Most people don't have the equipment running that I listed, but I think you're reply may have been a bit tongue in cheek
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
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I have no interest in cutting down usage. I might switch one of the NAS's off and only power it up once a week for the NAS to NAS backup, and maybe one of the Xeon servers (they pull around 30W idle between the pair of them so not a huge sum). But the lab kit is used as a hobby and helps with my development and work, which in turn helps me with my income. My post/question was more surrounding my actual usage if it would be worth it. I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know if we are moving in 3-5 years, it's a loose plan but lots can change (recession, mortgage rates, house prices, more children etc).
As I sort of know deep down that this is not our 'forever home' (I hate that term) I've come to the conclusion of suck it up. I used to spend £2-400 easily going out drinking nearly every weekend and then £150 a week on fuel for commuting so the energy bill is easily manageable, I was actually kinda curious about having the tech and how it might affect my bills. If I was wanting to know about how to lower my bills, I'd have asked how to do that (and it's fairly obvious really!). It looks like my usage isn't all that high compared to other people with tech here, and you know, this is OcUK so how dare we be interested in technology and having multiple computers etc.
As I sort of know deep down that this is not our 'forever home' (I hate that term) I've come to the conclusion of suck it up. I used to spend £2-400 easily going out drinking nearly every weekend and then £150 a week on fuel for commuting so the energy bill is easily manageable, I was actually kinda curious about having the tech and how it might affect my bills. If I was wanting to know about how to lower my bills, I'd have asked how to do that (and it's fairly obvious really!). It looks like my usage isn't all that high compared to other people with tech here, and you know, this is OcUK so how dare we be interested in technology and having multiple computers etc.
Thank you, I will take a look through. What got me thinking is if it's £600 a year now (borrowing your figure) is that going to be £1200 a year once all the new price increases hit combined with having high usage? If it ends up being £1200 a year (yes, I know, massive assumption), then the £7k install figure is not that bad and would look to be breaking even at year six. When you also factor in that whilst it might not necessarily increase the value of the house it would make it much more desirable to potential buyers.
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@ChrisD. I'm in a similar predicament to you, I've currently no plans to move, great house (I've built/renovated most of it), great location, but I would like a bigger garage/workshop for when I retire, which could be as little as six years, or as much as 13 years. So its makes it more of an unknown whether an additional solar array and battery would pay for itself. People used to be scared away of houses with solar panels, but hopefully that's changing, and saving £600 or more a year off electricity bills has got to become a good selling point and therefore add value.
I also like the idea of building my own battery, so there's that pushing me too, I would also self install the PV if I could find an electrician happy to check and sign off my work, but I've not yet really explored that avenue, still waiting for quotes, I have a site meeting with a company in 3 weeks, so I'll be able to see what we can work out with them.
PS. I posted some figures last night, and from that you can see between March 2021 to March 2022 I used 2104kwh of electric we generated (2008kwh exported), saving £627 at today's rates.
I also like the idea of building my own battery, so there's that pushing me too, I would also self install the PV if I could find an electrician happy to check and sign off my work, but I've not yet really explored that avenue, still waiting for quotes, I have a site meeting with a company in 3 weeks, so I'll be able to see what we can work out with them.
PS. I posted some figures last night, and from that you can see between March 2021 to March 2022 I used 2104kwh of electric we generated (2008kwh exported), saving £627 at today's rates.
Thanks for the figures. Same here, we love the house but it's only got a single garage and I like my car to be in it, so there's a huge loss of space there for bikes, workbench etc. The next issue is we have a dog and the back door leads straight into the kitchen. I'd like a utility room which opens from the outside, use it to clean the dog after muddy walks and then into the house, rather than freezing my nads off in winter in the back garden.
But around here we'd have to spend probably twice as much as what we spent on this house to get what we want and with the global situation today I don't see it happening when we want.
I see your point about not wanting to sacrifice but if everyone used a little less energy then the pressure on energy demand would drop and maybe prices could come back down a bit to help others. Getting solar would be along these lines too by reducing your grid demand.
To be honest, Solar is only going to get more expensive in the short term anyway due to demand and if you have decent demand in the day then maybe you don’t need a battery
I use about 2000 kWh a year.
To be honest, Solar is only going to get more expensive in the short term anyway due to demand and if you have decent demand in the day then maybe you don’t need a battery
I use about 2000 kWh a year.
Yeah I’ve already worked out that as I’m home working I won’t see much benefit from the battery. Mrs is looking after the baby so has the TV on during the day too. If we got solar we’d just make more of an effort to run the dishwasher, washing machine etc throughout the day especially if it’s sunny.
Soldato
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Tv on during the day aint using that much energy……my 65” screen only pulls 65watts an hour, my partner is retired so has that on all day when im upstairs in the office, so we have 2 tv screens, 2 skyqs, laptop and screen, heating, fridge freezer, chest freezer, router, all running for a full day and we still only pull 5.9kwh a day
im sat outside on the deck doing work, have power tools going, sounbar for music and im not using an ounce of energy from the grid. Its all running from a solar generator and 1 solar panel……..its bliss knowing im doing this and its not costing any extra grid power ( and yes people will say but you bought a panel and a solar generator )
100% this.
We are getting an install end of this month, relatively basic 4.5kw system, both the Mrs and I work from home, if you are savvy about putting the dishwasher on etc during the day you can get the most benefit.
We are also getting a thing that diverts excess generated into our hot water tank via the immersion heater.
No battery and I don't think we'd get that much benefit. During the winter I don't imagine we'd generate any excess.
pretty much the same setup I've just got installed.
The eddi hot water system is a great addition for us as we have a family of 5 so go through a lot of hot water. I'm already seeing significant savings on the gas using the immersion to heat the water using the surplus electricity.
Think once batteries are a bit more evolved I will add it but between the usage during the day and the hot water diversion we are exporting very little.
It was offered to me as well, but we have a combi boiler so not any use at all.
Soldato
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Hmm not sure if you need a battery although some buffs with solar would know better than I.
Its just over a 3Kwh, was the survey to charge the battery and discharge overnight?
It doesnt sound like you are a heavy user so wonder what the quote could be if they left out the battery and put in a non-hybrid inverter?
Its just over a 3Kwh, was the survey to charge the battery and discharge overnight?
It doesnt sound like you are a heavy user so wonder what the quote could be if they left out the battery and put in a non-hybrid inverter?
Caporegime
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Its more my missus that wants me to cut down. I use to have my Linux desktop server up 24 7 but now I don't and use a raspberry pi always on server instead.
Like you, I don't go out much and saved a lot but the missus just downright thinks its crazy to spend 200 a month on electricity
Soldato
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I agree, 200 on electric a month is crazy……….
On what it will take me months to use £200 on electric I doubt I’ve got close to £200 this year.That makes me crazy, as previous to April I was spending over £200 a month on electric
@Doobedoo good for you.
I suppose I could turn everything off, cut down on my networking equipment, computers, get shot of the plasma TV (that's quite juicy), run one fridge freezer not two. I have turned off the GPU miner, which is one reason our usage has dropped, the other is the increased solar production with the longer sunnier days.
I suppose I could turn everything off, cut down on my networking equipment, computers, get shot of the plasma TV (that's quite juicy), run one fridge freezer not two. I have turned off the GPU miner, which is one reason our usage has dropped, the other is the increased solar production with the longer sunnier days.
Caporegime
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Wow.
Don't u have any tech at home at all?
Do you work from home?
Cook and use a oven or microwave?
I work from home but with a laptop and one 32 inch screen.
I have a 42inch TV with 5.1 surround and I game only in the evening with a 3090 RTX and 3960x. None of that is oc either and I barely use the heating as we live 2nd floor in a building (flats)
