Solar panels fitted to house roofs...
Discussion
We have a heating system on our(parents) roof
First off, if your planning on recouping your money, walk away now. You wont.
My parents bought the system (i think it was about £7000ish) before they retired as a way of keeping the bills down when they were retired.
You have another coil in your hot water tank, which is heated by the panels on the roof. You still have the coil from the gas boiler and you can put an imersion heater in it aswell.
Once we had all the problems itroned out, it works great. We only put the gas on for about 10 minuites in the morning before we get up and thats it for the day.
First off, if your planning on recouping your money, walk away now. You wont.
My parents bought the system (i think it was about £7000ish) before they retired as a way of keeping the bills down when they were retired.
You have another coil in your hot water tank, which is heated by the panels on the roof. You still have the coil from the gas boiler and you can put an imersion heater in it aswell.
Once we had all the problems itroned out, it works great. We only put the gas on for about 10 minuites in the morning before we get up and thats it for the day.
Solar/photovoltaic realy just isnt viable anywhere as yet.
Proviso theres a system in the US which uses about 400-500sqm of photovoltaic cells linked to hydrogen production and recovery through a fuel cell or something, $1/2mil to install and seems to work.
Solar water heating is popular here but we get a fair bit more sun than the UK.
Proviso theres a system in the US which uses about 400-500sqm of photovoltaic cells linked to hydrogen production and recovery through a fuel cell or something, $1/2mil to install and seems to work.
Solar water heating is popular here but we get a fair bit more sun than the UK.
you mean "not viable" as in the panels are expensive, so that the payback time is long?
...I think they are "viable" as in the latest panels generate electricity quite well (even on an overcast day) ....you would just need to live there a long time to break even on the financial outlay
the water only systems work differently, but even they are too expensive for us - the payback time is just as long (only 2 of us, and not home often, dont use a lot of water)
...I think they are "viable" as in the latest panels generate electricity quite well (even on an overcast day) ....you would just need to live there a long time to break even on the financial outlay
the water only systems work differently, but even they are too expensive for us - the payback time is just as long (only 2 of us, and not home often, dont use a lot of water)
Edited by bogie on Friday 21st May 05:54
dont you just sell it back to the grid if you are generating more than you are using? i.e. mid day when everyone is at work
I guess the roof of a 3 bed semi is going to struggle to take a 3-4kw of panels right now, so see what you mean
we are an odd case (I looked into it a year or so) in that we have a household of 2 people, but a large roof on a 5 bed detached house...so a 4Kw system for 2 working people would be ample ....in fact I reckon we would sell enough back to cover the gas bill for the year, and be "energy cost neutral" ...if it were not for the £20K ish install cost for 4Kw of panels
I guess the roof of a 3 bed semi is going to struggle to take a 3-4kw of panels right now, so see what you mean
we are an odd case (I looked into it a year or so) in that we have a household of 2 people, but a large roof on a 5 bed detached house...so a 4Kw system for 2 working people would be ample ....in fact I reckon we would sell enough back to cover the gas bill for the year, and be "energy cost neutral" ...if it were not for the £20K ish install cost for 4Kw of panels
I think at the moment if you have solar panels and are feeding your excess power back into the grid, it's credited at a much higher rate than when you're taking from the grid. Assuming you've got some roof pointing in the right direction you can be building up that credit during the day (when the lights and appliances tend to be off), then drawing it down (at a cheaper rate) in the evenings when you're using a lot more power.
Not to mention all kinds of tax breaks on installing them too.
Not to mention all kinds of tax breaks on installing them too.
My parents installed solar panels on the roof of their house last year.
Total cost to them after receiving the grant was £13k.
They generate more electricity than they use and sell the surplus back to the energy company.
Taking into account the money saved by all their electricity being free plus the income they receive from the energy company they are making (if I remember the figure correctly) an 11% rate of return on their investment.
Total cost to them after receiving the grant was £13k.
They generate more electricity than they use and sell the surplus back to the energy company.
Taking into account the money saved by all their electricity being free plus the income they receive from the energy company they are making (if I remember the figure correctly) an 11% rate of return on their investment.
Actually the parts you need to make your own solar heating system are readilly available so a DIY job is not out of the question, the only difficult bit is mounting the solar collector on the roof
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&am...
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&am...
Can we make a sticky for this subject.. it comes up a couple of times a month at the moment and I'm fed up of answering.
To the person who's parents paid £7000 - ouch, they were ripped off. Our system (6 sq.m of panels) cost under £2K for the hardware, and fitting it was a couple of days labour. The solar panel industry is where all the old double glazing salesmen went - you have been warned.
Solar thermal (hot water) works in the UK for your domestic water needs, but not for space heating. By 'works', I mean it produces useful amounts of hot water for a reasonably cost effective installation with a decent lifespan (ie 20 years+). If you don't pay much for your hot water each year (eg. you're a childless couple who shower every other day and have mains gas), then you won't save that much money so it's probably not worth it. If you're a family that has regular baths and currently heat your water with electricity, you will save a lot. The panels themselves are the least important part of the installation - it needs to be properly integrated with your hot water set up and use an energy efficient pump system. You can use solar hot water with combi boilers, IF your boiler can accept pre-heated water (some can, some can't).
Solar electric (PV panels) also work, but the cost of the gear is currently prohibitive. There are some promising new technologies coming on stream at the moment, so this may change significantly over the next five years or so.
The proposed new Renewable Heat Incentives will shake things up a lot - basically you get paid (and the proposed amounts are pretty generous) to have solar, heat pumps and other technology installed. The return rate looks to be quite good so it would make installations a decent investment - but as it stands the system will require that you have an 'accredited' install, which puts us back in the hands of double glazing salesmen who charge over the odds for a special sticker.
To the person who's parents paid £7000 - ouch, they were ripped off. Our system (6 sq.m of panels) cost under £2K for the hardware, and fitting it was a couple of days labour. The solar panel industry is where all the old double glazing salesmen went - you have been warned.
Solar thermal (hot water) works in the UK for your domestic water needs, but not for space heating. By 'works', I mean it produces useful amounts of hot water for a reasonably cost effective installation with a decent lifespan (ie 20 years+). If you don't pay much for your hot water each year (eg. you're a childless couple who shower every other day and have mains gas), then you won't save that much money so it's probably not worth it. If you're a family that has regular baths and currently heat your water with electricity, you will save a lot. The panels themselves are the least important part of the installation - it needs to be properly integrated with your hot water set up and use an energy efficient pump system. You can use solar hot water with combi boilers, IF your boiler can accept pre-heated water (some can, some can't).
Solar electric (PV panels) also work, but the cost of the gear is currently prohibitive. There are some promising new technologies coming on stream at the moment, so this may change significantly over the next five years or so.
The proposed new Renewable Heat Incentives will shake things up a lot - basically you get paid (and the proposed amounts are pretty generous) to have solar, heat pumps and other technology installed. The return rate looks to be quite good so it would make installations a decent investment - but as it stands the system will require that you have an 'accredited' install, which puts us back in the hands of double glazing salesmen who charge over the odds for a special sticker.
Tuna,
What is your opinion on solar heating for an outdoor swimming pool in the UK?
My pool currently has an 80KW boiler that produces barely lukewarm water due to the very high flow rate of water through the heat exchanger. In fact I wonder if the boiler is working properly...
I was wondering if passing the water through an array of solar panels would have any discernable effect? Pool holds about 22,000 gallons.
What is your opinion on solar heating for an outdoor swimming pool in the UK?
My pool currently has an 80KW boiler that produces barely lukewarm water due to the very high flow rate of water through the heat exchanger. In fact I wonder if the boiler is working properly...
I was wondering if passing the water through an array of solar panels would have any discernable effect? Pool holds about 22,000 gallons.
Hereward said:
Tuna,
What is your opinion on solar heating for an outdoor swimming pool in the UK?
My pool currently has an 80KW boiler that produces barely lukewarm water due to the very high flow rate of water through the heat exchanger. In fact I wonder if the boiler is working properly...
I was wondering if passing the water through an array of solar panels would have any discernable effect? Pool holds about 22,000 gallons.
A ground source heat pump might work well for the pool, I'm sure some body will correct me if I'm wrongWhat is your opinion on solar heating for an outdoor swimming pool in the UK?
My pool currently has an 80KW boiler that produces barely lukewarm water due to the very high flow rate of water through the heat exchanger. In fact I wonder if the boiler is working properly...
I was wondering if passing the water through an array of solar panels would have any discernable effect? Pool holds about 22,000 gallons.
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