First job was to separate the base from the lamp body, it looks like they used an RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) sealant. With gently persuasion using a screwdriver blade, the body came apart.
In order to get at the circuit board, base of the lamp need to be separated, this was done by simply pulling it apart.
I got a fair bit of sealant of by using my fingers, the next step was to cut off the cables allowing more access to the PCB.
I used a Spudger to scrape off as much as I could before using a Brass brush.
The PCB was now nice and clean ready to unsolder the duff LED’s and SMT resistor which was open circuit.
I’ve had this Helping Hand for more years than I care to remember and is perfect for this type of work.
All the LED’s have been unsoldered, I used a solder pump for this, all that is left is the damaged resistor to remove.
New LED’s ready to solder in, as you can see the PCB is printed with the orientation of the LED legs and LED body.
In the picture above I was soldering in Blue LED’s, however, I took the opportunity to change the colour in 8 of the lights to green to match the other garden lights.
LED’s, soldered in ready for the legs to be cut off and the resistor to be fitted.
The resistor needed was a 100 Ohm Type 1206 Surface Mount Device.
Once the resistor was in, the connecting cables can be reattached.
A quick test before reassembly.
With the PCB pushed back inside the light body, it’s important not to forget the holding clip for the next stage.
All pushed back into place ready to be sealed up.
I used RTV Gasket silicone which cost £3.32, this is prefect as a potting compound.
Completed refurbished LED light, total time from start to potting is about 10 minutes.
The LEDs are 5mm and are very cheap off eBay, I could have fitted a number of different colours, but Blue and Green was fine, Knightsbridge only make Blue, White and Warm White in this model range, but don’t let you put this off after seeing this blog.
Finished look with the green deck lights pointing outwards illuminating the paths from the deck, really pleased with the finish and how easy and cheap it was to do.
I bought from TLC Electrical 6 Knightsbridge GU10SPIKEBK IP65 garden spike lights at £13.25 each and got some odd insulation resistance readings when testing, John Ward and Thomas Nagy (YouTube influencers), have also commented on the problem, so I thought I’d share what I found.
A cable which carries 230v AC is tested at twice its voltage using an insulation resistance tester, this injects 500v DC into the conductors, any issues with conductor insulation will be displayed as a digital reading.
The ideal reading would be >500 Meg Ohms in my meters case, effectively their is no leakage between the conductors under test, BS7671 allow for a pass at 1 Meg Ohm, however, further investigation is recommended if the reading is 20 Meg Ohms or less.
As I knew the age of the garden cabling, its route and connections, I was surprised at finding a less than expected insulation resistance reading which turned out to be the actual cable cable supplied with the spike fitting.
H05RN-F 3 Core 1.0mm2 Ningbo Huashun Electronics
The cable is a 3 core rubberised insulated ands sheathed cable with the identification H05RN-F 3C 1.00mm2 Ningbo Huashun Electronics printed throughout its length.
This image above shows a length of the faulty cable under test, the meter should show >500 not 185.6 Meg Ohms, (this resistance, when connected in parallel with further faulty cables, which also act as resistors, has the effect of significantly reducing the overall resistance/integrity of the circuit).
Ironically, not every fittings cable was affected, but I had lost confidence in the existing cables and replaced all spike light cables with 3 Core Pond Flexible Cable 0.75mm² 3183P Black, £22 for 25m from Wickes, after which all tested >500.
Being a new water softener user, (March 2021), I was constantly checking the level of the block salt my Kinetico Premier Compact uses and as my unit is outside due to space restrictions, I thought there must be away to remotely alert if more salt was required.
Final Version (23 February 2022)
Below you will find a number of different versions and iterations of my attempt at alerting to low salt level in the water softener, this is what I have ended up with.
No additional devider required to keep the salt blocks apart in the softener, this caused the salt block to jam 🙁
The Sonoff wireless contact was simply out of range of wifi reception no matter what I did, this caused it to intermittently drop offline and eat batteries, so this was removed.
Replaced the Sonoff with a Pyronix Nano door contact:
The magnet carrier within the softener remained the same, simply resting on top of one of the blocks and the Nano contact velcroed on the side of the casing, in the same place where the Sonoff used to be.
A little circular magnet gives me a level indication of the salt block, average usage is about 11mm of salt block erosion per day.
The Nano contact links into the house alarm system and is configured to log events and act as a simple switch to operate a relay when the contact opens or closes, this is a totally independent function of the alarm and will not cause an alarm activation if the salt goes low 🙂
I have brought the Sonoff switch inside and it is now triggered by the relay which changes state based on the Nano, this allows a ‘Scene’ to run, switching on and off a mains lit sign when the salt is low as well as an App notification.
The use of using an intruder alarm contact is that communications between the contact and the alarm is monitored as is the battery condition, giving me a failure alert which I didn’t have with Sonoff.
This setup has been in use for about two months and has worked really well, I think this may be the last time I have to play with it!
Version 4 (21 May 21):
I have used Sonoff Smart devices for a number of years which are monitored and controlled via the eWeLink App on my iphone and ipad so I knew this was the non invasive way to go, especially as the DW2 battery level and online status is monitored and alerted on the App .
Caution – The method I’m using is not fail safe, please don’t blame me if your water reverts back to being hard because you ran out of salt :-).
The idea is that a strong magnet will be carried on top of the left hand salt block as this was observed to be slightly lagging the right hand one as the blocks dissolve.
The magnet will be lowered by the dissolving salt until a point is reached which it will trigger the Sonoff sensor which will be attached to the outside of the water softener, this will then trigger an alert via WiFi and the eWeLink mobile App as below.
A 90mm length of 25mm PVC tube with sealing end caps sits on the salt block, inside the left hand cap is a 20mm x 4mm disc Neodymium magnet. To enable the magnet to be guided throughout its travel, a Perspex divider is used between the two blocks.
On the outside of the softener the Sonoff switch is fixed with Velcro at a height which will give me a few days notice of low salt, with the wires from the switch have been extended to the Sonoff transmitter, and this is now mounted as high as I could get it within the enclosure in an attempt to get the best WiFi signal.
I also decided to use a smaller magnet on the outside of the softener to show the position of the salt block magnet, a graduated strip shows approximate days salt usage left (26 days per 8Kg).
The level detectors signal strength is quite good and seems to work, but its still early days and more monitoring is needed before I can say with certainty that it can be relied upon fully.
On thing to App allows you to do is link to other devices in the Sonoff range, I have set a ‘scene’ so that on low salt detection, a mains powered light will turn on in the house giving me a visual indication, which is a great feature.
Testing of the Sonoff is very easy, I simply place an external magnet near the device to confirm operation.
NOTE: Most of the difficulties in my installation have been with WiFi signal, if your softener is indoors, an unmodified DW2 with a magnet in a tube would work just fine 🙂
Sonoff Devices
The WiFi sensor I used was the battery operated stand-alone Sonoff DW2 -WiFi wireless Door/Window Sensor, as I already had a number of Sonoff devices and the eWeLink App on my iphone.
I did modify the sensor as described further on, but I didn’t have too, as the App had a selectable setting to push notify when the sensor either goes Closed or Open, equating to ‘seeing a magnet’ or ‘not seeing a magnet’ which if I’d known first I wouldn’t have gone to the effort of taking it apart :-).
A key takeaway is that the Sonoff must be in range of your WiFi, obvious I know, but it caught me out!
How it evolved to the working version
The Sonoff modification would be to change the original Reed Switch which is normally kept closed and out of an alert condition by the presence of a magnet, I needed the opposite of this, the introduction of a magnet would cause an alert, (as mentioned earlier, this really doesn’t matters as the App settings could have solved this).
So to the shopping list, all of eBay:
Version 1
ABS Box (75.5 x 49.5 x 28) @ £4.50,
Disk ring Neodymium magnet 20 x 4mm @ £4.89 for two,
Reed Switch 3 pin magnetic switch normally open closed conversion 2.5 x 14mm @ £4.79 for five,
(Version 2) offcut of 22mm and 20mm plastic conduit (already had).
Parts came to ~£23.00
Version 1 – First job was to glue the disc magnet inside the ABS box, after trail and error, the best place for the magnet was the rear left side of the box.
Next task was to remove the reed switch which comes with the DW2, this is easily identified as the long thin black rectangular component on the same side as the battery clips, this simply unsolders from the PCB pads.
The PCB is held in place by a small blob of white silicon at each end and a clip, using a small screwdriver to carefully prise the board out does the trick.
I originally soldered the normally closed reed switch in the same places as the original, but I thought I needed to get the reed switch as close as I could to the wall of the softener, so I used the Sonoff’s magnet enclosure to hold the normally closed reed switch after attaching so flying leads.
The image below shows the type of reed switch I needed to fit as I had to change the reed to be normally closed without the presence of a magnet, telling the DW2 door sensor that the door was closed, when a magnet is introduced, the reed moves position within the glass envelope, breaking the circuit, triggering the DW2 to alert to a door open which in our case is low salt level.
A couple of holes were drilled and the wires from the reed switch were soldered to the PCB pads.
Once the eWeLink App is downloaded and an account is created (can be free but I chose to pay the nominal fee), the DW2 can be paired on the 2.4GHz WiFi home network, this is incredibly easy, open the app, press and hold for 5 seconds the push switch on the DW2 until a red LED flashes, back on the App – Press add device and after entering your WiFi details, the DW2 is paired 🙂
Details can be configured in the App, including changing the alert description, push notification and sharing the alerts with other eWeLink accounts if needed.
Now the moment of truth – bringing the magnet close to the reed switch should trigger the App status to show the switch is open and change to closed when the magnet is moved away.
As my block salt level was low, I noticed that the blocks tilts back slightly in use, I put the ABS box on top of the left hand block and due to the lean it should stay in the same place on the block as it drops.
I offered up the DW2 to the outside of the softener while watching the App status, moving it up and down the outside of the unit until it triggered, I marked with a pencil using the top of the DW2 on the cabinet the point at which I wanted an alert, I then stuck a strip of self adhesive Velco hoops under the pencil line.
The magnet I used is deliberately powerful, and it was no surprise that it operated the reed switch when it was some distance away from the reed switch and will continue to hold the reed switch open for a fair bit of travel as the salt level lowers, this was factored during the setup process.
Using Velco I secured the DW2 to the softener as this allows for fine adjustments and the job is done.
Salt changed and system ready with room for the lid.
This was the first time I had replaced the blocks and those with keen eyesight will note the blocks are not installed as per the manual (page 18), this has now been rectified.
Version 2 – Magnet Carrier
A few days after changing the block salt, I decided to see how the ABS box magnet carrier was sitting on top of the salt …………disaster!
As you can see from the picture, the left hand salt block has leaned over to the right taking the magnet too far away from the side wall, it may well be that when the salt block drops it may once again move to the optimal position for the magnet, I didn’t want to take the chance, so here is Version 2 which will defiantly need further revisions.
I took the two magnets out of the ABS box and cut two pieces of plastic conduit, the 25mm conduit spans the salt block gap, with a shorter piece of 20mm conduit glued inside it, the magnet was glued inside the 25mm pipe with the 20mm pipe acting as a backstop.
It was important that the magnet was flush with the end of the pipe as I’ve ordered some plastic end caps as I don’t want any metal contact with the salt or brine solution.
Its quite hard to see, but the conduit pipe bridges both salt blocks, I put a magnet at each end so it wasn’t important which way round I put it in.
The major problem with this design is that the pipe will hit the salt grid which I have only just noticed, so watch this space!
Version 3
To address the problems with Version 2, I bought a piece of 3mm thick Perspex and cut it to act as a full height guide for the left and salt block, the guide simply rests against the salt and the existing salt grid assembly.
I cutdown the magnet tube holder to be a nice fit and this time I’m only using one magnet to bias rather than trying to balance the tube.
Lessons Identified
1 . Make sure you have a solid WiFi signal where the DW2 is fitted.
The eWeLink App shows signal strength that the DW2 is seeing, however, once I put the box around the softener, the received signal strength fell and the DW2 went offline. To resolve this I changed one of the kitchen sockets, which is near to the softener, to a WiFi extending version from Screwfix (988FV) and this worked fine.
2 . The DW2 eWeLink allows for a selectable Push Notification to your phone if the switch either opens or closes, I could have left the DW2 as it arrived out of the box and made the change in the App rather than physically modify the DW2.
3 . My salt level was falling at a rate of 14.6mm per day and we will always have 8Kg available (Block 280mm tall/14.6mm daily usage = 19 days per 8Kg). This was the first salt the softener had used, so it may slow down, the point being to set the alert level to suit adding a new block straight away, or as a trigger to re-order or change it in X days, the positioning of the DW2 determines the alert trigger.
You could always add another DW2 using the same magnet, with one DW2 set as a pre-salt order trigger with the other DW2 as the block change alert.
4 . The ABS box for the magnet was just the right size, if it was any larger it might not allow the lid to close in the salt compartment when a new block was fitted, but it was small enough to give me an alert on low salt level with 30mm salt left (day and halfs worth).
5 . Keep an eye on things in case they don’t go to plan, hence Version 2 🙂
Ricks TwinTec Softener Alert
Rick got in touch as he has a TwinTec water softener and was looking to also have a low salt alert and sent me a list of parts he was going to use and his ideas:
Ricks design was for the magnet which triggers the wireless door sensor to mounted on the outside of a waterproof box which sits onto of one of the salt blocks, the external magnet will also space the box away from the side wall, the wireless sensor will be affixed to the outside of the softener.
The final location of the sensors exact position will be by ‘test & adjust’, making sure it triggers when the salt level is at the right point that it needs replacing.
With the aid of a Zigbee repeater (Hubitat C8), when the sensor triggers an alert is set to Ricks phone and Alexa speakers announce out loud ” replace salt in water softener“, but so as not to wake everybody, Rick has set the announcement to stay quite between 10pm and 9am.
Really pleased it works for him and a great project, so thanks for allowing me to share it.
We moved from the North a number of years ago from a soft water area to Chatteris, Cambridgeshire which has water classified as Hard, the effect of this is that soap doesn’t lather easily and appliance heating elements get coated in limescale reducing efficiency and life.
As a home improvement project, I decided to research water softeners.
How is Hard Water Quantified
Parts Per Million (ppm)
This scale is used to measure very small amounts of something in a larger quantity of liquid. It is used to measure dilute concentrations of chemical substances. One litre of water weight 1 million milligrams (mg). So 1 part per million (ppm) would mean the chemical is one millionth of the solution, or 1mg per litre.
For water hardness levels, we measure parts per million of minerals including calcium carbonate (CACO3) in the water. Calcium carbonate is the compound in hard water that causes limescale build-up. Soft water typically has less than 50 ppm of calcium carbonate. Hard water has over 200ppm, Anglia Water drinking water quality information for the Chatteris area shows that the level is 230ppm compared to where we used to live which was 17.5ppm.
I bought a water hardness test kit from Toolstation and this indicated that my incoming cold water was between 240ppm ~ 280ppm so I know the extent of the hardness which be of use later.
1 drop of reagent into incoming hard water , adding drops until the solution turns blue
After 12 drops equates to 240ppm on the 1 April 21, the same test on the 22 February 21 came out at 280ppm.
These work by ion exchange, incoming hard water passes through a bed of activated resin beads, these beads remove the calcium carbonate and magnesium molecules as the water passes through the resin chamber, the exiting water is now free of the limescale causing molecules and is now soft.
To maintain the resins ability to ion exchange the resin is backflushed with a brine solution, the backflush waste water goes directly to drain.
There are a number of considerations to take into account in selecting a water softener, these are:
Cost to purchase
Cost to run
Salt – Block or Granular
Number of bathrooms
Number of people living in the property
Incoming water pressure
Single or Two resin chambers
Type of hot water system (Gravity, Indirect or combi boiler)
Electrical supply required or not
Physical size of the softener and where will it go
Warranty
Dealers
Cut away view of of Kinetico premier compact
What did we choose and why
I’m definitely no expert on water softeners, first port of call was the internet and YouTube to see what were the popular UK models and to read reviews that users made on dealer sites.
Going through the above list, the purchase and running cost will be known after most of the other points are answered.
3 live in the property and we have 2 bathrooms (ensuite shower is classed as a bathroom), the hot water is supplied from an unvented indirect cylinder, meaning the hot water is under a constant pressure and pushed out of the cylinder to the hot tap by the incoming water pressure at the bottom of the cylinder, the incoming pressure is typically maintained at 3 bar so that the hot & cold taps and mixer showers for example are at the same pressure.
Where the hot water uses the incoming water pressure, a High Flow (HF) unit will be required as the flow rate is higher through the resin chambers to reduce any pressure drops, also the softener inlet and outlet pipes are larger.
If the water pressure to the house was low, introducing the water softener might cause a problem, I measured the pressure here at 2.8 bar (40psi) which is fine, a pressure gauge is available from Toolstation.
The activated resin chamber I mentioned earlier needs to be regenerated, (back flushing the beads with brine (salt solution)), with a single chamber, softened water will not be available during the regeneration process, we opted for a dual chamber unit so we always have a supply of softened water, however this does have a cost implication.
How does the softener know it needs to be regenerated?
Two methods, timed or metered. With a timed version, an electrically powered (low voltage via a transformer) timer will trigger the process, the main disadvantage apart from requiring a power source is that regeneration could occur if no softened water was used, but simply based on time.
A strong advantage of an electrically powered softener is the ability to have an alarm indication on low salt, with a mechanical only unit, you have to physically monitor this (but I’m working on it 🙂).
The softener we selected used actual metered soft water usage to mechanically trigger regeneration
The model which satisfied all our requirements including a 10 year warranty was the Kinetico Premier Compact HF which we bought from Aquastream Water Softeners Ltd who gave exceptional service, they responded to my emails quickly and are experts in their field, I would not hesitate in highly recommending them.
If you are a confident at DIY, the plumbing for the water softener is very easy, with only two pipes and a drain hose, the price of the softener included the 22mm Bypass kit which contains all the full bore valves, strainers and 0.75m flexible hoses to connect the houses fixed plumbing to the softener.
Due to the underneath of the kitchen sink base unit being full of other stuff, we decided to put the unit outside and to build a wooden insulated enclosure for it.
As we replaced the kitchen a few years ago, I knew where the incoming water pipes run, from the picture below you can see the rising main and stop cock, this tees off for the kitchen sink, with the 22mm copper pipe transitioning to John Guest 22mm push fit disappearing behind the dot & dab plaster boarded wall on its way to upstairs.
The kitchen base cabinets were a bit too ‘busy’ for the softener to fit but left enough room for me to access the buried pipes once a hole is made in the cabinet back .
Once the cabinets back was cut out and plasterboard removed to expose the 22mm plastic cold water pipe, two 32mm holes were drilled to outside, the holes then sleeved with 28mm copper pipes ready for the 22mm copper passing through these to outside.
The water supply to the Insinkerator hot water boiler is from the valve on the left of the picture, the boiler water feed will be moved from hard to soft.
It is important to keep the kitchen sink cold tap feed before the water softener for cooking and untreated drinking water, it is also advisable to supply any outside taps before the softener to save on salt usage and prevent damage plants over time.
I used ‘O’ rings around the 22mm pipes to keep them centralized within the through wall sleeves.
To make the plastic pipe to fitting connection, it is important to cut plastic pipe to leave a clean cut and to use superseal pipe inserts, marking the depth of the fitting on the pipe before pushing it onto the pipe ensures that it is fully seated.
The pipe cutter I used came from Lidl and cost £5.99
On the John Guest pipe their are fitting engagement marks already made to assist with ensuring the fitting is fully pushed over the pipe, but my fittings didn’t marry up with these, so I measured and marked the pipe to confirm the elbow and Tee were fully engaged before pushing them home and tightening the collet ring after which I pushed on the locking rings (Blue clips).
The 15mm copper pipe leaving the Tee in the picture below, is the new softened water supply to the hot water boiler, all the copper elbows (15mm for the water boiler and 22mm for the softener) are long street elbows, this reduces joints and saves space which was ideal in my situation.
To keep everything in place and to insulate the pipes I used expanding foam, two other pipes are in the picture, one is for the outside taps which I lagged internally when the kitchen was being fitted, the other is another plastic pipe, this time 15mm for the kitchen sinks hot water tap.
With the cover on, nobody would know the carnage 🙂
On the outside the bypass valves and copper runoff to drain installed.
The copper pipe is the regeneration drain for when the resin chambers are back flushed and must be air gapped from the waste system to avoid any cross contamination with the drinking water. The cold water inlet to the softener must have a a non return valve to prevent back flow.
Finished installation, the Kinetico softener is off the ground sitting on a 50mm polystyrene backed base, 22mm stainless steel braided hoses each have a strainer fitted and to ensure that the softener doesn’t freeze, I have taken the precaution of installing a 40 Watt thermostatically controlled tube heater from Toolstation.
Easily removeable frame, sides and top lined with 50mm polystyrene, access for checking salt is by lifting the top off.
Pipe Schematic
Schematic for planning valves and documenting modifications
What are the Running Costs
The cost of the softener including bypass valve arrangement and 2 x 8Kg blocks of salt including factory setup was £1,295.00 inc VAT which was as cheap as I could find.
The only consumable other than regeneration water is Kinetico Block salt, the cost varies tremendously and I have found Saltstore to be the most competitive with an excellent online ordering system and friendly staff.
I have mentioned water hardness and the metered chamber regenerations, the Kinetico uses different metering disc types in their machines depending on water hardness, this directly impacts on the number of regenerations.
For my areas water hardness a Type 6 disc, which regulates regeneration frequency based on flow through the softener, is installed, therefore after 327 litres of softened water has passed through the resin bed, the cylinder will regenerate using 20.5 litres of water and 0.34Kg of salt.
After referring to the specification table, I did query with Aquastream Water Softeners the reason for supplying a Type 6 disk with my softener as this is for up to 362ppm and in my area the maximum I have measured was 280ppm which would be within the scope of a Type 5 disc (305ppm).
The answer was based on their experience and knowledge in that the table values are factory test bench conditions and not real world, the water in Chatteris is typically around 300ppm and very low flow through the softener would not be metered, therefore their is a risk that we could have hard water before the softener regenerated which made perfect sense. Good to know.
The following spreadsheet shows the actual 2021/2022 annual costs based on current usage:
Actual Running Costs
The cost of 8Kg of salt increased to £6 in 2022, the softener uses ~ 11.35mm of salt per day based on my usage circumstances, therefore, the cost of salt per year is £78.00.
For two years before the softener was installed, my annual usage was steady at199m3, after a year in use of the softener, my metered water usage has risen to 127m3, therefore, the water used in the ‘Regeneration Cycle’ was 8m3 costing £13.47.
The total running cost is £91.47 per year or 25p per day.
The softened water is fine to drink with no trace of a salty taste, soap lathers well with either hot or cold water, skin no longer feels dry and Barneys cocker spaniels coat is nice and silky now.
I need to remember to put the softener in bypass when I top up the central heating pressure, so I have a reminder drawing in the softener cabinet.
The softener has performed faultlessly, salt block usage is consistent, however, the price of salt has increased marginally, probably to reflect the increased cost of fuel.
Two observations since the installation have been:
I record and upload water meter readings every time I replenish the salt blocks and this led to the discovery that my water meter was failing due to the low recorded water usage, Anglian Water replaced the meter and the blog on that is HERE.
I have not monitored the effectiveness of the 40watt tubular heater in cold weather until now, and I’m happy that the wattage is more than sufficient to keep the water in the pipes from freezing.
External water softener enclosure at -5.6oC, the internal 40W heater is ON and the picture shows where heat loss is occurring on the lid, internally the temperature is at +7.1oC, so all is good.
External temperature -5.6oC and has not got above freezing for a few days.
The ‘Sensor Blue’ within the softener cabinet shows a temperature of 7.10C indicating that the heater is working perfectly.
January 2025
I now use Home Assistant to monitor the cabinets enclosure via an interface with the Sensor Blue temperature and humidity sensor, the graph shows the heater turns on at 6.4oC and off at a minimum of 8.4oC.
The outside temperature was below 4oC throughout, 4oC is the danger point for water as this is the temperature when water is most dense with the next stage being freezing.
February 2025 Update
I was at Stamford Garden Centre and noticed they had Monarch 8kg salt blocks which were the same physical dimensions of the Kinetico salt block for £4.99 which was a bargain, so I bought 10 and made a decent saving.
Unfortunately the Ezviz had connectivity issues and was as good as useless in remote operation, so I started to look round for an alternative after having discounting a Ring doorbell originally as I couldn’t locally record video and I didn’t want to get tied up in an ongoing contract to allow image retrieval.
Once I had reconciled that paying the monthly fee for the video facility and the other extended features, I went ahead and bout one.
Fitting was very easy, as it was a direct replacement for the Ezviz and the Anthracite cover blended in perfectly with my door and frame.
I also bought a remote chime unit which works very well and the person approaching feature is customizable and very reliable, another plus is that I have linked it to Alexa, this allows announcements to be vocalised and I can call up a picture on my Echo Show.
My Samsung TV also interfaces via Smarthings App to Ring .
Overall I’m really pleased with this doorbell and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
Ezviz Install – Now Removed.
I have wanted a video door bell with two way speech via an App for a while and like most people I’ve looked at the Ring and Nest versions but I wanted to keep my existing doorbell as it interfaces into my alarm and CCTV system and didn’t want to be tied into any form of cloud subscription.
After researching online, the ezviz DB1 seemed to fit the bill as it has internal storage capability, use of existing of wiring and can integrate into my home CCTV system for continuous recording, plus a number of other secondary features which appealed to me.
I bought the ezviz DB1 for £99.99 and a 128Gb Micro SD card for £19.99, both from Amazon.
The kit is very comprehensive and contained everything needed down to the drill bit and screwdriver!
Ezviz Wiring
Wiring couldn’t be simpler, turn off the power to your existing door bell, remove the outside push button and using the same wires, connect it to the DB1.
Inside the door bell, fit a small module across the bell connections, power up the bell transformer* and your all set for the next stage of downloading the App.
Bell Transformer* – My existing door bell transformers output voltage was set to 8vAC and this caused problems with the ezviz DB1 when trying to connect to the App, the transformer also had a 12vAC output which I tried but in my case the only solution which worked, was to buy another bell transformer with a 24vAC output.
The one I bought was from Screwfix and cost £8.95, this transformer will eventually be housed within my consumer unit and so it wasn’t worth getting an enclosure for it.
List of compatible door bells:
My doorbell is a Friedland/Honeywell D113 Surf 2 Note Chime, although its not on the list it work perfectly. The Surf 2 Note is available from TLC Electrical, (as of 17 Feb 2021).
Ezviz App
The ezviz App was downloaded from the App store in my case and needed an account to be set up first which was very quick, following the instructions, the phones camera was used to scan either the QR code on the box or on the DB1 itself and after answering the installation wizards questions the setup was complete.
I chose to use 2.4Ghz rather than 5Ghz as the signal strength was stronger outside where the DB1 is positioned, within the App is a signal strength function to test wireless connectivity.
Configuration
When everything is working correctly a solid blue ring is lit around the bell push button, pressing this causes the internal door bell to chime and the mobile phone will ring as though it is an incoming call, allowing you to accept or decline the call, if you answer the call, two way speech is opened up as well as video.
The DB1 has a presence sensor which can be set so that you are notified when someone approaches the door, the camera will then take a small video which is saved to the internal SD card for viewing via the App.
A schedule can be set in the App making this detection feature very versatile.
The App can also be shared so that other family members can view the DB1 camera or answer calls etc.
The ezviz DB1 does have a cloud subscription service if you chose to use it, however, I have a CCTV system with recording capability and so I simply added the DB1 camera as an input to this system which works very well, even at night due to the DB1 built in infra-red illuminators.
One of the secondary features I mentioned earlier was the ability to add wireless repeater chimes to the DB1.
I bought the CS-CMT-Chime from cctvdirectonline for £41.98, setup was via the ezviz App and it works perfectly in my garden cabin.
17 February 2021 – Relay Interface
My original door bell interfaced into my Pyronix Euro 46 alarm system and Hikvision CCTV, operating the bell push caused the door bell to chime and at the same time and event was logged on the Euro 46 with a push notification with video clip being sent to my mobile, this was the key driver for the DB1 that I retained the door bell chime so I could still have a link into my alarm.
Once the DB1 was all set up and working, I started on interfacing the door bell into the alarm and this is where I met a problem 🙁
The original interface was simply a 12v relay via a rectifier wired across the door bell chime connections, operating the bell push, the relay energized and triggered the Euro 46 alarm input, trying the same configuration, nothing happened when the DB1 was pressed.
I thought that the rectifier might be causing a problem, so I sourced a low power 24AC relay, again this was wired across the door bell chime and again, nothing happened when the DB1 was pressed!
Doing a google search I found that others had discovered the solution to the problem, I’m crediting Sam from the Konnected Forum for the method I have copied and used.
0.2 – 30A SZC23 – NO – AL – CH AC Current Switch
The AC Current switch was bought off eBay for £10.56, the recommendation from Sam was that a larger gauge wire was wrapped around the core about 6 times.
In the picture you can see the transition to the larger gauge current transformer windings, also the terminal connections to the Euro 46 alarm.
The SZC23 – NO – AL – CH AC Current Switch fits perfectly inside the Surf 2 Note door bell after some modification with a Dremel.
Schematic of DB1 Switch installed
Setting Up AC Current Switch
1. One of the supply wire from the transformer which feeds the DB1 is wrapped through the hole in the AC Current Switch and then connected to the DB1.With the DB1 powered up, the RED LED will be lit on the current switch, using a precision screwdriver, carefully adjust the sensitivity be turning adjustment pot until the GREEN LED comes on, then back it off slightly till the GREEN LED goes out. Pressing the DB1 should caused the GREEN LED to momentarily come on before both the RED & GREEN LEDs go out and come back on again, during one press of the DB1, the current switch will trigger twice.
2. Open the Ezviz App to view the DB1 camera and enable the microphone to speak to the DB1, this may cause the current switch to operate, if so, carefully adjust the sensitivity until this action no longer causes the current switch to trigger when accessing using your App, but still triggers when the DB1 is pressed .
3. The DB1 has infra-red LEDs which come on automatically when it gets dark, this increase power draw will trigger the current switch, as per 2 above, make the required adjustments and test operation.
This is a follow on from my Dunster House cabin build blog, please note that this work is notifiable under Part P of Building Control Regulations and should only be carried out if competent to do so.
I broke the cabin wiring process into a number of parts, these are:
Expected use of the cabin
Cabin power demand
Submain cable size, type and installation method
Existing house supply characteristics
Installation method within the cabin
Expected use of the cabin
The cabin is for recreational purposes and will be used throughout the year, this means provision will be needed for TV, lighting , gym equipment , general power both inside and outside of the cabin, exterior lighting, internet and a way to not only heat the cabin in the winter, but to cool it in the summer, all this builds a picture of power demand.
Heating the cabin will take the most power, so I used an online calculator work out heat loss and the energy required to raise the cabin temperature to 20 0 when the outside temperature is 00 , this worked out to be just under 4kW, I then allowed a further 2kW for an external plug-in patio heater should we be sat outside.
It is equally important that the cabin can be cooled for used in the summer, the highest temperature recorded in the cabin so far was over 42.40 on the 19th July 2022, so the installation of an energy efficient Samsung AR18RXFPEWQX heat pump (5kW Cooling/6kW Heating capacity) was an obvious choice with a rated power consumption 1745W during heating.
Fixed loads such as treadmill, fridge and TV within the cabin are calculated to be 750W.
Inside and outside lighting is low energy LED and comprises of a total of 12 x 20W luminaires.
Maximum Demand
Adding the predicted loads together gives a demand of just under 5kW or 21.7 Amps, however, this is not the correct method, applying BS7671 18th Edition On-Site Guide Appendix A for diversity of circuit loadings, the maximum demand based on known and unknown loads after the application of diversity allowance factors and engineering judgement is 36.65Amps (8.43kVA).
The breakdown of this is:
Way
Circuit
Load W
Amps
Diversity Factor %
Demand
1
Low Level Sockets
20
40
8
2
High Level Sockets
1000
4.35
Assesed
4.35
3
External Sockets
20
40
8
4
Air Conditioning
11.5
100
11.5
5
Internal Lights
6
40
2.4
6
External Lights
6
40
2.4
Sum
36.65
kVA
8.43
Submain cable size, type and installation method
British Standards 7671 18th Edition in conjunction with the IET On Site Guide (OSG) and manufactures data sheets will enable all the cable calculations to be undertaken, however, their are a number of cable calculation tools online, this is an example of my cabin calcs, although I did do them manually before verifying the results with the excellent online toolkit from jarsoftelectrical (Cable-Mate) :
Project Name : Cabin Submain with Diversity Allowance
Cable ID / REF number : DB1/Way 1 to DB2
Supply Voltage = 230 Volts Power factor = 1 Ib – Design current = 36.65 Amps Protective Device Type = MCB type B (BS EN 60898) In – Protective Device Rating = 40 Amps
Cable Type : Thermosetting ARMOURED 90°C – Multicore Length of run of cable = 21 metres Maximum permissible Voltdrop: 3% (Lighting) = 6.9 volts : Appendix 4 Maximum selected Voltdrop for this calculation = 6.9 volts
Installation Method : Sheathed, armoured or multicore cables direct in the ground: with added mechanical protection (e.g cable covers). An installation depth of 0.5 Mtr, A soil thermal resistivity of 2.5 K.m/W (method D)
Ambient temp = 20 °C Number of circuits including this one = 1 Length of cable in thermal insulation = none
Apply Correction factors: From TABLE 4C2 : Cg = 1 (Grouping) From TABLE 4B2 : Ca = 1 (Ambient temp) – Ground Temperature : 20 °C From TABLE 52.2 : Ci = 1 (Insulation) Protective device factor for Buried cables : Cc = 0.9 (Burried direct) For an installation depth of 0.5 Mtr : TABLE 4B4: Cd = 1.03 For soil thermal resistivity of 2.5 K.m/W : TABLE 4B3: Cs = 1 Protective device factor : Cf = 1
It = tabulated current carrying capacity It = In / (Cg x Ci x Ca x Cf x Cc x Cs x Cd) It = 40 / (1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 0.9 x 1 x 1.03 ) It = 43.15 Amps From TABLE 4E4A Cable selected = 6 mm² Current capacity of cable selected = 53 Amps
TABLE 4E4B For 6 mm²: mV/A/m = 7.9 mV/A/m corrected for power factor = mV/A/m x Power Factor = 7.9 x 1 = 7.9
Voltdrop = (mV/A/m x Length x Design current) / 1000 Voltdrop = ( 7.9 x 21 x 36.65 ) / 1000 Voltdrop = 6.08 Volts (Maximum permissible voltdrop (regulation – 525) = 6.9 Volts)
My calculated maximum demand is the worst case, it is highly unlikely that the sustained loading on the cabin will exceed my original value of 21.7Amps based on predicted usage, however, I have designed the installation to meet the current regulations and that includes cable sizing, I could have gone for a 10mm2 SWA cable but that would have been over-engineering in my view as all regulatory requirements are within parameters.
Trench contains 6mm 2 core SWA Submain and 1.5mm 3 core SWA external lighting cables, also 2 x 25mm flexible copex all bedded on sand with warning marker tape.
Flexible copex transitions to 25mm conduits, one conduit is spare to the cabin, the other contains 3 x Cat5e network cables and 1 x TV Coaxial Cable.
SWA marshalling cabinet from cabin for external bollards, deck & garden lighting including water features.
Existing house supply characteristics
The supply origin is TN-C-S referred to as PME (Protective Multiple Earthing), in this arrangement the incoming cable is of concentric construction:
Only if certain conditions are met can this type of supply, including earthing, be extended to outbuildings, I therefore opted for a TT supply to the cabin which will have its own independent earth electrode with all cabin circuits protected by RCBOs (Residual Current Circuit Breakers with Overcurrent protection).
With a TT arrangement it is important not to ‘import’ an earth path from the house, therefore the submain SWA terminates into a plastic external enclosure, the TV aerial cable has a galvanic isolator installed to break the shield at the house and the Cat5 internet cables have no connection to earth.
Point of entry and exit for all cables, earth electrode connection point is also visible.
TV aerial cable Galvanic Isolator.
Three patch panel ports dedicated to the cabin, pink leads denote POE.
Installation method within the cabin
Wood expands and contracts with humidity by up to 12mm in my case, therefore the wiring method must be able to accommodate this movement, I chose to use Univolt 100mm x 50mm dado trunking installed all around the base of the cabin and to the consumer unit, from this trunking 20mm heavy duty PVC conduit is taken to lighting and high level sockets, this gives me total flexibility to add to the wiring system if needed.
To allow for expansion, I have used a combination of lubricated slip couplings for 20mm conduit joints and flexible conduit for movement transitions where appropriate.
The trunking is capable of having a partition piece inserted to make a segregated trunking compartment, this I have used for data and TV cables.
Cabin DB2, trunking has lighting switches for gym lights and dartboard, also power energy monitor and separate control for treadmill supplyThe surface mounted back box with blanking plate under the consumer unit houses the Quinetic external lighting receiver.
D Line metal fire clips from Toolstation have been used to give additional support to the20mm conduit to prevent premature collapse in the event of a fire.
Tado Smart AC controller remotely operates the Air Conditioning and monitors cabin temperature.Non Maintained emergency light at low level by the exit door should the lighting power fail to the cabin, to the side of the light is the test key and local fusing.isigns did a great job of engraving my grid switches, this now removes any confusion as to what the switches do. 8 lighting panels were used and I’m really pleased with the light output and uniformity of coverage.Sperate conduits for data and power, the TP Link Access Point is POE.
Heat Pump, I had this professionally installed (long story!)
Tado graph showing the temperature rise after just a short period of the Air Conditioning being set to heat.
The cabin consumer unit has 6 RCBO protected ways these are for:
Way 1. Low level dado trunking socket outlets (B20)
Way 2. High level sockets via conduit (B20)
Way 3. External IP rated double sockets (B20)
Way 4. Air Conditioning unit (B16)
Way 5. Internal lighting including emergency light (B6)
Way 6. External lighting and water features (B6)
The cabin area is 29.25m2 and the OSG Table H2.1 final circuits to sockets outlets are Type A3, Radial using 2.5mm2 singles.
Low level dado trunking has 13 double sockets, the vast majority are not used but as the cost per socket is less than £5 it was worth doing, the high level socket circuit only has 1 double socket and one single socket so I’ve assed the maximum load to be 1000w as these sockets are dedicated to low wattage chargers and a TV it is highly unlikely this will be exceeded, especially considering the number for dado sockets 🙂
I have installed 3 double IP rated external sockets as a separate Type 3 Radial circuit.
Internal lighting cables are all 1.5mm2 singles, external lighting and water feature cables are 1.5mm2 SWA.
Update
Having used the cabin for a year, one of the things I didn’t install at the time was a means of two way switching the cabins outside lights on or off, I thought the external security light sensors on the house would bring the house mounted lights on if someone left the cabin at night, unfortunately this wasn’t the case, so the first few steps out of the cabin were in pitch darkness, which is less than ideal.
The solution came with Quinetic switches from TLC, these are quite amazing as the switches need NO POWER, they internally generate enough energy to transmit to a receiver which could be up to 30m away.
Grid switch module from Quinetic
The above picture shows a two gang switch plate, originally this was only a single gang switch for the utility light by the back door, changing this to a grid switch allowed me to have the first switch as the utility light and the second switch as a Quinetic module remotely and wirelessly turning on and off the external cabin lights.
In a previous picture of the cabins four gang switch, the external lighting switch is also a Quinetic module, both paired to a single receiver operating the lights, I also have a keyfob paired to the receiver giving me maximum flexibility in operating the lights.
This modification was very easy to do with no mess, unlike the traditional method of hardwiring and cable chases.
It all started so innocently, I thought I would give the post supporting my porch a coat of paint, so armed with a blow torch and scraper I started to prepare the post until my scraper sank into the soft wood at the bottom of the post 🙁
At this point I could have stopped and simply painted over the rotten wood, but as it was a nice day I got a screwdriver out and explored the extent of the rot.
This ended up being quite extensive.
I scraped out all the dead wood and tried to figure out how it had rotted, the post is inside a galvanized shoe, and all I can imagine is that water has sat in the shoe and ‘wicked’ up the post and rotted it.
Once it was back to decent wood and left to dry out, I used Ronseal exterior wood filler over a number of sessions to make good and finally sand down and give two coats of gloss.
Once painted up it wasn’t a bad job and I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Rolling the clock forward 4 years and as my first retirement project and in the March 20 lockdown, I thought I would spruce up the front of the house starting with painting the post, so out came the sandpaper.
Once I started to rub the paintwork, it was obvious that the wood was soft in areas where the filler wasn’t previously and it was at this point I decided to bite the bullet and replace the post.
The unknows were how is the post secured at the top and at the post base also could I replace the post with little or no damage to either the wall or the UPVC barge board and cladding.
The two thing I knew was that the porch will need support once I remove the post, and the second thing was that I’m rubbish with wood so splicing into good wood on the exiting post was out of the questions.
Very little information exists about the construction method used to support the porch, hence this blog to help others who have a rotted post problem.
Before starting I sourced and bought all the materials which I thought I needed.
The replacement post was a Stop Chamfered Porch Post 2100mm x 95mm x 95mm and bought online from RMJM Joinery Ltd and cost £56.97 including shipping.
The part number is SCPP2100 and is engineered timber meaning it is two pieces of wood laminated together giving a high strength, warp resisting, structurally sound post with no knots.
I bought a couple of used Acrow props of Facebook marketplace for £20, which was cheaper than hiring and started to figure out how I was going to do the post swap with minimal damage to the UPVC facias.
Checking the online forums, the general consensus was that getting the polytop pins out which hold the facias on was impossible without damaging the soft surface finish.
I ordered a small number of 30mm and 65mm polytop pins from ebay for £5.70 and looking for replacement UPVC cladding, I couldn’t believe my luck that a wholesaler who sells to the public was based in the town.
AJW Distribution had everything in stock I needed to replace anything I would damage, also they were very friendly and helpful.
I started by removing the guttering and porch roof tiles so I could figure out how the post is attached at the top, trying to save the UPVC was futile, so off all that came too.
Before the post was cut, the porch was supported by a substantial diagonal brace and bricks enclosing the base of the post removed. Using a nail puller, the nails at the top of the post came out easily, leaving the post to be cut and removed.
Nail Puller
The post base was seated in a galvanized shoe, once the soldier bricks were removed it exposed that the shoe base was sitting about 10mm off the second course of the brick wall.
Once I pulled the shoe out of the wall it exposed a locating spike which must have been sitting on the third course of bricks and all the weight of the porch was being transferred as point loading through the spike to the bricks below, a really rubbish construction.
Checking online, it look like the shoe has been modified as the base of the spike should have had a plate attached to spreads the loading, but I might be wrong.
The picture below shows the shoe fitted to the new post, the spike had been bent during original installation and I can only assume this was done in order to get the post level and true vertically.
Picture showing galvanized shoe on new post
Once the post was cut out, it was quite a job to get the residual wood out of the shoe to allow me to reuse it.
The picture shows the post damage over 300mm up from the base where I made the cut in removing the post.
The new post was an ‘interference’ fit into the shoe as I didn’t want their to be a gap allowing water to ingress between the post and the shoe, this meant I used a big hammer to knock the shoe over the post, it certainly wont come out in my lifetime 🙂
Fitting the new post back was very straightforward, once measured and cut to length, the post shoe spike was located back in the gap in the wall and the top of the post securely bolted at the top on both elevations.
I had packed the shoe base with mortar as it was being installed to spread any loading. I had to get two new bricks which unfortunately don’t match the existing (London Brick Company, Honey Buff), but I kind of like that as it shows the post has been changed.
In the picture above you can see a strip of masking tape, this is covering a piece of 15mm copper pipe flattened into an oval shape which goes under the shoe and will act as a drain should water try and collect at the base of the post again.
The finished job, I replaced all the facia boards and cladding, including adding cladding edges, which was a significant improvement on how the house builders finished the porch, the overall cost was less than £150.00 including undercoat and top gloss paint.
Not much to look at once its all done, but I know it will last another 20 years and hopefully longer.
I thought I’d build a test box which will simulate the three circuit conditions of an intruder detection system (IDS), these being:
Circuit Tamper
Alarm Condition
Circuit Healthy or Closed (non alarm condition)
The purpose was to confirm and test the ’cause & effect’ programming of a Pyronix Euro 46 panel , the Euro 46 remote Upload/Download Software allows for logic gates to be configured, so the system ended up being very versatile.
The above picture shows the Euro 46, Keypads, Zone Expansion, Output and Wireless modules set up for testing using the multiswitch test box, the alarm system is communicating with the Pyronix Cloud server via a LAN interface, cloud configuration also allows seamless integration with the Hikvision CCTV system.
The Euro 46 has several detection circuit configurations, I chose the common value for a Double End Of Line resistor system of a 2k2 and 4k7 Ohms.
At the detection input a healthy or closed circuit, would measure a resistance value of 2k2 Ohms, if the value either exceeded or fell below this by a defined margin, the alarm panel would see this as a tamper condition, and alarm condition would present a value of 4k7 Ohms, the test box achieved the three conditions listed using the following diagram:
The above circuit presents to panel with slightly more resistance than 2k2 when healthy, however, as its within the parameters, the panel see’s this as closed with no faults.
The completed unit was built using 30 switches and I utilised an old piece of trunking to fit them in:
The circuit description label temporarily sticks over the laminated switch backing so I can fully program and test the wired circuits before installation in the future, one element I can’t test is the wireless aspect which forms a a large part of this system.
A blog about stuff that interests me or I have done.
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Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_92TJCVGJP2
2 years
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_48800884_1
1 minute
Set by Google to distinguish users.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
is_unique
5 years
StatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor and to estimate the accumulated unique visits per site.
is_visitor_unique
2 years
StatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor.
sc_is_visitor_unique
2 years
StatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
NID
6 months
NID cookie, set by Google, is used for advertising purposes; to limit the number of times the user sees an ad, to mute unwanted ads, and to measure the effectiveness of ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
past
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
