Discussion
Easternlight said:
Thanks for the replies and sorry for the thread derailment.
I get the principle of heat pumps but can't get my head around how it can be cost effictive.
For some it’s about being environmental effective. If you can get the electricity from wind or solar the. Your environmental impact is much less, more so if it’s for the same or similar cost to gasI get the principle of heat pumps but can't get my head around how it can be cost effictive.
In Sweden, so not the same as in the UK.
Made 53Kwh yesterday with my relatively new system, we consume about 45-65Kwh per day at this time of year. Right now, in combination with the solar energy we create/consume + the energy we sell, we are basically covering our costs when the sun shines, less so on a cloudy day but even then we will do about 20Kw It will only get better now until the autumn when I hope to have sold enough energy during the summer to pay for the winter months.
Made 53Kwh yesterday with my relatively new system, we consume about 45-65Kwh per day at this time of year. Right now, in combination with the solar energy we create/consume + the energy we sell, we are basically covering our costs when the sun shines, less so on a cloudy day but even then we will do about 20Kw It will only get better now until the autumn when I hope to have sold enough energy during the summer to pay for the winter months.
Edited by Traffic on Monday 7th March 07:34
Traffic said:
In Sweden, so not the same as in the UK.
Made 53Kwh yesterday with my relatively new system, we consume about 45-65Kwh per day at this time of year. Right now, in combination with the solar energy we create/consume + the energy we sell, we are basically covering our costs when the sun shines, less so on a cloudy day but even then we will do about 20Kw It will only get better now until the autumn when I hope to have sold enough energy during the summer to pay for the winter months.
How many panels and inverter size? Made 53Kwh yesterday with my relatively new system, we consume about 45-65Kwh per day at this time of year. Right now, in combination with the solar energy we create/consume + the energy we sell, we are basically covering our costs when the sun shines, less so on a cloudy day but even then we will do about 20Kw It will only get better now until the autumn when I hope to have sold enough energy during the summer to pay for the winter months.
Edited by Traffic on Monday 7th March 07:34
Guessing 24 panels 6kw inverter
Traffic said:
54 panels, can't remember the exact size of the inverter, but it's one of these -> Symo 15.0-3-M (1)
Wow I was out by a long chalk, we have 13 panels a 3.6kwh inverter and produced 22kwh yesterday, but it was sunny all day and a bit further south than you. Currently making 1.4kwh and its a dull day
60 mile N of Lisbon
essayer said:
do we think we'll get to a point where - over the year - a PV + battery + ASHP system would be cheaper to run than gas/oil - assuming of course that it put out the same amount of energy into the home ?
ignoring payback, which is not trivial, but curious to see how the maths add up
I think it's certainly possible depending on how much gas you would have used to heat the place. ignoring payback, which is not trivial, but curious to see how the maths add up
We are in an area with no gas, so ASHP is all we have and it's on for about 6 months of the year.
We moved just over a year ago, to a house with 16 solar panels on the roof. They were installed in 2009, and we received around £1800 from the FIT in the last 12 months. We're probably not making the best use of them, should we be using the immersion heater during the day to heat water for showers etc, rather than gas?
blade7 said:
should we be using the immersion heater during the day to heat water for showers etc, rather than gas?
If its costing you more than the fit. YES we have no fit so have to act smart and use things when the sunshine is out, trying to educate the missus is proving difficult lol
Our pool pump and heater was the main reason for the installation and its paid off almost straight away....
Oh, you can get a gizmo that diverts any excess power to your immersion rather than exporting, be worth looking into for your set up...
Our system is a 10kw array mounted in the field, its been in about 10 years so it on the better fit tariff, on a good day in the summer it will generate 60 kWh of electric, with the prices going the way they are we are about to have another 10kw system installed. I see them as only really effective for about 7 months of the year as through the winter they generate very little, the graph below shows the energy produced over the last month, export and usage. I think in the early days the FIT was important but with soaring electric costs less so now
If you're not using that surplus energy during the day, then YES, heat your hot water with it.
If you are on the older FIT then export is calculated as 50% of your generation (assume you are in the UK?). SO use as much of your generated electricity as you can, it will not affect your FIT payment.
Think of your hot water cylinder as a (very cheap) battery - it is!
If you are on the older FIT then export is calculated as 50% of your generation (assume you are in the UK?). SO use as much of your generated electricity as you can, it will not affect your FIT payment.
Think of your hot water cylinder as a (very cheap) battery - it is!
I've interrogated a few people about this solar malarky recently -
A recent installation using a 5 kWh battery sounds like it's working well in that they have a hot tub to heat. They charge a car mostly on Octopus overnight but also a bit from solar.
A much older installation had the FIT so owner always been happy with it.
I can't quite make the sums add up in my head, but the numbers are a very moveable feast, as gas prices soar and battery costs decrease. I do think batteries are required to make a sensible system, but the battery costs seem high in relation to capacity, recent lithium industrial cell costs have dropped to below £100 / kWh but complete home batteries seem to cost 8 - 10 times that figure.
A recent installation using a 5 kWh battery sounds like it's working well in that they have a hot tub to heat. They charge a car mostly on Octopus overnight but also a bit from solar.
A much older installation had the FIT so owner always been happy with it.
I can't quite make the sums add up in my head, but the numbers are a very moveable feast, as gas prices soar and battery costs decrease. I do think batteries are required to make a sensible system, but the battery costs seem high in relation to capacity, recent lithium industrial cell costs have dropped to below £100 / kWh but complete home batteries seem to cost 8 - 10 times that figure.
I'm also currently looking at adding solar panels, but just trying to work out how many to go for and whether to go for battery or not, and how big to go for.
We've always been a high usage household, approx 3000sqft and we seem to be using 1200kwh of electric a month, which I know is high - gas heating, but with an electric car and a hot tub. Usage seems to be pretty stable through the day, our base load averages around 900-1000w from what I can tell.
We've always been a high usage household, approx 3000sqft and we seem to be using 1200kwh of electric a month, which I know is high - gas heating, but with an electric car and a hot tub. Usage seems to be pretty stable through the day, our base load averages around 900-1000w from what I can tell.
dazmanultra said:
I'm also currently looking at adding solar panels, but just trying to work out how many to go for and whether to go for battery or not, and how big to go for.
We've always been a high usage household, approx 3000sqft and we seem to be using 1200kwh of electric a month, which I know is high - gas heating, but with an electric car and a hot tub. Usage seems to be pretty stable through the day, our base load averages around 900-1000w from what I can tell.
That's where I can't quite see how it works, that's 40 kWh per day but even the big Tesla Powerwall battery is only 11 kWh and it costs £10,000. So if you need the battery for the time without sun you would need at least two of them? We've always been a high usage household, approx 3000sqft and we seem to be using 1200kwh of electric a month, which I know is high - gas heating, but with an electric car and a hot tub. Usage seems to be pretty stable through the day, our base load averages around 900-1000w from what I can tell.
Vehicle to Grid - V2G is apparently a thing :
https://theconversation.com/electric-cars-could-on...
For some reason this seems a much cheaper way of storing energy. Even if you never used the car it would be cheaper lol.
Also watching this thread with interest.
We live in a average size (1,700 square feet) newly built house, well insulated, middle of a village so no gas, oil was not allowed due to planning, so it is air source. Been in a year, and one of the highest days is shown below. 32kWh used. For three days a week the house is not occupied between 9-3, the rest someone may or may not be in.
As we are full electric house, I am wondering if we could put solar on the roof, it faces absolute South, and the rear is 10m wide, by probably 4-5m in depth. There is also the garage roof which is facing absolute South, and is 4m wide and maybe 3-4m in depth.
Bit more info, the roof is never in shade, no trees etc, our usage in a winter month may peak 1,000kWh, but in summer can come right down to 200kWh. Last year we used about 7,500kWh. We also have a log burner which goes on some nights, but certainly not all. House is very well insulated.
We are also right up North in North Yorkshire.
Would the cost outweigh the benefit. Below is a very average usage on the coldest of winter days, a day when no one is there (one of the three days a week no one is in between 9-3):
We live in a average size (1,700 square feet) newly built house, well insulated, middle of a village so no gas, oil was not allowed due to planning, so it is air source. Been in a year, and one of the highest days is shown below. 32kWh used. For three days a week the house is not occupied between 9-3, the rest someone may or may not be in.
As we are full electric house, I am wondering if we could put solar on the roof, it faces absolute South, and the rear is 10m wide, by probably 4-5m in depth. There is also the garage roof which is facing absolute South, and is 4m wide and maybe 3-4m in depth.
Bit more info, the roof is never in shade, no trees etc, our usage in a winter month may peak 1,000kWh, but in summer can come right down to 200kWh. Last year we used about 7,500kWh. We also have a log burner which goes on some nights, but certainly not all. House is very well insulated.
We are also right up North in North Yorkshire.
Would the cost outweigh the benefit. Below is a very average usage on the coldest of winter days, a day when no one is there (one of the three days a week no one is in between 9-3):
Edited by joestifff on Tuesday 8th March 11:34
Edited by joestifff on Tuesday 8th March 11:36
Edited by joestifff on Tuesday 8th March 11:45
deanobeano said:
If you're not using that surplus energy during the day, then YES, heat your hot water with it.
If you are on the older FIT then export is calculated as 50% of your generation (assume you are in the UK?). SO use as much of your generated electricity as you can, it will not affect your FIT payment.
Think of your hot water cylinder as a (very cheap) battery - it is!
Yes, in the UK. On FIT from 2009. We run the washing machine, tumble dryer and electric oven during daylight hours. Seems we should be using the immersion heater too. If you are on the older FIT then export is calculated as 50% of your generation (assume you are in the UK?). SO use as much of your generated electricity as you can, it will not affect your FIT payment.
Think of your hot water cylinder as a (very cheap) battery - it is!
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