Hi Guys,
With winter coming up, and being that I like a good project, I decided to take a look at how I can reduce some of my energy costs.
I found three options.
1 - Full off-grid solar power
2 - Feed in Tariff type solar power
3 - Off-grid water heating
I ruled out full off-grid as installation costs and materials seem very expensive, and making a saving/return any time soon seemed unlikely after the costs of storage and panels/hardware.
Feed in seems to require specific installers, and this makes it very expensive, not to mention the low amount paid back via the tariffs. Again, making a saving looked a long way out.
Off-grid water heating seemed the most sensible option, as you can use all the power you generate, only power specific devices, and the installation can be much smaller, and augment existing traditional heating.
With that in mind, I looked at the options. We never use out immersion heater in our house, so I though perhaps I could look to power the immersion from the solar. Looked like a reasonably easy way to get the heat into the water.
The only problem is that the heater is 3kv, and as such it will need a hell of an inverter and quite some storage to make it work. So, I decided to look at alternatives. Now the hot water tank takes it's supply from the loft cold water tank. It seems to make sense that if I insulate that tank, and provide it with an aquarium heater (say, 100W?) then any increase in temperature I can get into that tank is less energy I have to actually pay for.
SO, my plan is to use some second hand solar panels, perhaps 2-3, of a rating of above 200W, then run these to charge a 80-100 AH 12v leisure battery, then use this to run a 100w (may change this) aquarium heater in the cold water feed for the hot water tank.
I believe that this will allow the tank to be brought up from around 10 degrees (in winter) to upwards of 20-25 degrees, and as such, this might provide a decrease in energy costs. How much will remain to be seen, but so far, it looks like parts are well under £100 all in (with 3 panels). I have a supplier for the panels ready for me to go and collect, an 85ah battery I am due to collect tonight. Then I just need to check my £5 Chinese solar charge unit is up to the job. Getting the panels secured to the roof might be interesting, but I will work it out.
Has anyone else done anything similar?
With winter coming up, and being that I like a good project, I decided to take a look at how I can reduce some of my energy costs.
I found three options.
1 - Full off-grid solar power
2 - Feed in Tariff type solar power
3 - Off-grid water heating
I ruled out full off-grid as installation costs and materials seem very expensive, and making a saving/return any time soon seemed unlikely after the costs of storage and panels/hardware.
Feed in seems to require specific installers, and this makes it very expensive, not to mention the low amount paid back via the tariffs. Again, making a saving looked a long way out.
Off-grid water heating seemed the most sensible option, as you can use all the power you generate, only power specific devices, and the installation can be much smaller, and augment existing traditional heating.
With that in mind, I looked at the options. We never use out immersion heater in our house, so I though perhaps I could look to power the immersion from the solar. Looked like a reasonably easy way to get the heat into the water.
The only problem is that the heater is 3kv, and as such it will need a hell of an inverter and quite some storage to make it work. So, I decided to look at alternatives. Now the hot water tank takes it's supply from the loft cold water tank. It seems to make sense that if I insulate that tank, and provide it with an aquarium heater (say, 100W?) then any increase in temperature I can get into that tank is less energy I have to actually pay for.
SO, my plan is to use some second hand solar panels, perhaps 2-3, of a rating of above 200W, then run these to charge a 80-100 AH 12v leisure battery, then use this to run a 100w (may change this) aquarium heater in the cold water feed for the hot water tank.
I believe that this will allow the tank to be brought up from around 10 degrees (in winter) to upwards of 20-25 degrees, and as such, this might provide a decrease in energy costs. How much will remain to be seen, but so far, it looks like parts are well under £100 all in (with 3 panels). I have a supplier for the panels ready for me to go and collect, an 85ah battery I am due to collect tonight. Then I just need to check my £5 Chinese solar charge unit is up to the job. Getting the panels secured to the roof might be interesting, but I will work it out.
Has anyone else done anything similar?
And as the kit has already paid for itself that hot water is free, same for the electricity we use for slow cooking/washing/dishwasher etc. Its an odd feeling have stuff 'on' but not using any electricity, its all self generated.