So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

mickyduck · 15 October 2014 at 1:03PM

silverwhistle wrote: »

It worked, although the gurgling from the pipes was a bit alarming. On manual for the time being and, being single am definitely SWMBO!

My diverter is an iBoost, installed for £100 at time of install. For those doing their calculations on savings, well, haven't a clue, although see my comment above about bills (which are based on a zero SC tariff). Another minor factor is that the boiler hasn't been in use for 6 months, so hopefully there is a maintenance benefit as well as an efficiency one from avoiding cycling.

My next 3 months bill should also be reasonably low: with almost a month and a half of no gas usage. As for heating, that too should be low for the remainder of the quarter. The new wood-burner is still being trialled by me but warms the lounge and has also needed the doors open to the rest of the house on occasion. Before anyone comments, I appreciate the cost-benefit of a stove may well be negative on a purely financial basis! But with free wood, and free exercise splitting and sawing, I'm happy enough with my outlay.

Hi could you tell me who your no "SC contract" is with, Im guessing you are happy with it?
Thanks
Mick

zeupater · 15 October 2014 at 1:50PM

mickyduck wrote: »

Hi could you tell me who your no "SC contract" is with, Im guessing you are happy with it?
Thanks
Mick

Hi Mick

From memory, it's probably Ebico

As a result of the tariff simplification investigation, suppliers aren't allowed to have a 'no standing charge' tiered tariff offering anymore (who'd have thought that Ofgem would have allowed that :rotfl:), but they can effectively set the standing charge to whatever they want, including zero, by amortising any fixed costs into the (single tier) unit price.

As a result, whether the ZSC option on offer is competitive depends on usage and usage pattern. A price comparison website will give you an idea of whether it's suitable, but, it's only likely to be so if you have reasonably low energy consumption. If you displace summer DHW gas usage with solar (pv or thermal) I'd recommend that you look at your monthly(/quarterly) usage pattern detail too, just to be sure that you fully understand where any saving comes from ....

HTH
Z

ps .... We're with one of the smaller energy suppliers (ZSC of course) and have noticed no difference in account admin to any of the sector dominating energy suppliers, in fact, to date it's been much better !!

silverwhistle · 15 October 2014 at 3:37PM

Yep, Ebico.

I've commented here about my low consumption and it wouldn't suit most people, due to the high unit rate but I've 4kw of installed PV and this summer a wood-burner went in. I've been collecting and preparing free wood for 9 months prior to installing it, so my heating costs should also be lower than last winter.

Today I took delivery of some LED lighting, and apart from this flaming desk-top (!) I don't have a lot of energy hungry devices: no tumble drier or television, for example. It's probably my sailing experience and the electric shower, but I don't have long ones.:o

I pay on receipt of bill, £80 for my last 6 months, a habit I got into having been with nPower before; there was no way I was trusting _them_ with a DD..

mickyduck · 15 October 2014 at 4:07PM

silverwhistle wrote: »

Yep, Ebico.

I've commented here about my low consumption and it wouldn't suit most people, due to the high unit rate but I've 4kw of installed PV and this summer a wood-burner went in. I've been collecting and preparing free wood for 9 months prior to installing it, so my heating costs should also be lower than last winter.

Today I took delivery of some LED lighting, and apart from this flaming desk-top (!) I don't have a lot of energy hungry devices: no tumble drier or television, for example. It's probably my sailing experience and the electric shower, but I don't have long ones.:o

I pay on receipt of bill, £80 for my last 6 months, a habit I got into having been with nPower before; there was no way I was trusting _them_ with a DD..

Just done a comparison using my last years usage figures and there is nothing in it..... Ebico about £8 a year cheaper than my N power tariff

zeupater · 16 October 2014 at 10:26PM

mickyduck wrote: »

Just done a comparison using my last years usage figures and there is nothing in it..... Ebico about £8 a year cheaper than my N power tariff

Hi

As your usage falls keep checking ..... just a thought - if you're using proportional control (pv to DHW), it might be useful to run a comparison based on splitting gas & electricity to different suppliers (??)

HTH
Z

silverwhistle · 17 October 2014 at 1:14AM

mickyduck wrote: »

Just done a comparison using my last years usage figures and there is nothing in it..... Ebico about £8 a year cheaper than my N power tariff

Just an aside really, but to get the rate from nPower do you need to use DD? Ebico's rate is the same regardless, and as I'm deeply suspicious of energy suppliers' DD policies I find paying on receipt of bill the best option for me. I'm not well off, but my cash flow is under control (the two aren't always connected:D), so it suits me.

shavy65 · 25 November 2014 at 12:37PM

Quiz time!
Everytime I make a cup/pot of tea I wonder about this...
In general, do you think it`s better to fill the kettle using the hot tap or not?
I tend to let the hot tap run til it`s burning hence reducing time kettle is on.
I know it depends on weather, time of day etc but I`m only curious as to what others do.
P.S. I do have an immersion boost device.

ChrisJD · 25 November 2014 at 1:40PM

shavy65 wrote: »

Quiz time!
Everytime I make a cup/pot of tea I wonder about this...
In general, do you think it`s better to fill the kettle using the hot tap or not?

It isn't really an energy question. Do you have a hot water system with a cold header tank? If so then the advice has always been that, because of the danger of some form of contamination in the tank, you should always stick to the cold tap for anything you drink.

Standards are much tighter these days, but in days gone by it was quite usual to find a corroding metal tank, open to the dust, dirt and anything crawling around, with a layer of sediment on the bottom. _pale_

Chris

orrery · 25 November 2014 at 2:23PM

shavy65 wrote: »

Quiz time!
Everytime I make a cup/pot of tea I wonder about this...

As per the previous advice, I don't use water from the hot tap to fill the kettle. However...

You can buy small camping kettles - 500/600W which are more likely to heat from solar than a 2.2kW kettle. You'd be surprised how much easier it is to estimate the correct amount for 1 or 2 cups in a small kettle.

Alternatively, very large Thermos flasks are cheap - we keep 2 by the kettle (each being nearly a full kettle) and simply put any excess boiled water in the flasks and use that to fill the kettle.

If it is gloriously sunny, then we fill both flasks.

Dave_Fowler · 25 November 2014 at 2:28PM

Ignoring the ethics of running potable water to waste, on a day when you're producing so much electricity to be able to heat your DHW to its maximum you could reduce the time it takes to heat the kettle by using hot water from the tap. But, if you're on a water meter, it may well cost you more for the 'run off' water than you're saving on the reduced boiling time.

[edit: If you are heating the kettle during the day-time, you may as well use the excess energy which would otherwise be diverted to the DHW, to heat the kettle.]

Dave F

So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

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